Well, the greatness of a circuit is not in the paddock, if you ask me. Here I go in one of my rants. Sorry for the redaction, but I have not much time and a lot to say.
Anyway, the problem here is that tracks
do not receive money from TV: they have to earn money (and pay their "pound of flesh" to FOM) based only on tickets. This is what keeps people away from the races:
how in earth are you going to get U$ 600 dollars to pay for a mediocre stand, where you can hardly see the race? Most tracks have been half empty in 2006 (seen from TV, when the camera director HAS to show them). This is the reason of their "weakness" and the reason why Bernard Ecclestone can "throw them away" at his liking.
My God, we are becoming an armchair group of fans... Most "forumers" (not in this forum) haven't seen a race, much less race themselves because of exorbitatn ticket prices. This is ridiculous. It is like FIFA promoting only TV fans: where will they get the football players of tomorrow? Have we given up on
racing as an entertainement and believe that the only entertainement is on TV? Perhaps the world only need 22 pilots, that's what I think sometimes FIA wishes, but let me tell you that
the pinnacle of a pyramid have a lot of stones under it!
I blame that on the "cheapskatness" of FOM about tracks and the incredibly divided karting world. It is incredible that Shanghai organizers had to sell half the tickets and
give away half of them! Why did not they charge 50% for all of them? Most races lose money (look at Albert Park catastrophe this year) and the money they lose, that can cripple an organizer forever, is what a team spends on aerodinamic design in a week.
Let me explain what I think a good track is:
Good tracks are not "theoretically perfect" racing lines. Good tracks have quirks, good tracks cheat on the pilot, making him think that he understand the curve, when he really doesn't. They always have a surprise for you: there is always one tenth of a second "hidden" somewhere, for your genius to find it. Good tracks cannot be learned by heart, they have to be felt.
Good tracks allow the entire track to be seen (thanks zac510 for making me think about this). Good tracks have to be carefully walked before the race, because they not only are changing places, where the curve of last year has been substituted by some loving, caring engineer that adore its circuit and keep it "up to date" with the ever changing cars: these tracks "move", they change from sunrise to sunset, from hour to hour. They have shadowed places in the morning where the asphalt is hot in the afternoon. They are like a lover: you need patience and understanding with them because they are variable and capricious. They call you in the morning: "hey, good looking, do you think you know me? Prove it."
That is the reason why good tracks cannot be simulated on a game.
Good tracks have a VIEW! Good tracks, like good roads, force you to take your eyes from the road to look at the horizon and feel inspired by the sight... Good tracks are places where you can lie in the grass and take a look once in a while to the sky while you watch the race and hear the noise of engines, smell the petrol in the air and, in spite of that, or perhaps, because of that, make you feel elated.
Even nicer tracks have challenging vertical curves, uphill or downhill braking zones, sideslope variation between curves and transition curves that
allow two cars to take a curve abreast. Nicer tracks have consecutive opposite curves that cannot be "solved theoretically" on a PC!
The best tracks of all
bring people in to race in karts. They are a part of a community of racers and engineers, they are a part of their neighborhood. The best tracks of all do not
host races: they
create the races. The best tracks in the world are the "sandlots" where people simply play because they like it like nothing else in the world: this is where their friends are. The best tracks in the world are the places where you can feel again that "I-can-win-you-running-to-that-tree: one, two... now!" feeling of your childhood.
Bahrain is a joke if you agree with the previous statements. A track is much, much more than a strip of asphalt. Silverstone, on the other hand, is like a gothic cathedral: surely you can design a nicer, most efficient church, full of high-tech materials. But who is going to pray fervently there? (well, I am agnostic, but you got the idea
).
Any track can be made safer, being it Montecarlo or "cookie cutter" tracks designed on a computer for robot pilots. It's your choice. Where do you want to be crowned world champion? In the middle of nowhere or at Chartres's cathedral? Don't give me the line about "the toilets don't work" or I'll sue you... the only one that goes to a track to take a dump it's Kimi!
Well, I have spoken... plenty. I only hope I won't have to swallow my words, but I know some of you will agree.
