hi guys
with the f1 grand prix in Melbourne coming under scrutiny and potentially leaving the city, i thought id put the issue forward to discuss an alternate city/track to host the grand prix. My first thought was surfers paradise, its a glamorous city with babes, brilliant weather and the old track (pre 2010) was a beautiful piece of race track that threw up many brilliant races (with the assistance of rain) in both v8 supercars and champ car (check the links to two of the best champ car races there) i would like to know what other people's thoughts on this are
Marlon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0M7yb1BZHc&feature=fvsr 2002 Champ Car
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrgp7r1QDJk&feature=related 2003 Champ Car
Comments10
Yeah Surfers would be a great race ... and showcase our beach culture... But my ideal F1 Aust Gp would be to share it around each year
Year 1 & 4 - Melbourne (Albert Park)
Year 2 & 5 - Adelaide
Year 3 & 6 - Gold Coast (Surfers)
I reckon crowds would be up in each state as it would only ever 3yrs, all 3 are great tracks in party towns and the V8's can keep the masses entertained as well and for championship points
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another factor we should probably throw in the mix is bernie ecelstone wanting to hold the australian grand prix under lights, we already know that melbourne wont play along, question being will adelaide and surfers?
Sorry lads, i carn't agree with u on this one!
We are all f1 fans, me because it is the pinnacle of open wheeler racing and surfers paradise, well it's not the pinnacle of anything, let alone a place to race the ultimate purpose built race cars...
Sure the v8's can race thier commodores and falcons around there and everyone watching has a skin full and a great time, that's all good, but i live on the gold coast, i've driven around that circuit and it's not a nice drive! It's bumpy as f..k, the roads are covered in paint from pedestrian crossings, and lane marking, it's bloody narrow in parts, it's not a f1 venue.......
I know your going to say "Monaco" yes but monaco has history, it's a beautiful place, the women on tv are beautiful, it has class and style, surfers paradise doesn't have any of those things, it's a shithole ....
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I'm still holding on to my dream of a world class motorsport complex being built in this country...somewhere...anywhere.
A place that would hold our australian grand prix, our moto gp, super bikes, maybe the 500km warm up race to bathurst for the v8's, drag strips and of coarse the worlds best karting track & facilitys, somewhere we can watch a f1 car max out, somewhere that all the f1 drivers talk about wanting to go back to, that ain't ever going to be surfers paradise.
Until that day comes, keep it melbourne.
Phillip Island.
A logistical nightmare but easily the best track in Oz.
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Pakenham :)
Pete I don't believe that you are comparing Apples to Apples with Melb & Adelaide.... The Aust GP when it was in Adelaide was the last race of year rather than the first or second now.. so championsip would be on the line etc plus in the late 80's & early 90's the cars were alot more even and there was no shortage of great drivers... Now in Melb half the cars are still not reading to race and generally don't see the distance plus the top 4-5 cars and miles ahead of the rest.
If Melbourne was the last race of year Imagine the crowds in 2010 with Webber's title on the line !!!!!!
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I was lucky enough to go a couple of times to adelaide and yes it was a great event but the game has changed so much since the last race in 94/95 .....Pete Mitchell said:
Adelaide is the only place where F1 could be held but they have the v8's now and the size of the city wouldnt allow for them to run both events.
Adelaide was definately the this countries best F1 circuit.The greats of F1 all claimed it to be one of their favourite tracks Senna, Piquet, Prost, Alesi, Berger, Mansell, Hackinen, Schumaker etc etc. The history made their was huge in such a short amount of years and many races were memorable and a couple of championship deciders.
Melbourne has nothing on Adelaide and most races there are forgetable as is the track itself.
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Adelaide couldn't have both Clipsal and F1. The wowsers that live in or near the parklands would be the first hurdle and it's a big one.Â
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For me Clispal is the event for Adelaide over F1. For $285 you get 4 days of action, reserved seat on Turn 7, the chicks, big screen, undercover, 7 or 8 categories, the chicks, concerts every night (pretty ordinary this year though) walking distance to CBD and crap Public Transport oh and the Chicks. For the same in melbourne or F1 in australia would cost around $500, only get 3 or 4 categories and it's full of Victorians!!! ;-)
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Surfers would be good if the track wasn't so bumpy, Philip Island would be great but couldn't handle 180,000 on Race day Sunday. Overseas it goes i would say. Somewhere where the $$ are and the Politics isn't
I'm happy for Australia to let another country have the F1 GP. Bernie has made it simply too expensive to host. The so-called economic benefit is massively overstated. If we pay $50mil for the race, business needs to make approximately $170mil in extra *profit* for the tax to cover the event's cost. How much turnover do melbourne businesses need to do in order to generate $170mil of extra profit? $500mil? $1bil?
i agree with phillip island def aus best track n if its good enough for superbikes n moto gp then go the f1 there its rated as one of the most favorite tracks amongst all moto gp riders
The rightful home of F1 ins Australia is Adelaide. I would like to see it go back there as a night race only. Melbourne is a good locale for the F1 ad no great need to change that.