Why not have an F1 Indy 500 once a year?

[bhall]

[...]
As a statistic, the 2012 Sprint Cup champion totaled 2201 quality passes (!!) over the season, or an average of 61 per race. A "quality pass" being a pass of a top-15 car (effectively the top third), racing on track. That's a bit more action than "everyone just drafting around in a pack" [...]

What's exciting about something so commonplace that it happens ~30,000 times over the course of a season? That's like treasuring layups and free-throws.

With the exception of drag racing, yes, all motor racing is but a series of straights and turns. Judging them on equal terms like that, however, is just plain foolish. That's what I meant when I referred to strained parallels. The only valid comparison that readily comes to mind is that they're both equally fake and manufactured, albeit differently, and they both involve cars. Otherwise, we're talking about poker and blackjack.

(This is a racist conversation, by the way.)

[countersteer]

Btw, doesn´t Moonshining have something to do with the beginning of NASCAR?
Old bootleggers out running the cops then going racing with them on the weekends?
Or maybe it had to do with the prohibition period,

Absolutely right Nando.... The roots of the series are the old moonshine runners getting together to see who had the fastest car. These guys were cobbling together superchargers, 2 speed rear axles, etc. etc. Google around a bit for "Junior Johnson" to get a flavor of the early days.

Sorry to get off topic...

[strad]

It did have to do with bragging rights among the 'shine runners. Like I said,,,It was to see who had the best equipment.

[sknguy]

It's not for me to say if oval racing is boring or not, but apparently there are a lot of people who enjoy those races. But I voted no because there's already plenty of oval racing series in the states and F1 would just be seen as copying. F1 is a road and street racing series. That's simply F1's heritage. Oval racing already has its own heritage. Formula one should remain with it's heritage.

[FW17]

Indy combined now that NJ is dead

[flynfrog]

It's not for me to say if oval racing is boring or not, but apparently there are a lot of people who enjoy those races. But I voted no because there's already plenty of oval racing series in the states and F1 would just be seen as copying. F1 is a road and street racing series. That's simply F1's heritage. Oval racing already has its own heritage. Formula one should remain with it's heritage.

so what about the heritage when F1 ran Indy, Monza, and other oval circuits. Or do those not count?

[Cam]

Indy combined now that NJ is dead

That's probably the best suggestion on how Indy could work. It's pointless having an Indy race without having the oval and it's also pointless having just an oval race as F1 simply isn't about that. Kudos for coming up with a positive solution. I like it and would certainly be entertaining to see how teams approach both aspects of the track.

[Pierce89]

Might as well have it at Rockingham

Now that would be a spectacle

[Websta]

Would you have to reverse it because I can see a dangerous braking zone at the end of the oval circuit in the bottom left corner? Or would braking from top speed on a banked corner not be an issue?

[Cam]

Just another challenge for the driver, car and team to overcome.

[wrcsti]

Boom. if any oval track is currently capable of having F1 spectacle its daytona. And the mix of very high speed straights with both high and low speed corners would make aero setup crucial. DRS could be limited to just the back straight.

[Cam]

@wrcsti - I like it. Might not be as technical as the previous example, but it does surely show a good example of how an F1 race could be run that would satisfy both sides of the sporting fences. The history of the brickyard and the history of F1 combined for one special race. Promoters dream. Thanks for bringing a positive solution to a very contentious discussion.

Edit: typos

[Shrieker]

This thread started pretty stagnant, but now it's good to see people coming up with real nice ideas and insights. Too bad we won't be seeing them come to life in the near future...

[scuderiafan]

I still don't get why F1 cars on an oval can't happen.

[WillerZ]

I still don't get why F1 cars on an oval can't happen.

F1 cars, even with the skinniest wings the rules allow, generate a huge amount of downforce. This allows you to pull over 5G (briefly and laterally) in some existing (not banked) fast corners.

A car with no downforce will see similar G forces (for longer and vertically) on a banked corner because the centripetal force from the banking is replacing the absent downforce.

The reason F1 cars can't race on an oval is that these forces are to some extent additive; an F1 car's driver would probably experience 8G on a banked turn that's giving a NASCAR driver a 3G turn. This increase in G-force combined with the increased duration it's experienced for and the fact that the majority of it is now vertical G-force would lead to drivers blacking-out in the turns. Then they crash, and someone probably dies.

Happily CART made this mistake in 2001 so F1 doesn't need to repeat it. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_Firehawk_600