There was some nonsense published the Track needed a 12 foot deep subgrade prep......that's deeper than Highway 288 thru the swamps to Freeport! They also had a variance to 'fill' as much as 30', must be bridging some natural ravines..... This really isn't rocket science....
US Grand Prix boss favours artificial rain ESPNF1 Staff March 8, 2011 » 2012 US Grand Prix organiser Tavo Hellmund has admitted he thinks Bernie Ecclestone's idea to spice up Formula One with artificial rain is "brilliant". Ecclestone said it would be "easy" to ready the irrigation systems at "a number of tracks", and one of them could be the venue currently under construction in Texas. The Austin American Statesman reported that Hellmund thinks the idea is "brilliant", adding that wet weather racing is "spectacular". He added: "True talent always shines in the wet. The smaller teams should rejoice as rain is the ultimate equalizer, eliminating size of budgets and allowing pure talent to shine." He said that because Austin was in the early stages of construction it would be possible to incorporate the required sprinklers.
I just decided both Tavio and Bernie are complete idiots..... And I'm FAST in the rain!!!! But it's totally needless risk, unless part of the natural environment. I'm off to the Sex Slaves thread in P&R......
Wow, deadly news. So they wanted to do a $20mm placement, and more than 1/3rd went unsold. Not good. And that only represents 8% of the total $$ needed. If they can't even get that, where are they going to get the other 92% (well, 95% considering not all of the 8% sold)? This is identical to the USF1 deal. That Youtube guy invested some $$, but was smart enough to have it be seed capital and let the project fly or crash on it's own merit thereafter. The money was enough to buy some equipment, do some work and the goal was to get the rest of the $$ on an incremental basis as needed. For Austin F1, that time was about 6 months ago. They will have been doing a furious sales job and they haven't had any traction. It's getting more desperate by the day, but the thing they must do above all else is maintain the appearance of progress. There is nobody waiting in the wings to fund this. Red McCombs doesn't want to fund it. Nobody wants to fund it. It's DOA.
I was the one to name him Tavio, he belongs on the cover of a fictional romantic novel, in flowing long hair....... Selling sex slaves..... That would GET him the money!!!!!
His big money is in the State of Texas Special Events Tax deferrals, (which shelter the pop in his land valuation assessments) but he had got some "flow" issues until he can reach it..... "Brother, can you spare a Dime???" I'd better order some Tshirts......
So we need to get the Crow recipes out again, maybe have crow pate on toast from the USF1 toaster. DOA from the start.
This fake rain idea would make F1 the laughing stock of the Motorsports world..... What's next fake snow for football games?
I doubt it: - Many other big motorsports series don't even run in the wet. - Racing series that do run in the wet are not as fast as F1 in the wet. - Another way to look at "fake rain" is: Even in the races where nature gives the F1 drivers a break by not raining, these guys still face the challenge of wet tracks because of the sprinklers. Speaking of snow: There have been rally stages in the past where dry winter weather caused the organizers to artifically add snow, either real snow transported from the mountains or artificial snow. So the addition of H2O to spice up motorsports is not an idea Bernie came up with.
It'll be much more important whether Bernie has the same dogged determination. And whether Todt would go along with it. As so often it is completely irrelevant what any of us think about this.
a, it never matters what we think. and 2, You're much more committed to this idea than Bernie ever will be.
A. It matters what I think. & B. I'm with him, Andreas that is, I like rain (clenching teeth) I live in it most of the time. Sorts the men from the boys..
