Why IndyCar can't have a race at ....

[rwintle]

Edmonton died because of money, at least according to the promoter.

Montreal is difficult because IIRC the city allows only two motorsport events per year and F1 is already one of them. The now-departed NASCAR Nationwide/Rolex Grand Am weekend was the second but I can't think of anything that has replaced that.

Given the geographic distribution of motorsport fans in Canada, a second Canadian round would make most sense in Quebec, not British Columbia, I think. Possibilities might be the horrible airport circuit at Mirabel, a.k.a. Circuit ICAR, or the one everyone would like to see, Mont Tremblant - which has its own suite of problems (i.e., it's adjacent to a lot of rich residential estate owners that don't like noise).

[gloomerize]

Originally Posted by rwintle

Edmonton died because of money, at least according to the promoter.

Montreal is difficult because IIRC the city allows only two motorsport events per year and F1 is already one of them. The now-departed NASCAR Nationwide/Rolex Grand Am weekend was the second but I can't think of anything that has replaced that.

Given the geographic distribution of motorsport fans in Canada, a second Canadian round would make most sense in Quebec, not British Columbia, I think. Possibilities might be the horrible airport circuit at Mirabel, a.k.a. Circuit ICAR, or the one everyone would like to see, Mont Tremblant - which has its own suite of problems (i.e., it's adjacent to a lot of rich residential estate owners that don't like noise).

Thank you for your reply.

Other than Canadian NASCAR, I'm not sure what else it could be that fills the second event slot so the optimist in me is satisfied. (though WEC at that circuit would be pretty cool too; it's the best F1 race imo, so I'd rather they didn't leave)

Would Trois-Rivières present similar obstacles to Montréal, given that it's a street circuit that already hosts two race events (albeit over the one week/end)? I don't know whether or not the residents there are more forgiving to having motorsport + noise on their doorstop than those in Mont-Tremblant or what restrictions the city puts on events. Not sure, if this is the right place to ask, right enough, but someone out there might know.

[rwintle]

Originally Posted by gloomerize

Thank you for your reply.

Other than Canadian NASCAR, I'm not sure what else it could be that fills the second event slot so the optimist in me is satisfied. (though WEC at that circuit would be pretty cool too; it's the best F1 race imo, so I'd rather they didn't leave)

Would Trois-Rivières present similar obstacles to Montréal, given that it's a street circuit that already hosts two race events (albeit over the one week/end)? I don't know whether or not the residents there are more forgiving to having motorsport + noise on their doorstop than those in Mont-Tremblant or what restrictions the city puts on events. Not sure, if this is the right place to ask, right enough, but someone out there might know.

I'd forgotten about Trois-Rivières. Don't know much about it... maybe someone else who knows more can weigh in?

Ferrari Challenge might be another one for Montreal - they've run in support of F1 before though so might stay there. Not sure if they could carry a whole weekend though. The Tudor series would be the other obvious choice for a weekend there. Grand Am ran on the Nationwide weekend in years past.

[Mies7337]

Trois-Rivieres seems like a good track, but then there are a few tracks where the Indycar isn't able to put on a good show.
More Brazilian/Argentinian/South-American races would be welcome I think, lots of money invested in the motorsport is coming from South America, so there should be more races, I think.
Maybe even a second race in Long Beach in one weekend???

[10TENTHS]

Originally Posted by rwintle

I'd forgotten about Trois-Rivières. Don't know much about it... maybe someone else who knows more can weigh in?

Indy Lights and Pro Mazda used to run there. Too small for Indycar.

[racerkeke]

Trois-Rivières is indeed too small for IndyCars. Apparently the problems are two-fold: the first is the width under the iconic arch that forms the braking zone into T3. The second is the radius of the hairpin before the start-finish line. Both of these issues were identified back in the CART days.
keke

PS. Re Edmonton, I'm sure the promoter said it was money. The (Montreal-based) promoter refused to source much of its infrastructure locally, bringing ALL of it from Montreal, including staff. That's a huge waste of money right there.

[10TENTHS]

Originally Posted by racerkeke

Re Edmonton, I'm sure the promoter said it was money. The (Montreal-based) promoter refused to source much of its infrastructure locally, bringing ALL of it from Montreal, including staff. That's a huge waste of money right there.

Octane went broke (they also promoted the Nascar Nationwide race at Montreal, which is why that disappeared at the same time as Edmonton).

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Mies7337

Trois-Rivieres seems like a good track, but then there are a few tracks where the Indycar isn't able to put on a good show.
More Brazilian/Argentinian/South-American races would be welcome I think, lots of money invested in the motorsport is coming from South America, so there should be more races, I think.
Maybe even a second race in Long Beach in one weekend???

I don't like the idea of a double-header at Long Beach and it doesn't address the problem of opening up the series and racing at other venues.

[Purist]

The road into and out of the hairpin at Trois Rivieries is wide enough that the inner radius is certainly navigable. Also, in a single-class race of high-horsepower cars, Turn 3 is a VERY unlikely overtaking point.

Considering the ALMS made Trois Rivieres work with 25-30-car grids, and four classes of traffic to navigate, I think IndyCar could manage alright. It would be a HUGE improvement over either Bayfront Park street circuit in Miami (2002, 2003), not to mention the mess in San Jose in 2005. Thankfully, San Jose's issues were rectified for 2006-07, unlike Miami.

P.S. I don't really care for a double-header in Long Beach either. If the series wants X number of races, it should demonstrate that it's worth enough to get a race at X number of venues.

[Yannick]

Originally Posted by Purist

P.S. I don't really care for a double-header in Long Beach either. If the series wants X number of races, it should demonstrate that it's worth enough to get a race at X number of venues.

I agree. Also, a race at Reliant Park is better than a calendar that's one event short. So if Michael Lanigan can make it work again for 2016, a comeback of Houston would be welcome, even though it's my least favourite track from the Verizon IndyCar Series calender of recent years.