| Author | Message | ||
     Skeeter_xb |
George: Chances Of Indy USGP Better Than 50-50 by dean adams Tuesday, March 20, 2007 As a guest on Dave Despain's Wind Tunnel television show on Sunday night, Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George spoke about the possible USGP at IMS in 2008. In the interview, conducted by Despain, George stated that IMS looked at both World Superbike and MotoGP when they were considering adding a motorcycle round to their schedule, and that through "due diligence" they "settled on MotoGP". George said that they did have discussions with World Superbike regarding a 2008 round at IMS. Asked by Despain to give his opinion of the likelihood of the facility holding a MotoGP round in 2008, George said "probably better than 50-50." | ||
| Jaimec |
I can't wait! I'll be there!! | ||
| Jimidan |
It would appear that IMS could not meet the strict safety criteria of MotoGP...I remember when a couple of AMA Superbike riders took some laps a while back, and all of the talk about how dangerous it is. I would prefer to see MotoGP at Road Atlanta, or even Road America, where they could stretch the legs of the machines. IMS isn't safe for cars. | ||
| Macbuell |
There is no way they could race at Road Atlanta. There isn't enough run off and there is a wall on outside of Turn 12 that scares the crap out of most sane riders. I've heard that they are planning on restructuring that corner and making some other improvements. If they do that, maybe Road Atlanta could be a destination for Moto GP. I'd love for that to happen because Road Atlanta is a nice track with all the elevation changes. | ||
| Jaimec |
Jimidan, where did you hear that IMS could not meet Dorna's safety criteria? | ||
| Jaimec |
This article from March 10 of this year states "Safety is NOT a problem:" http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID= 10563 | ||
| Jackbequick |
Here is a track map of sorts, it would be run clockwise as you see it here to avoid having to make a hard left onto the banking as mentioned in the article that Jaime linked: http://www.usgpindy.com/modules/images/trackmap/us gp05-map-lrg.jpg Nice enough to have another U.S. GP but that is not my idea of a great track layout, not very many turns and way too few elevation changes. Jack (Message edited by jackbequick on March 26, 2007) | ||
| Holling |
The reason Moto GP would be run at Indy IMHO is money. That is one of the few tracks that can pack in thousands of dollars, (fans). As a racer's track it sucks. Why do think F1 races there and not a real road course like Road America? | ||
| Bads1 |
If Road America spent the money for garages and such I bet they'd be close to signing a deal. They have the room no doubt. | ||
| Rocketsprink |
Indy sucks as a Track to watch car races. Would suck even more for bikes. Unless you just want to see them on the banked turns. Road America would be a MUCH better choice. | ||
| Davegess |
Road America is removing a bridge that was an issue and should have this done very soon. The biggest issue they has was the Kink after the Carousel, they have "fixed" this with a chicane but I think the MotoGP people did not like this fix and RA was unwilling to spend the money to move the fast amount of dirt needed to give it some run off and unable to move it the other way because of a trout stream. I think the big sticking point was the cost versus how many years they would get a contract for. I would love to see the bikes come over the hill down to 5. | ||
| Rocketsprink |
Oh Hell Yeah to that!! | ||
| Bomber |
RA is a jewel! it'd be great to see more action there | ||
| Bads1 |
I know that they also had a complaint about how much run off some of the corners had. RA could do it just like Laguna did. Yamaha helped them,maybe Honda or Suzuki could help RA. | ||
| Holling |
What about that new race track in Salt Lake area. Miller Motorsports park. Its supposed to be state of the art. Hasn't AMA superbike raced there already? | ||
| Captnemo |
Barber needs a mention as well. With 2 NASCAR races a year at Talladega and college football, the hotel lodging isn't a problem for thew area. Barber is nicer than some of the golf courses I've been to. | ||
| Jaimec |
That's all well and good, but the ONLY East Coast track in discussions with Dorna is Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Dream all you want, but none of the other tracks you mention are in contention at the moment. | ||
| Bads1 |
And yet that is not understandable considering Indy hasn't even hosted motorcycle's in a coon's age. | ||
| Rocketsprink |
That and the fact that their track sucks and is a piece of crap geared toward roundy-roundy racing which also sucks @ss IMHO of course | ||
| Jaimec |
But Indianapolis is the only track in the country that can host the kinds of crowds MotoGP can draw. If you looked at the numbers in Jerez, for example, they estimated 138,000 people. On their BEST day, Laguna Seca could barely deal with HALF that many people. Indianapolis is the ONLY track in the country with the size and resources to host crowds of that size (assuming it would attract that many in NASCAR country). Right now as it stands, I would think the current layout would favor the hp-heavy Ducatis, but who knows what the grid will look like in the summer of 2008? | ||
| Rocketsprink |
I agree with you on the capacity issue and the "ability" to handle the amount of people. But that is also a problem. You won't fill but have the place because Motorcycle racing, at least roadracing isn't followed here. Road America is a rather large, spread out facility that I think is much better suited for the riders and the fans. MotoGP and banked turns? They're worried out run off at other facilities? Sorry, but F' up on the banking and you're dead. I would imagine they'd have tire issues just like AMA Superbikes at Daytona. Plus, who wants to cross a brick finish line on a bike at 200mph? | ||
| Jaimec |
By reversing the F1 course, they are reducing the speeds on the only banked turn on the course (you won't have a long straight leading in to it). As for the bricks... do they really have bricks on the infield course? How do the F1 cars handle it? | ||
| Jackbequick |
They have one yard of bricks left at the start/finish line, you can see them in this photo. No problem with the bricks, they just drive over them. The majority of the remainder of the 3.2 million bricks that they started with are still beneath the asphalt and concrete in the present surface. Great tradition and nice race track, just not my idea of a great place for motorcycle road racing. My Dad went to the Indy 500 as a mechanic for an Offenhauser powered car driven by Wilbur Shaw in the 1930's. He also spent about two seasons on the road as a racing mechanic on Offy powered race cars and midgets. He used to get a far off look in his eye when he talked about it. He occasionally mentioned some more fondly remembered details, like being a guest at a Polish wedding in Milwaukee that lasted for about a week. Jack (Message edited by jackbequick on April 03, 2007) | ||
| Jaimec |
Hmmm... I don't see as to how those bricks would be an issue for the motorcycles then. It's not like they're in the curves. | ||
| Davegess |
I don't think RA would have any issue with the crowds. The Indy car race used to pull 90,000 people back in the day. The track has way better parking and traffic routing than Laguna. They can send cars out out of the place from 5 different exits onto 3 different routes to the main highway. | ||
| Rasta_dog |
I've never been to Europe, but how are the facilities where they race better suited to handle the number of spectators than at Miller Motor Sports Park or Road America? Aren't the places they race in Europe in the boonies too? You couldn't put a race any closer to me than Indy, but it wouldn't be the as good as having it at a road course. No way. | ||
| Bads1 |
The races in Europe and other countries have garage's. RA doesn't have them.... yet. They are however spending millions over the coarse of the next couple years. One they just put in more padock paved space and also revamped critical parts of the track and have put in a very nice medical facility last year. There going to do much more in coming years. I think RA is not yet ready for GP but will be in a couple years without doubt. | ||
| Jaimec |
What I find particularly interesting is that tracks regularly used for AMA Superbike are deemed "unsafe" for MotoGP. With Superbike speeds now surpassing the speeds of the 800cc MotoGP bikes, something's gotta give... | ||
| Davegess |
With the exception of Laguna (and this is very marginal) NO American tracks meet MotoGP standards for safety, track configuration, nor for amenities for teams and VIPs. I think Barber is thought too slow, does it have permanant garages? Road America lacks permanent garages and has a couple of safety issues that they are addressing. I don't know the setup at Miller in Utah. Laguna has issues with track surface and fan access although I think fan access is down the list of concerns for the MotoGP boys as long as they can helicopter in they are not too worried about traffic jams. I don't think any of the other tracks are even close enough on safety to get looked at. From a safety standpoint it really comes down to how much money is available and MotoGP has a ton more than AMA Superbike. | ||
| Blublak |
Superbike speeds are surpassing GP Speeds? - That's odd, I thought the 800cc bikes were already as fast, if not faster then the 990cc bikes.. But then again, since the GP bikes keep setting new lap records... Does that mean that each class of racing now keeps separate lap records? As far as speed and safety. Only one rider has ever died riding MotoGP. What other organization can say that? So it would appear that they have a VERY good handle on what is safe and what is not. I wonder how many riders have died in AMA and the Club level races in the US? I'll bet it's more then MotoGP and I don't think they are quite as fast or as far 'out there' when it comes to riding prototype/one off machines. |
