Grand Prix Rejects

You know them. The circuits that, in terms of F1 history, are the second ones you think of when you think of their country. Adelaide. Zolder. That sort of thing. Are there some tracks on the current calendar you would ditch for one of them in a heartbeat? Are there some bridesmaid tracks you think are better than their corresponding primary?

Here's the list I came up with:
Australia: Adelaide
Belgium: Zolder
Brazil: Jacarepaguá
Canada: Mosport
France: Paul Ricard
Italy: Imola
Spain: Jarama/Jerez
South Africa: Prince George
United Kingdom: Brands Hatch
United States: Indianapolis

Personally, I like the Indy layout F1 used more than Watkins Glen, but that's about it. And if I had exactly one change to make, I'd replace Sochi with Imola. But feel free to arrange your opinions however you want.

I know the one track that always springs to my mind when I think of Spain is the classic Valencia track!

But seriously, I never want to see that track on the calendar again.

Fuji falls into the category in here i think. Not a bad track at all, but just not Suzuka.

And being more or less a local at Zolder (15-20 minutes from here), i can assure you that it's still a shitty track, just as much as it used to be back in the day. An example of shitty recent changes is the bridge over the starting line that hinders sight from the majority of seating and standing places and another one was installing track lights on all of the circuit (that puts away all the charms of night racing) Other than that it's crampy, old and has poor parking faciities. It's not fun to drive and is extremely hard on mechanics. Good for surprise results in endurance races, but it also prevents foreign teams from entering. It is only used by virtue of being the only Flemish racing circuit, and therefore being more interesting for Flemish sponsors than Spa (and the occasional dutch involvement)

Austin is pretty good, but I loved Indianapolis, partly because it always was a race of attrition, plus it suited those cars perfectly. HWNSNBM scoring a point was the icing on the cake. So, Indianapolis is my pick.

Adelaide is probably a good shout, but Melbourne is still an excellent replacement, therefore Indy gets my vote.

Looking back at the races there in the early 80s, I really miss Long Beach - that was a great track.

Mosport and Brands Hatch. Long sweeping corners undulating all over beautiful landscape? I'm drooling over that type of stuff so badly that I just ignore that logic and sense that they're less suitable for open wheel cars than the "main" tracks!

(..well...Barber, the Glen and Mid-Ohio kinda make up for their absence in Indycar...but still.)

Salzburgring is sort of a similar case in Austria.

Brands Hatch is my local race track, less than an hour from home, and where I have done my only track day session to date (all 20 minutes of it). So this has a soft spot for me. Although if it ever were to host F1 again, the road between the track and junction 3 of the M25 would have to be widened and upgraded, but spectators do have wonderful views of the Indy configuration from most viewing spots. And I have wanted to visit Imola for a long time, as well as see it return to the F1 calendar. Indianapolis is also a great experience at the end of May, I imagine it may have been cool to visit for the F1 race too (except in 2005...).

Sad to say that even though the racing at Austin has felt better, in my opinion only obv, when we went to Indianapolis it felt more like an event. I still say there's some value to history and my old git view isn't restricted to my beloved reminds-me-of-my-youth European circuits. F1 cars at Indianapolis should be a given, a unifying event, hands across the oceans etc etc.

Rob Dylan wrote:I know the one track that always springs to my mind when I think of Spain is the classic Valencia track!

I know why

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/fina ... -woes.html

Barbazza wrote:Looking back at the races there in the early 80s, I really miss Long Beach - that was a great track.

Yesss! With the drop off the back straight ( the original start straight) plunging down...loved it.
Could we ever go back ?