TBK-Light.com

regardless if we are talking about F1 or NASCAR - it's all about the market.

as a example: while for you or me, Watkins Glen might be perfect for F1 - but that's not the clientele that Liberty want for new races. The rich folk and celebs that Liberty is trying to sell these overpriced tickets to aren't going to go when the 3 closest airports (within 1 hour & half) to the circuit (Elmira, Ithaca & Binghamton) only have very limited service (all 3 have Detroit, ITH also has Newark, gaining Philly / dropping Charlotte, and ELM also has a few cheapo Allegiant flights to secondary Florida hubs).

Road America is a little better as it's near Chicago and Milwaukee - but it's still a couple hours drive out

Laguna would be more likely because it's a easy spot to wine & dine the corporate types (main reason why there or Sonoma has been the IndyCar finale for so long)

For me, I still believe it's cheaper (even after passports and all of that mess) to go out of country to Montreal for F1 than it is for CoTA. Miami? I could go to Daytona (which is overpriced in itself; Indy is like half the cost with GA or 3/4 the cost with grandstands) like 3 times over for what those tickets cost MSRP (8 times over what practice day is on StubHub now)

the same is true for current era NASCAR, but for them - it's also a method of survival to stay in certain markets (LA with the Coliseum race, Chicago with the proposed street race) as their farther out properties (Fontana & Joilet) become more valuable for shipping/warehouse hubs in the age of same day/next day Amazon & Walmart online deliveries

Sure, you have tons of government money going to fix North Wilkesboro up, but much like F1 - you won't see SMI or NASCAR going hard at giving it a Cup date unless shit hits the fan with another market.

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on a solely racing end tho (IMO):

Road America would be good if nothing changed (main things that FOM would want changed is more paved runoff (NASCAR also asked for that and was told to screw off apparently), more runoff at the kink (impossible because there's a train track on the otherside) and their stupid pit lane garages that don't have a pit wall / easier for crew members & media to get hit)

Watkins Glen would be terrible, with the 2021 spec cars - there's only like 3 corners where a decent amount of braking would be needed. Several corners would be wide open

Laguna sucks for cars - it's over hyped with Zanardi's off track pass - that's it

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also on another note; do recommend Dinner with Racers' podcast with Michael Printup. Apparently the track / ISC did do some studies on what it would take if they wanted to go after another F1 date at the Glen (also goes into the shitshow that was the Staten Island project feat. what happens with the mafia when you pick the wrong dirt fill guy)
https://dinnerwithracers.com/ep-183-michael-printup/

Put F1 at Michigan. Let's see if they can beat de Ferran's record.

Oh this won't backfire at all...nope...not at all.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-s ... d=msedgntp

Teams and drivers will decide themselves if they have to give a place back for an off the track pass. They have a lap to decide and then advise the race director why they didn't. This won't end well.

So if you are faster but can't pass, all you have to do is to pass off track and pull away 5 seconds and keep the place? Yeah, that seems fair and legit!

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I shagged a couple of loose balls for her in warmups.

Pretty sure this is the way it used to be about 15 years ago

IIRC the 2006 or 2007 Japanese Grand Prix had Alonso pass a car 1 corner after going off track, the team radio'd Fernando to give the place back, then the FIA went "Lol, we weren't going to ask you to do anything, there's no rule about passing a car 1 corner after going off track, you didn't have to give the place back lololol" (hello to Spa 08 of course )

I guess they think we can go back to the teams/drivers self policing, but it just means no-one now will ever give a place back until they're hit with a post race 30 second penalty or whatever the draconian penalty will be

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

it'll be all down to the other teams whining through their own team radio like we got used to see

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Motorsports trend for 2024: everything is a bad taste joke now

More drama for Netflix Drive To Garbage

I see it from here:

Clock ticking. Slowmo. Driver breathing hard. Fast heartrate. Driver is sweating, eyes racing in his helmet. Should he give the place back to his championship rival? Or keep going and hope for the best... Flashbacks to older races...clock ticking... Insert Senna quote...

*Wooosh sound effect and back to normal speed racing footage and custom-made commentary*

It was recently recommended by a friend of mine who said to me: "If you're a racing fan, you HAVE to see this".

I saw one episode and quickly realized that exactly because I think I am a racing enthusiast I have no use for that crap.

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"IT'S CHAOS! ABSOLUTE CHAOS!"

I choose Paul Ricard.

I already wear glasses as it is; I don't want to further kill my eyesight by having to look at that blinding painted tarmac again.

COTA puts on decent races

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Follow me on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/135625678@N06/

The new rules will favour better racing at COTA. Less slipstream overtakes on the straight and closer following through the esses. Last year battle would've been even closer.

Looks like Hulk gets a few more races.



https://www.racefans.net/2022/03/28/vet ... ovid-test/

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

I can quiet believe that, someone I know can still barely walk across the room without getting out of breath and they had Covid over two month ago (triple vaxx’d and used to cycle 30 miles a day too, so not exactly the unfit demographic usually associated with long Covid).

Turns out that Max Moseley's death in 2021 was because he shot himself with a shotgun after an incurable cancer battle: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ancer.html

(apologies for story on *that* news site, but it has more details than other sites)

Here's a Reuters link instead, so you can have time to disinfect your browser

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sport ... 022-03-29/

That's an interesting story - I realised that they never really gave details of what happened. It sounds like he was completely sure of his decisions right until the end.

What's interesting is it took a year for the news to come out. I imagine it didn't take long to look at the body and figure out he didn't die of cancer? You'd think his PA would have let something slip to the press. I just hope it didn't take a 12 month inquest to put the pieces together.

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It looks like the inquest into his death has only just started. The UK has had increasing delays in some parts of the country over the last year or two, probably due to Covid and underfunding.

Also relevant is Mosley's relationship with the press - he effectively became a privacy campaigner after the sex scandal and suing the News of the World, so it's very likely that people close to him woud have been much less likely to leak things, and that any press receiving such leaks would be scared to publish them.

I feel that it is nobodies business. I could have done without that extra info, but the media will blow it up (really no pun intended).

I guess the same thing might happen to Schumacher. He's gonna pass away and the family will announce only months later

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Motorsports trend for 2024: everything is a bad taste joke now