I’ve been on a motorsports kick lately, what with Le Mans coming up and the Indy 500 in our rearview. I’ll even be attending an F1 race this year, but it won’t be Las Vegas. It’s clear F1 Vegas is going to be the party-to-end-all-parties for people who are richer or cooler than I am, which is not a high bar to clear. With race packages topping out at $5 million, the question is: who is this race for, exactly? If you’re not into motorsports, I’ll also touch on the return of Chinese car-incentives, a Consumer Reports plea to standardize crash alerts, and a big UAW fight that’s coming over battery jobs.
F1 Las Vegas Will Be The Most Expensive F1 Race
Saying your F1 race will be the most expensive F1 race is a little like saying you’ve got the biggest Hummer. It is a superlative on top of a superlative. I’m not sure there’s a cheap F1 race, but there are plenty of pricy affairs. There’s the Monaco Grand Prix, which is effectively a parade running between a wealthy principality and a yacht show. There’s the sexy beach party that is Miami. Hell, Stef Schrader did a great job in her article talking about how the F1 race in Austin is not as much for car fans as it is for the elite of the elite.
That the costs for F1 Vegas are going to be outrageous is no surprise. My pal Jenna Fryer had a great writeup last year that previewed what was coming:
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told The Associated Press the Las Vegas Grand Prix will be the most expensive fan experience on next year’s 24-race calendar, particularly from a VIP experience.
Tickets were scheduled to go on sale late Saturday night with the price of admission starting at $500 for a three-day general admission pass. Those seats were only added after fans complained that hotels planned to purchase massive ticket blocks and repackage them\
Another pal, Hannah Elliott, has an even bigger roundup of the $5 million experiences, crazy events, and other excitement around the event in Bloomberg.
“I don’t know anyone who’s going to Vegas who’s not involved in F1, media or with a brand,” says Lily Herman, who writes the F1 culture newsletter Engine Failure. “These Grand Prix weekends have become more like music festivals in terms of the vibe, the money spent. I don’t know an average Joe American going on a median individual salary to Vegas.”
Meanwhile, Vegas is “an easy sell to stakeholders,” says Vincenzo Landino, who writes a motor sports newsletter called the Qualifier. The Clark County Commission’s landmark decision on Feb. 8 to grant permission for the race to be staged on the Strip until 2032 only strengthens the appeal, he says.
[…]
This delta between the audience that brands want to reach directly and the broader actual F1 fan base has created a dynamic in which high rollers flock to glitzy cities such as Vegas and Miami for weekend-long orgies of opulence. Meanwhile, devotees of the sport who follow weekly standings and geek out over their favorite drivers—but lack access to corporate boondoggles—save their money to attend one race a year in a less expensive market, or don’t go at all. To wit: Netflix Inc.’s gossipy F1 documentary series, Drive to Survive, has pushed the sport’s popularity perhaps more than any other single activator. Still, half of the platform’s subscribers make less than $50,000 annually; an additional 30% make less than $100,000.
The Formula E race in Brooklyn was a lot of fun the two times I went, even if it felt more like a business conference than an actual race. Liberty Media, owners of F1, are an in interesting position here. It’s done an incredible job of making people in the United States care about F1 and has given us three races within our borders and two nearby (Mexico City and Montreal). We’ve got two street courses and one honest-to-goodness real track. Everyone is talking about the sport. The flipside, as Stef pointed out, is that regular fans without a huge amount of disposable income can get pushed to the side a little.
Currently, it seems like the Vegas and Miami races are for: rich people, celebrities, the media, and fans who are wealthy enough to afford a ticket. Austin F1 is a little more affordable and seems to attract a lot of new followers of the sport. The Bloomberg piece mentions that European races are less expensive and so it’s sometimes easier to just make a trip elsewhere if you’re an obsessed fan.
The pendulum will probably swing back towards affordability once the hype dies down and, hopefully, Liberty Media can find the sweet spot between popularity and approachability. In the interim, it’s hard to blame them for making money while the money is there.
Consumer Reports: Automakers Shouldn’t Charge For Automatic Crash Reporting
Consumer Reports is in the interesting position of being a non-profit news agency backed by regular folks (and some rich, mostly progressive people). In addition to reporting on toasters and cars and such, the magazine also has advocacy as a part of its mission. The latest target? Automatic crash notification systems.
Currently, most new vehicles have some sort of automatic crash notification system that alerts the authorities if there’s an accident. Here’s an analysis from Consumer Reports on the availability of crash detection across the market. Right now Acura/Honda, Hyundai, JLR, Mazda, Audi, Polestar, Porsche, and Volvo offer this for free on their vehicles for life. If you get a Jeep, Kia, Lexus, Mercedes, Ram, Toyota or Volkswagen, you get it for a period of 5-to-10 years on most or all vehicles from those brands.
Everyone else charges at some point before five years or doesn’t offer the technology at all. This is bad. This should be free. Consumer Reports thinks doing so would save 700 lives a year. According to The Detroit News, there’s a big campaign coming to convince the holdouts to make this a widely available and free feature:
“People injured in a crash shouldn’t have critical medical care delayed because they choose not to pay for features like remote start or a mobile hot spot,” said William Wallace, Consumer Reports’ associate director of safety policy. “It’s one thing for automakers to charge extra for conveniences, but this is about safety, and safety isn’t optional.”
Agreed.
[Editor’s Note: I’d have to think about this a little more. I’m fine with this particular tech being free (and in general I don’t like subscriptions for car features), but I’m not sure I agree entirely with CR’s broad point about “safety shouldn’t be optional” (Even though I understand that aligns with one of CR’s main missions). I think there’s no limit to how many safety features an automaker can offer, and to require every one to be free doesn’t seem reasonable, and could disincentivize an automaker from developing it in the first place. This is a complex topic, of course. -DT].
The Chinese Government Is Doing Incentives Again
One of the default positions of late capitalism and quasi-capitalist controlled markets like China share is that the graph always has to go up-and-to-the-right. This means that there always has to be growth, because it’s someone’s job to make growth occur. Grow, grow, grow. This isn’t sustainable, of course, and rather than try to flatten towards an average, instead, societies under these economies have to endure large and costly downward shocks followed by quick upswings that don’t often benefit everyone proportionally.
I mentioned earlier this week that Chinese suppliers were complaining that the sudden loss of demand due to the lack of incentives meant those suppliers were getting squeezed. The solution? Incentives are back, bay-bee.
The commerce ministry said it would coordinate and push local authorities to roll out targeted policies and measures in favour of car consumption. Financial institutions will be encouraged to introduce measures to boost lending for auto purchases, it said.
The campaign will target multiple car sales categories including both new and secondhand vehicles, it added, and push to replace gasoline cars with new energy vehicles (NEVs) such as battery-driven cars and plug-in petrol-electric hybrids.
It’s their country and we’re not ones to talk, but the world turned orange outside my window yesterday and the sun became an eerie phosphorescent copper color so I’m not super excited to read sentences like “targeted policies and measures in favour of car consumption.” At least they’re hybrids and electric cars, I guess.
The UAW Is Rushing To Help Battery Workers
With the rush to build as many battery plants as possible is also a campaign by the United Auto Workers (UAW) to secure fair wages for those individuals. None of this is going to be straightforward or easy, and it could be a plant-by-plant fight, especially given that these new facilities need fewer workers-per-vehicle than traditional automotive production facilities.
From Bloomberg via Automotive News:
The dispute could be lengthy and complex, since the 18,000 or so workers those carmakers — General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis — plan to hire in the U.S. will work for a patchwork of joint ventures not covered by existing labor contracts. The new corporate structures also mean the UAW might have to craft new deals for each plant.
The outcome of the negotiations, due to kick off in July and accelerate in the fall, could have far-reaching consequences — not just for auto workers sweating the move to electrification. As producers of everything from EV batteries to semiconductors, along with miners and processors of lithium, try to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., unions will fight to represent a new generation of workers doing jobs that moved abroad decades ago.
I’m a union man so you’ll get nothing but solidarity from me. The Inflation Reduction Act (and CHIPS Act) should result in foreign manufacturing coming back to the United States for the first time in generations so it makes sense that the UAW sees this as an existential issue.
The Big Question
When was the last time you went to a race? Are you going to a race soon? Do you care, at all, about motorsports? If not, why not?
Photos: Petronas F1, BYD
I believe that John Malone also was instrumental in saving SiriusXM (when the stock actually traded as low a 4 cents a share), and bankruptcy was expected in days if not hours. Of course the sub cost then rose from a fair amount each month to a totally inflated bullshit rate. Some shit never changes.
I like F1 but will be unlikely to ever spend any money to see a race.
I just want to know does anyone on the Autopian staff possess a business or economics degree? Free just means must be added to ALL cars and the cost is added in to base price. In an age of steep car price increases affordable aint happening with govrrnment regs. Sorry people die every day. Why not require every car owner to pay to add this safety software? It will save much more than 700 lives. And quit parroting the government lies of free.
I was thinking about that, and I went back and forth.
On the one hand, it would be really sad to hear about someone who was injured or even killed in an otherwise survivable accident just because they couldn’t afford safety features. And I think the same thing about medical care — it’s sad when someone’s health suffers because they can’t afford to go to the doctor.
On the other hand, nothing is really free. The engineers who design these safety systems deserve to be paid for their work. So do the doctors who fix people up. They’re not working for free. That money has to come from somewhere. In the case of mandated safety systems, their cost will just get rolled into the price of the car, exacerbating the problem of high new car prices that gets complained about around here so often.
Sometimes people need to be protected from their own bad decisions. Seatbelts and airbags should never be optional equipment. They work. They save lives. Their minimal cost is worthwhile to add to the price of the car.
But a car that automatically dials 911 for you in a crash? That’s a gimmick. We’re constantly surrounded on the roads by other drivers who are on their phones already anyway; one of them will call 911 if they witness a crash. It won’t make a difference when it comes to saving lives and certainly should not be mandated.
The last race I watched was this year’s 12 hours of Sebring which ended up being the best race I’ve ever been to. Went with my aunt, uncle, and daughter and we all had a really unexpectedly great time.
Aside from noticing that Cadillac had gotten back into racing, I hadn’t ever paid much attention to IMSA or WEC races. That’s now changed.
We went into the planning phase thinking that everything would be super expensive, but it ended up being rather reasonable. I think the two-day passes I got were around $120 each, food was cheaper than the county fair, and Yuengling talls were a fair-enough five bucks. Even the merch tent wasn’t bad. Of course, free lodging always helps and it was nice that my aunt and uncle had just bought a place about five miles from the track.
The racing was terrific – I loved how the sound was just everywhere as we wandered around the infield, alternating between watching the race, and checking out the various car-related stuff to be found. Several places were set up where one could watch a broadcast of the race to catch up on who was actually leading. The cars themselves were amazing – growing up on Nascar and dirt track racing, I greatly appreciated that these race cars had functional doors, headlights, and even windshield wipers.
I was also amazed at how one could just show up in the paddock on the morning of the race and check things out. Standing there outside of Cadillac’s area and watching these amazing machines get towed by, mere feet from where we were standing, felt just about worth the price of admission by itself.
Hanging out on the starting grid that morning was yet another cherry on the racing Sunday. The constant, frenetic energy was something to behold. We were four total noobs wondering around with the biggest smiles on our faces just trying to take it all in. Somehow, we ended up right in front of the local marching band as they started to play, another fun surprise for my daughter who’s in marching band and qualifies as a music nerd in general.
Those type of surprises managed to land all day. We didn’t realize we’d be able to test drive a variety of GM’s latest offerings, including a new Camaro, not to mention get free hats and shirts for doing so. Didn’t expect to sit in a Corvette C8 or Escalade V-series either. Overall, I don’t think any of us and been expecting to be that entertained for almost 15 straight hours.
We also didn’t expect Cadillac to win! It was quite the end of the race. About 30 minutes before, we moved from the curve we had camped at for awhile to watch the main infield Jumbotron to see what was going on. 18 minutes prior to finish, the “absolute chaos” occurred which allowed the remaining Cadillac GTP #31 to win the race.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_2NLcTU0ck
Hearing that car roar through the finish line while watching it on the big screen, with fireworks going off shortly thereafter just capped off one of the best events of any sort I’ve ever been to. Like my daughter said: “We need to make this “a thing’ each year from now on!” I’m already planning for next year’s return.
I love IMSA and WEC so dang much. Everything’s so open to look at, there’s plenty of time to walk around and see the track from different spots, and it’s always a huge party at the tracks that encourage campers to hang out the whole weekend. Endurance racing FTW.
Couldn’t agree more! In fact, another of the things we did was walk the entire perimeter of the track the best we could. And the party crowd is indeed excellent! We talked to several people while on that walk – everyone was great. It’s so fun to be surrounded by so many people so into cars. I definitely have to try infield camping there some year going forward.
Amex sent me an email for presale tickets in the East Harmon Zone presented by Virgin Hotels in the grandstands for section PG2103. 1 seat for the three days is presented for the low price of $2,500 before the fees for a total cost of $2,822.35. While I might be able to afford it, this is before you include any other costs to get to or stay in Vegas.
$80.00 for F1 online is looking better all the time (not a bad app by the way).
F1TV is a ridiculous deal, especially when you consider the equivalent MotoGP VideoPass goes for over twice the price, and F1TV gives you all the F3 and F2 action as well, including all practices and qualifications for all levels.
Pretty sure my last race was the NHRA Mile High Nationals in like 2016 or so. If drag racing doesn’t count, then the 2014 Indy 500. I have an interest in motorsports but I don’t plan to sit down and watch races. Mostly follow results. Though I usually watch a little Le Mans every year.
I think MH Nat’s were my last event in the late naughts. I find racing very boring to watch. As a kid I was into Stock Car racing as we all were when it was the Detroit makers against each other in cars that at least resembled stock.
Ironic that Bandimere is shutting down. My first time racing there was back in 1972. Wherever the new strip is built the magic is not gonna be the same. R.I.P.
When was the last time you went to a race? Are you going to a race soon? Do you care, at all, about motorsports? If not, why not?
I try to make it to the New England Forest Rally most years, though it’s often up against my daughter’s birthday, so that can be hit or miss. It’s a lot of fun, but the actual racing in and of itself is kind of meh. The real draw is hanging out in the woods with a bunch of car nerds and having a beer or two.
I’ve been to several low end and vintage races at Laguna Seca and Lime Rock and they’re fine for about 20 minutes to hear specific cars and then I get bored. My memories are mainly sitting in the sun, paying the price of a gross for a single bottle of water, waiting in line to piss on a wall with a trough at the bottom, and a car or three roars by every few minutes. Wherever there is action is invariably at a different part of the track. What I did like were the vintage races where you can see the cars in the paddock, but I’m sure they don’t let you anywhere near a modern F1 car. To pay the outrageous prices and deal with an organization reportedly indifferent to its regular ticket holders to see a race whose conclusion is all too predictable? They can stuff their TLC reality show nonsense.
i’ve followed formula1 since i was a little kid in late 60’s.
i went to montreal grand prix in 2010 & 2011 – the 2011 race was one of the best in history, button won on last lap (after being dead last).
my wife and i went to cota race in 2019 (hamilton clinched championship #6). she wanted to go to concerts after qualy (imagine dragons) & race (pink) – shows were good but poorly managed (crowd control? signage? information? amazing no one got hurt).
it was clear from ‘amenities’ that cota does not care at all about fans in stands (already have their money) – it’s all about the corporate guests.
ya drive-to-survive series drove interest…in the spectacle not the sport. liberty is chugging that spectacle cronk juice thinking that will drive revenue growth. i doubt it’s sustainable. e.g. liberty conducted a fan survey coupla years ago but it was clear from questions that the fix was on: they want sprint race qualifying. ffs, qualifying is the part of of f1 that isn’t broken!
i’ve always found martin brundle’s pre-race grid interviews cringe-worthy, but it is way worse the last couple years because no competitors have bandwidth to talk with him and the celebrities (there were never this many before liberty) that permit him to approach them aren’t interested in anything other than publicity… and most cant spell f1 if they had to. i fast forward thru that bs. the pre-race tv coverage for miami started a full hour before race – wtf, just show the damn race.
ya dunno who the lv race is for…tv?
Overall, I’m not a huge fan of racing, but I’d like to go see an F1 race at least once. Circuit of the Americas down in Austin is really cool to see in person.
“This means that there always has to be growth, because it’s someone’s job to make growth occur. Grow, grow, grow. This isn’t sustainable, of course”
Can we keep your uninformed, half-baked economic theories out of a car site? The old lighting site really went anti-capitalist, and I can’t handle it here too.
As long as the population keeps growing there will be more labor and more productivity? Technical innovation also drives increased productivity. Productivity creates value. Value is represented and transferred through money and other durable resources. The Federal Reserve does manage monetary policy around a desire for about 2% inflation. A completely flat economy would be a disaster, meaning no improvements, and less money/lower wages due to fixed resources being spread over more people. Of course there are VERY important policy discussions on how those resources get spread fairly to those who actually contributed the productivity to generate them. But that leads to a discussion about where do we want our economy to sit on the spectrum from command-economy socialism to a cut-throat free-for-all capitalism?
And I’m pretty progressive, and it pisses me off that you make me sound conservative in defense of opportunist capitalism, which I’m not.
I’m not an economist, so apologies if I got something wrong, but I think it’s safe to say, “It’s complicated.”
But maybe we should stay away from economics and government policy here?
Especially when it is wrong!
So what you’re saying is the problem is there are way too many of us, and pretty much everything could be fixed if there were fewer of us?
Well that’s what I’m saying.
(1) this is the reason I’m no longer a daily reader here. I pop in every few days to see if there is anything interesting but it’s become so full of populist and uninformed political and economic nonsense that I leave irritated every time.
(2) it’s ironic that they have a pay model to support the site. Might there be some level of subscribers where they just say “nope that’s enough, stop soliciting new subscriptions, we don’t want to be a “late stage capitalist” business, no more growth!”?
I’m a half hour from the track in Austin and haven’t gone…would like to eventually. Haven’t been into racing as much, when I’ve watched on TV preferred Indy 500- the history is interesting. Always thought it would be cool to get a cheap “lemons” race car and race at an old school local track- would prefer to support them. Also, always thought those races you see on TV w/ the buses, RV’s, trailers, tractor racing, etc w/ be so awesome to watch…also monster trucks!!!
I really don’t really care about racing anymore. Too far removed from reality to matter much. I’m waiting for either fully autonomous racing or remote piloted racing where bone stock vehicles can be raced without safety concerns. Throw in random “hazards” for excitement and that would be something I could watch.
I think I’m perhaps the only regular Autopian commenter who actually LIVES in Las Vegas, so I offer a unique perspective on this.
First of all, they’re tearing up several recently repaved roads that had center dividers, and replacing them with surfaces without center dividers. That’s a waste of money, and the aftermath will leave the roads without center dividers, making them inherently less safe.
Second and most important… whatever visitor money will come from folks watching the race will not be enough dough to offset the folks who will be actively avoiding visiting the city that week. The big money from visitors to my city doesn’t come from tourists, it comes from Convention and Trade Show attendees, and all such events previously scheduled are considering rescheduling or moving to another city. Likewise with production shows and other live entertainments. In the big picture, I (along with many other residents) think the F1 race will result in overall *reduced* visitor income for the week.
The F1 race is an ego project, pure and simple.
At least it isnt as stupid as hosting the olympics.
That is a fairly low bar. 🙂
I don’t really care for racing, plus the stock cars are anything but these days. Like another poster, I’m not really big into sports anyway. I do enjoy watching football, but only go out of my way to watch the Super Duper Bowl.
The difference between automatic crash reporting and LIDAR collision avoidance systems is one can be done for essentially zero dollars using equipment standard on the car. “Emergency Response” is one of the five (or six) “E’s” of transportation safety. It is easy to see how immediate and accurate dispatch would save lives and improve outcomes in more rural locations where there aren’t as many observers. Signed, your neighborhood traffic safety engineer.
Closest thing I have been to is a demo derby in the 90s. Others ohh and ahhed, I was like what a waste of a land yacht.
I go to the free Friday practices of the Long Beach GP. That’s sufficient for me. Walk the grounds, hear the sounds, etc. Racing is better watched on TV.
The last race I attended was an ARCA event in 1994. I was traveling across the country, pulled into Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the night, and there was a race going on. Cheap and fun. The only FI race I ever attended was a Long Beach Grand Prix in the late 70s. It was budget-friendly to 20-something me. Lot’s of access. When I lived in Charlotte, I got to hang out for free in a client’s suite for a NASCAR race. My first race ever was at a drag strip near Salt Lake City when I was in high school. Super cheap.
Went to a 24 Hours of Le Mans vintage race where a friend was one of the drivers for an AC Cobra, got mechanics passes too so we could go in the pits. Too bad it was raining basically the whole time.
Honestly I enjoyed the Pon Frites, Baguettes, and Coca-Cola more, and with my limited French vocabulary that’s all I ate for a week or so. Best French Bread I’ve ever had.
I don’t care at all about modern professional motorsport. When is the last time some tech developed for racing cars was used in a production car? Basically all new rally cars are just silhouette cars with engines, transmissions, suspension, etc. the public will never see in a production version of that car. If I was a car company I’d pull all our motorsport funding and put it into something that actually could use the funding that results in better cars.
Last race I went to was a Historic weekend at VIR. Somehow haven’t made it back in a decade.
I miss the races at a local oval: the Mini-Stock, Rookies, and Any Car were a lot of fun. Then it got political, and most people dropped out except the ones who went to watch the wives/girlfriends of the drivers fight in the pits. No thanks.
Since you asked: not interested in any motorsports of any kind and never have been. But then, I’m also not interested in other sports, either, except for occasionally watching the ÜberBowl or NBA finals. I get that a lot of automotive R&D gets done in the name of racing events, but I think the benefits of that are far outweighed by the sheer waste of fuel and other valuable materials.
Car shows, though? Hell yeah. I love me a nice browse around a lot full of classic cars or a car museum.
Vegas is for gamblers! It’s another way for them to blow their casino money 😛
They should do a Gambler 500 there! I mean, gambler is the same name as the people who go to Vegas, right? 😀
Fuck the UAW. Even other unions don’t like them. If they *really* want a union, at least use the IBEW. They’d be better for battery shit.
“but the world turned orange outside my window yesterday and the sun became an eerie phosphorescent copper color”
Matt, I enjoy reading your work, it’s generally thoughtful and well written. It definitely indicates you are an intelligent person. So, it confounds me that you can’t draw a straight line between your quote above and auto racing. A truly stupid, wasteful and polluting activity.
I was in Las Vegas for work a few months ago. They were ripping large sections of perfectly good roads in order to repave them with a different ashfault formulation for this stupid race. Seriously the world needs THIS? On top of the waste of fuel to buzz around in circles, the tire pollution, the energy and CO2 contribution to produce those things, they have to add all of that extra waste and energy consumption to rip up perfectly good pavement and change it?
Yeah, I mean, we all have our blindspots. F1, in particular, has a travel schedule that Sebastian Vettel has rightly pointed out isn’t exactly environmentally friendly and just moving certain races would have a huge positive environmental impact.
But, as the man said, “If you resolve to give up smoking, drinking, and loving, you don’t actually live longer; it just seems longer.”
Motorsports brings people a lot of joy and, while I think there are ways to do it more efficiently, we are on a car website and balancing those things is always going to invite prioritization. The enjoyment people get out of racing is high and the environmental impact, compared to putting hundreds of thousands (or millions!) of people into more cars who had, otherwise, not purchased cars is going to be way, way, way higher.
Still, I see your point.
Remember kids, lung cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, chronic bronchitis, and all of those other “diseases” are just lefty lies so they can control your mind body and keep you from having a good time. Signed, your friends at the Altria group.
Hell yes.
“… to rip up perfectly good pavement and change it?”
I was in Las Vegas late last summer, and trust me, the pavement on Las Vegas Boulevard was certainly not “perfectly good”. It was humorous to me to even imagine racing cars on it in that state. For the locals, I think getting LVB finally repaved is the one benefit they’ll get out of the whole endeavor. Although I’m not convinced locals typcially venture near LVB if they can avoid it. Plus, it turns out Liberty Media is now asking Las Vegas for up to $40 million back on the paving part of the project, on the grounds that Las Vegas is keeping the new pavement as a benefit to them.
Your point has been made, however.
I didn’t take the time to inspect the pavement, but I also did not really notice it looking bad. The local news discussion at the time is really my only source on the issue. The debate was less about the waste and more about who was going to bare the cost. But it was mentioned that it was a different surface formulation that was the reason and that said formulation would have a shorter life in use afterwards as it was not as durable as what is usually used. I wouldn’t really know as I don’t live in desert conditions and these things are pretty specific.
You’re right about the locals and LVB. A few years ago I had an aquitence who lived in Henderson, but had grown up in North Las Vegas come to meet me near the strip. He got completely lost. It was actually pretty funny.
Thank you for calling this out when you see it. One of the things that bothered me about the old site was was the inability to reconcile being auto enthusiasts with the current state of the planet. It is increasingly one or the other, to virtue signal honestly about that means leaving this behind. I don’t have a lot of respect for anything less than that.
Making and using cars is bad for the environment, all cars, EVs included. There is no realistic path forward, what is being sold to you is only about wealth redistribution at best. Humans have damaged the environment past the point of no return, and our society has only a few generations left, tops. My choice is to enjoy living, childfree, on what we have left.
I’m more about the tracks – for example, I like Road America because my friends race their Sprite there and it’s a fun lo cost party. I also really like the new Ozarks International track, lots of great places to watch, and they do a variety of races there – and again, my friends race there too. Other great tracks include VIR, Hallet, the Glen and of course Sonoma…….but that one’s a little far away from me in Kansas.
As for F1, I watch every race (on TV) and read everything I can about it but I’m not a fanatic – I don’t root for any one team or driver. I do not watch the grid walk because I really don’t care what Hollywood or music celebrities are there.
I’ve completely lost interest in NASCAR and Indy, I’m down to just vintage racing and F1 now.
I go to King of the Hammers every year. In person qualifying is exciting but the race is generally best watched on the live stream.
The best part for me is that it is still, largely, an amateur racing series and most pits are open. As long as the team isn’t in the middle of rebuilding a transmission or something, they’ll generally invite you in to check out the car and talk with the team.