F1 in London!

Heard on the radio today,that Schumi may be doing a demo run in July through in London as part of an F1 promo tour!
Question is will he meet his match, with the London Cabbie`s defending of their racing line round Hyde Park Corner?

Schumi has NO chance

Charlie Slater - odds on to win!

at least he'll be able to afford the congestion charge...

Yea they talked about it at the monaco GP, they are closing an area off so that they can drive some of the f1 cars round there... They mentioned it is helping to promote the idea of having a f1 street race around london like monaco!!!

I really wanna go to that thing in july .... can u imagine the sound... awesome!!!

Yeah also heard about this, depending on the date I might just pop down

Bernie is also contemplating racing in new York!

Heard about a Cart race in Manchester too.

It's going to be along Regent's Street on 6th July at 16:30 hours I believe. I'll be there!

Would love them to crack down Park Lane, the sound echoing there would be crazy. Could have a made circuit around London.

Surely a nigerian in a datsun shouting 'Tahxi' would be ahead of Charlie and Schumi

yay, I'm going to see the F1 cars! Not that I like F1 cars. Can't wait. Why? Because it is such a massive poke in the eye for car-hating Ken L, that F1 cars, the pinnicle of automotive engineering and a totally waste of resources, are gonna cause havoc for at least one day in his anti-car, car hating capital. I hope the the sounds of the F1 cars pierce his brain and give him an all day and all night mother of all headaches. He figgin deserves it. Schuey - give us one more massive 10k rev, just for that bastardo!

g

g,

I just wanted to say that I think your post on this topic is the best post I've read on AO in a long, long time. I just wanted to let you know your words and thoughts have been appreciated.
--Toronto

Thanks Tor.

You're probably aware that Ken Livingston is the Mayor of London. He's the one who introduced the Congestion charge; to drive into London costs £5. The idea was that the charge would reduce congestion. But, in fact, the conjestion charge is wonderful value for money for customers - you pay £5 and you get even more congestion than ever before! Complete grid-lock! Two hours to drive into the heart of London! Let's sit in traffic forever!

(Ken has, according to cynics, re-phased traffic lights so they stay red for longer which increases the build up of traffic. He has also introduced more bus-only lanes in London, and more streets have been pedestrianised. I have no problem with intelligent, integrated transport solutions, but they have to involve the car, and when a car-hating Mayor is driven more by banning the car rather than accepting it as both the problem and part of the solution, you can understand why I want his ears to bleed and his brain to split apart next Tuesday).

g

And I just thought Red Ken was a tw@t!

g,

We're well aware of Ken and his little scheme. Well, not completely aware, as we only get the spun version over here. The congestion charge is a complete success. London's traffic problems have been solved. The city is now more pedestrian friendly, and even the drivers are happier because there is more parking, and it is easier to get around the city....You get the picture.

The reason why we are getting this version (which I wouldn't buy even if it were wrapped up with a big, shiny bow, and offered to me for the never-to-be-repeated price of two cents) is because local politicians are rubbing their hands gleefully at the thought of imposing a similar charge here. They see a congestion charge as the solution to every problem under the sun. It will reduce traffic, encourage cycling, decrease pollution, provide funding for public transit, just as it did in London.

Of course, politicians and the city traffic management departments can't see beyond the end of the cash box and haven't bothered to come up with any real, workable solutions to the growing traffic problems we are facing. They haven't addressed simple things like increasing the number of advanced greens at intersections. They haven't built a subway/train track to the airport. They haven't cracked down on cyclists who believe that the traffic laws (and the laws of physics) don't apply to them.

Instead politicians waste their time playing with red light cameras and trying to find ways to bring back photo radar. Recently they've a imposed significant number of lane restrictions on major roads, limiting their use to buses during rush hour. And they have studied, restudied, and studied again the idea of eliminating the Gardiner Expressway -- the main, southern, east-west artery that brings traffic (and tourists) into the city. Because parts of the Gardiner are raised above street level, the local brain trust in city hall has concluded that this is what is ruining our waterfront.

They feel that people are upset because they can't see Lake Ontario's shores from the downtown because the Gardiner blocks the view of the water. Of course, they tend to ignore the wall of condominiums that their good-buddy developer friends errected around the edges of the lake. They also fail to realize that there is nothing to attract tourists and locals to the shoreline. Every tourist attraction from Ontario Place to Harbourfront has been a massive failure -- or at best, an underwhelming success. Nobody in their right mind would swim at the main downtown beaches, unless they feel like playing Russian roullette with their health. There really is no good reason to visit the waterfront more than once, just to see what the lake looks like, but city council has decided to ignore these realities, and just focus on the big, bad road, because as we know, all roads are bad and all motorists are evil.

So I guess in my typical, long-winded way, I'm just saying that I really do understand your frustration, and I admire your act of civil protest. Plus, I really did enjoy reading your post. I appreciate your way with words.
--Toronto

Ditto

Toronto ain't kidding about their traffic problems, I remember looking down over Toronto from the CNN Tower at around dusk and seeing a line of brake and head lights stretching maybe 5 or 6 miles out of the city in pretty much every direction.
It was very picturesque actually, but I doubt that made the drivers feel any better

Did anyone here go?
I managed to get a good view of the big Vodaphone screen in Piccadilly but couldn't see anything in real time. Heard the odd megaloud throttle blip too.

The crowds were enormous, but mainly tourists. The Police as usual were the real killjoys and their damned helicopter clattering overhead for the entire event was probably the most dangerous thing there.

A real race has actually been proposed for the futre but surely would be out of the question as decent spectator facilities would be impossible to achieve.

Mind you, if they created a circuit that incorporated Hyde Park and somehow or other Victoria Embankment which is wide flat and long, something could be developed into an English Monaco GP.
Hmmm. Come on Bernie, what do you say?