US GP in Austin Discussion and Speculation...

Their own schedule says a july 12 completion date, not march..........I posted a link to it a few posts back Infer what u want.

 

To F1TopFan:

In this thread was a link to an article in which Tavo mentions that they plan for June but that Bernie wants to combine the race with the Brazilian GP. That would take it into October and also make more sense as TX in June is very hot

 

But the event must not be near the time of UT football nor ACL festival, both which can land on Oct weekends.

 

UT has already issued a press release saying they'd change their schedule if a conflict arrises.

 

Why Not? The race is supposed to draw an international audience.

I don't care about 'UT football' and don't know what you are talking about re the 'ACL festival'.....most people probably feel the same.

 

Agreed.

My only concern would be how much hotels those events would eat up

 

If the race is designed to attract business it makes no sense to run it on a date when the local hotels and eateries are already full.
A while ago MIT switched its graduation to the same week-end as Harvard's. The local hotels were not amused.

 

Your thoughts above may mitigate the impact of how behind schedule they are, but they don't really address the root cause here - why they are behind. In many construction projects, things happen that throw off the schedule. Stuff like unforeseen environmental issues, supplier issues or what not. In this case, they are behind because they haven't "really started" the work.

There is no scenario I can fathom where they would do that. Unless they had no choice. Even if there were unavoidable constraints on one aspect of the construction, they would be proceeding with the other aspects to the fullest extent, if they could.

Cutting into their already very thin buffer zone is not fatal, but doing it for this reason probably is fatal.

 

+1. Everyone in F1 with long memories remembers the fiasco that was the 84 GP in Dallas where the heat was overwhelming and the track was continually torn up.

The circus never returned...

A GP in Texas in the middle of the hot, stifling Texas summer is a non-starter...

Frank

 

Actually there are a couple of scenarios I can imagine, which are not good news, but not necessarily the end of the road: Finances aren't quite there yet and construction permissions are still pending.

Both cases could just clear up within a few weeks and they're on their way.

This is why I'm still sitting on the fence on this project because honestly it could go either way.

Unlike USF1 where they were missing about 180 people, facilities, money and were 6 months behind in December with a hard deadline in March. That was hopeless yet Speed TV still gave them a Hail Mary pass.

So if the current construction pictures are still the same this fall, then they can be safely written off. Until then, they have all the buffer time in the world to straighten out those two scenarios.

 

Already been discussed ad-noseum here, but the delays are explainable because the public road improvement funding issue has yet to be resolved.

34 days out of a 442 day schedule seems like a very ample buffer. Keep in mind, they're running 6 days a week now. 7 is very do-able if needed

 

I'm curious to hear what people on both sides of the issue think the "drop dead" date is.
At what point do we need to see more than we have in terms of finance and/or construction?

 

With a racing date of October (or potentially even November) I'd say this year's October is the hard dead line. Also because in early December the FIA publishes next year's F1 calendar. So sometime in November the decision over Austin's GP will be made.

 

When is the 2012 schedule going to be set?

 

We usually have to wait until the end of the season if memory serves me but with Turkey and Austin still in question it could be later than normal.

 

<ahem>

 

As Andreas stated, it concerns hotel space. This isn't a huge city like Dallas or Houston and certain conferences fill up hotels quickly well ahead of time.

ACL Festival is a three day music festival. Not nearly as packed as SXSW, but it beings in a a few hundred thousand. ACL = Austin City Limits. I am sure you have seen musicians play on the broadcasted show. The festival is the extension of those. And while you don't give a rats ass about other events in Austin, you should if they conflict with the F1 race as it limits travel, and hotels.

 

Knowing that, I would guess around by August they better have some buildings getting put up...

 

There are a few people, one in particular here who could tell, but the interest to keep going and do the best job as quickly is more important than giving changing the minds of the naysayers while defending the project.

 

Since we know the official answer from the (leaked?) project plan and the Tavo interview your response leads me to believe that the official answer is not the right one. And that my guess of a date closer to fall is probably more where it is really at.

But of course nobody in the know (who probably signed a NDA) would ever admit to that since it would be rubbing it in the face of the FIA.

 

and violating the terms of their agreement.....

who knows though, the person in question hasn't posted on this thread in a long, long time

 

Thanks for the honest replies. It promises to be an interesting summer.

BTW Maybe keeping things secret is an ironic way to keep it in the press.

 

Ahh.......I didn't realize the draw of these events. But then, that does bring up the number of (high end?)hotel rooms Bernie 'needs' for F1...........does Austin have enough?

 

I dunno how true the story, but apparently Indy didn't have *anything* suitable for the Supremo and his entourage - He rode a chopper to Chicago (?) every night!.......

Cheers,
Ian

 

Texas senator says can't afford F1
http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/6931618/Senator-Texas-cannot-afford-F1