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Formula 1 circuits that never were (12 posts)

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Prisoner Monkeys said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

School holidays have just begun, and that means I’m already bored. No school means no work. No work means my mind tends to wander, and I started thinking about this proposal for a race in London that most people believe will never thinking. Following that thought through to its conclusion, I started wondering about circuits that were planned to host Grand Prix, but never actually happened. And while trawling the internet waiting for something to happen, I found a lap of the Moscow Raceway, which Wikipedia tells me was intended to host the Russian Grand Prix in 2010, but – for reasons the article never makes clear – obviously never eventuated. Even travelling at 100km/h, there’s some tricky-looking corners there. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like at race speeds, until I found out that Formula Renault 3.5 is heading there later this month (becoming the first major international motorsport series to race in Russia, no less), so at least my curiosity will be satisfied.

But what other circuits are there that were planned to hold races, but they ultimately fell through?

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AdrianMorse said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

No work means my mind tends to wander

I’m trying to think of something funny to say to connect to your usual loquaciousness in the months September to June, but I’ve got nothing.

As something remotely relevant to the thread, in the nineties the Zandvoort circuit was revamped and there had been talk of “now we are ready to get back the Grand Prix again”, which never materialised as unfortunately it’s not a particularly brilliant track, and probably too small and narrow for F1 cars anyway.

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necrodethmortem said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

Not sure I’d get bored in Australia, even in winter. Anyways, Autopolis in Japan springs to mind. I don’t feel it’s a big loss since I’d rate it somewhere on par with the Tilkenized Fuji. Not bad, but can’t hold a candle to Suzuka.

There’s also a bunch of them that never got materialized, like Les Mureaux and Velociudad Speedcity. Glad nobody got it in their heads to build those atrocities.

Oh and the Mexican Grand Prix at Cancun.

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craig-o said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

Donington is the only one that jumps out for me… I also believe there was meant to be a Romanian GP in Bucharest…

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Spinmastermic said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

Tilke drew up plans for an A1 GP around the streets of Dublin. Monaco without the yachts.

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Prisoner Monkeys said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

I believe there were also plans for a Grand Prix in Lebanon – in Beirut, I tihnk – back in 2004, but it never happened.

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necrodethmortem said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

Dubai Autodrome and Losail are the only tracks which currently currently FIA Grade 1 status that haven’t ever held an F1 GP. And since you need to specifically ask the FIA to get the grade, it means they want an F1 race.

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Prisoner Monkeys said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

And since you need to specifically ask the FIA to get the grade, it means they want an F1 race.

I don’t think it’s as definite as that. Perhaps they simply want the option of hosting Formula 1 in the future.

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necrodethmortem said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

@prisoner-monkeys Why not get the license later then? Maybe it’s already expired by the time they get the race and those things don’t come cheap.

I suspect they wanted to serve as a backup plan for Bahrain.

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Prisoner Monkeys said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

Here’s a few that I found online:

Cape Town – http://www.etracksonline.co.uk/News/images/capetown.gif

Disneyland Paris – http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7228/7084275519_6facf3fc1b.jpg

Balearic Islands – http://s1.aecdn.com/images/news/mallorca-targets-f1-race-in-2013-or-2014-21973_1.jpg

Nagatino Island (Moscow) – http://www.etracksonline.co.uk/News/images/nagatino.gif

Somewhere in Greece – http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X_LzGS303Dc/Tc2DltVXFeI/AAAAAAAACV4/2bKRP7Gpj2o/s1600/assets_LARGE_t_1041_336580_.jpg

Tor Poznań, Poland – http://s1.blomedia.pl/autokult.pl/images/2012/01/fot-simracingpl-.gif

Beirut – http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af142/bullheadpics/Picture0002-1.jpg

And these are just the ones that got to the stage where they had circuit plans drawn up.

Why not get the license later then? Maybe it’s already expired by the time they get the race and those things don’t come cheap.

Because that would mean making changes to the circuit at a later date. It would be cheaper and easier – especially in the long term – to build the circuit to Grade-1 standards to begin with.

Because despite your claims that they absolutely want a Grand Prix, they have never put orward a bid to have one. Losail was briefly mentioned as a potential alternative venue in the event this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix fell through, but that’s it.

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DamionShadows said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

Autopolis, in Japan, wasn’t built specifically for Formula One, but was intended to hold a future F1 event. Even though they were a sponsor of the ’90 and ’91 Benetton team, the only International race held there was one WSC race. It’s still open but it holds mostly regional events like Super GT and such.

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necrodethmortem said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

Because that would mean making changes to the circuit at a later date. It would be cheaper and easier – especially in the long term – to build the circuit to Grade-1 standards to begin with.

Because despite your claims that they absolutely want a Grand Prix, they have never put orward a bid to have one. Losail was briefly mentioned as a potential alternative venue in the event this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix fell through, but that’s it.

I didn’t say they desperately want a GP, I didn’t even imply it. What I mean is that, the way I understand the FIA Grade licenses work, you ask for an inspection for a certain grade, not that the FIA looks around and decides it’s a 1, 2 or 3. So even if they — understandably — opted to build a track that is good enough for Grade 1, there’s no need to have that license until you actually are willing to host F1, because a Grade 1 license is considerably more expensive.

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