New Motorsport track in the pipeline?

bbsrs

I read on Irish festival of speed website;


"Among the numerous enhancements planned for 2013 will be a new purpose built motorsport track – one of the largest investments in Irish motorsport for many years. More to come – watch this space!"

This will be at limerick race track anyone have any further info on this . I wonder if this will be a Tarmac track year round venue?It would be good to have a track day venue in the area .

Drummerboy08

It would be great if it happened but I seriously doubt anything will come of it.

It would be nice to see Bishopscourt opening its gates on a more regular basis. At least then there would be three decent tracks on the island.

kartincolin

It would not be before time. Mondello Park is an absolute disgrace, it has gone o the dogs! What does that say to the multitude of Motorsport fans in this country?

paddy147

Theres a good project/idea for Dennis O'Brien (Esat founder) to invest some of his billions of euro in...building a propper motorsport circuit and hosting world level motorsport events at it.

BSB,BTCC,WSB,MotoGP and even F1 would come here every year then.


Citywest would be a good location for it too.......(O'Brien could buy it all from Jim Mansfield)

bbsrs

paddy147 wrote: »

Theres a good project/idea for Dennis O'Brien (Esat founder) to invest some of his billions of euro in...building a propper motorsport circuit and hosting world level motorsport events at it.

BSB,BTCC,WSB,MotoGP and even F1 would come here every year then.


Citywest would be a good location for it too.......(O'Brien could buy it all from Jim Mansfield)

Limerick racecourse would be perfect , low population density , close to the motorway ,near shannon airport, ample parking . and the west coast for people to spend a few days before or after an event. Plus the clincher for me its not far from my house.

SniperSight

I'd so love it to actually happen in Limerick!!!

porscheman

It would be brilliant to have a track in limerick

Mondello is actually a good track with excellent facilities

Also formula one does not need to come for a track to pay . In fact it would probably lose money if F1 came

class1comp

It will only be a sprint course not a motor race track

kartincolin

I don`t mean to be always ranting, but a far better idea would be to give Mondello Park a MAJOR facelift and bring it into the 21st century. The actual circuit layout is fantastic and definitely has the potential to lure BTCC and BSB back to the emerald isle!

abceire

kartincolin wrote: »

It would not be before time. Mondello Park is an absolute disgrace, it has gone o the dogs! What does that say to the multitude of Motorsport fans in this country?

I've not been too much lately and only going maybe the last 8 or 10 years, just wondered how did it used to be?

kartincolin

abceire wrote: »

I've not been too much lately and only going maybe the last 8 or 10 years, just wondered how did it used to be?

Well, if you visit it today, something I don`t do very often, common themes include rust, weeds and grass that hasn`t been cut for years. In addition to this, Mondello is a great track layout wasted, it used to attract events of the calibre of BTCC and BSB, which would draw in crowds by the thousands. I just can`t understand why they didn`t bring the facility into the 21st century when the times were good. The desire for motorsport in this country is there.

abceire

Thank you.

kartincolin

Not a problem, happy to rant!

abceire

Have you seen some of the photos of mondello from the 80s? God it was terrible, but the rallycross was huge! so many came to see the rallycross I was surprised.

finnharpsboy

in fairness the bridge could do with a lick of paint. was there about 8 weeks ago and the bridge looked bad.

kartincolin

Funny you should mention rallycross, because the one positive thing that has come out of Mondello recently was that they are getting a round of the 2013 European Rallycross Championship, which should bring the likes of Liam Doran to our shores!

finnharpsboy

im not comparing it with any other track its a wonderful track but if thats how bad the bridge looks after 10/11 months maybe they should paint it every 6

kartincolin

In hindsight, maybe I slightly over did it in my criticism of Mondello, I`m just speaking from my experiences. The fact that they`ve secured an ERC slot for 2013 does show that they want to bring international motorsport back to this country. I`m sure they have a determined and passionate workforce, but I do stand by my belief that it could do with a facelift, but perhaps I should be venting my frustration at the crooked shower that run this country.

abceire

I think a lot of it is, we compare Mondello with the UK tracks and racing in general in the UK, we don't have the population here. We don't have championships that attract young guys from around the world. I know a few people who work in Mondello, they love having the big events BTCC BSB etc but the deals just didn't happen once money got tight.
Fooken awesome ERC coming, I used to love the monsters of British rally cross . I'm there!
There is a drift event there every year with some of the best drift drivers in the world popping along to try beat us Irish guys.

Daniel S

When is the ERC expected to be held? I know the date hasn't been confirmed, but a rough estimate?

Nevermind... :rolleyes:

31.03-01.04.2013 Lydden Hill (GBR)
27-28.04.2013 Montalegre (PRT)
25-26.05.2013 Nyiràd (HUN)
08-09.06.2013 Kouvola (FIN)
15-16.06.2013 Hell (NOR)
06-07.07.2013 Höljes (SWE)
17-18.08.2013 Mondello Park (IRL)*
30.08-01.09.2013 Lohéac (FRA)*
14-15.09.2013 Greinbach (AUT)
21-22.09.2013 Buxtehude (DEU)
* subject to the homologation or re-homologation of the track

kartincolin

abceire wrote: »

I think a lot of it is, we compare Mondello with the UK tracks and racing in general in the UK, we don't have the population here. We don't have championships that attract young guys from around the world. I know a few people who work in Mondello, they love having the big events BTCC BSB etc but the deals just didn't happen once money got tight.
Fooken awesome ERC coming, I used to love the monsters of British rally cross . I'm there!
There is a drift event there every year with some of the best drift drivers in the world popping along to try beat us Irish guys.

I`d imagine you are right. Its easy to forget that England is home to the vast majority of the motorsport industry, and as such, the money trickles down to the facilities that they have around the country. I`m glad that England have such fantastic venues, because they are pretty accessible from Ireland.

In saying that though, if you area fan of national rallying or road racing, Ireland has got to be one the best countries in the world.

recyclebin

The use of ERC as an abreviation is going to become really confusing this year, rally or rallycross or european rugby cup. Two of the three will be in Ireland also.

mgbgt1978

Just to get back to the OP's mention of an all new track at Greenmount in limerick.
Having seen the diagrams of the 3 tracks that the Irish Festival of Speed will be using it seems that they are not building anything at all.
Those "tracks" are all part of the existing racecourse set-up, and while they will probably mark them out more clearly for the event they are definitely not new in any sense.

bbsrs

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

Just to get back to the OP's mention of an all new track at Greenmount in limerick.
Having seen the diagrams of the 3 tracks that the Irish Festival of Speed will be using it seems that they are not building anything at all.
Those "tracks" are all part of the existing racecourse set-up, and while they will probably mark them out more clearly for the event they are definitely not new in any sense.

Thanks , so the organisers are calling the use of a few internal access roads one of the biggest investments in Irish Motorsport in recent years then again they're probably not lying cause nothing gets invested in Motorsport .

JAMES VTI S

bbsrs wrote: »

It would be good to have a track day venue in the area .

:cool: up the road from me