The Grand Prix is coming to Albert Park. Just got my ‘Local access only zone’ sticker for my car, so that I can come and go from my home in StKilda West/Middle Park. There are security guards at checkpoints, there’s about 5 entry/exit points in the perimeter, out of a grid of 40 streets I could drive in/out of.
Trams (free for GP patrons) will only run from the City centre to the Gates at the Lake, and the rest of the suburb will be serviced by buses.
Ammenities (including golf, aquatic centre) are closed for long periods, and Lake side drive and the park closed for many weeks.
Even the swans (thanks vax2000) leave the area and go across the bridge to avoid the noise and the fumes.
Protests by Save Albert Park were ignored. That a public space is used for private profit ( and profits to go to someone on the other side of the hemisphere) I find very sad.
Haven’t you been told that it’s good for the city and the state?
I often wonder if any of these events actually provide the benefits that are claimed, as we never hear of the PRECISE quantified dollar value gained after costs. Where are the cost/benefit analysis and the reporting of outcomes?
To me it just seems the figures provided are often dreamt up by some backroom person(s) guessing an initial value, and then guessing what the multiplier effect might be. How could they ever work that out anyway as there would not be any way of isolating the value of an event from all the other possible variables in the economy of the city/state/nation?
Sponsorship has many faces?
It’s the price of unlimited entry to the pit lane, the private box with the F1 committee, and to rub shoulders ever so briefly with some of the famous, and possibly rich stars of the circuit and their followers.
I’m still waiting for my invite. Have you got yours?
Cost benefit analysis might come down to the notional value and benefit of putting Melbourne on the world stage. Mostly to a cohort of world travellers who are by the nature of their interests more cashed up than some. Can’t be any poorer an outcome than some of the latest promos from Tourism Australia?
Although it might not make those who live near Albert Park and in St Kilda feel any better, you are not alone. Others experience similar with what happens in Newcastle, Townsville and the Gold Coast when their leaders turn the suburbs into a race track.
I agree that no acceptable evidence has been put forward as to the benefits to the city.
Patrons get free public transport. Food and drink are available inside the area,
there’s little to show that the surrounding suburbs get a lot of business from patrons. The Ferrari team used to patronise Fitzroy’s street restaurants after the last race. Fitzroy street is now home to many homeless people. Hope they don’t see that.
Did I mention the lost pets due to the
very high noise the RAAF aerial display
makes?
Can’t even have a peep: a very high and very solid fence gets built around the space and more!
Can only hear the high decibels even two blocks away where I am.
This is what I am questioning. There seems to be a lot of ‘notional values’, but very little in the way of sold quantification. How can anyone judge the value of expenditure or compare it to other expenditures such as the embarressing tourism ads you mention without facts and figures?
At the moment we are expected to accept the value of these grand spectacles (car races, Commonealth Games, Olympics, etc.) on the word of our city/state/national ‘leaders’ and their mouthpieces.
It reminds me of the Roman Games held in amphitheatres throughout the Empire (including the Colosseum) to bolster the Emperor’s standing and therefore keep the plebes’ minds off revolting.
At least regardless of which seat you had you could see the whole of the arena. I’ll quite happily spend a day or two watching motor sports up close, the older the machinery the better. The best made circuits have plenty of great locations where you can observe a large portion of the track. Street circuits take that away. So it becomes more of a Lemming thing to stand in a crowd and spend two hours counting cars. You soon loose track of the order, pit stop action etc.
The appeal of purpose built facilities, the most carefully crafted safety design and attention to a site with great views of all the action would be my preference. Taking over someone’s neighbourhood for something not everyone enjoys is a rough deal. Doing so long after many moved in? Hardly progress.
A lot further away than that according to my family members who live two stations further along the train line.
When I was much younger I was a petrol head. Loved sports cars and racing. As time went by the cars became bland and all alike. Last decade I had an invite to one of those fabled corporate boxes located at the hairpin on the end of the straight.
It was like a robotic parade. You could put your finger on the pavement and each car would shift at that precise place, each trying to take the same track. It was more of a parade and durability demonstration than a race.
It once and for all cured me, although I sometimes wistfully remember when there was real racing for real sports cars.
When the Australian Grand Prix started at Albert Park I also felt exited about it: my suburb to be seen on TV
around the world; the Ferrari with the invincible Michael Schumacher!
Could turn the TV on and follow the race all around the circuit while hearing the high pitch of the motors and smelling the petrol fumes, made me believe I was there.
Then after a while the novelty was gone,
and there’s only a lot of disruption to be endured.
But then StKilda is often having festivals, marathons, races, pride marches, the list is endless…the streets closures, the public transport suspended…the organising to be away for that day. The price to be paid for living here
I live in the Adelaide CBD, and I was elated when Victoria poached the Formula 1 event. We now have to endure the noise of the Superloop event, but the worst part is the disruption from the many weeks of traffic restrictions either side of the event. While it may bring revenue to hotels and restaurants, the cost to the ordinary person in terms of added commute time and inconvenience is ignored.
The Superloop is my reminder to spend some quality time visiting the wine regions of the Barossa, Clare and Coonawarra.
You must have a hearing problem! I worked for many years at the other end of the city, corner of Spencer and Lonsdale streets (a little under 4km as the swan flies). The cars were easily audible on the south side of the building, in the third-floor computer room, through bullet-proof glass. If we opened the window, you would swear the cars were racing down Spencer Street.
I do hope you’re not implying that my comment is “rude”. It was certainly not meant to be and, apart from deliberately seeking offence, I don’t see how it could possibly be misconstrued that way. It merely emphasises how extremely loud the GP cars actually are.
Well, it looks like other events have over taken the F1 GP in Melbourne. (oh, a pun!)
P.S.
All that disruption to the immediate community, with no race at the end.
To all those who missed out on the event, the NRL appears to have COVID-19 resistant fans, including the Cronulla Sharks no 1 fan (Slow-Mo?) who plans to attend their first round match today. It might pay to keep at least 2m away if at all possible, following an encounter of the possibly Corona kind with the Minister for Home Affairs on Tuesday.
Just for info - decibels is a measure of noise volume. frequency is the pitch - so @Gaby and replies you probably mean frequency as high noise is obviously going to be heard further.
The Grand Prix is back in Albert Park.
Quick, get me some Panadol!
My headache is building up:
the noise from the ‘apocalypse now’ type of hovering helicopters, the loud
vrooming of the cars all day, the fumes building-up under a somewhat cloudy sky.
Just closed all of the windows
because of the noise and the fumes, and we expect 26c today!
This year we are not fenced in
and needing a car sticker to be able to come and go, but there’s a two hour limit on all street parking, residents have been given exemption permits by the council.
Hope it’s worth it for our economy sake, for me it’s Panadol every 6 hours
(Slow-Mo?) who plans to attend their first round match today. It might pay to keep at least 2m away if at all possible, following an encounter of the possibly Corona kind with the Minister for Home Affairs 
on Tuesday.
