Update on the Euro races

[luke]

From autoracing1

2nd Europe race between 4 tracks Word here in Surfers Paradise is that four tracks are under consideration for the 2nd Europe race for Champ Car next September - Hockenheim, Oschersleban, Brno and now a fourth one has come into the picture. No word yet on which is the fourth track, but whichever is chosen, the 2nd Europe race will be held September 30th. There are many circuits to choose from, not the least of which is Valencia, Jerez, Nurburgring (can alternate with Hockenheim in F1 off-years), LeMans Bugatti circuit, Eurospeedway, etc.

AutoRacing1.com sources tell us that the 4th European track under consideration is the 2.684-mile A1 Ring, formally the Österreichring. The Österreichring is an Austrian race circuit which hosted the Formula One Austrian Grand Prix 18 consecutive years, from 1970 through 1987. After being shortened, rebuilt and renamed A1-Ring, it again hosted races from 1997 through 2003. The track is located in Spielberg, Styria.

Champ Car, just do Assen and Le Mans. Assen would be a sell out, and half the attendance for the Le mans 24 hours are Brits anyway and you at the champion's home race and surely many French fans would be there. The Le Mans Buggati cirucit is better then any race in Germany...

[2112]

I really hope they can pull this Euro thing off. LeMans would be really nice...A1 if they must.
We really need more natural terrain road courses to balance the schedule...and it DEFINETELY makes for better TV.

[kootje]

is Assen a Go or what?

Grtz Kootje

[2112]

Originally Posted by kootje

is Assen a Go or what?

Grtz Kootje

A second date somewhere else is nessasary for it to be a go financially....fingers crossed

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally Posted by luke

The Le Mans Buggati cirucit is better then any race in Germany...

You have to be joking, the majority of the bugatti circuit is very tight and twisty and narrow in many places. It isnt a good circuit for overtaking, now when you look at what Germany has to offer, Nurburgring and Hockenheim for example are both much better in terms of facilites and the circuits themselves. Both tracks are big wide and fast and overtaking is relatively easy. IMO.

[luke]

From my point of thinking :: The name. Its a first class circuit in terms of facilities, home track of the champion, some good areas for overtaking and near and in the middle of the markets that CC wants to do.
The Bugatti circuit isn't the best, but its better then the modern Hockenheim, Nurburgring, Lausitz infield, Oshersleben and the A1-Ring for Champ Car.

[SALEEN S7R]

The only thing that the Le Mans Bugatti circuit is any good for is Moto GP! The DTM and F3 and WSR and GT races that are held there are hardly entertaining most of the time. IMO. The Nurburgring and Hockenheim circuits on the other hand make for great racing.

[luke]

Racing wise, yes, but I can't see any other good reasons. I would like to see a Champ Car fly around Le Mans. I pointed out the good points IMO of a race there, yeah it's not the best circuit ever but I feel its better overall then all the otehr circuits considered.

[coyote9999]

Hey why not have 3 races in Europe? I know wishful thinking ...

[norman-normal]

I will be very, very happy with any of them.

[Purist]

Luke, I'd have to say that Sachsenring and the Nordschleife are both better than Le Mans Bugatti. In France, it has to be Le Mans (all 8.625-miles of it) or Dijon Prenois (Charade, as it is, is pretty tight). A1-Ring, if it's the F1 course, and Brno would both be better circuits than Le Mans Bugatti.

[luke]

Originally Posted by Purist

Luke, I'd have to say that Sachsenring and the Nordschleife are both better than Le Mans Bugatti. In France, it has to be Le Mans (all 8.625-miles of it) or Dijon Prenois (Charade, as it is, is pretty tight). A1-Ring, if it's the F1 course, and Brno would both be better circuits than Le Mans Bugatti.

Definately but Sachsenring, Dijon, Nordschleife and Brno are not on the short list.
Le Mans Bugatti is better than Hockenheim which is just a silly flat back and forth short track. The only good thing about the track is that there could be overtaking opportunties more likely then other tracks.
Oshersleben is too tight and twisty for a Champ Car. The races are dull and boring for any other form of motor racing as it is.
Nurburging, just doesn't seem right amongst the fact its not that great.
Lauistz infield course? Champ Car could do better then that flying across the Atlantic Ocean.

If I could have my way, I'd have Brands Hatch Grand Prix and Lauistz oval. I know the latter won't happen but hey. That would be good. A street race in England say Manchester wouldn't be bad either.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Wasn't the A1-Ring infrastructure all raised to the ground, with big chunks of the track torn up?

[outflat]

They shouldn't be thinking about Europe.

Get things right on home soil - USA, Canada, Mexico - throw in the trip to Surfers and build, build, build.

Europe's a needless distraction - and indicates they've forgotten what they should be about.

[Purist]

Ok, Outflat, where else in the US, Canada, or Mexico can CART realistically go?

Ovals and some of the road courses were not drawing (though admittedly, with a few of the road races, moving the date around didn't help).

Laguna Seca and Mid-Ohio are considered to be too close (geographically) to San Jose and Cleveland respectively. CART is out of Vancouver at least until the 2010 Olympics are finished. The Mexican promoter wanted CART to drop Monterrey, Mexico so it could concentrate on Mexico City (name another suitable venue in that country besides those two). Although, I don't get your concern. CART is back to Road America. And of late, or in the foreseeable future, we've seen, or could well be seeing, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Antonio, and somewhere in the Northeast (no, I'm not sure where) added to the schedule.

As for ovals, find us two or more non-ISC ovals that can put together an acceptable business plan, and the problem there is at least somewhat solved.

Luke, Le Mans Bugatti is as tight as, and less flowing than, even Oschersleban. The lap starts with Dunlop, which leads into a chicane. Then you basically have a triple hairpin combination with fairly short straights between them. Then there is a somewhat longer straight into a chicane, a short straight, a slow right and then left, and finally two slow right-handers.

[Tim Northcutt]

Assen and Brno...

No questions asked...two great European circuits that would have fan support from gear heads who love good racing....

[SALEEN S7R]

Agreed Tim, those would be 2 great races. For one reason or another though Assen doesent seem to get much in the way of car racing, im not really sure why though. It seems to attract bikes more than cars, the track is still great though, if perhaps a little flat.

[Silk Cut Jaguar]

I'm still not convinced Assen is the best place for Champ Cars to race, it's a great bike track (or was, at least) but most of the car races I've seen from there haven't exactly been thrillers.

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Wasn't the A1-Ring infrastructure all raised to the ground, with big chunks of the track torn up?

That's what I thought too. At the very least I'm sure the grandstands were torn down.

Still, it is Red Bull owned and with their increased backing for Champ Car in 2007 the track could probably be brought back up to spec with a few million dollars in the off-season.

[badgerbaiter]

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Agreed Tim, those would be 2 great races. For one reason or another though Assen doesent seem to get much in the way of car racing, im not really sure why though. It seems to attract bikes more than cars, the track is still great though, if perhaps a little flat.

because its as wide as a cycle lane

its better now they have improved a section or two

some of you are a little mad if you think they will race at Le Mans full circuit and Nurburgring full circuit

I think its about time we had a european street race (obv its a lot of hassle to do it in the UK as its technically illegal). London would be nice. Hyde Park?

[jab]

Just a bit of info on the A1-Ring:

I heard a few months back that Red Bull have finally given the go-ahead to the reconstruction, which had been abandoned, leading to the torn-up track and demolished grandstands and pit lane garages. Obviously they'll be building new ones, along with the extension onto the old O-ring. They said that the most they were planning on hosting DTM, although obviously either this report's wrong or they've changed their minds

[f1manoz]

The only track worthy of a mention is Brno. It's so wide that you could fit four next-gen ChampCars side-by-side into the first corner. Brilliant!

[Tim Northcutt]

Over in the sportscar forum here, there are people from Holland on that forum that say that with the renovations to Assen, that the track now is wider than Spa is...thus it could easily handle Champ Cars...

FWIW....

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by Purist

Laguna Seca and Mid-Ohio are considered to be too close (geographically) to San Jose and Cleveland respectively. CART is out of Vancouver at least until the 2010 Olympics are finished. The Mexican promoter wanted CART to drop Monterrey, Mexico so it could concentrate on Mexico City (name another suitable venue in that country besides those two). Although, I don't get your concern. CART is back to Road America. And of late, or in the foreseeable future, we've seen, or could well be seeing, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Antonio, and somewhere in the Northeast (no, I'm not sure where) added to the schedule.

If some street events were got shot of (the crappy ones), maybe a Boston street circuit would be an idea *scratches chin*

On European tracks, I would like to see this Viking thing in Sweden - if ever happens would be a good oval. The only caveat is that it has a low capacity, 60,000 compared to over 100,000. But as a track it looks very, very good. Like Richmond, but steeper.

[Net-Ranger]

Originally Posted by f1manoz

The only track worthy of a mention is Brno. It's so wide that you could fit four next-gen ChampCars side-by-side into the first corner. Brilliant!

Agreed...for those who saw the A1gp race, many god passes took place on the that first corner that is simply awsome... cannot imagine a champcar there, there should be a great thing to watch

Originally Posted by Purist

Ok, Outflat, where else in the US, Canada, or Mexico can CART realistically go?...

...The Mexican promoter wanted CART to drop Monterrey, Mexico so it could concentrate on Mexico City (name another suitable venue in that country besides those two)....

Suitable tracks apart of Monterrey Fundidora Park...the only one i think have the correct infrastructure for that is Autodromo Miguel E. Abed, better known as Puebla-Amozoc, where the WTCC races here in Mexico, i know, is a twisty track...HOWEVER!!!, if you take the circuit variant without the turns 1,2,3 and 4 of the WTCC circuit variant that are before the first oval corners, we have the main straight complete from one oval corner to the other one, making that segment pretty fast with good chance of passing, the downside of this idea is the oval corner itself,the entrance speed to the corner...like if they be racing in a full scale oval

[SALEEN S7R]

If GB does get a round of the CCWS once again in the future I really think that the race should be held at Silverstone on the GP layout or at Donnington Park on their GP layout. Brands Hatch is too tight and twisty and races have a tendancy to become processional as we saw back in 2003. Silverstone on the other hand is wide, fast and has lots of great overtaking places.