I'll keep an open mind about this one and look forward to seeing more details about the circuit. I wish they would relax the circuit laws and build something like the Osterrichring with big enough run-off areas. Also Tilke will almost certainly be involved no doubt, its almost a given with new circuits, barring Silverstone. None the less looking forward to F1 going back to the US and the last F1 race in Texas was of course a classic (Dallas 84).

Having been there and knowing a few people from the place I agree it's a city that isn't what most people think it is... but then again, so is Tel Aviv lol..

A lot of water to go under the bridge before this becomes real I reckon..

Hint.

Hint II.

Hint III.

Dont see how thats important at all, to be honest. Unless of course you think that the only people who attend F1 races are locals. And that the stereotype is 100% true for 100% of individuals in the area.


You have specific personal experience with Austin city-planning, then? And why does it *have* to be a Tilke-drome? I'd like to hear the reasoning behind this.


I guess that answers my earlier question.

Anyways, I'm so glad it's gonna be a purpose-built facility and not a street track. I love street tracks, but the US needs more tracks that aren't going to be questioned because of its facilities or something, and that can be unquestionably F1-friendly.

I'll be there, Bernie, thank you.

About bloomin time. A GP in the US is essential to make it a truly global sport. I would never go to it but I'm really glad that it will be on the calender.

Fixed it for you

Good point, always a chance this outfit is Simon Gillette Mk II, being used to get something done elsewhere, e.g. Liberty State Park or Monticello (or Indy)? Hope I am wrong, I think a purpose built roadcourse in Austin (which sounds like a nice city) could be really great!

Some randoms thoughts..

- Holy freakin' crap this is great. My brother lives in San Antonio, about an hour away.

- Texas in the summer is going to be crushing hot. Will be interested to see how they fit into the calendar.

- I would feel oh so much better about this if there was an existing venue. Hope this doesn't turn out like the announced events in India/Mexico/Russia, i.e. vaporware.

- For those that may have an impression of a barren wasteland from old westerns, it is a beautiful part of the state known as the Texas Hill Country:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Hill_Country
If they can find the right piece of land their is great opportunity to build a first class venue with all the potential elevation changes.

Fingers crossed this is the real deal.

ciao.

Track looks decent

Didn't see that coming. Wonder who is going to pay for it?

It would be nice if they could keep ticket prices in the same ballpark as they were in Indianapolis but I doubt it can be done.

I would imagine they stick this race right after Canada. Can't imagine them putting it up against the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR race on Memorial Day weekend.

What would happen in my wet dream is that they would put Canada the weekend before the Indianapolis 500 and the new race in Texas the weekend after and let the F1 guys race in all 3.

My First Post, so I'll make it Productive.

The Good thing about this deal is that no circuit design is yet available. So, those responsible can save a lot of money by making a contest of some sort to design the track (after they find the right place), and make a prize of 10k or so for the best design, this will be cheaper than hiring Tilke or any other designer. Plus it will get the hype up for the race from the beginning. Not to mention the creativity and imagination of the participants will guarantee a non-boring track.

YEah timing is an issue, it's gonna be super hot in mid summer you'd think.

Except that this will never happen.

Its nice to dream, man, but this just aint the way a multi-billion dollar business works.

I can't believe my city is getting the US GP Race!

Austin will be a great place for this race, we can get things done and the city has a great vibe and will be lots of fun for our foreign visitors!

Any Brit's that haven't been here and think this city is full of "rednecks" will be in for a surprise... all of the US is not like the backward ass parts of Alabama shown on a popular Top Gear episode, plenty of UK bands already know this after visiting for South By South West (I saw Art Brut at the festival a few years ago).

It will be great to have a F1 race track. Here are the current nearby tracks, both are country club like deals: http://www.drivewayaustin.com (in Austin) and http://harrishillroad.com (in San Marcos, 15 or 20 minutes from town).

The only problem with Austin is that once you leave it you're in Texas.

It's a shame that the SXSW probably won't coincide with the GP Weekend.

It would have been one awesome holiday if they did clash!

Call me crazy (Tilke would never do it), but I think the ideal track for a USGP would similar to the old Hockenheimring or Monza. Americans are used to high speed racing thanks to the Indy 500 and Nascar's Talladega races. Have a fast circuit with sweeping turns and a small complex to slow cars down before the pit-lane (Like the Hockenheim Stadium bit).

You ever hear of ENTERTAINMENT television?

The irony

"Disgrace" indeed

Once again, for those that keep proposing sites, I have heard that it will be built East of the airport near the 135 tollroad. This is Southeast of town and the terrain is fairly flat there. Depending on the exact location, there might be some elevation changes, but it will not be hill country that most think of when picturing Austin.

Creedmoor,tx

Oh yeah, we have lots of bats. That's not a bad thing. Very few insects.

Well, at least it won't be another street race. They probably need to have it in the summer (paired with Montreal) in order to get anyone to come, but boy will it be hot. Having it in October as a companion race with Brazil would be better, but once football starts, I don't think anyone in Texas will care about Formula One. I can't believe there are still promoters in the USA dumb enough to go into business with Bernie. Good luck with that (and paying for it), Austin!

Problems with the map methink. You mean this one?
Link

Wrong. NASCAR is centered in the Southeast US -- not the southwest. NASCAR IS popular in parts of Texas -- but Austin is NOT one of those parts.

Austin is very simialr in politics and lifestyle to parts of california and Northeast US (I've lived several years in each region I speak of.)

Austin is relatively sophisticated, well educated, liberal, wealthy, young, high tech, etc.

This is great for MotoGP too. A new track in Texas to move the Indy GP to while a Texan is working his way into the series.

If it is designed by Tilke, yet another reason to fail.

people will travel from all over the US - Texas is fairly centrally located all things considered. F1 won't have to depend as heavily on the Austin population as it did east coasters because it is not as time or distance prohibitive to half of america like NY or Cali races are. I wouldn't call Austin Liberal, compared to well known liberal cities in the USA, but I'd expect it will draw a more liberal crowd than not. It won't be MotoGP at Laguna Seca or anything, but close enough.

Why do people persist in attacking Tilke? Do you actually think he sets out to design the worst circuits imaginable? Of course not - if you look at some of his non-F1 circuits like Aragon), he's actually pretty good. The problem isn't Tilke. It's the rulebook. Tilke has to follow those rules to the letter, as would anyone who replaces him. Changing your designer won't change a thing. Tilke is just a symptom of an underlying disease. It's not his fault that the FIA are so anal-retentive on the subject of circuit safety that it looks like we're racing in a Tesco's (or, in America's case, a Wal-Mart) carpark.

A lot of excited people in Austin over the news of F1 coming to town.

Scroll down to the comments in the following Austin newspaper article;

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/sha..._coming_to.html

There is not fail here.

Austin is a VERY cool town. I'm very much looking forward to attending this GP. I'm taking my bicycle, it's a GREAT cycling town. Lance Armstrong's excellent shop Mellow Johnnie's is there. It has a burgeoning culture scene. Next up is that for almost EVERYONE on the North American continent is is cheap to fly there and cheap to stay there. American Airlines' hub is Dallas/Fort Worth, only 200kms away.

Can't wait. I'm going. I can speak English and not have Quebecois yelling "Go home Anglo!" at me. I've been to Texas and the CDN GP, the food in Texas is better.

San Antonio is 1 to 1 1/2 hours by car Dallas is 3 hours by car and 1 by plane. Same numbers for Houston. It's pretty much centrally located in the State. It is also the State Capitol.

THIS. And by 2012 the lessons will have hopefully been learnt in the formula.

From the above statesman article:

"Last time F1 attempted to run in the USA, most of the drivers chickened out and would not race. Only 6 of them ran.

F1 racing is like a parade. Borrrring!

NASCAR drivers are the real men. Real racing, real passing for the lead.

F1 racing is to NASCAR like soccer “third world football” is to real American football. F1 is Borrring. You have to be an expert to understand why F1 is even interesting to watch. Any sports fan can appreciate NASCAR. "

When we all bring our money to town they won't care anymore.

This looks like a good place to start:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=8400+Delwa...mp;t=h&z=17

This actually sounds quite awesome.

Its great that F1 comes back to the US but its a shame to miss out on all the great circuits the US already has and instead build another boring Tilkedome

Close ?
Just an FYI:
Texas is the state where all those 3 cities are located.
Those cities are "inside" Texas, so Texas cannot be described as "close" to those cities.

I remember a headline once on CNN.com "Man Found Dead in Europe"

Congrats to the American fans. Can't wait to come visit Texas in 2012!

I sort of hope it isn't back to back with the Canadian GP, as I will continue to go to that race but I'd also love to go to this race in Austin as it is much closer for me to reach than Montreal (I'm in south florida), but I doubt I'd be able to get out of work on consecutive weekends nor could I afford the income hit of 2 expensive trips in one month

They are all within 5 hours by car... so I would qualify that as close. Thank you.

That's more to do with F1's safety standards than anything else. Plus if you're given a flat space of land to design a circuit on there isn't much you can do about it.

I'm surrised the overall response [here] is so positive. I want to see a USGP again, but a purpose-built track in Austin Texas? Not........gonna......happen........ever!

I would hold off on that judgement till you see the results.. Tilke is perfectly capable of designing a very good circuit indeed given the freedom to do so (some of his circuits are very good indeed, think about it) and if he gets freedom and a 'lets make it cool' attitude anywhere it is going to be in the US.

There are some good circuits in the USA of course but how many of them are actually in a good situation to be turned into a track suitable for F1 cars? I struggle to come up with one that isnt either so narrow it would be like monaco, dangerous without modification that would destroy its character, or just commercially/politically impossible.

Not that I know the people involved in this deal, but people here need to realize that they wouldn't just announce this news if there were no chance of this really happening. Yes, I know other deals in the past have fallen through after announcements about planned races, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt, I just hope they have the money secure.

i think theres only two, utah miller motorsports park, and indy

Yeah I don't get the "redneck" jibes. Austin is one of the most liberal places in the US.

I think F1 in Texas is a good thing. Better than no F1 in the USA at all. Happy for all the Texans on this board who get a GP in their backyard!

Very nicely said.

Anyone who says this is "fail" just because its in Austin, TX doesn't know what they're talking about. Austin is a growing city (unlike most places in the States right now) and is quite the party town. And its loaded with a young, modern population so they'll probably be more inclined to attend. Also, people in the USA travel...a lot. It's not like having it in one region hurts the rest of the nation. Fans will flock to it. This hillbilly nascar talk is just from a bunch of uneducated people stuck in their own stereotypes. I, for one, can't wait to attend. Hopefully everything stays on schedule so we can have one last F1 race in the States before the world ends in Dec 2012