US GP in Austin Discussion and Speculation...

Well, they are out of luck then, because scenic Lake Travis is on the OTHER side of Austin.....LOL!

This is a cow pasture, just uphill from the Colorado River.

 

I don't see them opting for a big generator and extension cords.

 

Certainly not, but the Travis County Exposition Center (where we hold the Rodeo and BBQ CookOff) is on that side of town.

Running an overhead 15KV loop and a radial ring of Pad Mounted Tarnsformers would be "no big deal".......to my firm anyway.

I'd recommend Walter A. Tew Electric......Union, but small and family operated....the best of both worlds.

If they need a Joint Venture to get to the Bonding Capacity, let me know....we closed our Austin Branch not long after that Guest Quarters project......Austin 'cooled down' for a while there..

Give them a few minutes (lunchtime, right now) I'll call and see if they are bidding the Buildings phase.....

 

Look, if a bunch of hippy trust funders can put on Woodstock...

A bunch of Texas can build a freaken track. So what if it ends up being a bit rough. Its about time those fancy pant boys learned what real racing is all about.

Dale

 

What or who is a 'fancy pant boy'??

 

LOL indeed the mind boggles..

 

In Austin, it's anyone not wearing Levi's 517s or Wrangler Boot Cut.........

 

It will be interesting to see how things pan out. A year from now I'll have my popcorn ready to see where things stand. I'm a project manger for a GC and we perform weekly updates to our longterm and 3-week look ahead schedules. Maybe somewhere they have a screwed up predecessor in thier MS Project Schedule and things look okey-dokie on thier end? And if they are up to date and correct on thier schedule they are either screwed or holding thier breath? Come on Texas- show us what you got!

 

Disagree. The electrical demand when the track is being used by F1 will be enormous. I think you're a couple of orders of magnitude off from what they need.

Anyway, Austin Energy has already said they will be building a 30 megawatt private substation at the Austin GP site:

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2011/01/31/formula-one-austin-receives-final.html


They also have not yet even submitted the plans for vertical construction yet, apparently, and the approval of those plans will hinge on the negotiations over $6 million worth of roadwork that the gov't wants the promoters to pay for.

Do they have the full grading permit yet? Or do they only have the "permit to move buried lines" one? Last I heard, they haven't yet paid a $900k amount that needs held in escrow until construction is complete, which covers the cost of putting vegetation and landscape back to pre-construction state should things fall through, and that is required before they have the "full" grading permit.

hmm... why wouldn't they have made that payment yet?

The guy @ McCombs Enterprises is already saying that the contract is 10 years, so if they don't make it for 2012, they will just have the race in 2013, and that any penalties don't necessarily make the project financially unfeasible.
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Dude,

I was INSIDE the design of the temporary circuits in Houston, and the only Pad Mounted Transformer added was for the "VIP Party Tent."

Sure a clean sheet design won't be in the middle of the Downtown grid, but without track lighting you are basically building a giant concession stand.

Really smalll loads, on a per sq. foot density.

All the tools are on bottled nitrogen, for example.

 

30 megawatts COULD be all on one generator, Stewart and Stevenson build them for the ME, powered by jet turbine engines...LOL!

I think you are getting all hung up on the terminology, lots of energy users here have their own "power stations".........HP has generator arrays large enough to back up the entire building service.....

It just means they are accepting primary voltage off the grid, no big deal.

Rice University and Houston Baptist do it too, I work on the systems.

 

Note how they are only paying a little over half of the electrical construction costs, of the substation as the Power Company has motivation to support a user/customer of that magnitude.

 

30 megawatts is a LOT of power.

Certainly not some 15kV lines strung around the site, and a couple orders of magnitude above what you can make with those generator trailers (even the big ones).

They are saying they expect to turn on the private substation in March of 2012, of course this was given that work started on it right away.

Like I said, there are a ton of excuses and benefits of doubt being afforded Austin F1... that the power is no big deal, that we'll push off road improvements until the 2nd year, that it's a much smaller project than Yas Marina, that Texans will be able to do the impossible, that the scant amount of machinery on-site isn't telegraphing something more serious (or terminal), and that the general snail pace of this project will suddenly turn around in dramatic fashion.

Reality is that this is a *really* big ($250 million) project, and a year has been pissed away and all that we have to show for it is a few dozers on site, some PR fluff and... well, that's it really.

 

Maybe that's our issue........We've performed projects in this region where the ELECTRICAL ONLY number, was over $100M USD. With my contract insured AND Bonded for performance.

It usually runs 10% +/- of the total building costs.

And those 30MW generators are not the kind you see on trailers.

More like a train car sized load.

In the link you posted, note the power company was going to "build one anyway" based upon original development in the area.

They just didn't want to do it twice.

 

You are not seeing the architect's and consultant engineering fees, as well as Tilke which are billed monthly also.

There's a lot of money being spent.

I'm not going to take up for Tavio, he's been slow IMO about dropping all that into gear, but I think Bernie put a trick fnck on him from the start 'breaking' the news prematurely (against land procurement and access issues).

Poor Tavio.....

Maybe he should have borrowed the money from Bernie in the first place!

 

Not the ones I know. The Mexicans I know are like McGuiver. They can build and repair just about anything.

 

+1

I've seen them build massive highrises in under 3 months. That was working 12hr days with sunday off. BUT they need to be moving in lots of equipment to do the clearing and grading now. They can't do their magic if the site's still covered in shrubs and ungraded.

 

PR fluff and some scattered equipment. It all rather reminds me of something that was being discussed here a year or so ago.

 

They are forgetting reality in the interim. I guess costs go down over time. The fuel prices alone are making this so called 'f1 project' more expensive by the minute.

Time for some transparency here. This is not a project that appears to provide the kind of facility Bernie is looking for. If its half baked the race will fail no matter.

F1 is not profitable in the US. Ask Indy. This is actually worse than Indy. Indy is a nice facility, easy to get to. Indy isnt a cosmo city but I would go there again.

 

I can say the same thing about Germany. There are talented hard working people all over the globe.

 

They just raised $12.5 million from 10 investors. That ought to do it.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/racing/entries/2011/03/07/f1related_group_raises_125_mil.html?cxntfid=blogs_formula_austin

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1514553/000151455311000001/0001514553-11-000001-index.htm

 

By BigRich

March 7, 2011 3:15 PM | Link to this

Really? We are not entitled to know who the investors are? Aren’t these people, in effect, our partners ? We’re putting up tax money to help improve their odds of making money on this deal?

By Mr. Big

March 7, 2011 3:26 PM | Link to this

This was such a **** hot deal and Helmund can’t find investors? Where’s Red McCombs bucks Helmut?

By Polo

March 7, 2011 3:57 PM | Link to this

Hey, Austin Formula 1 Racing and Entertainment LLC,…all you need to do is make a donation to Rick Perry’s campaign. After that, you’ll get millions of bucks from his “enterprise” slush fund. Give it a shot. The voters sure as heck don’t care. They love it when Rick does that.

By Nothing Better To Do

March 7, 2011 4:03 PM | Link to this

It’s boondoggle and a consppriacy I tell ‘ya!

By Clark

March 7, 2011 4:19 PM | Link to this

Great, now they won’t need the state handout!

Polo, that’s a good point. The Statesman ran an article a few months back about the recipients of ole’ Slick Perry’s “enterprise” fund. Suprisingly, they were all heavy campaign donors. When you calculated the return (i.e., the gift from the “enterprise” fund) compared to the investment (i.e., the donation to Perry’s campaign), it would make Bernie Madoff’s returns seem like chicken scratch. I’m talking 400% return on your investment here. “Nice” stuff. Really crooked, uh, I mean “nice” stuff.

I can believe Texans, as a collective whole, are dumb enough to keep electing Perry. Makes me (as someone born, raised, and educated entirely in Texas) think much less of my own intelligence. Of course I always did well in school compared to the repukelicker fools that keep electing Perry, but that’s a pretty low standard to rise above. Though I was at the top of every one of my classes here in Texas, I’d probably just be an average student in a state like Illinois or Vermont.

By Don't forget about us!!

March 7, 2011 4:28 PM | Link to this

We taxpayers have invested $250,000,000.00 in the project. One difference from the other investors: we get nothing, no share of any profit. Not that there will be any profit on the Austin race (they are required to run just one race a year), since not many Elroy residents can afford the tickets. For that matter, the Austinites can’t afford the tickets and coke rocks necessary for proper Formula 1 watching. No one watches the midget cars (soon to have 1600 cc — that’s right, cubic centimeters — of engine displacement) who never bump or rub and rarely overtake.

 

You know, I haven't studied this as much as you folks.

But I was wondering bout sumthang. Does it say anywhere they're gonna build a PAVED track? Have you ever watched sprint car races? YE HAW! Mount some big ol' knobby tires on those babies and have at it. Why hell, they could probably even get Richard Petty and AJ to come out of retirement for that one.

Come on, to tell the truth, F1 is as much fun to watch as paint drying. Racing on dirt would really spice things up, I tell ya.

Oh, and how about a Challenge demolition derby for the support race? I'd paid to see that! All dem "gentlemen racers" smashing into each other. What a hoot!

Dale

 

lol. i made that same suggestion a few posts back.

what was all this talk from people about 'all the money being there' and that they weren't looking for new investors. oh well, guess the issue is funding instead of time.

anyone else get a laugh by the comments from AAS's website, from people who obviously have no idea how the events trust fund works...

 

Our banned member RegisGT4 lives right down the hill, he runs mud bog events down on the beaches of the Colorado River.

I have his phone number somewhere.

I wish you WOULD study what they are trying to do, Dr. Who.....someone needs to make sense of it all.

Maybe we could get Kevin Schwantz to LogIn and talk to us about it.

Tavio needs a spokesman who has actualy achieved something the Public is familiar with....