ISTANBUL
,
TURKEY , June 30, 2005 –
Turkey
will unveil its new purpose-built Formula 1 race track when
Ferraris, Mercedes, BMWs and other contenders speed through its 5.333 km
track on Sunday, August 21, beginning at 3:00 p.m. While making its
Formula 1 debut with this year’s 2005 calendar of “the world’s most
expensive sport”, Turkey’s is slated to become one of racing’s most
challenging and interesting courses with 14 curves (6 right and 8 left)
and counter clockwise construction, one of only three for 2005. The
track’s uneven surface punctuated by dangerous slopes with a theoretical
maximum speed of 320.58 km will prove an unprecedented site for Formula
1’s energetic fans perched above in the venue’s state of the art 130,000
seats.
Formula 1 has long had
a following of dedicated enthusiasts traversing countries and continents
alike to watch the highest class of single-seat, open-wheel Supercars go
through their high-speed races. Many are hailing the highly anticipated,
much talked about new venue on the Asian side of Istanbul as one of the most important
developments in racing in some time. The Istanbul Otodrom Track, a
nearly 97 million dollar project in construction since September 2003,
will offer an excitement unlike any other in the world – the virgin ride.
Herman Tilke, the famed German architect who designed the track, who is
also responsible for the circuits at Sepang, Bahrain and Shanghai, aimed
to create one that truly added to the sport of Formula 1 racing, with a
wide variety of corners, 15 m at the sharpest turn, and sixteen down
curves, 8.145% as the highest slope.
The Istanbul circuit
will prove a challenge for McLaren-Mercedes, Williams-BMW and other
teams trying to surpass the usually front running Ferrari car with
Michael Schumacher at the helm, because there will be fewer obvious
overtaking opportunities compared to the long straits and tight hairpin
characteristics of many courses. The track itself is built on four
different ground levels with rising and descending grades. The
spectacular facility will also rival other newcomers, like
those of Bahrain and China , with its
extravagant seating capacity and amenities, dominated by the
two separate seven-floor VIP towers, erected at each end of the paddock.
The Friday Practice
Race will begin at 11:00 a.m. on August 19, with qualifying to follow on
Saturday at 1:00 pm and the official start of the first ever Formula 1
Turkish Grand Prix** on Sunday, August 21, 2005 at 3:00 p.m. For more
information or to order tickets, visit
www.msoistanbul.com or call (+90) 212
522 4155.
Turkey
, the
site of two wonders of the ancient world, is a present-day marvel – the
cradle of civilization, the very center of world history and a
modern Westward-looking republic. It is a country of fascinating
contrasts, where antiquity is juxtaposed with the contemporary, the
familiar with the exotic; where sun-swept beaches beckon less than an
hour away from snow-capped mountains, and everywhere visitors are
treated to the extraordinary warmth of the Turkish people.
For information about travel to Turkey, call 1-877-FOR-TURKEY
or contact the Turkish Culture and Tourism Offices in New York at
212-687-2194
or in Washington D.C. at 202-612-6800 or in Los Angeles at 323-937-8066
and visit
www.tourismturkey.org
or
www.kulturturizm.gov.tr