US GP in Austin Discussion and Speculation...

Agree, the stinger is that since The Glen and maybe Long Beach went bye-bye, every other race has shown badly to outsiders, despite having had some good 'races' on the track. Tough to convince them that this will be different. plus the goodwill created by PeeWee last year.

 

It's two, going on three years now since that debacle is it not? [Time flies the older we get, huh! ]

Seriously though, do you think the great Toaster affair actually damaged F1 here in any meaningful way? I get the impression that outside of dedicated folk like us it almost came and went without anyone noticing.... It was a big deal on here with folk driving out to their factory etc but "real" media coverage outside of the SpeedTV "spoof", not so much?

It did at least put "Tailenders" on the map! [That was some funny stuff!]

Cheers,
Ian

 

Paving will happen last as the surface is applied in a continuous loop to avoid any breaks in the "asphalt" (special Tilke mix) 7 layers I believe (for good luck).

 

I agree with you that USF1 had no effect as it was only followed by some of us on here.

I'm still happy however that it removed Pinzor Wiener from Speed TV. That blessing was worth the scandal.

As for the rest of the world: they already know that the US is never going to be serious about F1, whether as a team or a track, just not gonna happen

 

pics from the friends of f1 austin facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.348774375137114.99443.157330087614878&type=1
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Lot to do in 11 months.......

 

So, another poll should be in order. I think this one, assuming everyone votes realistically and not hopefully, will have opposite results.

Austin will not be the site of a USGP in 2012.

COTA's lack of forceful promotion can be interpreted as even they do not think they can pull it off by November 2012. Wish that wasn't true, but.....

 

To expand a bit on this excellent point..

COTA isn't just competing against themselves and the odds in the race to fill the seats, but also against all the other tracks in the world.

A majority of fans travel long distance to visit the races, and there are a finite number of such people in the world.

I have already gotten solicitations from previous races I have been to (Spa, Monza, Montreal, UK) about reserving tickets for the 2012 races. And the best seats sell out quickly. So for the "F1 vacationer" like myself, we are looking at all the options for the coming year - and one that is, thus far, absent is COTA.

My guess and observation is that F1 tickets probably sell like airline tickets. There are the people who buy very very early, and probably represent a third of attendees. Then you have the months in between where the ticket sales come in at a trickle. Then the last third are probably sold in the days and weeks right before the race.

COTA most definitely needs to ensure they get in on that early-bird action, especially since the questions over the race and the stated first-year issues (ingress and egress from the track, for one) are already going to make a lot of people think "I'll wait until the 2nd year before I commit".

They should have been the first one selling tickets, or at least selling them as soon as the others did. There is a reason the other tracks advertise their tickets this early... The first race is in about 11 weeks. You don't want to be making you travel plans 2 weeks before the race... 4-6 weeks is a more reasonable minimum. That means in the next 4-5 weeks, many who want to go to a race in '12 but haven't chosen which one yet are going to be committing to those that are available. COTA needs to be selling tickets in the next few weeks - or sooner.

 

Your comments about travel and GP competitions are spot on.

That said I never would have gone for the Austin GP next year as it is so late in the year (I never believed the original June date). If it goes bust I'm almost out of alternatives. That's why I booked Monza already.

I'll book an Austin trip once they have built the track or better yet done a race on it. Being part of the inaugural audience to work out the kinks ain't fun either.

 

How true......my first MotoGP race at Laguna Seca (2005), a well established track (but managed by the County) was a huge clusterF**k, and even the second and third years were a mess: traffic flow, accomodations, price gouging, water shortages, lack of facilities.....totally a mess and many never came back. I'll put up with about anything, and so I haven't missed a MotoGP race out there (Indy sucks IMO), but I agree with many here.....I am betting that the first coupla F1 races, IF they get that far, will be a logistical nightmare.

 

Bernie said a month ago that the Austin GP is dead.

Anything else is just wishful thinking and noise.

The race on the calendar is a shell game.

I'm amazed at the amount of necrophilia going on in this thread

 

If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times, I have seen too many things happen in F1 that everyone said could or would not happen, I'm being optimistic. This leads me to ask you your opinion about what you think will happen with the track? Since the construction has resumed something is being planned wouldn't you think??

 

The pics don't show a lot of activity but I agree that ANY activity is better than none.

I think the developers are still trying to get the necessary money. I doubt they will find it but I hope they will. This is Texas after all and it only takes one crazy billionaire to make it happen. Hopefully they find that person.

For 2012 the race is IMHO dead but I wouldn't write it off just yet for 2013.

I think Austin and NY's chances are reversly linked: Austin has a 20% and NY an 80% chance of happening and vice versa odds for not happening. In 2013 that is. No USGP next year.

 

I agree with you that there will not be a US race in 2012 and at this point I just want a USGP beit in Jersey or Texas. Safer to let these things work themselves out and hope for the best possible outcome or solution.

 

Indeed.

And who knows, with some luck our hemisphere might suddenly fill a third of the GP calendar:
Canada
2 US
Mexico
Brazil
Argentina

 

i do!

 

I'm alittle surprised that Red has not chewed a$$ wanting to know how and where his investment sit's?? Hell the next thing we will hear is that COTA was just another big ponzi scheme.

 

Methinks Bernie and Red are playing COTA like a fiddle. We just don't yet know the tune that Red is playing.

 

i don't think he's putting up too much money for the construction. he mortaged some of the land for little over 3MM, that $$ was due last week. The land was also used to secure $250MM funding from Epstein. I don't see Red giving his money to Epstein to invest in the project. If he wanted to, he'd build the whole thing himself.

I do think Red wrote the check to Bernie though.

 

And get $100MM committed from other fools...

Pretty sure Red wrote the check for Bernie. (the only time since the initial press conference, he was quoted in their press releases, was in reference to the sanctioning fees being paid)

Unless there are some unmentioned clauses for 2013 or something, I don't think Red doubles down on his stake this late in the game without him thinking 2012 is a go.

Besides, if you want to pick up the project if it fails, why give them money to Bernie?

 

the kinks provide lots of oppourtunity for fun. get there a few days early and schmooze around the security guys. no one knows who anybody is. just act like you belong there and you're in. you'd be amazed at the doors that are left open for you. when we were at indy i never walked anywhere. i always rode in one of the golfcarts. we got into the pit area at the first race before the teams.

 

...and like you said, none of us are privy to the deal between COTA (if it even was COTA) and Bernie.

Do we know for sure the contract is between FOM and COTA? Maybe it's between Red Enterprises and FOM, or something?

And further to that, maybe it has a clause therein that if a race fails to materialize in 2012, the fee will be applied, in whole or in part, to a future GP. That would mitigate Red's losses and give him additional leverage to hold over the useful idiot, err, Epstein.