Track Tac

F1 and the United States total lack of participation.

alvin l nunley

alvin l nunley

Site Supporter
If Italy can produce the Ferrari, and Germany can produce the Mercedes, why in the world can't the United States produce a good F1 car and driver?

Funny how we can produce a really nice race track, (Austin Texas) but we can't produce an F1 car or an F1 driver. Anybody have any thoughts?
 
Haas is producing neither car or engine package that I am aware of.
Using Ferrari engines.

Can't or won't is probably correct. Can you even imagine the cost to field a team (even buying all the parts from existing teams) let alone designing, testing, and producing your own stuff?
 
Because so much of our population is obsessed with "500 miles of left turns" instead???
I love watching things like the Isle of Man TT's, Road racing cars and bikes, and even the Nascar events that run road courses. Aside from the later, they hardly ever make TV though(scratches head).
 
I don't think road racing is much fun to watch and that's why there's not more of it. Nobody's going to put "big" money into something, very few in the country care about.
 
Trickdaddy8 said:
Why don't we have European NASCAR teams?? Same reason there is no F1 here. Not much interest!!
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This makes sense but we get our technology from F1... everyone does... Also, McLaren/Mercedes loses money every year they run their car... 1 billion initial investment and you don't break even for an event if you win...

The other one is indy car. Once USAC and Indy split we haven't had a REAL driver make his way into the indy car ranks. Wish they would get back together.
 
Trickdaddy8 said:
Why don't we have European NASCAR teams?? Same reason there is no F1 here. Not much interest!!
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there's enough interest to keep it on television even though most of the races are shown at 3-7 o'clock in the morning. There's enough interest that they built a beautiful track in Austin. I've heard nothing about the track being in financial straights. Advertisers like it, their ads get shown all around the world. And those ads, more than likely, don't cost as much as one at the Super Bowl. That may not be a good example because the Super Bowl gets watched all around the world.

Another thing, there's no Americans in it. No cars, no engines, no drivers. What's to be interested in. I wonder if anybody, other than kart drivers, understands F1 and the challenges the mechanics and drivers face.
 
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114390

This article is old, and it's now a done deal between Haas and Ferrari, but it describes the technical alliance. Haas will use Ferrari power units (engine, KERS, etc.) and certain parts and pieces around the car, as allowed by rules, but will build the chassis and certain parts and pieces itself.

The shop in Kannapolis, NC will serve as the headquarters and factory while the old Marussia shop in Banbury (UK) will serve as the "jumping off point" during the European portions of the season for race preparation.

Interestingly, I read that the testing limits will not apply to them until 2016, so as soon as they have their 2016 car ready they can start testing and shaking it down. Unfortunately that likely won't happen until December. Still, a free month of shake down testing will be valuable for a start-up team.
 
Sad thing there is no interest in F1 here in the States. The absolute upper echelon of Motorsports. Europe, though, has grown up over the years on Road Courses, not Ovals. So I guess it makes sense they should be better at that than we are. Besides, a totally European designed and built car, using European dollars to startup and finance the operation? This isn't the Mario Andretti days of the 70's. IMO won't happen. We as a society would rather throw $100M at a convict Defensive Lineman from Detroit when he hits the free agent market. Bill Gates could do it, but even he would be aghast at how much it costs to fund a F1 team. I heard the Ferrari yearly beer budget is more than Hendrick spend on 4 teams total all year.
 
I think there is a simple answer here.

Why is football so popular as a spectator sport? Because it's available to everyone with a football, some friends, and a field. They can play it, and then they can watch the pros and learn from the best. They play as kids in middle school, high school, college, etc.

Why is racing not so popular as a spectator sport in the United States? Because it's not as readily available. Kids do not play it in middle school and high school. They grew up with a different hobby, why would they suddenly switch? What reason is there for that?

SO, how do we fix this? It's simple: MAKE IT AVAILABLE TO PEOPLE AS KIDS. Once the kids take interest, they will get hooked. They will grow up racing. They will watch the pros so they can learn from the best. They will have kids, and they will teach their kids to race.

How do we make it available? OPEN MORE TRACKS! Make it affordable for people to get into and stick with! Once there is a demand for racing in the US, it WILL grow! People will sell you whatever you want as long as they can profit!

I'm a racing fan like everyone else on this forum. I don't personally own any karts. I grew up on bikes, so that's why I have bikes now. I'm trying desperately to open an indoor kart track in Pulaski, Virginia. March is a CRUCIAL month as we are holding a track credit pre sale. The outcome of the pre sale determines whether or not we can open our doors.

Please, if you have ANY interest check us out.

Link for the pre-sale: https://peakcreekgp.tilt.com/peak-creek-grand-prix

Link to our Facebook page with a bunch of information for you to chew on: https://www.facebook.com/PeakCreekGP
 
There's better racing to watch in the U.S. than F1. To me, F1 is sheer boredom, in even if you watch strictly road racing. To me, Sportscars are far better to watch on road courses in the US.
 
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