22 replies to this topic

[Barry Boor]

.....or is it just their age? Or indeed, is it mine?

Both the F.1 commentator and the awful lad who does GP.2 have been saying what a great circuit the Red Bull Ring (formally the A.1 Ring) is. Oh dear.....

They know there used to be a bit of a race track there years ago but clearly they don't really appreciate what a fabulous circuit the old one was.

I went there once, in 1972, and looking at this tiny little pale imitation of that majestic challenge just makes me so sad.

[Dipster]

It must be their ages. What you have never known you never miss. They have grown up only knowing modern circuits that are devoid of charm.

 

This is also why "youngsters" (so many people are young to me nowadays!)  drool over the tasteless plastic interiors of modern "quality" cars? They simply never experienced the delights of real quality interiors of yore. 

[Tim Murray]

As Dipster says, it's all relative. I went to GPs at the old track (in 1979) and the new layout (in 1999). I agree that the new layout isn't a patch on the classic old circuit but, compared with some of the other bland modern venues, it does retain some of the old character, and if you sit in the grandstands on the hillside between the first corner and the Remus hairpin the viewing is superb - you get to see an awful lot of the track.

[Wirra]

'79 or '81.

Edited by Wirra, 20 June 2014 - 22:38.

[Barry Boor]

My failing memory has just dredged up the fact that I was there in 1984 too.

We watched the race from the bank you can see in the background of Wirra's picture.

I agree with Tim that by modern standards the current circuit is actually not too bad but it's so short. F.1 cars shouldn't go round in 70 seconds. Don't ask me why, it's just how I feel.

[BRG]

Just because there was a good track there in the Good Old Days doesn't mean that the current track isn't a good one too.  I am delighted that it is back, and will take every opportunity to remind people that it was Red Bull who tore it up and kept it out of use for much of the last decade, which is why I shall continue to think of it as the A1-Ring.  The old O'ring was no longer fit for purpose so it was better that it was replaced by a track meeting current requirements rather than just going the way of so many tracks.

 

Who were A1 anyway?  I looked in my local Yellow Pages and they seem to be my local window cleaners. 

[Tim Murray]

They were, and still are, an Austrian mobile phone network company who paid for a lot of the reconstruction work when the circuit was modified in the '90s, and thus had the new layout named in their honour:

http://en.m.wikipedi...Telekom_Austria

[Kingshark]

I began watching F1 in 2002, so to me A1 Ring is childhood memories. I'm sure the ones who've been watching F1 much longer than me see it as nothing but another Tilkedrome (a very unique Tilkedrome, mind you).

[DN5]

My failing memory has just dredged up the fact that I was there in 1984 too.

We watched the race from the bank you can see in the background of Wirra's picture.

 

Wow, me too. Just enjoyed watching that race again on Sky F1.

 

Geoff

[Sheepmachine]

Sadly I'm too young to have seen anything of the Osterreichring back in its heyday (last race happened a few years before I was born). So for me this will always be the A1 ring. But that's not to say I am not aware of its past and what an epic circuit it was. Seeing the classic f1 highlights of the 82 race was amazing, the undulations and the speed of the place but also the danger. For me both tracks will always be classics (much like the old hockenheim) and I hope it stays on the calendar for a long time to come.

[LittleChris]

Saddens me too Barry but at least they're on a track with some hills and some trees even if it's all 2nd & 3rd gear corners rather than 5th & 6th .

I think the only remaining corner from the Oesterreichring is the kink where Stefan went all Deer Hunter  in 1987

[ensign14]

I remember when the new Nurburgring started.  Everyone said it was shite.  20 years later, with everyone forgetting the Green Hell, it was said to be one of the best circuits.  Plus ca change.

[Barry Boor]

Actually, Chris, when they leave the corner that is now known as the Schlossgold (top right corner as you look at the track map) the circuit is unchanged until they approach the double right before the pits.

[uffen]

Time can change perspectives, especially when can't compare. I saw the race in 1976 when the crowd was so thin due to Lauda's absence.

It was a wet weekend in part and I can remember the rooster tails hanging over the circuit and watching the cars flt past way over on the far side - that bowl allowed yuou to see quite a bit of the circuit. So, it is still Osterreichring to me.

[Slurp1955]

Let's face it, Barry's right. The circuit is an abortion, like Tilke's hatchet job on Hockenheim. I've lifted the following from "GPupdate"




16 May 2014 – Niki Lauda and Gerhard Berger have both lost their corner names at the Red Bull Ring circuit.

After a ten-year hiatus, the Spielberg venue is bringing the Austrian Grand Prix back to the calendar this season, with owners Red Bull recently carrying out extensive development to improve the circuit and facilities.

But despite the famous track maintaining the same layout, three-time Formula 1 World Champion Lauda and multiple race winner Berger will see their corners renamed to Pirelli-Kurve and Würth-Kurve respectively.

"I am very disappointed," Lauda told Austrian's Kleine Zeitung after learning of the decision.

"The only reason I can think of is that I am now at Mercedes and we are beating Red Bull."

The corner dedicated to F1's only posthumous World Champion, Jochen Rindt, is unchanged.

The only saving grace is the last line, with the corner dedicated to the mighty Jochen remaining - the rest IS shite, JohnP

[Barry Boor]

The name may remain but the sweeping downhill curve is now a tight double right hander with a short straight bit in between.

[ReWind]

'79 or '81.

1979.

Mass (Arrows) & de Angelis (Shadow) in the foreground (to the right edge of the picture).

[Nemo1965]

I have a question. We all could be cynic and say that the shortening of tracks is because 'more laps' is commercially more interesting than 'more miles', but is it not also an aspect of safety?

 

I driven virtually a lot of laps - in GP2, Gp4, rFactor - on the old Austrian track, and if I imagine driving an ambulance, or a medical car, I see myself an agonising long time to finally get at a stricken car. Of course you could put a lot medical cars and fire-engines and what have you around the track but still...

 

Then again, the WTCC is going back to the Nürburgrind, the Nord Schleife. Perhaps racing is not (considered) that dangerous as it used to be, and my above mentioned argument does not apply as much...

 

So are tracks cut short just because of the Tilkisation of the racing world or is it a little bit more complex?

[Wirra]

Colour is a bit washed out.

 

I think I've got the years right

 

1979

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wirra]

1981

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ReWind]

So are tracks cut short just because of the Tilkisation of the racing world or is it a little bit more complex?

Most original Tilke tracks are long ones.

[ChrisJson]

Actually, Chris, when they leave the corner that is now known as the Schlossgold (top right corner as you look at the track map) the circuit is unchanged until they approach the double right before the pits.

 

If you look at this site

 

http://www.circuitso...oesterreichring

 

you can see what was left of the old circuit.

 

Christer

[elansprint72]

If you look at this site

 

http://www.circuitso...oesterreichring

 

you can see what was left of the old circuit.

 

Christer

Great site, thanks for posting the link!