LOL! When I read that my thougts were: oh they have destroyed a nice botanical garden and beautiful parks to enjoy and walk in. A ruined motor stadium in the middle of a city is not what I consider a loss
Motorbike racing is my first love, so for me it is a massive loss.
Although, I am the first to agree with those that it did not live up to the standards that are expected at circuits nowadays. I remember when Eurosport lost the Pan-European rights to MotoGP a few years ago, and Toby Moody was saying that he was proud that he had commentated on every single one of Valentino Rossi's races, and was LIVE at the circuit for all of them... except a few at Jacarepaguá, where they did the commentary from Europe. And that was because the facilities at the circuit were so bad.
When you look at the photos of the pit buildings, you can see how basic they are. What was needed was to build new pit buildings and modern commentary boxes. Not to close the place down and demolish everything.
The compromise was that a new circuit would be built 10 miles directly north of Jacarepaguá in Deodoro. But, there is no sign yet of it getting built. And I honestly doubt if it ever will.
What I can't understand is why they didn't leave the Jacarepaguá circuit intact and build the Olympic park at Deodoro.
If you look at Google Earth,
the site that was earmarked for the new circuit is actually around the same size as
the Jacarepaguá site. But, it looks like it is currently a nice park, and I don't approve of developing nice parks. Especially when they are located in massive conurbations.
Directly to the west of the proposed new circuit site, however, is a
massive swathe of undeveloped land marking the edge of the city. The
Canoe Slalom and the
Shooting Range being used in the Olympics have already been built on the Eastern and Southern edges of this land respectively.
So, why not build the Olympic Park there on the undeveloped land in between these two venues? That way, they could have had the whole shebang on the one site, instead of having various sports dotted across the conurbation.
And the tradition of motor racing at Jacarepaguá would have been kept intact for generations of motorsports fans to come. :agree:
By the way, I have created a Facebook page based on my previous post. It can be found at:
In Loving Memory Of The Autódromo de Jacarepaguá, 1977 - 2012
And on there I have created an album containing all the photos that Google Earth have taken of the Jacarepaguá site between 2006 and now. There are 67 photos in total (too many to link to on here), and they are VERY interesting to see:
Death Of A Circuit / Birth Of An Olympic Park
Apart from that, I'm impressed with your dedication. Papers/net media should hire you to write columns for them :thumbsup:
I don't think I would have the dedication to work for a publication. Whilst I may seem to have dedication to these causes I believe in, I am far too easily distracted. And as a result my little projects, which should take about a week or so to do, normally take a few months!
That is why I have so much respect for
Mrs. P. Like, she can manage her time to write her newspaper stories, moderate this forum, do her running, watch skating
AND raise a family.
CaroLiza_fan
