US Plans

[TravelGal]

Quite the article in Racer. This Bratches dude has chops as a spokesman. Nice to see a fan event in LA is mentioned. I wonder when? https://racer.com/2019/06/06/medland-f1s-plan-for-america/

[opinionated ow]

Quite the article in Racer. This Bratches dude has chops as a spokesman. Nice to see a fan event in LA is mentioned. I wonder when? https://racer.com/2019/06/06/medland-f1s-plan-for-america/

Surely no state government is daft enough to pour money into f1? Victoria spends a fortune on F1 and I'm convinced it's a massive loss maker here in Aus

[nissan gtp]

West coast is a must-do, given COTA and Montreal. I suppose it'll have to be a street course since they aren't any actual tracks that could host F1 (and Liberty does seem to favor street "festivals" :rolleyes:). Long Beach seems to be the obvious target, despite any contracts. Might work, with the appropriate (way lower) sanctioning fee.

[Gopeddle]

Personally, I'd rather see them go back to the Glen. Great track, great history, great part of the country. OK, so it's a bit out of the way, it's worth it. The same goes for Road America, F1 would be great there. If they have to go to the West Coast I say upgrade Laguna Seca. Of course they'd have to deal with the county commissioners which would be a handful, but deal with it! If it has to be Southern CA, maybe a street race in San Diego. I just don't think Long Beach is in the cards, but what do I know? Road Atlanta anyone?

[SteveH]

I thought IMS was being considered after Miami fell through. It is the only track in the US that could host without massive development or impact on a municipality like a street race would.

[TravelGal]

I've been away, yet again, so catching up on posts. While away I went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Intriguing since there are acres (not really) devoted to the cars and the tracks and one room devoted to the actual drivers. At least I was interested in the tracks.

I digress. My main reason for the original post was the all-encompassing marketing plan Liberty has for Formula 1. They are starting with fan events in the places that may or may not have a race so they can build nation-wide interest. Long term approach. I like it and I wonder if such a thing in even on the Spindy Car radar.

[chop456]

^ Friends of mine and every person I've seen comment online said the Chicago fan fest was an absolute embarrassment, train wreck, waste of time, money, etc.

[Easy]

Quite the article in Racer. This Bratches dude has chops as a spokesman. Nice to see a fan event in LA is mentioned. I wonder when? https://racer.com/2019/06/06/medland-f1s-plan-for-america/

LA will likely be during Mexican GP Saturday.

[Easy]

^ Friends of mine and every person I've seen comment online said the Chicago fan fest was an absolute embarrassment, train wreck, waste of time, money, etc.

I went. Waste of money? It was free entry.

Waste of time? After the fact I would have preferred to spend what little extra time I had (was back home for the onslaught of early June family birthdays) in one of my old neighborhoods to the Northwest and probably won’t be going to the LA version if it’s at all inconvenient. At the same time, I would have regretted not going. C‘est la vie.

If you want to watch a qualy session outside on diamond vision screens with a bunch of guys in Red Bull shirts, its a good deal. The car demo is meant for more casual fans and I was on my way to the exit when the 96 Minardi stalled. Not impressive, but anyone who has attended CART/IndyCar, IMSA, F1 etc... races more than a couple times wouldn’t be impressed anyway.

I did briefly chat with Sean Bratches who said the US is showing major growth and is the largest audience for the Twitter Live shows.

[chop456]

Waste of their money because from everything I've heard, almost nothing they'd paid for went off as planned. Food trucks with no food, junk demo cars, beautiful merch displays sans-merch, announcers that had no idea who or what they were talking about, late demo runs that overlapped with watching quals on the big screens, etc. These aren't guy on the internet stories, these are accounts from friends I've gone to races with for 20 years

Glad you had a good time, regardless. :thumbup: