Why isn't Formula 1 more popular here in the U.S. ?

[Mike-san]

It's the highest level of racing. Is it the way the races are shown on T.V. ? The absense of American drivers ? Do Americans prefer NASCAR just because of the American car/driver combo ? We Americans are car crazy, so why is it that the major league of auto racing isn't more popular here ?

 

[joeker]

I didn't really get into it until recently and I used to watch the CART races and ignored the F1. F1 cars are just in a league of their own. It's fantastic to hear the motors scream. It's great to think that our NSX motors used F1 technology. I also think that maybe there's not enough Americans racing except for Scott Speed. Michael Andretti tried F1 for a season and didn't know what happened to him after the season. If someone know please chime. in. Any ways my 2 cents.

 

[SoCalDude]

Combination of virtually no American drivers (Cheever, Mi. Andretti, Speed in the past 15+ years) and only 1 race here in the states (none for many years). Also, since most of the races are in Europe, big time difference here if you want to watch it live.

It's the only race series I watch regularily. I've been a fan since the days when ABC would show the Grand Prix of Monaco and that would be the only F1 race shown here.. I remember seeing Jackie Stewart win that race on TV. Damn, I'm old

Thank god ESPN, ESPN2, and now Speed started broadcasting the whole series.

 

[Mike-san]

I didn't really get into it until recently and I used to watch the CART races and ignored the F1. F1 cars are just in a league of their own. It's fantastic to hear the motors scream. It's great to think that our NSX motors used F1 technology. I also think that maybe there's not enough Americans racing except for Scott Speed. Michael Andretti tried F1 for a season and didn't know what happened to him after the season. If someone know please chime. in. Any ways my 2 cents.

The reason I stopped watching the Olympics is because all the coverage would do was concentrate on the American competitors at the expense of all the other competitors ( the sprinting events for example ). Speed channel devoted most of it's pre race coverage to Scott Speed, even though his presence during the race was extremely minor. In other words, Speed channel thinks the nationality of a racer is more important than their driving skill. I love my country, but I don't want the media thinking they need to throw in patriotism in order for me to watch.

 

[Osiris_x11]

$$$

I love my country, but I don't want the media thinking they need to throw in patriotism in order for me to watch.

Can you speak Portuguese? Espanol? Deutsch? Finnish? Dutch? Japanese? Italian? I sure can't. Each respective media group has to have a bias for the market they are presenting to. Until there is an American-based team, American-based Corporate sponsors on grand-scale, Detroit's Big3 or even 1 pursues collaboration w/ other constructors or even R&D, add more venues (as aformentioned in previous post), and perhaps even American-born driver(s): interest will not develop in the 'States till that time.

If there was even a smidgeon of demand, Roger Penske, Mario Andretti, Chip Ganassi, Paul Newman, and others would've had a presence in F1 by now! Instead IRL & CART is their cash-cow.

Russia and India are planned future F1 GP's. China, Turkey, and Bahrain ( ) are already on the schedule circuit! ( ::slaps forehead:: )

Why has NASCAR moved south-of-the-border? There's demand, fan-base, and so forth.

Yea, I know... it is really, really, R-E-A-L-L-Y disappointing! :frown:

 

[Mike-san]

The United States population has basically been built on immigration. We as consumers love international products that we give a certain exotic prestige to simply because these products are imported. The idea of Americans enjoying things that have an international flavor is not new. These are the issues that cause me to question why F-1 is not more popular here. I think that if F-1 held a G.P. in L.A., Miami or Vegas, the exotic, international flavor of the sport combined with the built in glamour of these cities would cause a rise in interest. Apparently, the drivers didn't like the course at Long Beach which is why the venue ended up at Indy. Bummer !!!

 

[Osiris_x11]

race-distribution...

Another thing is that for the most part, F1 operated in an uni-national (if such a word even exists) way... one country, one GP! It just happens that Europe is only slightly bigger than Texas... :biggrin:

Mar 12 BAHRAIN BAHRAIN
Mar 19 MALAYSIA SEPANG
Apr 2 AUSTRALIA ALBERT PARK
Apr 23 SAN MARINO IMOLA, ITALY
May 7 EUROPE NURBURGRING, GERMANY
May 14 SPAIN BARCELONA
May 28 MONACO MONTE CARLO
Jun 11 GREAT BRITAIN SILVERSTONE
Jun 25 CANADA CIRCUIT GILLES VILLENEUVE
Jul 2 UNITED STATES INDIANAPOLIS
Jul 16 FRANCE MAGNY COURS
Jul 30 GERMANY HOCKENHEIM
Aug 6 HUNGARY HUNGARORING, BUDAPEST
Aug 27 TURKEY ISTANBUL
Sept 10 ITALY MONZA
Sept 17 BELGIUM - CANCELLED SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
Oct 1 CHINA SHANGHAI
Oct 8 JAPAN SUZUKA
Oct 22 BRAZIL INTERLAGOS

Maybe the Western Hemisphere along w/ Southeast Asia/Pacific have to come-up w/ their own F1 offshoot w/ own constructors, sponsors, and team founders...

Adding a F1-type event in Mexico (Ciudad de Mexico or Monterrey), a few in South/Central America (Rio, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aries, Caracas, Panama City, etc') would be cool indeed in terms of establishing a greater fan-base in the Western Hemisphere. And as you mentioned: Miami & LA/LongBeach. Even Seattle/Vancouver, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, New York City (Manhatten... :tongue: ), Houston, DC, and others...

I do see the United States Grand Prix moving to Las Vegas eventually, ka-ching!

 

[BD]

Re: $$$

If there was even a smidgeon of demand, Roger Penske, Mario Andretti, Chip Ganassi, Paul Newman, and others would've had a presence in F1 by now! Instead IRL & CART is their cash-cow.

The problem with the teams listed above is, they don't have the budget to compete in F1 competively. As you can see, Honda, Ferrar (Fiat), Renault, BMW, Toyota, etc. have huge budget. Toyota and Ferrari for example, have a budget of over 600 million a year.

If the teams listed above wants to participate, they will need a US auto makers to supply engines, unfortunately, I don't think they will be competitive because they just don't have the technology or knowledge. Not to bash them, but it is the truth. You will need a major engine backer to even think about be in F1. Super Aguri team for example, have very little budget, but they have Honda engine; they will not win races, but they sure can score points if the timing is right.

By having an American drive helps, but Scott Speed will need to be in a better car and win some races before the sport can attract more American audience.

 

[SoCalDude]

Apparently, the drivers didn't like the course at Long Beach which is why the venue ended up at Indy. Bummer !!!

Long Beach went to Champ Cars because the promoters made more money in that deal.

The US GP spent two years on a street course in Phoenix around 88-89 before coming to Indy a few years ago. I went to the first US GP in Phoenix. No US GP from around 1990 to about 2002/3?

 

[TyraNSX]

If they showed all the super hot pit girls people would watch.

 

[92 white 0650]

That will be answered shortly, right after I figure out why open wheel racing in general is not popular in the US. :wink: But that question has to wait until I find out where Natalie Holloway is, why Honda never marketed the NSX and how to bring peace to the mid-east.

 

[joeker]

Does anyone know what's the difference between an F1 car and an Indy car?

 

[92 white 0650]

Re: What's the same?

what's the difference between an F1 car and an Indy car?

Listing the similarities would be much quicker. But for starters, cost and sophistication come to mind. For example, each F-1 team (or constructor) builds their own chassis. The IRL "Indy Cars" and Champ Cars are all built by just a couple of manufacturers. There was an article in Racer magazine about a Champ Car 2000 Lola that holds the record for most races by a single car (43), it won a race in 2002 and was still racing in 2005. American teams race on a shoe string compared to F-1.

But hey, ya gotta give ole Bernie and Max credit for trying to bring the cost down. They got rid of 2 cylinders and 200 HP this year.

 

[mdb]

Re: What's the same?

But hey, ya gotta give ole Bernie and Max credit for trying to bring the cost down. They got rid of 2 cylinders and 200 HP this year.

Didn't that cost something along the lines of a billion Euros to develop the V8s? And as for the safety angle, they got the same affect with a rev limit and intake restrictions on the V-10s (I think Toro Rosso is still running a V10).

That move made no sense to me.

 

[92 white 0650]

Re: It's all spin in Wonderland

ya gotta give ole Bernie and Max credit for trying to bring the cost

I was being facetious.

cost something along the lines of a billion Euros to develop the V8s?

Yeah, it's pretty funny what they feed us. Didn't they say the tire changing rule last year was due in part to save money? And David Hobbs was speculating that with the reduced HP and no real reduction in downforce, the engines would be stressed to the limit more.

This suggests another answer to what's different about F-1. It's a business with the most talented drivers, the highest tech and most money being controlled by some mad hatters who are so incredibly rich and detached, they might actually believe the spin they put out. It's a Wonderland no matter how you look at it.

 

[khappucino]

cuz it doesn't have a Hemi in it....... :biggrin:

 

[BD]

Re: What's the same?

Didn't that cost something along the lines of a billion Euros to develop the V8s? And as for the safety angle, they got the same affect with a rev limit and intake restrictions on the V-10s (I think Toro Rosso is still running a V10).

That move made no sense to me.

Billion Euro it is. If you check out the lap time, it is only about a second or so behind V10 with restricted tires. in 1999, these cars were running with 750hp 3.0 liter V10, today, today with V8, it is also running at 750hp, but less torque. However, the aero improvment is far ahead than anything out there.

 

[VintageracerNYC]

Say what you want guys but last weeks GP at Bahrain was one of the most exciting in years! Love the new qualifying process and there are now definitley FOUR competitive teams that could win on any given day! Honda, Ferrari, Renault and McClaren are all strong! As far as its popularity in the US well F1 has always been an elitist form of motorsports and I would suspect that it always will retain that air of pretension which is a turn off to many US fans..of course I am a BIG fan so waking up at 6am to watch Bahrain live was no big deal and this weekends Malaysian GP will come on live at 1am of which I will watch..Las Vegas will DEFINITELY be the next location of the US GP.

 

[ROWB_1]

I would speculate that the masses enjoy Nascar because it homegrown and sponsored. The fan base for this sport are mostly rednecks who consume large quantities of Busch beer and like to watch domestic lead sleds drive around an oval and crash into each other. The idea of having to focus on 3 or more turns in a single lap of a race like a Formula 1 circuit is unthinkable! Just my 2 cents!

 

[BD]

I would speculate that the masses enjoy Nascar because it homegrown and sponsored. The fan base for this sport are mostly rednecks who consume large quantities of Busch beer and like to watch domestic lead sleds drive around an oval and crash into each other. The idea of having to focus on 3 or more turns in a single lap of a race like a Formula 1 circuit is unthinkable! Just my 2 cents!

Do you know what happens when two "open" wheels car collide (Rubber to rubber contact)? It will send them flying, literally flying!!!

 

[95EagleAWD]

Re: What's the same?

Listing the similarities would be much quicker. But for starters, cost and sophistication come to mind. For example, each F-1 team (or constructor) builds their own chassis. The IRL "Indy Cars" and Champ Cars are all built by just a couple of manufacturers. There was an article in Racer magazine about a Champ Car 2000 Lola that holds the record for most races by a single car (43), it won a race in 2002 and was still racing in 2005. American teams race on a shoe string compared to F-1.

But hey, ya gotta give ole Bernie and Max credit for trying to bring the cost down. They got rid of 2 cylinders and 200 HP this year.

Wait until 2007 when ChampCar debuts their new package. I think F1 might be in for a surprise. Actually, I remember Dario Franchitti saying in 2002 when they started racing at Montreal on the F1 circuit there that if they had been racing there in 1999, when they had 980-1050 horsepower engines and soft, soft tires, they would have been faster than the F1 cars around the track.

 

[AU_NSX]

Re: What's the same?

And as for the safety angle, they got the same affect with a rev limit and intake restrictions on the V-10s (I think Toro Rosso is still running a V10).

That move made no sense to me.

That would go against everything that F1 stands for! A rev limiter???

How about we just give them a hp limit?

15 years ago when they moved away from turbo's to NA the engines used to redline at 10,500rpm... Now 19,000rpm. Awesome engineering that you just don't get in IRL or CART.

 

[nsxtasy]

only 1 race here in the states (none for many years).

The 2005 version wasn't much of a race, and that farce sure didn't help the reputation of F1 here...

 

[92 white 0650]

Re: New Champ Car package

Wait until 2007 when ChampCar debuts their new package. I think F1 might be in for a surprise.

Not to take anything away from the new package, but F-1 won't even raise an eyebrow. The goal of the new package is to be reliable, cheap and passable, so I’m not sure the raw data will dazzle anyone. Even if it did only a few F-1 number crunching fans will care, certainly not Bernie or Max who care primarily about gate receipts and team owners who care about beating Ferrari.

It's painfully obvious: modern racing is all about “the show.” Each series has gone their own way and developed their own show in order to draw a particular profile of paying customers. Exactly what CART is doing with their new format of street circuit big city events. Such as moving from Laguna Seca to the trolley tracks of San Jose. Raw numbers mean nothing, whether it’s 750 or 950 HP, 220 mph or 240 mph’ it all looks the same to the typical paying customer. Which you and I are not.

 

[wswen]

They are not user friendly!