french grand prix

[Bononi]

Originally posted by ljakse
A bit off topic:

Bon, where did you get that picture from?

Here:Paul Ricard HTTT

Official Paul Ricard site

[Smokey 6 litre]

French GP given a deadline of the 12th December!!!

[chunterer]

Be nice if it moves, but Magny cours is ok, certainly from spectator point of view. Went in '94. and you can see loads of the track from the top of bank along the straight. It was a shame as a few of us had booked the travel in January expecting a Senna Schuey Lehto Hill etc.. of course evetns transpired to prevent this!

Be nice if Ricard gets the nod on the 12th!

[chunterer]

oops should say senna schuey lehto hill battle!

[alonso11]

The British organizers selling GP tickets for a provisional July 11th date and it even seems to affect the MotoGp calendar,the French organizers still havn't gave it up yet and there is some chance that the GP will be saved.We will see the final calendar on friday anyway...

'We are making progress on our financial aid,' motor sports federation president Jacques Regis told the country's L'Equipe newspaper.'A bit of patience yet,' Regis concluded

source

[alonso11]

Today the World Council placed Magny-Cours back in the provisional calendar (with the note: subject to confirmation) the organizers' new and final deadline is 2003 december the 31st.

[alonso11]

French Formula One Grand Prix to take place in July
A record 18 races in 2004 (F1 teams still have to agree though since 18 race a season is againts the Concorde Agreement)

[Shoe-maker]

I like Magny-Cours. When its really hot it usually produces an exciting and dramatic race from the point of view of tyres, like in 2000.

[Adam43]

FWIW. Today Autosport.com thinks it is back off!

http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.asp?id=25581&s=5

The government of the Burgundy region (in which the Magny-Cours circuit is to be found) has voted against making a two million euro contribution that was to form part of the rescue package announced by the French motorsport authority (FFSA) on Friday.

[Super Tourer]

Yep, we've made the point in the past that in reality few governments will expend public money to support a 'sporting event' that is so obviously awash with money.

The fact that the races are unviable is largely due to the 'take' that the circuits receive from each race, which IIRC is only pure gate money, with trackside advertising, etc going to Allsport and others.

In the new GPWC/SLEC deal, it looks as if the teams will receive more from the 'whole' F1 income, I haven't seen mention of the circuits though.

[Logrence]

There will be a GP at Paul Ricard unless someone in the French Government stumps up a lot of baloogey. How do I know this? Because Bernie Ecclestone owns Paul Ricard. Gosh! What a coincidence.

As regards infrastructure - it is a problem, because the track was conceived entirely as a test track, but I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to knock up a few grandstands around the place, truck in some loos, that sort of thing.

And the run off area - it was some kind of experiment at the circuit - the blue paint is high friction strips that apparently work better than gravel and have led to the introduction of the high friction tarmac runoffs at circuits like Hockenheim and Silverstone...

[Logrence]

Oh yeah - I remember reading about it in a magazine - apparently the circuit has been designed to not need marshals...

[ss_collins]

1km maximum straight? I knew of a ruling on 1 mile... but 1km? Hanger Straight (silverstone), Sepang, Barcelona all have straights over 1km surely

[crozier74]

Just thinking up a list of other decent national/international French tracks. Le Mans Bugatti and Paul Ricard seem to be definite possibilities to replace Magny-Cours. Here's a few more I feel. Some are a bit short and don't have the facilites, but hey I've included them just for a bit of fun. Just imaginee the F1 GP at these tracks...

Albi?
Charade?
Dijon-Prenois?
Pau?
Nogaro?
Val de Vienne?

Here's a list of all the tracks in France, so you can see for yourself, the existing tracks are in Yellow - http://www.racingcircuits.net/France/index.html

[Logrence]

Yes, but how many of them will Bernie Ecclestone directly profit from?

You're missing the point that money means everything in this sport...

[crozier74]

Not missing the point, just having a laugh and a dream

Of all the serious prospects (Le Mans, Paul Ricard, Magny) I hope Paul Ricard gets it, as its a cracker of a circuit, even if any move is financially motivated.

[Mark Webber]

won't Paul Richard give Toyota a huge edge as that is there test track?

[Cougar]

has anyone got the length of the straight yet?

I can see the runway is 5741ft = 1750meters = 1.08miles in length ... the straight seems a tad shorter than that though...

Originally posted by crozier74
Unfortunately, the FIA have a stupid rule in place about straights not being more than 1km in length. Does anyone know how long that backstraight is, 'cos if it's more than 1km then they might have to use one of those stupid chicanes halfway down it. Would be brilliant if they could use the whole thing

I'd love to see the French GP at Paul Ricard. It's a much better track than Le Mans Bugatti and Magny-Cours, shame about the spectator situation. I've made this point in the other French GP thread. But the GP at Pau, now that would be something!

BTW, beautiful photo, Bononi