US GP in Austin Discussion and Speculation...

Perhaps COTA thinks that the 20 race season is all happening at Austin and you get all 20 races with the season ticket? Someone needs to tell them that it's only 1 race. It's not football guys, the sooner you figure it out the better.

I have been going to F1 races in the US and Europe for years. Watkins Glen many times Detroit, Indy, Canada, England, San Marino, Monaco. Guess which one I am not going to?

 

I see the PSL prices as a last ditch effort to get some $ to continue with the construction.

This GP is not going to happen.

 

Right, we forgot -- it's DOOMED!!!

 

IMO other series are tarnished beyond repair: nascar runs IROC cars, and with the demise of CART into the IRL and IRL driving what looks to be odd-looking go-karts, open wheel racing here is toast also.

 

So, why can't someone just say that? Or, why can't someone explain what a "season pass" is because I have no intention of flying to Austin to see another race. If I don't know what I'm buying, I'm not buying it. What is so difficult for people to figure this out?

 

Good question. I wonder how much the GA tickets will be and if the race is postponed until 2013 would they honor my ticket or replace it?

 

I thought the same thing when I read it. I do not have any marketing experience other than classes in college, but I have to think COTA would want to play up its F1 involvement as much as possible. To get enough people to commit to attending the race, especially at the prices they are charging, I would think they'd be making F1 out to the greatest show on earth.

Mark

 

+1

 

Always "secretly implied" brother .

 

Very simple answer to those statements. He had two people in that audience he wants money from - a county commissioner and a state senator. From the county, he wants $6million for the roads. From the senator, support for getting $25mill a year from the state. Both of those count on one thing- the economic impact of COTA. He wasn't playing down F1...he was making the point that COTA will have a massive economic impact, and Formula 1 is just an element of that impact. Ponder that and re-read his statements, and I think you'll find his words make perfect sense.

 

It's the same thing they've been saying since day 1 about the track (from Apr 2011):

http://www.kvue.com/home/Circuit-of-the-Americas-F1-track-details-announced-119721114.html

I think part of it is the continued pitch to try to get state and local tax rebates. Especially with the politicians in the audience. Here in central Texas, F1 = giving taxpayer money to Eurotrash... while year-round jobs = ok to spend tax money.

I guess while we are putting so much weight into what the partners said at the topping out ceremony, there is this:

http://austin.culturemap.com/newsdetail/04-12-12-16-23-austins-formula-1-on-track-construction-topped-out-on-pits/

 

Ehh. Advertising is advertising. Why not get some other events committed to the location asap. Dropping Perez's name more and more will also help rally the Mexican fans.

Think your reading too much into it.

Also Good to see Red out there too a long with the hair guy. Can feel the momentum especially with the summer here. I have no doubt they will work day and night since they rarely get rain in that area in the upcoming months.

 

It's been raining alot this year. I think they are already planning for next year because they might not have anything this year. I would not buy a ticket for this event without the
promise of a full refund until the track is finished. And Austin, Texas is right, the world will notice them if this does not get done in time, thats for sure.

 

I agree. Of all the investors, McCombs is the one that is saying what I would expect to hear at this point. He sounds like he expects the problems; sounds like he doesn't necessarily think he'll make money in the short term. But he really wants to do it because it's something huge and a rare opportunity... which I take to mean, Formula 1. Not the racetrack itself, anybody can build a track.

Also, I suspect it was McCombs that finally fronted the money for Bernie's fee. And since it sounds like he didn't really increase his holdings in CotA by doing that, I suspect it's a special short-term loan. Perhaps the PSL sales are an attempt to recoup that fee for the first year, with the hope that the state money kicks in for the upcoming years' sanctioning fees.

 

Cute.

So COTA is doing all this hand wringing to get some lousy $ 25 million for Bernie. Where are the $ 400 million for the track coming from?

Keep dreaming.

 

Yep, that $25M is different from the construction expenses. You can't exactly take a loan out for that, like you can with construction financing (where collateral and some percentage of the $$ in the bank, and a long-term payment plan is acceptable). Getting $200M financed for construction of the track is considerably easier than getting $25M for a sanctioning fee.

I think what happened is that when Tavo couldn't secure the first $25M sanctioning fee in advance, the partners balked. Writing a $25M check was not in the business plan. Then when Tavo said, sorry guys... CotA will have to come up with the money for the F1 fee.. well, they certainly weren't going pay that fee for a contract in Full Throttles/Hellmunds name. So they had to transfer the contract to CotA (or some other McCombs/Epstein entity) to even *consider* paying the fee, and that added to the drama.

So in the end, I believe McCombs finally paid the fee. But again, the amount is way more than what his share in CotA was, so it must have been him fronting the money and wanting to get that back as soon as possible. Hence, the PSL sales and cutback on some of the initial construction items.

All speculation, of course...

 

Interesting.

So what's your take on financing the construction costs?

Also you mention 200 millions. I thought it was twice that.

And given how far behind they are compared to the original project plan (as "published" last year) do you truly think they're gonna catch up? Or is all this really in preparation for next year's race?

 

+1

Do you thinks that cheezy Lotus picture now hangs in the COTA main office? You know the one they got for pennies in Charlotte a couple of years ago...

 

They should hire Wiener Pinzor as their PR guy. I heard he is available...