Czechs dream of F1 in the city

There are stories this morning about the possibility of a race track in Prague, in the Czech Republic. These are not new. Five years ago DTM visited the city an hosted a promotional event on the streets to draw attention to the race in Brno. In 2006 Antonin Charouz – the automobile dealer/racing driver/team owner proposed a development in the city’s 10th district which would include a 1.4-mile permanent circuit with a new hotel, a shopping centre and an ice hockey stadium, not surprising given that Charouz owns a company that owns the marketing and TV rights to the national ice hockey league, in addition to the rights to broadcast DTM, the Formula 3 Eurocup and other championships. Charouz paid for Hermann Tilke to look at the possibility of a project and Prague’s mayor Pavel Bem have his support to the idea, on the basis that it would be funded with private money. Charouz says it is his ambition to have F1 in the city but is first aiming for DTM. Charouz has not given up and is now promoting the idea with the addition of a section of temporary street circuit to the planned permanent venue. The project, which is reckoned to be likely to cost $160m would include a large car dealership and a casino.

There were, naturally, worries about noise as there are suburbs throughout the 10th district. The plan is presumably to build the new facilities on disused railway land (the only large scale space available.

Critics also point out that the country has a top level circuit at Brno which has never been able to raise the money for a Grand Prix, despite its stellar history, dating back to the 1930s.

Elsewhere in the old Eastern Bloc the plans for an F1 race in Bulgaria, which were tenuous at best, have now officially flopped as there is no money. The government cannot help beyond providing land and private money to build and run the circuit cannot be found at the moment.