Abu Dhabi F1. (not a spoiler)

hopper1

I'm not particularly in to F1, and I've certainly never been much of a fan of design or architecture...
But, I have to say how stunning does the new AD track look.
I watched the practice session yesterday, but not the cars, I was just admiring the background!

ademort

Yeh a really spectacular circuit The Ferrari world building also looks fantastic, will be open in 2010.
Ademort

cougie

Yes amazing track.

Abu Dhabi always reminds me of the Flintstones though.

northernneil

most expensive piece of bling ever that circuit

northernneil

ok bring it round to cycling - since they copied all the best corners of other circuits in the world and made a 'fake' harbor monte carlo styleee, if you were building your perfect stage what would it include ?

mine would be:-
stevelio pass
alp d'huez
then a really flat windy bit like britany
then finish line on the champs in Paris

hopper1

northernneil wrote:

most expensive piece of bling ever that circuit

Yeah, but still stunning.

I'm waiting for someone to overcook it on cold tyres, on the pit exit lane...

afx237vi

Maybe I'm just a namby pamby liberal, but I saw an overhead shot of it, heard that the entire thing was built in 22 months, then wondered how much it had cost in human terms. That region is not exactly well known for the way it treats its construction workers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_righ ... bor_rights

http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2006/11/1 ... ng-workers

Still, it looked all shiny and pretty lit up in the night, I suppose.

toontra

In light of global warming the whole enterprise is pretty obscene (artificial everything - not just the lighting). Oh, and that was one of the dullest F1 races I've ever watched, so money is certainly no guarantee of entertainment.

scottgeniusltd2005

last 5 laps was ok. i am starting to doubt grand prix...purely on the cost to the environment. i watch that advert that tells me to switch off my telly off standby at night, it seems at bit silly when racing cars give out more poison than i use in a lifetime.

nwallace

If Zandvoort can have a height differential of 15m why do all these new tracks insist on being flat?

Silverstone is boringly flat but isn't really all that flat

Spa Is made by not being flat, imagine flat Eau Rouge... No don't sorry that's sacrilege.

GavH

nwallace wrote:

Spa Is made by not being flat, imagine flat Eau Rouge... No don't sorry that's sacrilege.

Or the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca. And there's a track in Oz that has some wicked downhill sections, can't remember where but they were racing V8s on it on Sky the other day.

I have to agree with the above though, as much as I love F1, these new cicruits and god knows what cost (human, environmental and economic) is a bit hard to justify!

eh

Its all a bit depressing when the buildings and celebs take up more time than the sport, which is exactly what happened today.

All these new tracks are so rubbish, they just seem to produce dull racing. Agree about gradient Spa, Brazil and Monaco all have height changes, which none of the new tracks have.

blackrockracer

GavH wrote:

nwallace wrote:

Spa Is made by not being flat, imagine flat Eau Rouge... No don't sorry that's sacrilege.

Or the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca. And there's a track in Oz that has some wicked downhill sections, can't remember where but they were racing V8s on it on Sky the other day.

I have to agree with the above though, as much as I love F1, these new cicruits and god knows what cost (human, environmental and economic) is a bit hard to justify!

I think that track in OZ is called bathurst , on the far side of the blue mountains from sydney. Looks like a great place for a closed circuit bike race.

takethehighroad

blackrockracer wrote:

GavH wrote:

nwallace wrote:

Spa Is made by not being flat, imagine flat Eau Rouge... No don't sorry that's sacrilege.

Or the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca. And there's a track in Oz that has some wicked downhill sections, can't remember where but they were racing V8s on it on Sky the other day.

I have to agree with the above though, as much as I love F1, these new cicruits and god knows what cost (human, environmental and economic) is a bit hard to justify!

I think that track in OZ is called bathurst , on the far side of the blue mountains from sydney. Looks like a great place for a closed circuit bike race.

Yeah it's definately Bathurst, it's like the Is;e of Man for Aussies

xRichx

Cadwell Park on the British Super Bike championship has awesome spectacles of height changes making it spectacular to watch and challenging riding.

Laguna Seca is probably the best in those terms tho.

stage_fright

Tracks with elevation changes are always more interesting - Brands Hatch is the classicc example, though if you ever get the chance, cycling round Knockhill is fun, the uphill hairpin at the end of the lap gets your attention.

On the subject of Spa - there are now noise issues around the circuit (which has only been in use 70-odd years), and there is an on-line petition to keep it open that is open to non-locals etc. If I can finds the link, I'll post it. Great circuit, and one day I will actually take my bike when i go there and cycle it.

nasahapley

eh wrote:

Its all a bit depressing when the buildings and celebs take up more time than the sport, which is exactly what happened today.

All these new tracks are so rubbish, they just seem to produce dull racing. Agree about gradient Spa, Brazil and Monaco all have height changes, which none of the new tracks have.

Agree totally - it seems that Bernie's much more interested in encouraging willy-waving contests between autocratic regimes than in encouraging exciting racing. But I suppose as long as F1 is flavour of the month with mega-rich sheiks then keeping the fans happy isn't so important commercially.

Stewie Griffin

nwallace wrote:

If Zandvoort can have a height differential of 15m why do all these new tracks insist on being flat?

Silverstone is boringly flat but isn't really all that flat

Spa Is made by not being flat, imagine flat Eau Rouge... No don't sorry that's sacrilege.

Silverstone is based on an ex air field, thats why its quite flat. It doesnt matter where you race F1, its dull. Moto GP Friday practise sessions have more going on than an F1 race.

bramstoker

Seems strange to me that our goverment will tax Mr average on his one holiday a year abroad in the name of global warming and try to put scare stories into childrens heads ( damn silly advert on TV) Yet F1 runs several night races, using enough light to keep a small town going for a week or more. Some funny priorities this global warming cult throws up

OffTheBackAdam

toontra wrote:

In light of global warming the whole enterprise is pretty obscene (artificial everything - not just the lighting). Oh, and that was one of the dullest F1 races I've ever watched, so money is certainly no guarantee of entertainment.

What warming?
http://chiefio.wordpress.com/
Certainly a pretty boring race, I turned over to watch the track racing from Manchester as soon as that started!
Circuit looked spectacular.

Gazzaputt

Brands Hatch's Paddock Hill bend is a drop to behold.

prawny

Bathurst is open all year like the nurburgring but free and with a 40kph speed limit. If I ever go to Oz I'm taking my bike.

I thought the actual track at Abu Dhabi looked crap, too many other circuit layouts marked up with loads of green paint, I hate that. Just make one big track dammit, maybe with an extra loop like donnington or brands. I went to watch the BTCC at silverstone this year they only used copse and luffield, it was the crappiest track in history. Luckily I got in for free so I didn't feel bad when we left after an hour.

DubaiNeil

Circuit is absolutely incredible "in the flesh" and the hotel looks to be a step up from the normal excess of this region

Organizers did a fabulous job of getting everything ready in time, and was the best managed event I have been to here - with very few complaints registered by the vocal snotty ex-pat posse.

The race was pretty dull, but I do think that the track designers did pretty much all they could to provide entertainment. The Porsche Supercup and GP2 events were much more exciting and certainly a lot "racier". Aerodynamics and performance of the F1 cars seems to dictate dull racing these days

Always love the references to the human rights issues here, obviously 98% of the people I know were actually kidnapped and deposited here against their will and return after vacations to receive their next serving of mal-treatment :roll: