IndyCar adds new street race in Nashville to 2021 calendar

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In the round-up: IndyCar announces a new street race in Nashville for its 2021 season.

IndyCar confirms new race for 2021

The newest addition to the IndyCar schedule will take place in Nashville, the capital of Tennessee. An 11-turn, 3.49 kilometre (2.17 mile) street circuit has been laid out in the city, crossing the Cumberland River. The first race weekend will be held on August 6th-8th.

“The Music City Grand Prix will be a one-of-a-kind IndyCar series experience anchored in the heart of Nashville’s action-packed, exhilarating downtown corridor,” said the president and CEO of Penske Entertainment Corporation Mark Miles.

“Urban street festivals have become a huge part of our DNA at IndyCar and this three-day festival, complete with a course that pushes the limits, will highlight everything Nashville and the sport have to offer.

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Comment of the day

Formula 1 needs more than just 10 teams, says @Qeki:

It was good to see that all 10 teams will continue and no one dropped out. But F1 still needs more teams. There are so many young talents waiting for that spot but there are only limited number of seats. More teams would help F1 get new viewers around the world e.g. if there would be drivers from USA, Africa, Asia it would help F1 grow in those areas.
@Qeki

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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26 comments on “IndyCar adds new street race in Nashville to 2021 calendar”

  1. I know that F1 uses potential new venues announcements as a newsbuzz generator, but it is amazing how swiftly Indycar adds a new circuit to the calendar.
    Maybe F1 is or make it more complicated.
    I almost miss the news about that Miami GP.

    1. Well, Indycar has a novel concept, unbeknown to the F1 shareholders of the past (atleast) :

      The venue putting on the race has the right and the chance to make ends meet !

      I know, right !? Madness.

    2. It’s not that fast – I first read about a possible Indycar race in Nashville in mid 2017. It’s a different layout to the one originally proposed (the run across the bridge is new) but both this and the original layout run the track around the carpark of Nissan stadium (home of the Tennessee Titans NFL team – and from memory it literally ran around the stadium).

      Found a link with the original track map
      . This version is definitely an improvement.

      1. @skydiverian so, in reality, it would be more like at least 4 years from the initial proposal to the first race being held – which sounds more realistic when compared to how long it’s usually taken for a race to appear on a major racing series calendar. Even that article suggests that it would have been at least 2 years from initial agreement to the race going ahead – that 2017 article talked about a 2019 race.

  2. Dumb looking track.

    I’m Instantly turned off after witnessing Mugello. Drive around the block, go across the bridge and come back after another trip around the little block or parking lot or whatever. Kinda of boring looking.

    Tracks like this insult the spirit of a true racer

    1. Guess it is like the outer oval at Bahrain. 3 straights, a curvy bit for a fourth straight and a chicane. Kinda of boring looking. Is it different when F1 does a “boring” circuit?

      1. Big difference is that Indycars can actually race each other! They’d still be exciting on a triangle circuit (and they were).

        1. Because it’s a spec series.
          F1 is different because each team has their own way.
          And long may the difference continue.

          1. Really? F1 has always had a mismatch between cars and with the current regs we’ve had very little on track moves for years, arguably for more than 20 years. Indycar certainly hasn’t had that for most of the last decade which allows drivers in smaller teams to have a chance – Connor Daly at Iowa race 1 in July comes to mind.

          2. Not entirely true. The teams can produce some car components, the cars setup is hugely variable and configuration is quite broad, and the teams have their own damper programs and can build whatever they want. Out of the 23 cars in a race none are identical.

          3. Bill, I believe some of those components are parts that have to be built to a standard specification though (i.e. the team can fabricate it itself, but it has to be built to the same standards and specification as the standard part they could purchase from Dallara or whichever party is the licenced supplier). Only the dampers are really that open – but given that most obtain their dampers from Penske, which is one of the larger suppliers of dampers in motorsport, it’s questionable if there really is all that much of a difference in practice.

            It should also be said that there is a big difference between changing just the set up and having different components altogether. I think many took it as read that the set up was changeable, but that isn’t normally considered as something that makes the car a different specification to another car.

    2. It could be quite interesting going into turn 17 if they’re reaching near 200 mph down the straight. Don’t clip wheels and go airborne at the bridge…

  3. At least someone on the grid (Kimi) has a sense of humour.

    Why is Hamilton riding a child’s scooter while in his pyjamas?

    1. Because he wants to.
      What I see in the pictures are three drivers that do what they want and don’t care about people opinions.

      1. I think his clothes look funny. I’ve never seen a bloke in clothes like that while riding a child’s scooter. You only wear clothes like that if you want the attention.

        Even Kimi thinks it looks funny.

        1. Bondo I have made a lot of potato salad. You asked for it after Mugello
          I like your Idea So does Lewis. He wants to get Mercedes to show us that corner 7-8-9 we’re exactly. So how about Gasly. Pretty crazy the race it was Mercedes and Mugello not like the last IndyCar. See you at Sochi

    2. Because a number of people in F1 ride these scooters. Esp when they have to travel the length of the grid. Johnny Herbert can often be seen on his. Mercedes have a handful, including motorised ones. The F1 broadcast shows them in action regularly. Surprised you missed it given your interest. It has the added bonus of being able to avoid those in the paddock who think they have the right to grab or challenge drivers as they go about their business. And since Liberty opened up the paddock to more people a number of drivers need minders. For example (excluding this year for obvious reasons) you will have seen Seb with a Ferrari clad minder on each side, and one leading, when traversing the paddock. Hamilton has passed them before they know it.
      Why the PJ’s? Probably $8 million reasons why. Fashion is a far bigger business than F1 will ever be and his new Hilfiger line dropped this week. And who was trending right across the world the day before the launch?
      As for the evolution of a F1 driver. Which two F1 drivers got in trouble for wearing a t-shirt during official duties? That’s right, Hunt and Hamilton.

  4. Thanks for the Cotd Keith!

  5. Regarding the COTD: Only if they’d be competitive enough not to be moving chicanes to the rest of the field like the ones that joined in 2010.

    133 complaints, and about such trivial that don’t have anything to do with the on-track stuff.

    1. @jerejj true, it is a tiny number, as the article pointed out the percentage of viewers in minuscule, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some frothing tabloid attack dogs get wind of it and turn it into a pile on. In some ways I really hope not, because it’s just depressing to see thousands of people getting whipped up into a frenzy about something they would otherwise just accept or ignore. but another part of me thinks it would be good to draw attention to the issue – Hamilton seems to take the barbs in his stride (not that he should have to) and the more attention Breonna Taylor’s story gets, the better.

      the other side of it, is why are people complaining? the message on the t-shirt is just about the least controversial thing ever: ‘arrest the people who killed an innocent person’ – he’s hardly fomenting revolution.

  6. While it is unusual for F1 to get this much attention (this is the first time all year F1 has attracted as many as 20 complaints for the same race), and this plus other complaints likely accrued mean F1 will probably be at the lower end of the “top 10 complained-about shows of 2020” listing (it’s done by series, not “episode”), a total of 133 complaints (some of which may be duplicates if the issue was on the world feed, because the same person can complain about the same rule-breaking event if it was broadcast by multiple channels) is not likely to worry the broadcaster.

    To put this into perspective, here are some Channel 4 programs that generated more complaints in 2020:

    The last episode of the 2020 series of Hunted had over 500 complaints because viewers thought the ending had been manipulated. The complaint was not upheld, primarily because Hunted is classified as a game show and it had followed all the necessary rules to ensure Production had not dictated or unduly biased the result. (There won’t be a 2021 series, but that’s because it’s usually filmed in May-July of the year before it is screened, it involves lots of running and unscripted social mixing and, well, pandemic).

    The documentary The Truth About Traveller Crime got at least 888 complaints (total count is unclear because at least one was a submitted folder of multiple other complaints) for its negative portrayal of Travellers, suspected misuse of statistics, false information and alleged failure to follow proper consent protocol for some of the interviews.

    Other programs that Channel 4 broadcast this year that have netted more complaints include Celebrity Googglebox (the last one routinely gets quite a lot of complaints, but a single episode in mid-June managed 121 of them). Apart from an episode generating 12 complaints for dodgy remarks about lockdown measures, I do not know the reason for any given episode’s complaints; it’s just consistently “edgy”.

    Channel 4 didn’t bat an eyelid, possibly the total complaints received to the channel dropped by half from 2018 to 2019, and were not expected to rise. This was entirely because it stopped screening reality TV/romance game show show Love Island. This meant it passed on the title of “most complained-about channel on British TV” first to Channel 5 (until it axed Biog Brother) and now ITV (a status it largely holds due to Britain’s Got Talent).

    The fact that the reason has not been revealed implies either that there were multiple reasons for the complaints, or that the complaints have not yet been assessed to see whether there’s any point investigating (assessment typically takes around 2 weeks, though I can imagine the T-shirt got more complaints than other factors). Even if OFCOM thinks the majority of those who complained embarrassed themselves, they generally find a way to directly quote one of the more politely-phrased complainants to provide illumination on what was perceived to be the issue.

    Apart from the Imola 2005 and Canada 2008 incidents mentioned in the article, other times F1 has been brought to OFCOM’s attention include:

    – Bahrain 2006, the first race of the world feed providing (selected) driver radio to everyone. For some reason, this was done live. This worked really well until lap 12, when Giancarlo Fisichella swore in response to his car breaking. Two people complained, OFCOM cleared the broadcaster – but if you’re wondering why broadcast TV radio messages are occasionally peppered with beeps, this is why.

    – Abu Dhabi 2012, where Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel both swore during the post-race press conference, resulting in a handful of complaints because it was shown pre-watershed (swearing is generally only allowed on TV after 9 pm). The broadcasters apologised and OFCOM cleared them (because live TV is one of the exceptions).

    – Singapore 2014, when someone complained to OFCOM about Gerhard Berger swearing during a live interview. The interviewer had already apologised on screen, so nobody was surprised when the complaint was rejected.

    – Singapore 2018, when OFCOM ruled against FOM digitally projecting the Rolex clock advertising over the arc of an observation wheel (it was felt to amount to a product placement, which has extremely strict rules in the UK that weren’t followed due to the nature of the world feed). Channel 4 got into particular trouble because, as a highlights broadcast, it had chance to edit it out. Both broadcasters had complained to FOM, and the device was made a bit less prominent in subsequent broadcasts.

  7. The Ranting Brummie
    17th September 2020, 13:45

    Take away the buildings and that Nashville circuit looks like Oulton Park after Herman Tilke’s been let loose with the gardening tools.

    1. That’s a horrifying thought. I love Oulton!

  8. Shame F1 couldn’t bolt on a visit after the Nascar Race…. could reduce organizing costs?? :-)

  9. If the streets are wide enough I think the Nashville street coarse layout could be a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Even the run around the (massive) car park has some nice distinctions to each of the corners that should make then unique to one another. And personally I love the idea of long straights blasting across a bridge over a river.

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