Is this the real Reason the Texas GP is under threat?

[gethinceri]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-15806133

An interesting investment opportunity, where do these people scrape the money from?
Anybody know any more about this?

 

[RasputinLives]

I've always said we should tell the FIA that all the nations of the United Kingdom are independent and then we could have an English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish Grand Prix

 

[teabagyokel]

A Welsh Grand Prix? That would be fantastic!

(although there should be a French Grand Prix)

 

[Jen]

A Welsh Grand Prix? That would be fantastic!

(although there should be a French Grand Prix)

What would the grid 'babes' wear? And which minuscule slot in the unpredictable weather would it happen?

 

[teabagyokel]

What would the grid 'babes' wear? And which minuscule slot in the unpredictable weather would it happen?

Its like Spa. They guarantee a wet race!

And, obviously, the native dress. Overcoat!

 

[Jen]

Overcoat with the pointy hat?

 

[RasputinLives]

With leeks on!

Having lived in Wales I can concour that it would be unfourtunate if the Grand Prix was planned between September and May.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

This article caught my attention due to a conversation I had with a Texan out in Monaco three weeks ago: http://en.espnf1.com/usa/motorsport/story/81615.html. The conversation was about local support vs. tourist support and centred around whether the local community would support the event and whether the race would survive if they didn't. This article shows that they are selling many more of the expensive reserve seats than they thought they would, which financially sounds great. People coming to pay to sit in the stands probably have more money in there pockets and will give a bigger short-term boost to the local economy. The flipside of this is the cost of the cheap seats and general admission. He told me that motor-racing in the US is generally a family affair - something that you can turn up to in your station wagon and enjoy relatively cheaply on a family day-ticket. Apparently you can bring your whole family along to a Nascar event for about the same price as a single general admission ticket for the F1 race. Now, unless the race is made significantly more accessible to Average Joe or unless the economy boost is significant and disruption minimal then the event will quickly become something that the locals resent.

There is clearly an interesting balancing act in holding a Formula 1 event. I don't offer any conclusions but just thought I would share my thoughts with you all. What do you guys think? I know we have some Americans here, do we have any Texans?

 

[Mephistopheles]

Wales can host the European Grand Prix it would be a hundred times better than Valencia.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Welsh grid chick

 

[gethinceri]

Pass the tissues.

 

[Jen]

Got a cold Geth?

 

[soccerman17]

NASCAR and Indycar tickets are a lot less expensive I think ours are about half the F1 general admission tickets and that's for the top row of the grandstands so we get a better view and a nice breeze. I don't think the whole Yexas community will behind it but there will be enough people with the money or just goin on a father son trip without the females to make it work anyways.

 

[sportsman]

Austin GP three day general admission $159 That converts to £101.

http://circuitoftheamericas.com/tickets

 

[teabagyokel]

F1 needs to be rethinking its approach to the US, entirely. For example, don't charge too much, don't stage dead heats and ABSOLUTELY DO NOT allow 18 cars to withdraw. Especially if you've not told the customers its going to happen!

 

[soccerman17]

Two things Americans want from the race: cheap tickets and good racing. The latter has been the problem most places but I have a feeling its gonna be the tickets in Texas, maybe both actually.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I think Bernie will shoe horn an American driver into F1 before next season...

 

[soccerman17]

Give Rossi and Daly a few years and they could be there both very talented.