Formula 1 coming to Austin, Baby!

I live along a route the motorcycles use frequently for the Republic of Texas Rally and it does not bug me. It's sort of cool, actually.

Del Valle has many problems and can only benefit from this. I hope it is presented right. This is going to happen but I hope it pisses the fewest amount of people off in the process.

I see letters to the editor from people who have no freaking clue how massive this is and how much money this drums up for our area. They ***** about the State or City putting money forth for this without realizing it is money for the sole purpose of growth and attracting events here. This event will help keep their taxes lower, provide jobs and put us on the map for tourism year round.

They are planting a seed that will produce a fertile orchard.
 
More updates up at the site I helped to cover the F1 press conference:

formula1journal.com

I helped get much of the info for these updates, but not all, and he puts it all together very nicely. He does a very good job with the site and seems to have a source or two that I don't.

Nicest F1 site I've seen that's not run by some big media outlet or racing concern.
 
Exceptional! Consider it bookmarked to be followed intently. I cannot wait until leaks of the layout and path of the track come out.
 
No doubt. They also concrete some other things that were speculation. They are rock solid on Austin and they are stoked about it. I love the long term relationship and probably love that TH and BE have for one another in an almost father and son way. This makes me feel good about it being done right and about BE not screwing over this gig.
 
I have to laugh when some people don't believe the economic impact this thing is gonna have . I just got word from a guy who's buying a lot out around Elroy and building a 4-plex. He says he's gonna use 1 unit for himself as a vacation home during races and rent the others out.

This is solely because of F1.
 
You must roll your eyes too then when you read a letter to the editor in the paper about F1. They talk about how the money could be used around town and that it is a waste to put on a race. Dumbasses have no clue how much their life will be impacted (not to mention their pocketbook staying more full) with this race. If you care about Austin and its well being you care about this racing coming to fruition.
 
Texas has big MotoGP ties plus Kevin Schwantz is connected to this track. I don't know successful GP has been in Indy, but Laguna is huge. I hope we get it. I'm sad Colin Edwards likely won't be in GP bikes by then (he's the old man at 37), but maybe we'll get World Superbikes too.

So, let's get the new Le Mans series, F1, MotoGp, World and AMA Superbikes, Touring Car and push for SCCA runoffs in the fall.
 
ALMS at Elkhart Lake on Speed right now. If you're not watching this you're missing some truly outstanding action.

The prototypes are going at it tooth & nail.
 
Holy crap...that was f'ing ridiculously badass.

ALMS is soooo much better than Indy Car. They should be watching and taking notes. Let your drivers race each other, Randy Bernard, you d-bag.
 
It's interesting watching IndyCar at Sonoma, the guys are raving about all the elevation change there.

That track has an elev change of 138'. I don't know what the elev change of the actual race course here will be, but the property has an elev change of 160' (470' at Dry Creek up to at least 610' near the 90 degree turn of Elroy Road and up to 630' at the top of the hill near Piland Triangle)
 
From observing most of the F1 tracks in Europe, how they use the elevation change is the key. Do you accelerate uphill after a slow or fast corner? What do you do at the bottom of the hill? TH seems to have a good handle on what is needed as he has sent Tilke back a couple of times.

Indy Cars just don’t move me. Their road races seem to me “stiff” and forced. Most of it is probably most of the people are not comfortable on road courses. Give me Le Mans Series/ALMS or FIA GT-1/Rolex any day. Hopefully the Austin track will see several of these series.
 
Part of the problem with Indy Car is...the car, imho. You look at it and you see a car that's definitely more agile than most. Yet it's still too heavy to really tear it up on a road course. It's built to rip up an oval and it does that better than any other car, I guess (unless you were to actually set up an F1 car for an oval).

Another problem for me is that new "blocking" rule. Randy Bernard is an idiot.
 
Just watched Tavo on Wind Tunnel and he said the layout is over 3.2 miles, with an elevation change of 130-140 feet and "more than 20 turns...some really fast, fast corners, some slow, technical ones"...

He also said "I think they'll (fans) be pleased that for a true natural terrain road course, kind of like in the sixties...you're gonna be able to see a lot of the track".

They're using every bit of elevation they can...

As for how they use it, looking at the elevation map combined with the site map gives me the impression, or at least a hunch that the course will make a climb up from the creek, parallel to Elroy Road going east toward the NE corner to the top of the ridge, then turn south, make a hairpin, come back north, then turn left and go back down the hill. Then I'm betting the course goes left (south) to head over toward the tallest hill over by Piland Triangle.
 
Absolutely.

Apparently the issue now is the FIA accepting the plans for the track. I assume the FIA's excuse is that they are having to deal with Ferrari right now on a rule that will probably be struck by the start of next season. The only group that is hurt by dropping the rule will be the bettors so what is the issue?

I haven't heard or seen anything lately about the permitting program. I assume Tavo is pressing forward and will be in a position to obtain the required construction permits soon after the plans are submitted.
 
From what I've been hearing, and from what Tavo just said as well, the layout announcement is imminent. Just hope he doesn't drop it while I'm away in Colorado over Labor Day weekend.
 
Here's an overview of some of the recent objections that have recently surfaced over pipelines, flooding, and water line issues, and why they're probably not going to amount to much.


formula1journal


Also, just below that is video of Tavo Hellmund on Wind Tunnel in case any of you missed that.
 
Thanks Mandingo. The issues can be overcome by time and money. Tavo doesn't have much time so more money will be required.

Flood Issue: Las Colinas in Irving sits on reclaimed land in a flood plain (which is the reason for the lakes and canals). Hopefully Tilke's plans will include protection for the infrastructure around the track. As Flood1 suggests, the permanent buildings can be located on higher ground.

Water Issue: Really a non-issue but one that has to be resolved before a CO is given. Tavo will have to pay more lawyers to push it through the City, and he may have to agree to pay for a portion of it just to get the water.

Pipelines: The trickest part. One choice is to relocate both pipelines. Very costly, but the reward is all of the issues would be removed. Based on where the lines are and assuming they are laid correctly (Tavo will have to pay for this inspection) the issue will be grade crossings and grandstand construction and locations.
 
Fifty thousand in the stands, but capacity of 140,000? Is that typical? That's a lot of people in the infield on blankets. Are the other tracks set up that way?
 
I believe there will be as many (or maybe even more) temporary stand seats as permanent seats so he is probably looking at 20-30k on the ground. Willie does that many every 4th so the locals should be used to that..
 
So Viper, are you saying they might do something like put in permanent stands to cover all racing events and then bring in temporaries for the really big ones, like F1?

Hadn't thought of that.

As for accurate's question, that info is really hard to find in terms of a breakdown of grandstands vs general admission, but I did find this:

Silverstone: 60000 grandstands, 90000 general admission

Barcelona:43770 gs, 104000 ga

Bahrain: 34000 gs, ? ga

Monaco: 22000 gs, a whole lot ga

Hockenheim: 80000 gs, 40000 ga

Montreal: There were easily over 110k there on race day this year, maybe more, and at least half of them were in ga.

ETA: If this is going to be a track with only 2 or 3 grandstands and wide open general admission where you can come and pick your spot on race day and have free roam of the place on the other days, you won't believe how amazing it's going to be.
 
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