Formula 1 coming to Austin, Baby!

At least with Tilke, you know the course will look good. Now if dude would just learn to put in a couple of passing zones.
 
Yeah, there's no way the deal would have been announced prior to acquiring land, and clearing some regulatory hurdles. If they really are planning on a race within two years, it may we well beyond those stages, as well.
I hope this is done as professionally as possible, because there will be criticism of the city, the state, every politician up and down the line, etc.
But with F1, it has to be professional-every aspect is first class.
To me, the only pitfalls are the financial risks of the promoters and investors, and maybe some from the city for infrastructure costs, but it seems like that will be a win/win situation due to increased tourism. Some people won't see it that way, of course.
They would have to know already about zoning, site plans, electricity, water, sewage, and road improvements. A lot of negotiating must have taken place for the announcement to be made at this point.
I'm excited.
 
The $25 million from the State will take care of Bernie's fee so as long as he is happy, this will progress.

Even with the land bought (and hopefully permitted) the clock is ticking down. 18 monts to build a world class track will be tight.
 
Viper, I agree it will be tight, but why 18 months? I figure 24 months til race date. More if we get a late-season date in the first year.
 
thanks for that info.

Buxton does seem to do a really good job cvompared to the ones in the past. In the past I've pretty much ignored the trackside comments but now I look forward to hearing what he has to say
 
It would make the most sense to have it paired up with Montreal.

Recently, new races have been added at the end of the season, and then moved around to whatever their "final destination" might be. But I don't think that's a good marketing stratefy for F1-- if they start in the Fall, they'll be going up against the single biggest sport in the USA, pro and college football. They need to debut at a time when American sports fans aren't so wholly focused on the most popular sport in our country. Early summer is one of the best times to premier back in the USA I'd say from a strategic marketing standpoint, though spring would work as well.
 
I think the temp is quite nice usually in June. Hmmm, when then? What's funny is they surely already have the dates set out too. Man, the employment opp's for people even just for the build up before races is going to be great!
 
How is that a problem or unreasonable? Even if it is a couple of degrees hotter, no biggie. Heck, it could even be a couple of degrees cooler too.
 
Yeah, I've heard about the track surface and how some of the drivers practically had to be pulled from their cars due to exhaustion, but that surface wasn't made for racing...and it was July, and those cars back then were putting down crazy power. That was just an insanely poorly thought out event..
 
Accurate, this is according to XE.com.

Live rates at 2010.05.27 23:24:14 UTC

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The Link
 
You had to go there, didn't you? Somebody had to, I guess.

Hotel rooms in town would be empty. Many people would be in Dallas for the actual weekend. The weather is awesome.
 
Could we get a 'Texas...Fight' going between sides of the track just before the command to fire engines on raceday? I just love the thought of about half of the 600 million people watching on TV trying to figure it out.
 
I like the thought of after it being explained! You know that some people are going to be wearing Horns gear in random places now more than they already do, right? That is so cool that we will have "T-shirt" fans globally. They may even tune in and watch some of the games. Huzzah.
 
Longhorn shirts with F1 teams on them-beamed to 600 million viewers, yeah, I like that.
Now all we need is a good American F1 team with an American driver or two, but that might be asking too much.
 
Look at the big picture and realize that they will get back their 25 mil and much, MUCH more immediately from the race and more as the year goes on. The added tourism and attention Austin and this whole area gets will be fantastic. Many of the F1 fans will come to Austin for the race but venture on to San Antonio, Houston and Dallas while they are here. It's what people do, especially people with money.

When I go visit my friend in Hannover, Germany I am going to be hitting up Berlin and Prague as well with a few unplanned destinations along the way. No way I just go to Hannover. If I am going to go that far you can bet I am going to take advantage of proximity and see other things. Other cities and parts of Texas will benefit greatly.

Mandingo, I loved this quote from that latest interview article.

“I don’t know what the American public want to see in motor sport. I think they’ve seen too much oval racing, so I hope we can wean them off that!”

Amen.
 
Cities, states, and nations derive economic benefits from attracting large events, employers, construction projects, etc. I don't like having to pay entities like Samsung or pro sports teams, whatever, public funds to locate in one area, but it seems to be necessary to get such business for your area.
The State of Texas has a sporting event fund to attract Super Bowls, various other events, and is intended to reimburse cities for their outlay of expenses to handle these events.
I guess it is a good idea, although I admit I am biased towards this particular event.
There will certainly be people who find aspects of this announcement to criticize, and some of the criticisms are valid in some ways. I think it will work out to be overall an economic benefit to Austin and to Texas, so if we really look at the big picture, it should end up as a positive.
That's like, my opinion, dudes.
 
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