Eric The Viking
Established Member
- Joined
- 19 Jan 2010
- Messages
- 6,599
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It's going to be one of my life's unrealised ambitions, most probably, to do an F1 pit lane walk with my son.
Since our support for the sport is similar to fantasy football (although much better, obviously), we do debate which track we would visit, and, since the "atmosphere" of the various pit lanes globally differs from the quality of the tracks themselves, there's the issue of whether we could agree on watching a GP at the same circuit that we'd visit for its pit-lane "experience." We'll never actually do it, but it's huge fun to argue about it.
And it also differs from the driver experience (not that either of us, etc.). For sheer grin-factor behind the wheel that would be Spa, for me, possibly followed by Silverstone, Bahrain, Monza or Monaco, and (oddly) Montreal.
The latter is possibly because I'd want to be able to brag ever after that I'd survived the Wall of Champions, but I digress: the point is that Monaco is the only street circuit that makes the cut, and that's largely because it's iconic. It's probably horrid to drive. It's certainly dangerous and very difficult to win on, unless you have pole. Generally speaking street circuits aren't nice for drivers and usually don't make for exciting racing, because of their limitations.
Now to change tack, to grumpy old bloke mode: last night there was a teenager's party three doors down (opposite) on our road. It's unusual, and to be disturbed at 1AM, by a line of drunk oiks having a urination contest in the garden opposite us, was not a bonding moment with the neighbours. Coming-of-age clearly doesn't mean behaving with decency and common sense. I have a vague feeling that when said age was 21, perhaps it did.
That in turn reminded me that the area of parkland at the end of our road has now been targeted by our lefty council for egalitarian mass worship sessions - I mean pop concerts. It's probably the really decent green space that's closest to the city, but it has almost no parking and is surrounded by residential areas, and parts of it have SSSI status because of the rare species growing on it. It already has a football league, hosts part of Bristol's annual Balloon Fiesta, and a number of other annual events (although two of the most enjoyable, the flower show and Guy Fawkes niight fireworks no longer happen because the council has made them too expensive for the organisers to stage).
It's not really suitable for tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people to try to get home from at 1AM, never mind the noise pollution, environmental damage, etc. But apparently enjoying the greenery and peace and quiet (in the daytime!) is not making sufficiently good use of it, as far as our council is concerned. And the wildlife can just butter-off elsewhere.
The point to the above really being that you suddenly realise how much your peace and quiet, and lifestyle arising from that, depends on your neighbours and society around you. When that changes, you suddenly feel quite vulnerable.
Now the Mayor of London is taking advantage of Silverstone's woes (in turn due in no small part to the greed of one British person), to push again for a "national" street race in London to replace the British grand prix. OK, it probably has the best transport infrastructure in the nation, so it can handle the crowds. It probably wouldn't be a night race, as there's no commercial advantage in that, but it couldn't be a set of one-day road closures - probably a week or two, simply because of the complexity of getting the infrastructure in place and removing it afterwards.
It's true the TV pictures would be grand - Lewis Hamilton and Jolyon Palmer together crushingly overtaking Vettel in front of Buck House (I can dream!) - but the disruption would be immense. And, whatever the drivers said about how great it would be to race there, it would be a difficult and probably dangerous circuit, and not actually a very good racing one. London taxpayers would almost certainly have to subsidise it. And Silverstone would be silent.
On balance, it seems to me this is cheap politics, rather than a really good idea.
I tend to form strong opinions, I know. I also know there are a few other F1 enthusiasts on here, some of whom have probably done pit lane walks for real, too.
So I'll shut up. What do you lot think?
E.
Since our support for the sport is similar to fantasy football (although much better, obviously), we do debate which track we would visit, and, since the "atmosphere" of the various pit lanes globally differs from the quality of the tracks themselves, there's the issue of whether we could agree on watching a GP at the same circuit that we'd visit for its pit-lane "experience." We'll never actually do it, but it's huge fun to argue about it.
And it also differs from the driver experience (not that either of us, etc.). For sheer grin-factor behind the wheel that would be Spa, for me, possibly followed by Silverstone, Bahrain, Monza or Monaco, and (oddly) Montreal.
The latter is possibly because I'd want to be able to brag ever after that I'd survived the Wall of Champions, but I digress: the point is that Monaco is the only street circuit that makes the cut, and that's largely because it's iconic. It's probably horrid to drive. It's certainly dangerous and very difficult to win on, unless you have pole. Generally speaking street circuits aren't nice for drivers and usually don't make for exciting racing, because of their limitations.
Now to change tack, to grumpy old bloke mode: last night there was a teenager's party three doors down (opposite) on our road. It's unusual, and to be disturbed at 1AM, by a line of drunk oiks having a urination contest in the garden opposite us, was not a bonding moment with the neighbours. Coming-of-age clearly doesn't mean behaving with decency and common sense. I have a vague feeling that when said age was 21, perhaps it did.
That in turn reminded me that the area of parkland at the end of our road has now been targeted by our lefty council for egalitarian mass worship sessions - I mean pop concerts. It's probably the really decent green space that's closest to the city, but it has almost no parking and is surrounded by residential areas, and parts of it have SSSI status because of the rare species growing on it. It already has a football league, hosts part of Bristol's annual Balloon Fiesta, and a number of other annual events (although two of the most enjoyable, the flower show and Guy Fawkes niight fireworks no longer happen because the council has made them too expensive for the organisers to stage).
It's not really suitable for tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people to try to get home from at 1AM, never mind the noise pollution, environmental damage, etc. But apparently enjoying the greenery and peace and quiet (in the daytime!) is not making sufficiently good use of it, as far as our council is concerned. And the wildlife can just butter-off elsewhere.
The point to the above really being that you suddenly realise how much your peace and quiet, and lifestyle arising from that, depends on your neighbours and society around you. When that changes, you suddenly feel quite vulnerable.
Now the Mayor of London is taking advantage of Silverstone's woes (in turn due in no small part to the greed of one British person), to push again for a "national" street race in London to replace the British grand prix. OK, it probably has the best transport infrastructure in the nation, so it can handle the crowds. It probably wouldn't be a night race, as there's no commercial advantage in that, but it couldn't be a set of one-day road closures - probably a week or two, simply because of the complexity of getting the infrastructure in place and removing it afterwards.
It's true the TV pictures would be grand - Lewis Hamilton and Jolyon Palmer together crushingly overtaking Vettel in front of Buck House (I can dream!) - but the disruption would be immense. And, whatever the drivers said about how great it would be to race there, it would be a difficult and probably dangerous circuit, and not actually a very good racing one. London taxpayers would almost certainly have to subsidise it. And Silverstone would be silent.
On balance, it seems to me this is cheap politics, rather than a really good idea.
I tend to form strong opinions, I know. I also know there are a few other F1 enthusiasts on here, some of whom have probably done pit lane walks for real, too.
So I'll shut up. What do you lot think?
E.
