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Melbourne Australia circuit description
This race will open the 2007 season, as
it has happened since 1996 - 2006 was an
exception, due to the Commonwealth Games.
Albert Park is a street circuit, just
outside the central business area near the
beachside district of St. Kilda. The circuit
is smooth but can be quite dusty and is
fairly low-grip and tough on brakes. Drivers
approach the first corner at more than 300
kph. The race annually draws a crowd of
around 400,000 over the four days.
The Melbourne
Grand Prix Circuit is a street-based
circuit around Albert Park Lake, only a
couple of kilometres south of central Melbourne.
The circuit utilises everyday sections
of road that circle Albert Park Lake, a
small man-made lake just south of the Central
Business District of Melbourne. The road
sections that are used were rebuilt prior
to the inaugural event in 1996 to ensure
consistency and smoothness. As a result,
compared to other circuits that are held
on public roads, Albert Park is quite smooth
as a racing surface and picturesque as there
are only a few other places on the Formula
1 calendar where there is a body of water
close to a racing track.
As a racing track of interest to drivers,
it is considered quite fast and relatively
easy to drive, drivers having commented
that the consistent placement of corners
allows them to easily learn the circuit
and achieve competitive times. However,
the flat terrain around the lake, coupled
with the track design, means that the track
is not conducive to overtaking or easy spectating
unless in possession of a grandstand seat.
Each year, the track is erected from approximately
4 weeks prior to the event and taken down
within 2 weeks after the event. Land around
the circuit (including a large aquatic centre,
a golf course, a football stadium, some
restaurants and rowing boathouses) have
restricted access on the weekend of the
event. Dissent is still prevalent among
residents around the track area and some
still maintain a silent protest against
the event. Nevertheless, the event is immensely
popular in Melbourne and Australia.
Region
Melbourne is the state capital and largest
city in the Australian state of Victoria,
and the second largest city in Australia
(after Sydney), with a population of approximately
3.6 million (2001 census) in the Melbourne
metropolitan area and 69,670 in the City
of Melbourne (which covers only the central
city area). The city's motto is "Vires
acquirit eundo" which means "we
gather strength as we go." Melbourne
was the capital city of Australia from 1901
until 1927.The city was named after the
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, William
Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, whose home
was near the village of Melbourne in Derbyshire.
Melbourne in Derbyshire derives its name
from the Old English for Mill Stream (Mylla
Burne) Melbourne has twice ranked first
in a survey by The Economist of The World's
Most Livable Cities on the basis of its
cultural attributes, climate, cost of living,
and social conditions, once in 2002 [1],
and again in 2004. In 2005, however, it
was ranked 2nd, behind Vancouver, Canada.
The US's Utne Reader puts it thus: "Add
a long tradition of civic pride, communities
of new immigrants from around the world,
and the best food in Australia, and you
have a recipe for what many claim is the
hippest city in the Southern Hemisphere"
(Nov/Dec 2001).Melbourne has undergone a
major urban 'revival', such that it is sometimes
classed as being in a second tier of "world
cities"; the GaWC study group in the
UK ranks Melbourne, on the basis of relative
availability of specialised "advanced
services" as a "minor world city"
comparable to cities such as Montreal, Osaka,
and Prague. It has one of the highest numbers
of international students studying in its
universities, after London, New York, and
Paris.
A resident of Melbourne is referred to as
a Melburnian
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