南非F1大奖赛新提案：开普敦城外拟建新赛道
私营团体蓝山赛车（BMR）计划在开普敦城外兴建新赛道，希望从2031年起承办F1和MotoGP赛事，重振南非大奖赛。
重振一级方程式南非大奖赛出现全新尝试：有人提议在开普敦城外兴建一条新赛道。
私人资助的团体蓝山赛车（BMR）由南非商界领袖和国际赛车运动人士组成，其表示有意兴建一条新赛道，希望从2031年起承办F1和MotoGP赛事。
该提案由商人尼尔·弗罗内曼牵头，他曾是总部位于南非的全球矿业和金属加工集团西班耶-斯蒂尔沃特的创始首席执行官。
BMR的首席执行官是博比·哈茨利夫，1980年代初F1在卡拉米比赛时他曾是赛事推广人，自1993年南非举办最后一场F1比赛以来，他一直参与多项让F1重返南非的努力。
这项最新提案涉及开普敦以北斯瓦特兰地区的一块600公顷场地，该场地于今年早些时候被购得。
这条赛道全长约4.8公里（3英里），承诺拥有一段“至少1公里的全油门直道”，并在赛道各处设置“多个超车机会”。
BMR表示，赛道宽度全程至少12米，并且像某些赛道一样采用自然起伏而非人工造坡。与街道赛道（例如之前提出的开普敦市中心赛道）相比，开阔的场地在设计上具有更大的灵活性。
该场地每天可容纳约12.5万名观众。
目前的时间表是，如果兴趣足够大，将于2029年开始建设，目标是2030年通过认证，2031年举办首场大奖赛。
这现实吗？
每年都有来自世界各地的数十个申办请求希望加入F1赛历，其中一些的运作比其他的更为公开。
在非洲举办比赛——非洲是唯一一个没有F1大奖赛的有居民的大洲——长期以来一直是F1的目标，F1也确实有再次在那里比赛的真实愿望。
七届世界冠军刘易斯·汉密尔顿一直是这个项目的坚定支持者，他今年早些时候说过：“我不想在没能在非洲举办一场大奖赛、没能在那里比赛的情况下离开这项运动。我一直在追问他们——到底什么时候能实现？”
F1首席执行官斯特凡诺·多梅尼卡利上个月表示，关于重返非洲大陆举办三十多年来首场比赛的“谈判正在非常顺利地推进”。
BMR的这一最新提案是南非在2020年代发起的多个申办之一，其中包括其他开普敦方案，以及凯拉米赛道可能回归的方案，但迄今为止没有任何一个取得成功。
作为一个全新的推广方和全新的场地，BMR必须比现有的推广方和场地付出更高的门槛，向F1证明它将是一个合适的举办地。
当BMR的赛道场地除了已购置的土地和其生成的概念图之外尚不存在时，这一点尤为明显。
因此，F1所期望的回归非洲——无论是在南非还是其他地方——距离最终敲定还有很长的路要走。
英文原文
There’s a brand-new attempt to revive Formula 1’s South African Grand Prix with proposals for a new circuit outside Cape Town.
Blue Mountain Racing (BMR) - a privately funded group of South African business leaders and international motorsport figures - has stated its intention to build a new circuit which it hopes will host F1 and MotoGP races from 2031.
The proposal is headed by businessman Neal Froneman, who was the founding CEO of South African-based global mining and metals processing group Sibanye-Stillwater.
BMR’s chief executive is Bobby Hartslief, who used to be the event promoter when F1 raced at Kyalami in the early 1980s, and has been a part of multiple efforts to return F1 to South Africa since its last race in 1993.
This latest proposal involves a 600-hectare site in the Swartland area north of the city that was secured earlier this year.
The circuit would be approximately 4.8 kilometres (3 miles), promising "a full-throttle straight of at least 1km" with "multiple overtaking possibilities" around the circuit.
BMR says the track width would be at least 12 metres throughout and incorporate natural rather than artificial elevation like some circuits. The open ground gives greater flexibility of design than a street circuit - such as the city centre Cape Town circuit previously proposed.
The venue would have the capacity to accommodate approximately 125,000 spectators per day.
The current timeline is for construction to commence in 2029 if there’s enough interest, and then a target of 2030 for homologation and 2031 for a maiden grand prix.
Is it realistic?
There are dozens of bids every year to join F1’s calendar from all around the world and some are more public in their efforts than others.
A race in Africa - the only inhabited continent without an F1 grand prix - has long been an objective of F1 and there is a genuine desire to race there again.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has been a vocal supporter, saying earlier this year: "I don't want to leave the sport without having a grand prix there [in Africa], without getting to race there. I'm chasing them - when is it going to be?"
And F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said last month "negotiations are progressing very well in Africa" for a first race in over three decades on the continent.
This latest BMR proposal is one of several bids launched from South Africa in the 2020s, including other Cape Town proposals as well as a potential return to Kyalami, but none of them have succeeded so far.
As a brand-new promoter and a new venue BMR has to meet a much higher bar than an existing promoter/venue in proving to F1 that it would be a suitable venue.
This is particularly the case when BMR's venue doesn't yet exist outside of the ground it has acquired and the concept images it has generated.
So there's still a long way to go before F1's desired return to Africa - be it South Africa or elsewhere - is anywhere near finalised.
The Race ·
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