US GP in Austin Discussion and Speculation...

Well put Andreas.
Pointing out that the Emperor has no clothes is never a way to be widely liked.
The worst thing that we, as a community, can do is to let an issue that we have no control over drive us apart. Sports discussions can be passionate fun if we don't take them or ourselves too seriously.

 

Already FULLY funded or already funded - as in - "we have (some) funding"?

The fact that they attempted (and failed) with a private placement speaks volumes.

 

They attended a meeting and were interested in investing themselves, or knew someone that was.

They signed the Non Disclosure Agreement and therefore they cannot comment further.

 

No, SRT Mike believes that it's obvious that if the project was fully funded, more would be happening on-site as we speak.

If we are to believe their claims of being done next May, that would be pretty much the shortest construction time of any F1 track made, and it would necessitate the largest construction effort. Thus far, we appear to have the most lackadaisical (to put it kindly) construction effort we've ever seen for a supposed 13-months-away F1 facility.

Putting 2 and 2 together.....

 

I've tried pointing this out several times in the past. They don't want to listen, so I gave up on it......oh well, soon enough

 

A "trust me I know but can't say why" with three degrees of separation? Accepting that is a leap of faith too far for me.

 

I so hope you proove me wrong. Honestly. I want this project to succeed.

Please, please be right.

 

Amen. When and if it comes off we'll all get together, laugh and eat crow.

 

and on that note, those interested, can register to recieve updates on ticket information:

http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com/

 

People always said the same thing about soccer yet it has definitely caught on in the last few years, especially with the youth. I'm thinking if Kimi kicks a** in NASCAR more people will be inclined to give F1 a chance.

 

So... sort of like going to one of those timeshare sales pitches in Vegas for the free meal, and someone drawing the conclusion that all the timeshares are sold because - after all - they had a meeting about it!

Compelling evidence

 

Do the "1100 construction workers" also sign that non-disclosure?

 

Many years ago, one of Ensigns bigger sponsor deals (if only for a couple of races) mentioned that they had tried to get on to the Brabham cars first. Basically, because their $$ amount was fairly small around 500K, they were told to "bog-off!". That's how they came to sponsor a smaller team, more car but less exposure.

I am sure the same is true here. If you walk in with 5mil, they'll sign you off. They need the 8+ figure deals and won't sell themselves short.

 

I would think the last people to find out if the job is out of money would be the construction workers.....

They're shooting for july, not may.

Can someone take a look at this, and see if they even have the permits approved to start building?? If not, the lack of activity can easily be explained by that....

https://www.ci.austin.tx.us/devreview/b_showpublicpermitfolderdetails.jsp?FolderRSN=10550209

I don't know anything about developments

 

Sorry if you took offense to the term 'poo flinger', its kind of fun to say like 'foo fighters'. Any way, I don't mind people being skeptical or critical of something, that is what makes this country great. We can agree to disagree and share our opinions even though we know one is not going to convince the other. I do have a problem when anyone attempts to post something positive about the project and instantly gets chastised since it will fail because of blah, blah, blah. You know, the project might actually fail, but at least these guys are actually trying to bring F1 back to the US and not playing armchair quarterback. I really do hope this project succeeds and I applaud them for trying.

 

Just as a heads up. FEMA has not approved the plans yet so no permanent structures can be built until they do. They were submitted around the first of December so there should be news from them soon. Part of the property sits on a 100 year flood plain and until FEMA approves it, the rest of the process is held up. That is why they have concentrated on grading and laying pipes because they CAN'T start building yet.

Now you can argue how this will affect their deadline though they knew about this from the start. Basically, its pointless to be doing more construction than they are because they can't go full steam ahead yet. They most likely have a schedule that paces themselves with work until the predicted time of approval.

 

Thanks for the information sir, and welcome to F Chat!

 

Other sources I have read say May (the press release from Austin Commercial when they got the contract says this, in fact). So if they are now saying July, it's already slipped - before they've even built anything.

Last I heard (which may very well be out of date) is that no vertical building has been approved, pending resolution over who will pay for the roadwork. Even if that remains unresolved, it does not account for the scant amount of work being done.

Also, they are saying this is a $400mm project. The estimates of the entire bill for road work is $6mm to $15mm. That represents between 1 and 3.75% of the project cost. Considering the late fee to Bernie alone is $10mm, does anyone really believe that $400mm worth of fully funded construction that is already behind schedule and will require the fastest build of any F1 track ever is being held up by the haggling over a cost that will be at most less than 4% of the total? And that assumes the city is refusing to pay for any of it - more likely it's much less pessimistic than that.

That's like losing your whole honeymoon holiday because you're upset about a $50 baggage fee on a $2,000 plane ticket.

 

The bid package i found puts it ending in July. That's allowing for 34 days of 'weather contigency'.....

 

Within the next month everyone should have their answers. Once FEMA gives its approval (~6 month wait) and the rest follow (hopefully) shortly afterwards, real construction can begin. If June is here and nothing has happened with the approvals or construction isn't full bore, I will be right there with the skeptics.

As for now, they have had and still have a lot of work to do even without being able to build anything yet (onsite) due to the flood plain. I can agree with skepticism regarding whether they will finish in time, but not about the legitimacy of the project itself.

 

Don't confuse viable and legitimate. I don't believe anyone is claiming the project is not legitimate.

 

Agreed. If every project waited until all their ducks were in a row before starting nothing would ever be built.

 

Soccer has been the next big thing for over 40 years...not the best example

 

Not so encouraging pictures of progress

http://f1newsaustin.com/2011/04/media/panoramic-aerial-shots-of-cota-construction-progress/

 

I love that helicopter with the camera! I always wanted to do something like this, totally awesome.

As for the track: Well, hmm, it looks good enough for the annual "Race of the Champions"...