The plan to run a Formula 1 race in London’s Olympic Park has failed to get off the ground with the news that the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) has announced that West Ham United has been named as the preferred bidder for the stadium.
An unknown company called Intelligent Transport Solutions Ltd had made a bid for the race in and around the stadium, along with West Ham, Leyton Orient and the University College of Football and Business.
LLDC said that the F1 bid “too much uncertainty in relation to key aspects of their bid and assumptions in their business plan”.
The plan never made much sense as it required the track to use the stadium seating. Firstly access to the stadium for the F1 cars would have been convoluted, given the restrictions caused by the geography and that would have meant that action within the stadium would have been poor.
It was never a sensible idea.
Thank heavens that one has been put to bed then.
Good. Formula 1 is not a sport. Its a pastime like darts & snooker.
Absolutely.
Many’s the time I’ve been down the pub and banged in a few hot laps along the high street, over the river and back past the primary school in the Arrows A10 that the landlord keeps in the garage at the back. Actually the F1 is so popular that the snooker table was going unused, so a few of us mostly use it now to fiddle with the Megatron’s turbo…
It would have taken years to obtain an Act of Parliament to close public roads for street racing. Better to hold a street race in Birmingham where this act is already in force. A Formula One race was considered in Birmingham during the Silverstone/Donnington situation…
The Birmingham act ceased several years ago.
To be fair lots of public roads are closed for the marathon every year, and for a number of events at the Olympics. With the state of the UK economy at the moment, a well backed international event that bought investment into the city would be pushed through very quickly by Parliament, if it were needed.
Trouble is Stratford is not the place to have a street GP in London and never was, and the bid was only encouraged this far as a bargaining tool to get West Ham to make a better offer than they have done thus far. The reality 60,000+ seat sports field stadiums need top flight soccer clubs as tenants or owners to sustain them (in the UK).
The Birmingham Bill took many years, even though everyone considered it to be a good idea.
“the F1 bid “too much uncertainty in relation to key aspects of their bid and assumptions in their business plan”.
Sounds like that could apply to quite a few teams of the past.
One thing we do know is that there is an enormous amount of space underneath the stadium, look at all the stuff they had stored under there for olymoic opening and closing ceremonies. Giant beds, telescopic factory chimneys,Spice Girls etc
Exactly my thoughts, at the moment of the launch of the idea. There are always some people who like to read their own names in the papers with crazy stuff like this.
And I know the track is (almost) sorted out, but I’m not convinced the New Jersey race will ever happen. And why would they, Austin seems like a venue that could stay on the calendar for a long time (I hope). I think running a bad venue in the US (remember Valencia?) would tarnish the good one too.
It was never a realistic bid anyway Joe – it was just a token alternative for the football bids for the stadium.
I can see a ‘Race of Champions’ event there in a few years time, as its a big stadium, and offers plenty of space for a track.
A track inside the stadium, or even part of it ?! The whole olympic park is big, but the stadium inside felt very small as I sat there watching the paralympics in september. It looked much larger on the telly. Not suitable for 90% of motorsports apart from speedway, karts or the ROC.
Not wishing to interject thoughts on a city and community I know little about, but the idea sounded daft to begin with. Why hasn’t anyone organized a race in central Paris or New York? Same concept, just as daffy or more so.