Comments on: F1 blogs review: Champ Car and IRL merge

By: crossomotive

crossomotive — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:32:34 +0000

I agree. it was a race in Spain (Jerez). I was thinking in going to Jerez that day,

By: Gman

Gman — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:11:15 +0000

Also, I did get a good laugh out of the video-entertaining, and quite a far cry from the McLaren corporate image that he sported not that long ago.

Dose anyone out there care to guess Ron’s reaction when this pops up on his screen in the offices at Woking?

By: Gman

Gman — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:56:28 +0000

Quite an interesting take on the staff changes at F1 Racing- I just picked up my first copy of that publication back in November, and have recently been considering subscribing to it- here in the states it seems to hit newsstands a month late. I don’t recall the comments made about Ralf, but that certainly is bad taste to use language like that in a quality publication.

And I should admit that I did find it sadly amusing that Hamilton was on the first cover after the season ended, with the newly-crowned champ shoved to the bottom of the cover. As a student of communications, I understand that a British publication needs to appeal to it’s home market, but give Kimi his due. I’m far from being a Tifosi, but I should note that Raikkonen diden’t get the cover to himself until the February issue!!

Here’s to better days ahead for F1 Racing Magazine, and to continued success for F1Fanatic!!

By: Obster

Obster — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:30:49 +0000

This merger really needed to happen.Years ago, here in the US, the sport of boxing went through the same type of split. You never knew who was the true champion-there were always two!
I do not think it is a matter of open wheel racing “challenging” the supremacy of NASCAR-they were always two different animals-but it is easier as a fan to follow and be interested in the sport.
The schedule will benefit, too. Some of the races in Champcar were kind of boring-Portland and some of the street circuits. And some of the IRL events seemed ill-conceived-Richmond, for example.
It was a happy week to see this happen.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:07:54 +0000

Yes, chunter, but IRL prevailed given to Indy 500 long-praised tradition. Champ Car seasons seemed empty without Indianapolis, to an extent that made many top Champ Car drivers, like Montoya (2000) and Castroneves (2001), had one-off IRL entries and won at Indy…

By: chunter

chunter — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:04:48 +0000

I’m happy for the merger but I think there’s too much emphasis on the IRL side of it.
Champ Car was the superior series, with the more interesting car (IRL Dallaras look seriously dated) and more interesting schedule. They were also starting to have quite a bit of success in expanding into Europe, and I wonder if quite a few promoters have now lost their investments.
Maybe IRL will work push-to-pass into their road races, and change their habit of calling full-course cautions on every bump, because quite frankly, IRL road races suck.

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:51:27 +0000

After the 1997 F1 race (which was infamous for more than one reason!) there was an incident on the podium involving the mayor of Jerez. Something to do with him insisting that he should be a part of the proceedings. The FIA were very unhappy – they take the podium ceremony very seriously (Austria ’02 and Turkey ’06 are further examples) – and Jerez were apparently told they wouldn’t hold another F1 race.

With Catalunya on the F1 calendar until 2016 and the Circuito Urbano Valencia only joining this year I don’t think there’s room on the calendar for Jerez.

By: Vertigo

Vertigo — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:37:07 +0000

How come F1 doesn’t race at Jerez any more? It’s clearly safe enough otherwise it wouldn’t be used for testing.

By: frecon

frecon — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:04:22 +0000

I’m very confused. In the 2008 race events of the Champ Car website
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Event/EventSchedule.asp?Year=2008

is schelued Jerez, but the info about the event was erased, so i think Jerez could be out of the calendar. I guess if a new category is going to be created, this info is no valid anymore. I was very exicted with going to Jerez champ car race.

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:05:30 +0000

Champ Car went to Zolder (Belgium) and Assen (Netherlands) last year and were supposed to this year. But I would be very surprised if the European rounds were carried onto the IRL calendar and I don’t think they’ll be adding a Jerez event.

Which is a shame for Jerez, because I don’t think it sees any top single-seater series these days. But I do think it’s much better suited to motorbike racing than cars.