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oswald
June 21st, 2004, 02:09
Well.. pretty exciting race, don't you think ? Especially for Montoya and R.Schumacher... ;-)

Jeez, F1 is getting so boring, I don't even have to turn on TV to know that Michael won again... ;-)

Erik
June 21st, 2004, 13:53
How popular is F1 in the USA?

The track looked almost deserted in some places. :vhmmm:

Bingocaller
June 21st, 2004, 15:14
Originally posted by Erik
How popular is F1 in the USA?

The track looked almost deserted in some places. :vhmmm:

Totally agree

But go Baumgartner :thumb: :applause: :race:

Audihead
June 21st, 2004, 18:35
Originally posted by Erik
How popular is F1 in the USA?

The track looked almost deserted in some places. :vhmmm:

I was just there. I have no actual attendance figures for you, but the first year was about 180,000 people. Every year since then it has gone down. This year i think there were about 100,000 people. The reason it looks deserted is two fold. One is Indy can hold on the infield and the stands, @ 400,000 people. Two, they opened up some new stands on the inner part of the track at some of the places where cool spins happen. this is where the people want to be. So some parts are packed to the gills and others are completely empty.

:s4addict: -Audihead

oswald
June 22nd, 2004, 02:24
Originally posted by Erik
How popular is F1 in the USA?

The track looked almost deserted in some places. :vhmmm:


well, you've got only one F1 race in a year...

Erik
June 22nd, 2004, 10:23
Originally posted by oswald
you've got only one F1 race in a year...

Most countries do ;)

Better fill all the seats then.

lukegarratt
June 22nd, 2004, 11:05
Maybe if it wasn't a one horse race more people would go...

Plus only 8 cars finished the race, so there wasn't much 'racing' over the whole race. I don't know what the average attrition rate is like in CART or IRL. Can anyone enlighten me please? But imagine the race near the end, with 8 cars going around. Couldn't imagine there would be much passing to spectate.

Nordschleife
June 22nd, 2004, 15:25
Hey c'mon!

What other race series has PARKING ?

In Formula1 we get to see some of the highest paid drivers in the world rush round a circuit, and then park their cars so the others can overtake? Its brilliant, fantastic, a quantum leap forwards in media entertainment.
Plus, the road safety people are going to make it part of an anti road rage campaign, so when the red haze descends, a real racer parks his car.
honestly, this is the future!

R+C

remedy
June 23rd, 2004, 15:42
^^ Must be fun trolling all the time. :p

lukegarratt
June 24th, 2004, 09:11
Originally posted by Nordschleife
Hey c'mon!

What other race series has PARKING ?

In Formula1 we get to see some of the highest paid drivers in the world rush round a circuit, and then park their cars so the others can overtake? Its brilliant, fantastic, a quantum leap forwards in media entertainment.
Plus, the road safety people are going to make it part of an anti road rage campaign, so when the red haze descends, a real racer parks his car.
honestly, this is the future!

R+C

Haha, nice observation. I've never really noticed, just always accepted there was pit stops. So CART etc do not have pitstops then?

oswald
June 24th, 2004, 12:21
Originally posted by Erik
Most countries do ;)



I agree, but still you have a lot of races on the continent of Europe, and only 1 here ;-)

Nordschleife
June 24th, 2004, 13:15
Originally posted by oswald
I agree, but still you have a lot of races on the continent of Europe, and only 1 here ;-)

You might not have noticed but there are TWO races in the continent of America.

Realistically, Formula 1 and the USA do not suit each other.

Firstly, Formula 1 is International - USA doesn't like that.
Secondly, there are no American teams in Formula 1 - USA doesn't like that
Thirdly, there are no American drivers in Formula 1 - USA doesn't like that
Fourthly, there is no realistic program in place to do anything about the two previous points (forget the Red Bull Challenge its a joke and an advertising gimmick)
Fifthly, why would any American driver put himself through what it would take to make it to the top in F1, when there is NASCAR?
Sixthly, the best US drivers are not in open wheelers - yes there are open wheeler races in the US but nearly all the top drivers are not Americans.
Seventhly, the US has a dearth of suitable circuits, yes there are some great tracks, but they are not suitable, too narrow, too far from a major conurbation, no facilities.....

When Bernie and the rest of the poison dwarfs look up from the trough, they will see that the US market is becoming less important in global terms and they are better off concentrating on places like China, India, Russia and the Middle East, whre the governments contribute to the cost of developing circuits and sales of cars is booming, within five years China will be Volkwagen's biggest market, and not much longer for Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Porsche, Ferrari, and the rest of the European and Japanese manufacturers.

The only reason F1 is attracted to the US is that it is, probably wrongly, perceived as a source of deep pocketed sponsors. Well this may be true, but unless they have a global brand, they are not going to throw money at F1 teams, if only because an F1 car is a bit short of space from an advertising perspective!

Finally, remember F1 is all about keeping ordinary people at arms length and grasping B-list celebrities to its bosom - America really doesn't like that!

R+C