OK that makes sense. But surely Bernie must have looked at the place. This is stuff we never hear about.

Here's a cool vid. Audio sucks, but scenery rocks, track rocks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwX9TpXUjeY

This. I'd be very curious to see what kind of design breifing Tilke was given for some of his other circuits ...

How New York Got Screwed By F1

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-new-yor...ormula-1-2010-5

Because Salt Lake City is way more "middle of nowhere" than Austin is.

Austin? Bah, what a silly place for a F-1 race. The USA deserves one, don't get me wrong...I guess the promoter filled Bernie's coffers and that's all that matters.

Doesn't F1 require a lot of VIP suites, etc for the self-proclaimed elite ?
I doubt if the Miller folks would be willing to put up the investment necessary to bring F1 to their track.
If Indy could not make F1 profitable ..... what hope do other cities have ?

With 8000 seats and humble beginnings, Miller is NOT the place to host an F1 race.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_Motorsports_Park

The article describes how Jersey City, New Jersey and Monticello, New York screwed themselves by not making Bernie an offer he couldn't refuse. Austin did. Austin wins.

Salt Lake City is a lot easier to get to by air. It's a major hub for Delta Airlines.

As stated in other threads, it's a great circuit but would require another US$100 mil or so to bring it to level 1 standards and for the infrastructure in pits, stands, VIP area, etc. Austin will be a MUCH better fit than Salt Lake.

Anyone that can't get to Austin by air easily isn't trying hard enough.

That's a very good point.

I lived in Austin for 25 years, I now remember when Tavo was racing Europe; I forgot that he was also friends with Bill Dollahite who was a racer while he was an notebook engineer at Dell in the Shelby Dodge Can-Am Series. It was Bill who told me about Tavo at the time.

My humble apologies.

Any American who has the grit and get up to go to Europe and put it on the line for two whole seasons in Formula Vauxwall and then F3 gets my respect for his commitment.

Maybe this guy really is for real.

I think the price structure was the same as it is for the Indianapolis 500.

My tickets were in the Tower Terrace and were $90 (about 70 British Pounds).

I think the prices went from $70-$150 (about 50-100 BP)

I think IMS felt people in the US would be reluctant to pay $250+ for a ticket.

Cup tickets for the entire weekend are still about $250 each and up depending on the package. You can get GA tix for between 50-100 for most events. Drags and ICS are about the same.

The price I quoted was just for a race day ticket. To get in IMS on Friday or Saturday of the USGP weekend cost $20 (13 BP) for a general admission ticket, sit where you like.

I think IMS could have charged twice what they did and still had 100,000.

USA and F1 need each other - but I suspect this race, track and locatoion will prove to be about as successful as one of the other new Mc-Grand Prix such as China. At best.

Were they willing to stump up the money?

Where F1 goes has nothing to do with how good the track is, how nice the scenery is, where the location is (apart from Monaco), it is all down to money pure and simple. If a circuit is willing to pay the asking price Bernie will be happy to go there.

Why?

Commercial, marketing/brand reasons, for both. Ok they don't need each other life or death, but the phrase 'need each other' isn't supposed to be taken literally.

Austin boss says finances are in place

Impossible to overtake, even indycars had trouble overtaking on that circuit.

Indycars have a hard time passing each other no matter where they race.

Just to give everyone a little insight on Austin. Austin is not Indianapolis or Salt Lake City. Austin is probably the coolest town in the whole country. If you polled 1000 people who have visited, you could count on one hand the people who didn't have fun.

We have one of the best night/music scenes in the world. We have beautiful outdoor areas. Barton Springs Pool is a natural spring fed swimming pool that stays 68 degrees year round. We have incredible food, some of which you won't find anywhere else. If your into golf, there are a ton of great courses. You can rent boats and jet skis and head out on Lake Travis. You can drink margaritas, listen to live music and watch the sunset at any number of lakeside restaurants. You can rent motorcycles and explore the hill country, Austin is one of the best places to ride in the country and you will see thousands of motorcycles out on any nice weekend. If you're into biking, it doesn't get any better than here, just ask Lance. If you like museums, stay home. Austinites prefer to be outside, so save that for another trip. Bottom line, if you come, you will have a blast.

As for travel, people in Houston, Dallas or San Antonio wouldn't even blink at the drive to get here. Continental and American have hubs in Houston and Dallas. From there, it's a short connecting flight or easy drive into town. Southwest is a major carrier here and you can fly from almost anywhere they serve for $300 or less with a little advance planning. Our public transportation system sucks, but if you stay downtown, you can walk or catch a pedi-cab anywhere. If you stay away from downtown, you'll rent a car anyways, so you can get anywhere you'd like.

Oh yeah, we have the prettiest women and they like to drink. You do the math.

There is a very vocal minority of crotchety hippies that will bitch about anything. They miss the Austin of 30 years ago and can't accept change. Just because they fill up the message boards of the local newspaper, doesn't mean they represent the majority. See you in a couple of years.

Shouldn't it be "How Texas Taxpayers Got Screwed By F1"?

On Autosport's front page ... "Hellmund has already attracted local government support, which includes financial backing from the state government plus the Texas Major Events Trust Fund – which was set up to help cover expenses incurred by high-profile events."

Suckers

I have a question about safety in Austin. I was planning on getting murdered in Capetown during the World Cup but it just seemed too easy. How hard would that be in Austin?

Who's to say that the USA will only have 1 GP?! New York could still be on the cards if they get their act together.. I haven't read anything that says Austin has exclusive rights to the only USA based GP?!

Not impossible, but certainly not easy. You really have to be East of I-35 and have a raging meth addiction or be in a gang. There are definitely hotels that I would stay away from , but those details will come a little further down the road. Beyond that, your biggest opportunity for an untimely death is drunk drivers or domestic violence.

Ecclestone. He's frequently been quoted as saying that no country will host two races, except in exceptional circumstances. Those exceptional crcumstances seem to stem from capitalisig on the popularity of the sport because of a certain driver or team. America has none of that.

Th fund repays cities for the costs of hosting an event, up to $27m. The city and state rake in over $100m, so I'd say that's a pretty good investment. That doesn't even include events like Moto gp, which may even outdraw F1. For the doubters in the audience, Texas is a different business environment and there is an immense amount of pride in how we're perceived. They wouldn't have done this unless there is a high likelihood of success.

Thanks, Texas, if all else fails there's always sunstroke. Still, count me in.

Austin is one of the safest places on earth.
I have a true annecdote to illustrate. While we lived there, we were a 1 car family and my wife often took public transit.
One hot Friday afternoon the bus pulls over to let on a passenger. A big MOFO black dude. He pulls a gun on the driver and demands all the cash. At the time they still dropped coins in a box.
All of a sudden 4 or 5 other passengers seated behind my wife stand up and point their handguns at this dude and tell him to get the F*** off the bus. He backs out the door and runs away. Everybody sits down and the drive continues. Not a shot was fired. The incident didn't even make the local paper.

Like one Concorde pilot said when he landed in Dallas/Fort Worth: "Concrete is cheap in Texas"...

you are right, Bernie actually said there could be more than 1 US GP - btw, is Texas in the West Coast of the US?

Makes me think of that scene in Annie Hall where a matter is resolved so perfectly that Woody Allen turns to the audience and says, "Life should be like this!"

You have a strange idea on what constitutes a safe place.

Stop with your hatred of the USA. Ecclestone has RECENTLY (as in, today or yesterday) said that there may be 2 GPs in the USA. The likelihood may even increase if the Austin GP proves to be a success.

Ecclestone says a lot of things, but he is quite happy to change his mind if the money is there.

OK I just read an article from yesterday (Thursday the 27th). In it this Tavo bloke who is the promoter says the land for building the circuit has already been secured. Yet only two days earlier on Tuesday the same guy was quoted as saying they are looking at three different sites. They seem to have made up their minds very suddenly then immediately secured the property. All in one day! Hmm...this all sounds suspicious.

Or they already had the land secured but were not letting on. No reason to think they are going to reveal all at this stage.

Dude, I'm guessing you haven't read the last few pages of this thread? Tavo said that the whole 'three locations' thing was a smokescreen for the media. According to reports, the land is bought and utilities are up and running.

I found the track, based on Tavo's comments that it is near the airport! http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&ie=UTF...mp;t=h&z=15

The track will need repair though, it has been years since I have turned a wheel at that track (1998 maybe).

I am a little sad that it is in this area, I would rather see it in the hilly north Austin areas. But I cannot be picky, this is only 45 mins from my house. The track will be packed though, central in the US, easy access for South America as well as Canada. Makes perfect sense to me to have the track here, but I am biased as I already want tickets for all 10-years. I also hope this track will be open for karting, etc. Texas has a ton of racing, so this track could be busy with the smaller events year-round.

Here is a motocross track that is near, but I would guess houses are too close maybe. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&ie=UTF...006888&z=18

Texas can be funny about noise, even the local kart track near me has noise complaints from people who are miles away. Additionally, the track in Katy Texas is far away from any housing developments as well. An F1 track is a bit louder, however if it is close enough to the airport it would not matter. In the flight line might be ideal as that land is normally not developed into housing (in most cases around here).

Anyone live in Austin, is that landfill site still active?

You would be right...dude.

A "bit" louder? Have you been to an F1 race?

I love it.

God Bless Texas

Not sure what you are looking at, but that's not the location. The area you are showing is in the flightpath of the airport. That won't work, since there are helicopters and blimps that would be flying overhead, depending on the event. The area is East of the airport, most likely on the other side of the 135 tollroad. Since he has said it has hills, you can make a pretty decent guess of where it could be.

That site is within a mile at most two from the Austin Airport at Bergstrom. Bergstrom was a former F-16 Air Force Base so everyone around there understands noise.

Don't call it Southern Oklahoma and you'll be fine...

Its pretty easy. Wear your Ferrari polo shirt (the RED one). Over the SF crest embroider the letters "OU".

Many yes, but I was being sarcastic as well (darn internet humor)...

However, I was being serious about homeowners complaining about noise, and then tracks having to shutdown. Many over the years were out in the woods, and then housing development started to grow in those areas, with the tracks closing after pressure from the people that knew it was there when they moved in.

Edit @ Texas - I was pointing to the old Oval that sits resting in peace. You can barely even make out the pits and parking lot now.

South-Central US:


Map of the state:


In the cities, I will tell you that Austin to Dallas is approximately a 4 hour drive. San Antonio, (where I reside), is only an hour away, while Houston is about 2-3 hours away. These three major cities account for approximately 20 million people. You either deaf, dumb, or blind to think we won't get 120,000 to fill the stands. Texas' construction workers are some of the hardest in the business (due to Texas being a right to work state). To put this into perspective, my school had an extension built, all the wings renovated, and new electrical equipment completed within 6 months. When we want something done, it get's done. We can also get around the whole USGP naming stuff because it could be called the Texas GP as Texas was it's own Republic prior to annexing with the U.S.

Some of you don't give the city credit. MANY of the races on the calendar are there to entice people to visit the countries or increase awareness, and I don't see this as any different. But with anything, you'll always have doubters.