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No more Indianapolis GP?


Bluezx6r

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Dorna just signed a ten year contract to race in texas. With three U.S races they said they will possibly drop one of the others and the most likely will be Indy due to them only having a contract till this year in september.. I dunno about the rest of you but a two hour drive is easier and cheaper than a 4 or so hour flight...

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Indy will lose out. I've gone since the first race and the crowds have declined every year. They even cut my ticket prices by $25 last year along with cutting all other ticket prices. Attendance was still down over the previous year. While the City of Indianapolis put on a great show for the fans and the teams, they can't come close to what Austin can do. Austin is a new vibrant city that is considered a cultural center for music and art. It is also a high tech city with a younger population base. In other words everything a global marketing / event promotor is looking for. I look at it as a great excuse to do a serious road trip on the bike. I'm glad F1 is back too. As much as MotoGP is a great show there is nothing like being close to 20 cars turning 20k RPM.

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I heard on speed of a new speedway in Texas (Austin). Speedway of the Americas.

Moto GP already signed with them for 2012 and the track has only broke ground.

Wonder if that had anything to do with it?

The track has been under contraction for 6 - 9 months. It was designed by Herman Tilke, who has designed all of the newest premier racing facilities around the world. I also believe the management of the Austin track had previous ties to MotoGP, so this announcement was almost a foregone conclusion.

Edited by cmh_sprint
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The track has been under contraction for 6 - 9 months. It was designed by Herman Tilke, who has designed all of the newest premier racing facilities around the world. I also believe the management of the Austin track had pre joys ties to MotoGP, so this announcement was almost a foregone conclusion.

Kevin Schwantz has been involved in the process from early on. He was the motorcycle advisor to Tilke.

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Not shocking. This has been the rumor for years, and there was an article about it (in RRW?) not that long ago.

Dorna is hurting from the craptacular world economy, and it wouldn't be shocking for them to ax Laguna Seca from the schedule in addition to cutting Indianapolis. The cost of transporting all the bikes, riders, crew, and support vehicles from Europe to America, back to Europe, and then back to America a few weeks later is insane. Avoiding that second trip back would require either cutting things back to 1 American round, or running them as back-to-back events (2-3 weeks apart).

The latter idea would be awesome, but Texas and California aren't that far apart. They'd likely be cannibalizing a portion of their audience for both rounds; your average fan is not likely to attend both. Indy and Laguna drew totally different crowds.

I admit I'm disappointed that I won't have a GP race less than 6 hours away anymore, but that Texas track looks amazing, and the Indianapolis infield has never been impressive to me... It would be pretty selfish for me to feel upset about this.

I always seem to be riding during the Indy GP anyway... maybe I'll have to change that this year, as it's likely my last chance to see a GP race on this continent. The wife might spring for Jerez or Philip Island some day.

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If Indy gets shutout, and they don't pickup a mid-west to east coast park - I won't be attending another GP race for a looooong time :(

::edit:: Why wouldn't they look into Atlanta? Or Daytona? Why's the mid-west and west coast get all the attention??

Edited by Hellmutt
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All they had on last night were some artist renderings of Austin. It is supposed to have hotels and resturants right on the premise. Made some big to do about the pit and box seats being 300yds long for pits alone.

I would definately travel to Austin to see a race at a complex like this. Maybe only once, but would definately go.

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If Indy gets shutout, and they don't pickup an mid-west to east coast park - I won't be attending another GP race for a looooong time :(

There was a rumor circulating at one point that New Jersey Motorsports Park was being considered as the secondary American round.

I think that's a pipe-dream, but if they linked "Thunderbolt" and "Lightning" together into a 4+ mile circuit, it could happen.

I don't envy Dorna's decision here. They HAVE to ride at that Texas track - it's immaculate and was designed for F1 and Moto GP... But Laguna has the corkscrew, and so much history, they will catch hell for removing it from the schedule (if it ever comes to that).

...I'd go to Texas for a GP race, I guess.

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You know, I'm the first to say this sucks. This happened with F1 a few years ago too.

However I do have to say. The indy GP/F1 infield track sucks compared to most of the other circuits. Primarily cause it's just flat as a board.

This is just my personal opinion so please don't flame but I feel a world class track needs elevation change. It just adds so much to racing. That's my 2 cents.

Having said all that, I loved having F1 and GP at Indy, it's with in a short drive and there is plenty of space to camp. It's a ton of fun. What the hell am I going to do now, go to a nascar race?

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There was a rumor circulating at one point that New Jersey Motorsports Park was being considered as the secondary American round.

I think that's a pipe-dream, but if they linked "Thunderbolt" and "Lightning" together into a 4+ mile circuit, it could happen.

I don't envy Dorna's decision here. They HAVE to ride at that Texas track - it's immaculate and was designed for F1 and Moto GP... But Laguna has the corkscrew, and so much history, they will catch hell for removing it from the schedule (if it ever comes to that).

...I'd go to Texas for a GP race, I guess.

Jersey would be an acceptable alternative, but still a good distance from me........just spoiled since Indy was added and I can get there in a couple hours. Laguna is a prime track to have on the GP series, and what about Miller in Toole? It may be just as flat as Indy's infield though........The best thing they could do is add MIDOHIO!! THAT would be ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!!!

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Miller is in the middle of nowhere. Harder to draw fans. Austin will be a great location.

Well yeah, for you that is.......you get free room and board there!! ;););)

::EDIT:: Disregard redkow, I was thinking of gen3flygirl's post

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so 2011 will be the last year in Indy? I've never been to a MotoGP race so I might have to make it to Indy this year to say I have

Indy has a contract for this year. They may extent to keep 2 US races in 2012, who knows. It's a good time. Don't go for just race day. Downtown Indy on Friday and Saturday nights is a blast.

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Indy has a contract for this year. They may extent to keep 2 US races in 2012, who knows. It's a good time. Don't go for just race day. Downtown Indy on Friday and Saturday nights is a blast.

I would go exclusively for the partying :D! I lived in Indy for a little while and miss partying downtown so its another perk of going

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