Formula 1 coming to Austin, Baby!

Yep...County politicians, esp Sam Biscoe, are def walking around with their hands out at this point, trying to be shown a reason to view the timeline more "optimistically", if you get my meaning.

******* pieces of ****.
 
If anyone wants to take a look at the minutes of the Travis County Commissioners Court meeting from Tuesday, here you go:
The Link

The words aren't always accurate, and the court reporter doesn't tell you who is speaking, but it's not that hard to follow. Kinda interesting, and just like the first one, it wasn't nearly as contentious as the press made it out to be. In fact it seemed quite friendly to me.
 
There is no way Tavo and Red didn't expect local politicians to have their hands out. I have no doubt they have a generous fund set aside to grease whatever wheels are necessary. I'm not worried about THAT part at all.

As for the traffic-- that's why I'm planning on keeping the RV there all week. Surely they'll have RV parking, right?
smile.gif
 
I was planning to RV it, too, and the first plan showed "RV parking" between the trees and the track along the "Longhorn" Straight. That label isn't there in the Conceptual Master Plan. I guess we'll have to see.
 
I would not put much stock in anything other than the track on the conceptual. Surely Tavo will make sure there is RV parking somewhere near the track.
 
Guys, msg me your questions or things to look/listen for and I will go. Just prep me, okay? Maybe I will make Accurate go with me or something.
 
100p, thanks for making the effort. The main thing is dirt has to start flying ASAP and all of this posturing for negotiating position is a fight that we cannot afford. (PM your email address to me and I will forward an email that I sent to Red's peopel last week.)
 
Interesting article connecting Carlos Slim to Sauber: Link
I believe Tavo is involved in this also, especially with the prospect of Sergio Perez being in F1 in 2012.
 
Thanks Viper. Good article. Goes nicely with what I was saying.

It's nice to see a writer pick up on it and write a serious story about it.


Also, the meetings were last night.

By all accounts, all went well and there's a link to watch the DVCC meeting once it gets loaded:


In reply to:
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Mandingo. I think they may have problems connecting those grandstands for safety concerns. Hopefully they can make the necessary adjustments to allow minimum separation.
 
Check this out. Here's something we caught over on the Speed f1 forum.

There's a change to the track in the T10 area. Before, starting at T6 it went (T6) R, L, R, L, L (T10).

Now it's (T6) R, L, R, L, R, L (T10?). The difference, as you can see here, is where the track used to go straight between T9 and T10, it now curves around the Motorsports Driving Club.

I don't know if the numbering will change.


60921_164675103547043_157330087614878_588226_4549073_n.jpg
 
FYI from motorsport.com tonight:

The long road to the Austin GP

The new $220 million race track to be build especially for the 2012 Austin Grand Prix has been the subject of many speculations, many believe building such a circuit complete with the necessary infrastructure on such a short notice is not feasible, and the doubters refer to the problems the Korean Yeongam circuit has recently encountered. The Korean circuit has missed several deadlines and it is still not completely finished, the FIA will carry out a final inspection on October 11, less than two weeks before the actual Grand Prix will take place. The Yeongam circuit suffered another blow last week when a crane tipped over and damaged parts of the main grandstand.

All kinds of rumors have emerged about the Austin circuit ever since the plans have been revealed last August. Questions have been raised about the money such an undertaking would need, and there are also doubts whether race promoter Full Throttle Productions, led by Tavo Hellmund, will get the necessary permits it needs from Travis County and the city of Austin to build the circuit. It is said several underground high pressure gas and petroleum pipelines cross the site of the circuit, and building on those pipelines would present even more problems for the design team that hopes to finish the circuit by June 2012.

Hellmund was clear about the money, the project will be financed by private investors, and he assured no community money would be 'wasted' on the project. But is that true? Full Throttle has acquired a piece of land southeast of Austin of roughly 900 acres which is located to the east of State Highway 130, a four-lane toll way. The actual building site is surrounded by three roads, McAngus Road, Elroy Road and the Farm to Market Road (FM) 812 which connects to Highway 130. So close to the highway sounds good, but McAngus Road and Elroy Road are country roads, and only the FM 812 two-lane road connects the circuit to the nearest highway.

According to the Austin American Statesman, the FM 812 and Elroy Road can together move about 4000 cars per hour in or out of the circuit, and with more than 120,000 expected race fans on Sunday, traffic will grind to a halt within no time. Travis County's transportation director Joe Gieselman predicts it will take 12 hours to get to the circuit, and another 12 hours to leave the circuit. This probably sounds a bit exaggerated, but the UK Silverstone circuit has had similar problems for decades, which ultimately led to the plan to move the British Grand Prix to Donington, a plan that miserably failed. The only solution would be to build a new road to connect the circuit to the highway, or to expand the capacity of the existing roads, which either way would cost Travis County and the city of Austin, and thus the tax payers, many millions of dollars.

Travis Country stated during a hearing they expect road improvements would cost $15 million, and reckon these improvements can not be carried out in time for the inaugural Austin Grand Prix in June 2012. Gieselman said the county will now carry out minor improvements on the roads, and instead is looking at intensive traffic management to get the fans to the circuit.

The permits are a bit more complicated, Full Throttle plans to submit their paperwork for the permits they need from the city and county in stages, thus getting approval for each stage of the building process, rather than seeking approval for the complete circuit. About a month ago Full Throttle submitted the paperwork for approval of grading the land and the construction of a road crossing the site which is needed to transport the building materials. But according to the Austin American Statesman, the county is reluctant to issue permits, because they still have no idea about how the whole project will look like, and want to see more detailed plans.

And the man who has the detailed plans, is German designer and architect Hermann Tilke, he is the development manager and designer of the Austin Grand Prix circuit. And not only the Austin authorities are worried about the progress, the FIA is now worried as well, as Full Throttle has missed a deadline to present the plans to the FIA Circuits Commission. According to the Austin Business Journal no plans were submitted to the Circuits Commission during a meeting on September 14, but spokesman Adam Goldman is not worried at all. Goldman, "We are working hand-in-hand with the FIA. We plan to deliver final plans in the next couple of months." Tilke is also adamant the circuit will be finished in time, "We are used to working under time pressure. That doesn't threaten us."

The spokesman also indicated the missed deadline is certainly not an indication of any problems, the details of the plans have now been relayed to the authorities of Travis County, and he expects work on the circuit will start in December.
 
Wow.

So much of that is untrue, so much based on month-old news, and so much pertinent information is omitted from that pos that it has no use whatsoever except as a hit piece.

ETA: I went to The Link to check the story out and found they at least had the good sense to file that crap as "Commentary". It sure isn't news or even anything resembling good writing.
 
Most of what you hear is from that portion of the F1 press that wants nothing to do with racing in the US. As long as the FIA and the teams are not yelling, everything is fine.
 
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