Formula 1 coming to Austin, Baby!

I'm totally on his side, too. But he cannot run roughshod over the protestors on Austin's eastside, who have some political power. He needs to be politically realistic with Austin's citizens. They demand their say at meetings and in the press.
He needs to pitch the economic benefits of this large tourist attraction over the negative traffic and noise issues, and appear understanding along the way.
 
Groundbreaking date, according to KXAN source:
The Link

OK, so this goes with what I've been thinking for some time. There's nothing written in stone that says the USGP has to be paired with the Canadian GP in 2012. They could have a late-season USGP in 2012 and then pair the USGP and Canadian GP every year after that if they like.

Most people have been assuming, some even demanding, that the race would be paired with Canada in year one. It's not necessary .

Pairing the USGP with Brazil rather than Canada in year one could buy them as much as 5 very valuable months.
 
Mandingo, agree that the extra 5 months would be good, except that brings us into football season which I would feel TH wants to avoid a showdown with, especially the first year.

They are going to be cutting this awful close. I forsee almost 12 months of 24/7 work. The critical issues are the track; the pit complex; and the padock. Temporary stands and field parking could come into play.
 
That is an obvious and surely something they took into account. Also they have likely covered the what if's. Think back to when the bands of a hurricane moved through and for caution's sake the football game was moved back. It covered the same weekend as the ACL Fest, I believe.

There is no way that this could happen with F1 as it is bigger than ACL Fest and pumps more money in. Those rooms would be booked long in advance and by people willing to pay much more per room, on average.

I am sure, well, I hope this has all been covered by them time and time again for any time they propose the race.

I wonder how many extra rental cars they will bring in from other cities for this event?
 
"a little east, a little north of the city..." Manor? Manor Downs? The horse track is shutting down. Probably right on the toll road, though. 290E and the toll road?
 
Pretty much rules out every spot I've heard about so far....but I've been wondering what is smokescreen and what isn't. Maybe everything we're reading right now is just a wild goose chase to keep us off the scent of the real property.

FWIW, on the flight back from the Canadian GP, the plane took an approach direction to ABIA coming in over Manor and Decker Lake. On the way in I saw a huge plot of undeveloped land with heavy machinery in the middle of it that had done only a little work. I know the general drection from ABIA (ne), but I have no way to pinpoint that site or find it in a car, except by pure luck...and who knows if it's even the right one.
 
Mandingo, are you sure that wasn't a landfill that was recently capped? I've played golf at Bluebonnet Hill a couple of times recently and have seen nothing suspicious (you can see a long way from there in most directions) but the old landfill just to the north is highly visible.
 
Update: Is this possibly what you saw? I have been around that area many times, but "Whisper Valley" doesn't ring a bell. Am I just missing something something painfully obvious or could someone enlighten me as to what that means. Like I said above, I saw nothing going on around the lake from the golf course and nothing suspicious around the convention center from driving around there.

EDIT: Found it
 
4th, nice call.

That land south of Manor, the Whisper Valley land, could be what I saw, or I could have seen a landfill. I don't know. It was just a glimpse and very quick, and then the wing covered it, but I don't think it was the latter, and I'm sure it was east of 130.

The developer out there keeps saying he doesn't know anything about F1 coming in there and hopes it isn't, so that doesn't necessarily bode well for F1, but that sure is a nice site. Of course he could also be blowing smoke. I know the land around that exit off 130 and it's beautiful, hilly, green, etc. It's also huge and the access would be great. (Yes, I've been there looking before. :crazy: : obsessed: I know.)
 
OK.

I just finished driving around the whole thing.

One word: gorgeous.


Of all the potential sites I've seen so far, this is the best. I really hope this is it or that the track site equals this one. It's amazing.
 
Where is the dashcam video?
wink.gif
 
Looks like I'll be making another little drive across town. I had Bird's Nest circled on the map and just ran out of time.

Nice find.
 
Upon further review, I'm gonna go out on a limb with this new info, put 2 & 2 together, and reiterate what Accuratehorn already said...

Manor Downs.


When you stop and think about it, it just makes too much sense.
 
Thanks, Steven...when where?

I'll go if they let me.

I gotta tell you guys I drove out there the other day and have as many questions as when I went out there, but I did see some interesting things.

- The last session of off-track betting was taking place at Manor Downs. They're shutting it down re: one of the bettors walking in.

- For Manor Downs, Manor H.S. and M.S. might be noise problems.

- There's massive construction happening in the area of Bird's Nest Airport. I thought this would be the new 6000' runway there, but apparently that runway is already built.

- The problem with that, though, is that Bird's Nest is 14-15 miles from ABIA.

- The area bounded by 130, Parmer, and 290 looks great and has great access, no noise worries, etc, but it looks like it's probably only 300 acres or so. So probably too small.

- I asked Apu at the Shell station if he knew anything. He said to look in Elroy...and he's very excited about F1 coming to town!
 
mandingo,

No idea. It was tweeted by the Statesman's F1 guy. He didn't give any information beyond the fact that there will be a press conference announcing the location.
 
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