The Rome GP.

[emjaya]

Formula One is coming to Rome after F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone signed a deal to stage a street race in the Italian capital, race organisers said on Sunday.

Course planner Maurizio Flammini told Sky Italia an agreement with Formula One commercial rights holder Ecclestone to include Rome on the F1 calendar has already been "done and signed."

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/deal-in-place-to-secure-rome-gp-20091221-l7pq.html

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_5789961,00.html

Track map. (http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2009/05/13/2012-rome-grand-prix-circuit-revealed/)

[dando]

:laugh: :rofl: :laugh: :shakehead :saywhat:

-Kevin

[Indy]

Please, please, come and fleece us! :laugh:

[opinionated ow]

What the hell is wrong with all the other proper racing circuits in Italy that they have to havea street race? This is getting ludicrous...

[STD]

What will they Tilke? The Colosseum?

[Michaelhatesfans]

Track map. (http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2009/05/13/2012-rome-grand-prix-circuit-revealed/)

That's a great layout for people who really miss Phoenix.:yuck:

[datachicane]

That's hardly Rome- they're running through EUR south of the city.
EUR is Mussolini's hideous wart on the ass of Rome. I'd never set foot in the place if it wasn't the home of Italo Gismondi's spectacular Plastico di Roma antica.

[Gnam]

Does the Colosseum have a parking lot? :p

[Don Quixote]

Losing drivers get hacked to pieces by gladiators and mauled by lions. That should sell some tickets.

[oddlycalm]

EUR is Mussolini's hideous wart on the ass of Rome
Careful, I can see Max getting aroused over that description.

oc

[datachicane]

Careful, I can see Max getting aroused over that description.

oc

I had the same thought.
It's such a cliche that I hate to repeat it, but the stock line is that EUR is what the world would look like if the fascists had won. It was supposed to be the site of the 1942 Esposizione Universale di Roma before Churchill screwed everything up.

[Napoleon]

It was supposed to be the site of the 1942 Esposizione Universale di Roma before Churchill screwed everything up.

I know zippo about the subject but I heard a radio story sometime over the summer about some swimming auditorium in Rome that is still in use that was basically one big tribute to Mussolini era rule (it had either a statue of him or perhaps his named carved into the granite with quotes of his and a bunch of stuff like that). Is that part of the whole site?

[datachicane]

The swim facility is at the Foro Italico and Olympic Stadium north of town, but there's plenty of Mussolini to go around Rome. He spent gigabucks on public buildings and infrastructure, some of which was much needed, so he's not the universally despised figure there that Americans usually imagine. He's more like an Italian Nixon or Kissinger, certainly evil, but with some accomplishments to his credit, and in a similar manner unduly admired in less savory circles :saywhat:.

I can't imagine any modern megalomaniac committing an equivalent act to running a major thoroughfare across the Forum Romanum or bulldozing the Meta Sudans for enhanced goosestepping. He was definitely in a class by himself.

[NismoZ]

Be patient. Be patient.:\