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Hockenheim to follow Magny-Cours off F1 calendar?
Topic Started: May 19 2008, 03:08 PM (197 Views)
u4coffee
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Baden-Württemberg circuit has debts of more than €34m (£27m), sources claim.

Following in the wheeltracks of Magny-Cours, Hockenheim could be the next venue to disappear off the Formula 1 calendar in 2010.

The Baden-Württemberg circuit will hold the German Grand Prix this year for the 31st time in July - but, managing director Karl Josef Schmidt warns, it could also be the last. Schmidt insisted the local state must begin to contribute to the now bi-annual race.

"The Baden-Württemberg state must get involved financially, otherwise there will be no Formula 1 in Germany after 2010," he told German newspaper Stuttgarter Nachrichten.

According to pitpass.com, the Hockenheimring is counting debts of more than €34m (£27m), with interest payments as a result of the track's renovations six years ago having led to even greater losses. Having invested €15m (£11.9m) in those improvements, the state - which owns 94 per cent of the circuit - is seemingly not willing to stump up any more, and indeed is considering selling off a large chunk of its shares in the track, sources in Germany claim.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/19052008/23/...1-calendar.html
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AndyW76
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Well, seeing as they spoilt the track with a Tilke special, I don't think it will be missed. Shame that the prospective permanent home of the German GP is the New Ring. Shame that they can't update the Norschliefe to modern standards and maintain the classic layout.
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Norbert
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I'm glad. It's a pile of crap compared to how it used to be, so I'm doubly satisfied to hear that destroying the old circuit helped to make things worse financially rather that improve it as they had though it would. Just goes to show that no matter how much more of the track the fans are able to see, if what they see isn;t worth seeing, they won't come to see it....

<roflmao>
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Norbert
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This is what they did to half the circuit. They also had to move the Jim Clark memorial because otherwise it would be lost in the middle of a forest in the not too distant future!

Posted Image

http://www.schuerkamp.de/zope/hoover/racin..._waldgerade.jpg
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RJHSaints
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Yeah, I'm not too big of a fan of Hockenheim. I'd prefer the Nurburgring to be the German GP and Hockenheim as an occasional European GP.
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dazzerjp
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true. mind you the old track was a bit dull. many people used to complain about it.

u know: straight, chichane, straight, chichane, straight, chicance, twisty bit, straight, corner.

Nurburgring is a pretty good track - especially first corner
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Speedworx
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The new track sucks. Nurburgring is better. I do miss the old Hockenheim, it was ace.
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Rob
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AndyW76,May 19 2008
10:15 AM
Well, seeing as they spoilt the track with a Tilke special, I don't think it will be missed. Shame that the prospective permanent home of the German GP is the New Ring. Shame that they can't update the Norschliefe to modern standards and maintain the classic layout.

I think doing that would cost many many millions. I cannot imagine that being done w/o govt money.
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Red Andy
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u4coffee,May 19 2008
04:08 PM
Following in the wheeltracks of Magny-Cours, Hockenheim could be the next venue to disappear off the Formula 1 calendar in 2010.

Good.

Nurburgring isn't that bad a track really, it's just that it is very much in the shadow of the circuit next door, like the old A1-Ring used to be. At least the weather isn't always predictable!
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Norbert
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Rob,May 19 2008
08:08 PM
AndyW76,May 19 2008
10:15 AM
Well, seeing as they spoilt the track with a Tilke special, I don't think it will be missed. Shame that the prospective permanent home of the German GP is the New Ring. Shame that they can't update the Norschliefe to modern standards and maintain the classic layout.

I think doing that would cost many many millions. I cannot imagine that being done w/o govt money.

It's hard to imagine a modern F1 coping very well with the track at full speed anyway. I imagine the Red Bull's supension would collapse half wahy around the first lap! In any case, it's far too narrow, awkward for emergency vehicles to get to in places, and just far too long. Not to mention the severe lack of run-off, let alone the space to put it!
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Rob
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Norbert,May 19 2008
03:00 PM
Rob,May 19 2008
08:08 PM
AndyW76,May 19 2008
10:15 AM
Well, seeing as they spoilt the track with a Tilke special, I don't think it will be missed. Shame that the prospective permanent home of the German GP is the New Ring. Shame that they can't update the Norschliefe to modern standards and maintain the classic layout.

I think doing that would cost many many millions. I cannot imagine that being done w/o govt money.

It's hard to imagine a modern F1 coping very well with the track at full speed anyway. I imagine the Red Bull's supension would collapse half wahy around the first lap! In any case, it's far too narrow, awkward for emergency vehicles to get to in places, and just far too long. Not to mention the severe lack of run-off, let alone the space to put it!

True, but it would be really really cool! <car>
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Brave_Lee_Flea
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u4coffee,May 19 2008
03:08 PM

According to pitpass.com, the Hockenheimring is counting debts of more than €34m (£27m), with interest payments as a result of the track's renovations six years ago having led to even greater losses.


I wonder if you guys will be as sympathetic if Silverstone ends up suffering the same problems.

Considering that F1 is awash with money the wealth is not being distributed to those organisations that contribute to the spectacle that is F1, including the circuits and smaller teams; instead all the money ends up in Bernie's pockets.

Truly a scandal of epic proportions.
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Red Andy
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Well, F1 is one of the only racing series in the world where the circuits have to pay the organisers to hold a race; in most cases it works the other way round. But then, it wasn't that long ago that the circuits used to hold the teams to ransom the way Bernie does to the circuits now.
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