Fans Upset With Grand Prix Fiasco

wishtv ^

[Blueflag]

Amen to the Road Atlanta comment.

Road Atlanta has been upgraded and changed to the point where it can handle the highest performance cars in the world. Now having said that, it is a ROAD COURSE meaning you cannot drive full speed all the time around the course. It ain't oval track at all.

In year's past, the problems with getting F1 to Road Atlanta centered around non-track related issues:
(1) The pits were too small for the flying circus
(2) The ingress/egress roads were inadequate (there's only 1 road -- GA 211 I think it is.
(3) The local hospitality/ cuisine facilities were too red neck and too small (I live 25 miles from Road Atlanta, so no flaming please). That situation has changed with Chateau Elan in place.
(4) The State of Ga was not ready to kiss F1's a$$.
(5) The topography of the land, with elevation changes and all, makes it hard to get the F1 cranes access all around the track surface. That problem is probably gone
(6) the track on the back straight was too fast for F1 -- that was fixed by reconfiguring the "dip" and adding turns 10a and 10b and the huge gravel run off area. Bear in mind that Can-Am cars (more top end) do just fine. Side note -- as Danny Sullivan said "my Indy cars laps faster than F1 cars will go ..."
(7) the track surface had too many bumps. Tough -- deal with it.
(8) The ripple strips and guard rails were not FIA compliant -- fixed now.

BUT!!!! If all that was out of the way, Road Atlanta would be a great F1 race course. They might complain about it being narrow in places (Turns 4 and 5 perhaps) but shut up and drive!

During the HSR (Historic Sports Cars) races, 'vintage' Indy cars and Formula 5000 cars put on quite a show at Road Atlanta. The course can handle F1.

Having said all that, I don't care if F1 EVER comes to Road Atlanta.

[Jackknife]

I was under the assumption that the problems that you listed were fixed in the multi-million dollar upgrades that Panoz did the year before they were in the list of tracks to hold the U.S.Grand Prix.

Either way, it is a great track.(I am a little biased, though, being a Georgian.)

[BurbankKarl]

they had to use the tires they qualified with....or be fined severely...

I would have stuck Bridgestones on my car and raced.....but the Euro way is to puss out.

[BurbankKarl]

Herbie the Love Bug won...

[Jackknife]

[Betis70]

>>They might complain about it being narrow in places (Turns 4 and 5 perhaps) but shut up and drive!

If they did, they would have to complain about Monaco too.

Road Atlanta is a great looking race track. I've only seen it on SpeedTV though, so I don't know all the particulars.

[Betis70]

Oh and T-minus 20 days till MotoGP comes to the US at Laguna Seca ... I wanna see Valentino Rossi tear up the corkscrew.

[Dashing Dasher]

UPDATE>..............


Six Michelin teams to appeal against FIA ruling
Wed Jun 29, 2005 05:54 PM BST
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By Alan Baldwin

PARIS, June 29 (Reuters) - Championship leaders Renault and five other Formula One teams have vowed to appeal after being found guilty on two charges resulting from the U.S. Grand Prix tyre fiasco.

A joint statement by Renault, McLaren, Williams, Toyota, Sauber and BAR, who all use Michelin tyres, expressed disappointment at the verdict of the International Automobile Federation's (FIA) world motor sport council on Wednesday.

Red Bull, the seventh Michelin team, said they were considering their options.

"Basically, we didn't want to rush into a hasty decision," team boss Christian Horner told Reuters.

The seven were charged with acts prejudicial to an event and to the sport after failing to start the June 19 race in Indianapolis when Michelin advised that they could not guarantee the safety of their tyres through the final banked corner.

The FIA cleared the teams on three specific charges on Wednesday but found them guilty of two.

It said they had failed to ensure they were in possession of suitable tyres for the event and had wrongfully refused to allow their cars to start the race bearing in mind that they could have used the pitlane on each lap.

The six teams said they had "reasonably relied" on Michelin and could not be held responsible for what occurred. They said the second charge was not one originally levelled against them.

"The teams explained to the world motor sport council that, in the light of the clear and written advice from Michelin that it was unsafe to race at Indianapolis on the tyres supplied by that company, the teams had no choice but to decline to race," they said in a statement.

"Any other decision would have been irresponsible. Nineteen of the current Formula One drivers have expressed their agreement with the decision of the teams."

No names were given and the teams did not identify the lone dissenting driver. (I BET I KNOW WHO IT IS)

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.