US GP in Austin Discussion and Speculation...

They didn't have the land all under ownership when the F1 announcment broke, they could have seen some escalation from hold outs, but I doubt THAT much!!

That Taco Truck in the one picture is a nice East Austin touch.....

 

I know I sound like a broken record on this but has ANYONE heard anything that would indicate they are not 100% funded???

There's ZERO "Investor Relations" info or indicators anywhere that they are beating the bushes for cash....if they were still 'selling participation" one would certianly think there would be such things....

 

me and you are in the 'innocent until proven guilty camp'.....others here, not so much.

I think user Schatten mentioned a week or two back, that a friend of his had been hired as a 'director of business development' or something like that. that title could imply several things

 

All I hear is the deafening sound of silence....across the construction site.

 

You have pretty good ears to hear that far. Lots of work being done.

 

..just not the stuff that needs to be done, according to their schedule

They're moving some dirt around - not doing serious construction.

 

Yes, and we all understand you are doubtful of the whole project. It's been said again and again. But spouting out that there is a deafening silence across the construction site is false. Figurative according to what you'd like to see, but false.

 

How do you compare the current activities with their project plan?

Not trying to argue, but an honest question.

 

Obviously they are running behind.

Whether that is because they don't have any money or because they aren't allowed to build structures until they resolve the road improvement funding with the county is debatable.

Whether they are going to be able to finish in time is debatable.

For a project that is 'dead' a lot sure is getting worked on.

 

Not dead but maybe on life support waiting for either permits or funds.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/11/texas-weighs-25m-year-formula-racing-amid-budget-crunch/

Texas Weighs $25M a Year for Formula One Racing Amid Budget Crunch
By Judson Berger
Published May 11, 2011
| FoxNews.com
Print Email Share Comments (272)

As Texas grapples with a gaping budget deficit, the state is moving forward with a plan to subsidize Formula One racing to the tune of $250 million over the next decade.
An agreement was struck last year to bring Formula One to Austin starting in 2012, but the public financing component is drawing fresh criticism as lawmakers try to figure out how to close a budget shortfall estimated to be as high as $27 billion over the next two years. They've proposed steep cuts, including to education, and some question whether the racing money could be put to better use preventing teacher layoffs.
"The money would be better spent on the schools," said Clay Robison, with the Texas State Teachers Association, adding that tax dollars should not be going toward private enterprise. "I'm a baseball fan, and I would be opposed to them spending money on a new baseball stadium."
State Sen. Dan Patrick, a conservative Republican from Houston, recently spearheaded a vote against the funding in the finance committee. "This is not something we should be doing. How can you justify spending $25 million? That is 500 teachers," he said.
Patrick said the vote against the money "slowed down" the process, but acknowledged it might not block the funding. The House and Senate are still trying to reconcile the differences between their budgets, and the Texas office responsible for the Formula One funding expressed confidence it would survive.

"It's still there. It's not been stripped," Allen Spelce, spokesman for state Comptroller Susan Combs, told FoxNews.com. "It's still moving along in the budget process."
State officials are defending the Formula One arrangement, arguing it will be such a money-maker for Texas that the state will easily recoup its investment.
Planners have cited some ambitious projections, estimating that the Formula One race in Austin will generate about $300 million in economic activity annually. Spelce said the state would put up $25 million at the outset, and then use the presumed windfall of sales tax generated by the event to reinvest that amount year after year for the next decade.
"It's revenue-neutral. ... What we're doing is we're front-ending the $25 million," Spelce told FoxNews.com. "It could potentially even bring in more money."
The money, intended to help pay for the cost of everything from security to portable bathrooms, would come from Texas' "major events trust fund" and go directly to Formula One. Spelce stressed that Formula One charges this kind of fee in other locations and stressed that it was a critical part of the deal to locate the race in Austin.
Asked why the state didn't turn to private investors to put up the money instead, and then keep the extra sales tax revenue for itself, Spelce said Texas' events fund was set up for exactly this kind of purpose -- to attract "large, competitively placed events." The fund has been used in the past to lure events like the Super Bowl and NCAA championships.
The construction of the Circuit of the Americas track -- a 3.4-mile course with seating for 120,000 which will host the Formula One race and other events -- is being financed separately by a group of private investors, not by the state.
But Robison questioned why private sources couldn't also finance the race itself.
"If it's that good a deal, then they should have found some more private investors," he said.
Robison estimates that budgets being hammered out in the Texas Legislature could cost the state tens of thousands of school district jobs, and said state priorities should be education and health care.
Richard Viktorin, with the Texas advocacy group Audits in the Public Interest, also testified before a state Senate committee earlier this year saying the economic activity estimates were wildly inflated. He called the deal a "liar's loan" and suggested the event would not draw the money or the crowds anticipated.
"Formula One's numbers as to economic activity created are outrageously overstated," he said.
Formula One, a Europe-based racing series, does not have anywhere close to the kind of devoted following in the United States enjoyed by NASCAR. Formula One races are held all over the world, in high-end locations like Monaco and Singapore. Their races have been hosted by several American cities over the last few decades, most recently in Indianapolis, but Formula One in the U.S. went on hiatus in 2007.
With the race returning, planners hope to continue drawing an international crowd. Even if NASCAR fans are reluctant to experiment with the Grand Prix in Austin, Circuit of the Americas spokeswoman Ali Putnam said organizers anticipate crowds from Latin America and Europe will attend.
"Mexico considers this ... as their home race," she said, adding that the only other races in the Americas are in Montreal and Brazil. "This is huge for Mexico."
And Austin is close to other major cities in Texas, like San Antonio, Houston and Dallas.
Putnam expressed confidence that the race would draw a big crowd, and she noted that the track, once completed, will host other events throughout the year, generating more revenue for the state.
She said the $25 million state payment was important for Formula One, not for the private investors who are financing the construction of the track itself.
Spelce said that while "everything's on the table" in the Texas budget talks, it doesn't appear the Formula One money is threatened.
Lucy Nashed, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, said the governor is "thankful" for the work of the comptroller in securing the Grand Prix in Austin. She, too, said the trust fund was created for this kind of event.
"We're always looking for opportunities here to grow our economy and create jobs," Nashed said.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/11/texas-weighs-25m-year-formula-racing-amid-budget-crunch/#ixzz1M6Nt0vAD

 

You are being too literal. Obviously I don't mean the site is literally silent... but the fact is they are way, waaaay behind schedule and they aren't even moving at a fraction of the rate necessary to maintain the existing schedule, never mind catching up with a short schedule they are already months behind on.

If there were hundreds of people on site working from dawn till dusk and convoys of materials and supplies coming in, then we could say this is a serious effort.

A smattering of busywork being done in only a fraction of the total site area won't cut it - not even close. They don't need to do a little more, or even a lot more... but something like 1,000 times more than they are now.

They aren't, because IMO they don't have funding in place. There can be no other explanation.

 

But Mike, they're moving into summer. Everyone knows how great the weather will be (!), just right for a real push on those outside labor jobs. I would have expected as much to be completed as quickly as possible before the summer heat, but then again, it would need to be a real project and not a field of dreams.

 

The main stream media seems more interested in the political aspects than the construction schedule.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ7WRt6-h0w[/ame]

 

Anything short of a massive infusion of cash and it's dead.

 

I was thinking about the timing and realized that they might not be in trouble:

We know the race is scheduled for October not June. Also they are probably betting on skipping the FIA inspection time.

So assuming the timelines in the leaked plan are realistic they can make this easily.

Somehow I have the feeling that they think this way too which is why they don't care about the plan being out there.

 

If they have the wherewithal why wouldn't they want to meet their time commitments?

I've seen nothing of substance to prove or disprove their viability so I'm still in a wait and see mode. But I have a nagging feeling that if they had better proof we'd have seen it.

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.114767191940219.27154.106702412746697


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There are many possible scenarios for why they aren't further ahead. Some bad, some not so bad. I have no visibility into that so I give them the benefit of the doubt.

I'm just saying that the timeline is not (yet) a problem.

 

I'm with you on that.
I just think that they'd be doing more to show viability. In that they're making an attempt (E-Mail updates with time lapse video etc.) they'd be offering up more.
Wat and see I guess.

 

Since when do we know that the race will be in October as opposed to the traditional (post Watkins Glen) USGP date following Canada? Late September through October is the second Asian swing covering SIngapore, Japan, Korea and now India. Brazil is likely to be late November which is the only logical alternative to Canada as a companion event. Everything I've read says June is the date so if there's something I'm missing I'd appreciate being corrected. But if June is the date, no way they make a March inspection and after the debacle at Korea I wouldn't bet on the FIA giving any extensions.