Grrrrrr!!!

[f1.redbaron]

Let's take an airport as an example. Back in the '30s there were hardly any flights, right? Thus, people living close to the airports were occasionaly bothered by the rumbling sounds of DC-2's engines, but it was not a major problem.

Now, 70 years later, a person living close to an airport (any major airport) is faced with a noise from the engines of hundreds of airplanes a day! So what is the solution? What is your solution? Shut it down? OK, but by doing that, you've caused the pain to millions of passengers who depend on those airplanes, to benefit - what - a couple of hundred people?

You might be inclined to say that these are apples and oranges, but when you think about it, they aren't. How would you explain to a person living close Milan International Airport that the noise he hears is not as much of a problem to him as is the noise heard by a guy living close to Monza race track. 'Cause I can guarantee you that they sure as hell are not going to shut down the airport (btw, I'm using Milan's airport just as an example...I don't know whether there are any houses in the proximity of that airport). So what makes the person living close to Monza track any more special than the other guy?

The bottom line is that the local economy has benefited from FIAT/Ferrari in the past...and still does.

And it is not true that F1 race is not under threat due to this new law. Read the following:

Monza's managing director Enrico Ferrari admitted that the situation was very serious.

"At the moment we are not going to be in a position to host F1," he said.

taken from:
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=34555

[manchild]

Well I remember when FIAT built a new plant in the southern Italy for manufacture of new model Alfasud (Alfasouth) just in order to help economy of poor southern Italy. I’m not saying that nowadays economy on north depends solely on FIAT but historically Torino and Modena with the rise of automobile industry were the heart of Italian industry. I’m also not saying that someone might not have a problem with noise but that can’t be the reason to cancel traditional competition that brings hundreds of millions of Euros to that region and whole Italy. Motor racing and racing cars are best known Italian products worldwide together with historic sites, food and fashion (and women ).

There is much more people “bothered” by F1 noise in Monte Carlo and those are people who can afford them selves almost anything but I never heard someone having idea to move F1 from the Monte Carlo. I say that these demands regarding Monza are hypocrite and that true reason lies in attempt of “greens” to move F1 out of Monza. Remember them threatening to organize demonstrations and prevent the race several years ago?
I’d really like to see the list with number of houses whose owners have complained.

[f1.redbaron]

The thing is, manchild, that neither "Guest" nor I are right. He presented one side, I presented the other. Solution, in my opinion, does not exist. I think that Newton's 4th Law states that you cannot make everybody happy. All one can do is make the majority happy. Unfortunately for the people of Monza, it ain't them...the "majority" is composed of millions of people who will watch the race live on their TVs, 100,000 or so on-track viewers, corporate heads who have invested millions of their shareholder's money into this sport, advertisers on TV, owners of cafes, hotels, shops, etc. in Monza who will see every square inch of their space occupied by the people loaded with money just eager to spend it in hopes of enjoying every second of that weekend.

I'm pretty sure that some farmer in a rural town in Quebec was not too thrilled when he found out that his government will spend millions of dollars to host an F1 race, but for that one weekend, the city of Montreal is hosting an event which will see its local economy get more money than during Christmas time (at least that's what the economy experts were saying couple of years ago when Canadian GP was under threat). So, the way I see it, people living close to the track can take one for the team. If not, moving is always an option.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

Our guest puts forward some good pionts, but also fails to realsie that the forum members he describes as narrow minded (not looking from other people's view pionts) have also discussed how valuable Monza is to the Italian economy, and also reffer to the loss of motorsport...not just F1.

And yes ok you have a piont that noise has increased over the last 15years due to an increase in track useage...but the fact remains that it IS a racing circuit and has been since 1922 if i remember correctly. So an increase in noise is inevitable, and should have been thought about before buying a house situated near a racing circuit. It is just common sence, you dont want the noise of a car race, dont buy a house next to a race circuit.

Similarly, you dont want the noise of a motorway...don't buy a house next to one. British Roads have incraesed in traffic volume ever since the conception of the car (I say British because I onlt know enough facts about British Roads, the following may not be true for roads elsewhere)...but you dont see many new laws being passed for those who bought houses next to motorways, so why should one be passed for those living near racing circuits?

The same goes for Heathow's Terminal 5...people protested over the noise increase from a new terminal (new terminal = more planes)...but the majorty view was that if you could live with 4terminals and not complain then 5 should hurt either, you bought a house near an airport so live with it. And now Terminal 5 is mid-way through its construction.

So ok, yes we ALL see their view piont, an increase in racing noise is NEVER going to be WANTED by somebody living nearby. But if you could live with it before, a small increase shouldn't make a difference, and if it does...then you should have thought about that when buying the house!

[RH1300S]

Agree, our guest made a very valid counter argument.

My original response was a bit obvious, taking only the viewpoint of a race fan. Isn't the deep down issue here that there does not seem to be compromise - yes, it's noisy, yes people knew that before they moved into the area, maybe the noise is becoming more frequent and is bothering people more than before.

Why not limit the number of noisy days allowed and have silencing on other days. F1 testing can be limited (I assume F1 cars are the loudest being used on track). The proposal seems to point to an outright ban on noisy events - this lack of compromise is what is really wrong with the whole issue.

[Alexis]

I think the main cause of all these problems is the fact that some people just want to be "the victim". Like it's said in French "Certaines sont toujours mécontent".

One neigbour to another: There's a lot noise coming from the track.
-indeed my friend I'll talk about it with my other neigbour.
...
...

Those people are used to the noise levels of the track but by having conversations like that everybody starts paying attention on the noise and everybody is listening to it and then they may unite themselves and start complaining.

Same story with the airport of Brussels. The airport has been there since the 1950's and a few years ago somebody starts complaining and others follow. Wich is quite unlogical because planes are becoming more silent, there are less night flights, the flights are better and better spread, the sound insulation is becoming better and the government even allows to get it for free. In fact it's just a problem of modern society, people become more egoistic and less tolerant.

In my eyes this is a bad thing. My freedom begins where yours end you know...

But indeed this problem should be investigated and if there really is way to much noise maybe we have to limit the really noisy days to make those people happy It's never bad to poor some water in the wine...

Motorsport fans have to respect the freedom of the people in the area to live in a quiet neigbourhood, but those people also have to respect the freedom of the motorsport fans to have their hobby.

Solution?: A good compromise between them

[manchild]

I'd accept that if all other 24/7 noise makers where under fire. What about traffic, airports, pneumatic drills on the streets etc. They are no pleasant to anyone but they serve their purpose. F1 without a screaming sound wouldn't be F1. I’m sure that if track owners or local authorities would offer some financial compensation to those endangered by noise from Monza the problem would be solved.