Magny-Cours wants the French GP for 2012

[NaBUru38]

L'Équipe has published that magny-Cours boos want the French GP back for 2012. "The A77 motorway between Paris and Magny-Cours will be opened in the coming weeks and we will also open new coveraged grandstands at the Adelaide Hairpin... We should have our financial package sorted by June 2011.

So if no current race is dropped, that's 22 Grands Prix for 2012!

[Ralf's Girl]

Surely the teams would never sign up for that? And it must be almost inevitable that something is going to go - China and/or Turkey, perhaps, when their governments won't prop up a poorly attended race anymore.

[duke_toaster]

I don't know, but Bernie certainly lead the persecution of Magny-Cours not the teams. I feel sure FOTA would probably rather have Magny-Cours on the calendar rather than going off to Turkey to race in front of two men and a dog. The sad and irritating thing is that the man who killed the French GP (just to make space for a race in Abu Dhabi, who while to their credit have built a circuit that looks like something out of Star Wars, got the grand total of 50,000 spectators on their first race, which for formula one should be considered unacceptable, especially in a market that the teams have no interest in and with no motorsport tradition) owns what could be turned in to an appropriate venue for it with just a few temporary stands.

[Wims]

Paul Richard is a terrible track tho, while Magny has an awesome layout with lots of elevation changes and a wide variety of corners. Only problem is that Magny-Cours is in the middle of nowhere. Magny-Cours >>>>> Paul Richard

[Quintin03]

Originally Posted by Wims

Paul Richard is a terrible track tho, while Magny has an awesome layout with lots of elevation changes and a wide variety of corners. Only problem is that Magny-Cours is in the middle of nowhere. Magny-Cours >>>>> Paul Richard

Not too sure about that. If Paul Ricard can be used in a version as close as possible to the original then it'll be huge. Plus Bernie likes the place, not just a bit, he owns it.

[Sodemo]

I read somewhere that FOTA were "secretly?!" unhappy with the prospect of going to these venues like Russia and Abu Dubai.

[duke_toaster]

I imagine FOTA would rather race in the US or France than either of those two if it's a zero-sum choice between those two pairs. A 22 race calendar would be unsustainable (not just travel and possibly needing two race teams, but it would begin to smother other motorsport, which while in the interest of Bernie and his CVC handlers is not in the interests of the sport, which ought to be paramount but isn't with the current situation of having someone without motor racing as a whole's interest hawking the sport out to broadcasters and venues), infact I'd like to see it kept at seventeen or eighteen races, but that is looking unlikely.

[P38 in workshop]

I seem to recall that the French GP from Magny-Cours usually matched the Hungarian GP in the boredom stakes.I would concede that they didn't resort to tarpaulins covering empty stands.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I read somewhere that FOTA were "secretly?!" unhappy with the prospect of going to these venues like Russia and Abu Dubai.

Images of Ferrari World at Yas Marina here.
i can understand why the other teams feel a little ticked off to be at a race whose largest banner is a Ferrari logo...they might as well all go Fiorano

[I Rosputnik]

Could F1 ever go to the Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans?

[Shaddix]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

Surely the teams would never sign up for that? And it must be almost inevitable that something is going to go - China and/or Turkey, perhaps, when their governments won't prop up a poorly attended race anymore.

don't forget Belgium

[Wims]

Originally Posted by Quintin03

Not too sure about that. If Paul Ricard can be used in a version as close as possible to the original then it'll be huge. Plus Bernie likes the place, not just a bit, he owns it.

If you dont think there are several big elevation changes on Magny then I recommend having a look again. TV images can lie a bit, there's actually very significant elevation changes, for example down the hill after t1, down the hill after Adelaide and then back up again after the hairpin in the bottom and of course the hill down towards the start finish straight again. Its not like Spa, but then again only Spa is like Spa. But Magny has more elevation changes than the average F1 track

The fact that BCE owns Paul Richard is making it highly unlikely that F1 will go there, because BCE will never pay the amount of money CVC requires from race organizers.

[Sodemo]

I dislike Magny Cours not because its flat, or produces bad racing, but because its like a big go kart track. The track doesn't go anywhere. It all twists back on itself and is self contained. I like a track to be an adventure out, seeing different scenery, experiencing different weather zones (only spa now really, but Silverstone can have split weather too).

[Wims]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I dislike Magny Cours not because its flat, or produces bad racing, but because its like a big go kart track. The track doesn't go anywhere. It all twists back on itself and is self contained. I like a track to be an adventure out, seeing different scenery, experiencing different weather zones (only spa now really, but Silverstone can have split weather too).

Yeah, I can see that, kinda like Barcelona or Hockenheim.

[JeremySmith]

I like Magny-Cours, bring back the French Grand Prix...

[Rob29]

Originally Posted by I Rosputnik

Could F1 ever go to the Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans?

They did in 1967.I guess facilities for 24hr race would be adequate for F1? I dont see why 22 races should be a problem.Leading teams did that many in 60s including non-championship & tasman series.NASCAR Cup does 38 weekends-only 2 off mid feb to nov

[stripedcat]

I love France to have a Grand Prix again, but not at Magny-Cours! That track is like someone else mentioned just a big go kart circuit, all point and squirt. It is difficult to overtake there. There is only really one place at the end of main straight at the Adelaide hairpin, and even that is tricky as it is a hairpin! Sometimes the last chicane can be - but you have to rely on the driver in front to be asleep! Paul Ricard would be much better, particularly now with all the updated run off areas - I don't know why F1 ever left there. However I accept it is unlikely to ever happen as Bernie was never really keen on F1 at either Paul Ricard or Magny-Cours!

If you want to watch a snore fest watch the 1993 face at Magny-Cours! Okay there have been a few good races(1991 with Mansell and Prost battling, and 2000 with Coultard giving the bird to Schumacher and doing some wheel banging! - but they have been few and far between).

[dyewat808]

Originally Posted by Rob29

They did in 1967.I guess facilities for 24hr race would be adequate for F1? I dont see why 22 races should be a problem.Leading teams did that many in 60s including non-championship & tasman series.NASCAR Cup does 38 weekends-only 2 off mid feb to nov

Yeah I was thinking about NASCAR. Why can they hold that number of weekends and F1 so few - a genuine question btw, not a rhetorical one.

[Ralf's Girl]

I'll confess to knowing diddly squat about NASCAR, but don't they only race in the States? F1 teams have to fly people and equipment back and forth around the globe all year, and increasing the number of races - particularly in far-flung destinations - isn't really the way to cut costs, which they're supposed to at least be trying to do.

[E.B]

Please not Magny Bores again.

We have enough snorefests in F1 without compounding the problem.

[nickyf1]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I dislike Magny Cours not because its flat, or produces bad racing, but because its like a big go kart track. The track doesn't go anywhere. It all twists back on itself and is self contained. I like a track to be an adventure out, seeing different scenery, experiencing different weather zones (only spa now really, but Silverstone can have split weather too).

As Martin Brundle says, great tracks are tracks that go somewhere, then go somewhere else, then come back round. Thats the problem with modern circuits, too sterile, too much of a ''facility'' than a racing circuit.

San Luis would be a great venue for an Argentinian Grand Prix

[Spritle]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I read somewhere that FOTA were "secretly?!" unhappy with the prospect of going to these venues like Russia and Abu Dubai.

That's funny, I am too but it's not a secret.

[Spritle]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

I'll confess to knowing diddly squat about NASCAR, but don't they only race in the States? F1 teams have to fly people and equipment back and forth around the globe all year, and increasing the number of races - particularly in far-flung destinations - isn't really the way to cut costs, which they're supposed to at least be trying to do.

Absolutely and NASCAR does it mostly by driving. With so many races in close geographies, they can actually make a schedule that makes logistic sense. I also can't imagine NASCAR having even 1/2 of the personnel and equipment to tote around, set-up and tear down. Obviously F1 could change that about itself but for the present & near future it isn't going to happen.

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

I'll confess to knowing diddly squat about NASCAR, but don't they only race in the States? F1 teams have to fly people and equipment back and forth around the globe all year, and increasing the number of races - particularly in far-flung destinations - isn't really the way to cut costs, which they're supposed to at least be trying to do.

Yes, NASCAR teams have far shorter distances to travel. The top flight has never held a points paying race outside the US (at least recently), the nearest to that was an exhibition race over 10 years ago at Suzuka (surely a better potential points-paying race that one of those identikit ovals), and a Busch Series (or whatever it's called this week) race at Mexico City, which was quickly junked. They also don't have as much stuff to fly around. F1 can't do a NASCAR style schedule, and it would devalue individual races. I think eighteen to twenty is the optimum region, with seventeen being acceptable. Motor racing, as a sport, cannot revolve around F1 (ignoring NASCAR in North America etc.).

[Ralf's Girl]

That's pretty much what I was thinking, but I thought I'd better check with you knowledgeable chaps that I hadn't completely misinterpreted NASCAR...