Autódromo Hermanos RodrÃ*guez: A gem in the world of Motorsports!

[Jay]

That's what we have here, the drivers can't seem to say enough good things about this circuit! I haven't seen it on TV yet, but from the comments of all the drivers I can't wait! We have a gem here!

So far....

Dario Franchitti:

This is an awesome place, a very challenging circuit made up of three distinct parts. First, you have the tight and twisty section from turns one through three, then the fabulous ‘esses’ that just keep getting faster and faster as you go through them, and finally the area through the (baseball) stadium. It’s a real challenge for both the driver and the engineer to get everything right.

Jimmy Vasser:

Beautiful; absolutely gorgeous. It's fun to drive, challenging and has great rhythm. It's one of great old circuits of the world. It's too bad the way they design circuits nowadays with a lot of 90-degree turns and chicanes, but this thing really flows and it's a really great track. Hopefully it'll continue to be a great track for CART in the future.

Tony Kannan:

I love this racetrack. You're going to see a great show here on Sunday.

Michael Andretti:

This is a first class facility. It is a physical track that is very technical which makes its challenging from a drivers standpoint.

Bruno Junqueira:

I really like this track.

Christian Fittipaldi:

This track is awesome, I came here in '92 and I tell you it's changed a lot. They really stepped it up. It's by far the best race track I've ever been on.

More to come!

Cheers to everyone involved in the restoration and renovation of the Autódromo Hermanos RodrÃ*guez!

[Jordi]

I think they won't convince Lee, though!

[Jay]

Oddly, most people hated the old version. GPL players rarely said their favorite track was 'Mexico' (one of the toughest 1st corners in the world and the old hairpin was so tight you could barely get the car through at a crawl), and in it's late 1980s config it was a fun track for a modern F1 car (hairpin and first corner changed!), but apparently the facilities were pretty much non-existent.

Bruno's full quote was: "This is a great racetrack, a real road course, and I like places like this and Elkhart Lake because they remind me of the European circuits"

Looks like they have a winner now though!

[Jay]

More from Christian Fittipaldi (Lee will like the last part..although he did mention earlier it's a shame they couldn't use the old corner, he said he understood the safety concerns):

The track is awesome. I really like the back part of the track. This is one of the two best tracks we race on. This track and Road America. It's good to run on this type of track for my last race in CART. The track is great. It's like were on a huge vacation here and we are really enjoying ourselves. I think it will be a great race and the fans are going to see a lot of passing. I was here in 1992 for the Formula One race and the track is not as bumpy as it was then. The Mexicans have done a good job here. What they added in the stadium is really nice and when it is packed with fans on Sunday it will be even nicer.

Cristiano Da Matta:

The track is very good. The track is by far the best one we go to all season. I think for the drivers it will be the most fun we have all season. For me it is perfect. I couldn't ask for more. I have really enjoyed myself in CART. I have many friends here, have scored many wins and have earned some good results. On top of everything is the fact that I feel I have learned a lot.

More from Bruno:

This track is paradise compared to some places we run. This is a very good road course with some high-speed corners. I think it's second only to Road America. It's a shame it's so high up because the esses would be even better if we had another 1,000 pounds of downforce."

[Lee Janotta]

I'll point out it's only the yellow-bellied traitors who are leaving the series who like the stadium!

The old turn 1 was a nightmare, I never would have designed a turn like that.

However, if you look at the tracks I _have_ designed, you'll see quite a few of them include corners directly influenced or even directly copied from Peraltada. It's just one of the greatest corners in the world! (my other absolute favorite that I work into most of my tracks is Blanchmont... That long, flat-out section headed back towards the pits at Spa... Such a test of grip, skill, and balls)

As for the old hairpin, you're supposed to kick out the back of the car and stand on the throttle to rotate the car. That's one end of the track where I think they could do something completely new and interesting with the track, to create a wider hairpin and a really good passing zone.

Personally, I _love_ having banked turns on a road course, if they're done right. There's nothing that can compare with pushing a car right to the limit of out of control. In the long run, it's a _much_ better show for the fans, and a much better time for the racers (note I didn't say drivers) than on a "spectator-friendly" track like, dare I say it? ...the "new" Nurburgring <shudders in horror>.

Remember... Real racing, real sport... Shouldn't that mean real racers on real race tracks, instead of drivers on parade grounds?

[Jay]

I found that the GP cars in GPL don't seem to have enough HP to do that at the hairpin...but I suppose you could with the newer one.

I never really thought of Blanchimont as being a test of skill in a modern GP racer...just flat out turn once, turn twice... It's was much more interesting in GPL where you had to break lightly and slide the car through.

It's tough to design a circuit though, which is one of the reasons I have so much praise for the Mexico people. There are so many factors to consider from gradients, tarmac compounds, drainage, airflows, how a car will react over a certain combination of bumps or corners, what will happen if a driver goes off. It's easy if a circuit contains mostly 90 degree turns and hairpins(like some boring street circuits), but a circuit full of that is boring. Variety keeps the drivers on their toes and ****es off the engineers .

More comments on the circuit:

Scott Dixon - "They've done a great job with it. It's going to be awesome to see all of the fans when they fill this place on Sunday."

Shinji Nakano - "The track is really good, apart from Turn 12 where it is a little bit bumpy. I am really enjoying driving on this track."

Mario Dominguez - "Wow! The track is just beautiful! This is the kind of track that really lets us show off the true potential of these Champ Cars."

I guess I can stop now...you get the idea. So can we safely say now... Elkhart Lake, Spa, Hermanos Rodriguez?

[Evilsenna]

That first corner in GPL... I think its one of the
hardest corner from that game!

[Lee Janotta]

Heheh... Throw in the Norschliefe, and you've sold me, Jay.

With all due respect to the Mexicans, I don't think they took all that scientific an approach to the track... Which really didn't undergo a redesign so much as a rejuvenation... The esses are still as evil and chaotic as ever... Late apexes, early apexes, negative camber, positive camber... Chaos.

I love it!!! :roll:

[f1manoz]

I've always liked Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, and that final corner, Peralta, always used to separate the men from the boys.

My best memory of Mexico is Mansell on the OUTSIDE of Berger in 1990. But, of course, that was a normal move from Il Leone....

[Jordi]

Really, that first corner was so loooong and boring in GPL. But the hairpin was fine for me. Maybe because I never did it in a GP car... (hey, I'm good in IndyCar, but not it GPL!)

[Sato san]

This place really is a gem of a circuit....F1 made a big mistake when they stopped racing there....


well done Cart .

[macdaddy]

Here's a quote from macdaddy I just lifted from a major international newswire:
I love this circuit! Set 'em loose!"

[BobbyB]

I've noticed quite alot of bumpy areas that should have been ironed out on a track of alleged "perfect" status such as this is being touted. I hope TK's comments today (Sat.) during qualifying about the cars "zigging when the driver wants to zag" don't come true on Sunday or we'll see cars flying off the track due to lost traction when the cars are oscillating up and down over these bumpy zones. How could this flaw have been allowed to pass inspection during the laying of the asphalt? Far from perfect, I'd say...

[DNQ]

Road America, Mid Ohio, Mexico City, Montreal, Surfers Paradise, how will IRL ever beat that I ask? I applaud CART for running a calendar of 'racing' circuits. Maybe those in charge of F1 could take a leaf out of the book Chris Pook uses...

[Lee Janotta]

Eh... I'm probably the only fan or driver in North America who doesn't like Mid-Ohio... Too technical a track for my tastes.

Don't give Pook too much credit there.... Most of those venues were already on the schedule when Pook came to the series. And consider all the great tracks in CART's "territory" they _don't_ run at... Brasilia, Jacarapagua, Buenos Aires, Mosport, Mont-Tremblant, Willow Springs, Mid-America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sears Point, Heartland Park*... Not to mention all the tracks in Australia.

But, Mexico City is a fantastic step in the right direction. Let's hope they keep going this way, and get away from being the World Street Racing Championship (though don't screw with the best corners anymore!!!).

*I have this weird recurring dream, where I'm convinced CART ran a race there in 1998, one week after a race at a Martinsville-like bullring... Greg Moore led Jimmy Vasser and Michael Andretti to the win in the dream race (Zanardi DNF'd, colliding with a backmarker)... It's all so vivid. I must be losing my mind....