DECONSTRUCTED: F1 zooms past New Jersey

A proposal to host the 2012 Grand Prix in Jersey City went in and out of the mayor’s office faster than a Ferrari. PERE magazine June 2010


Roughly 24 hours after the tourism chief for Jersey City made public a proposal to have Liberty State Park host a Formula 1 grand prix in 2012, the idea was shot down and rolled out of town by Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy.

A 3.6-mile race track had already been sketched out by the city’s tourism officials, with visions of the circuit routing around Liberty State Park, just across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan, and all set against the backdrop of the New York City skyline. Organisers, though, were just spinning their wheels, after Mayor Healy declared the race was “not suited” for the park.

There is still time, however, to realise F1 chief Bernie Eccleston’s dream of a race in New York. Why not follow Singapore’s lead and clear a path through the city with a street circuit. The trck could start in the East Village at Stuyvesant Town before heading north to 42nd Street, where the route cuts left before heading across Grand Central Station and the Bank of America building at One Bryant Park, and circling back down the West Side highway to Union Square? Granted, Manhattan’s grid system may present a few cornering challenges, but still, gentlemen, start your engines!