F1 Returns to USA - COTA - Bring on 2013!!

[Sam48]

Hang on a sec..There's no F1 style race track in Austin, is there? Unless their planning to do a street circuit that is. NY was a better option in my opinion. In fact, they should brought F1 back to the Glen for the US GP. All that place needs is a few more hotels around, then it would be perfect.

 

[Ardius]

Hang on a sec..There's no F1 style race track in Austin, is there? Unless their planning to do a street circuit that is. NY was a better option in my opinion. In fact, they should brought F1 back to the Glen for the US GP. All that place needs is a few more hotels around, then it would be perfect.

Read the articles, they are building a brand new track.

 

[Sam48]

Read the articles, they are building a brand new track.

Oh, I read an article on speed.com, and it didn't say.

 

[Ardius]

From the 1st page of this thread:
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/05/25/breaking-formula-one-coming-to-austin-texas-in-2012/

According to the release from F1, the race will be held in the city from 2012 to 2021, and since Austin doesn't have a race track, a facility will be purpose-built to host the events.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83873

Following weeks of speculation about the potential return of a race in America, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone announced on Tuesday night that the event will take place from 2012 to 2021 on a new purpose-built facility in Austin.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2010/5/10824.html

Bernie Ecclestone, President and CEO of the Formula One Group stated: “For the first time in the history of Formula One in the United States, a world-class facility will be purpose-built to host the event.

I've just taken a brief look at the speedtv website and it mentions in most of its articles that theres a track being built.

(yes, I'm bored and going overboard ).

 

[Northstar]

Hang on a sec..There's no F1 style race track in Austin, is there? Unless their planning to do a street circuit that is. NY was a better option in my opinion. In fact, they should brought F1 back to the Glen for the US GP. All that place needs is a few more hotels around, then it would be perfect.

It actually makes more sense in my eyes to do it in Texas. For one there is a broader range where the weather will actually be nice enough to hold a race. It's also fairly close to the middle so more people will have access than if it were held on the coast.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

According to Adam Cooper, the site has already been purchased. It's apparently 800 acres to the east of the city, and a few miles from the airport. They've also got permissions for amenities - water, waste and what-have-you - in place. My dad is a civil engineer who works on development projects and I know first-hand that getting amenities approved can be one of the most time-consuming and frustrating parts to any new development. So it's a big plus.

The best news, however, is that the owners have deliberately gone and purchased something very hilly. The exact site remains undisclosed, but this is good in and of itself because the owners are apparently racers and not some faceless national government that sets aside the first tract of land they can find. They've apparently also sent out a very specific request to Hermann Tilke (currently in Austin acquiring office space for the project): they want something fast and challenging, along the lines of Spa or Silverstone.

Think what you will of Tilke, but when you give him the right stuff, he can produce the goods. Last time he was given a hilly tract of land, he produced Istanbul, which is far and away his finest work. I think the pieces are in place for a decent circuit at the very least.

 

[Peter]

Yes, Istanbul is a good track in real life. I don't like it much in games though, understeer is a big problem in many places, and turn 1 is pretty challenging, as well as the fast triple apex corner ,where I have gone wide a lot.

So, is there anything about what the track layout will be like?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

So, is there anything about what the track layout will be like?

Did you read my post? Tilke might be in Austin, but he's looking for office space so that he'll have a base of operations in the city. He may not have even seen the site just yet. Common sense dictates that he's nowhere near desiging the actual layout. There's actually a video on YouTube about his design process where he talks about how he design circuits: he starts out visiting the site and does a pretty detailed, thorough inspection of it. They then create a three-dimensional model of the site and use string and drawing pins to plot out multiple routes. They then enter all of this data into computer-aided design programs and start designing multiple layouts. They then submit these layouts to the organisers of the event, who settle on a final draft. Tilke then goes about refining the final draft into a final design. The whole process probably takes at least a month, and probably more.

 

[peterjford]

So, is there anything about what the track layout will be like?

As the result of a super secret cover operation I have gotten a copy of the track's layout!!!

 

[RACECAR]

According to Adam Cooper, the site has already been purchased. It's apparently 800 acres to the east of the city, and a few miles from the airport. They've also got permissions for amenities - water, waste and what-have-you - in place. My dad is a civil engineer who works on development projects and I know first-hand that getting amenities approved can be one of the most time-consuming and frustrating parts to any new development. So it's a big plus.

The best news, however, is that the owners have deliberately gone and purchased something very hilly. The exact site remains undisclosed, but this is good in and of itself because the owners are apparently racers and not some faceless national government that sets aside the first tract of land they can find. They've apparently also sent out a very specific request to Hermann Tilke (currently in Austin acquiring office space for the project): they want something fast and challenging, along the lines of Spa or Silverstone.

Think what you will of Tilke, but when you give him the right stuff, he can produce the goods. Last time he was given a hilly tract of land, he produced Istanbul, which is far and away his finest work. I think the pieces are in place for a decent circuit at the very least.

Thats good to hear, sounds like they are already underway. Though I'm not a fan of Tilke(or least not what he has done to Fuji and Hockenheim), I sure do hope he works wonders to this circuitl.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I sure do hope he works wonders to this circuitl.

He's certainly been given the right ammunition for the job.

 

[NapoleonMikey]

Looking at goodle maps the area to the east of the airport is a lot of open land and from my understanding Austin is not a very flat region. should give Tilke a lot of good area to work with.

 

[FishforRent]

I suspect it will have to be just outside the city limits of Austin. The Austin City Council and legislature are somewhat lunatics. The city is as close to California politics as you will find in Texas. I've lived here all my life and Austin is a bit excentric and they pride themselves on it.

15 miles east of the Airport is the location, however it is rumoured that there are more than one location being reviewed. Highway construction in this area has just completed a brand new modern expressway (toll road) which is considered cutting edge in the industry, which routes traffic around Austin, rather than through it which is not a minor thing. Traffic is also something Austin shares with California. The second phase of this work in under construction now, to be completed next year. All promising.

With Texas state legislature passing an economic development bill last session which was written to support events and developement in the state, such as the Super Bowl and Formula 1, this has me certainly optomistic.

Depending on its real location, will determine what local approvals will have to be gained. It first worried me that Austin was the location because it is REALLY difficult to get anything done there, especially with a tight schedule. But due to the State being so supportive and actually knowing this was coming before the City did, I don't think many hurdles will be present.

And one thing I am confident in is the fact that Texans can build a class facility in 18months. I'm actually going to look into trying to get on that project in some capacity. Hey who knows if you don't try??

 

[prisonermonkeys]

15 miles east of the Airport is the location, however it is rumoured that there are more than one location being reviewed.

The land has already been purchased, at least according to Hellmund. And he would know.

Depending on its real location, will determine what local approvals will have to be gained.

Approval for amenities has already been obtained. They've clearly been working on this for a while.

 

[FishforRent]

The land has already been purchased, at least according to Hellmund. And he would know.


Approval for amenities has already been obtained. They've clearly been working on this for a while.

It doesn't quite work that way. To get water, sewer and electricity you must have a permit. To get a permit you have to register a project in the jurisdiction, or a site developement at the very least. And even a site developement project would have to illustrate what was being proposed and it couldn't be a false document.

The second a permit is pulled for services the size that this place will need, it would have drawn the attention of alot of independent contractors in this area. NOTHING occurs like that under cover of darkness.

The Freedom of Information Act is a living document that all governing authorities here abide by. And someone would have requested this information and it would have leaked already.

I respect your source, but calling them amenities shows to me that he is reaching or someone is feeding him half information. We call them Public Utilities here, and unless the project is getting water, sewer and power from a private source, it would not be a secret.

And there is not private source around that area, not of the size needed for a project this size.

v/r

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I'm just going by what my source said. My source is Adam Cooper, who's a pretty good journalist. Apparently there's been some act passed in Texas that makes it easier for major sporting events to be given approval, and it was recently amended to include Formula 1. Very recently. It's pretty obvious that the plan for the race has been simmering for a while because all the stars seem to have been aligned the right way first. If the project was pitched as a proposal subject to a bidding process - which it is - with the permit being granted on the condition that the project is approved, it's easy to see how it might have slipped by contractors. They wouldn't have any interest in it if it came with an uncertain future. Especially after the Jersey incident; anyone keeping an eye on the project would be discouraged by Jersey City's overnight backflip. They wouldn't go rushing to it if there was a chance it wouldn't happen. The permit would then become valid once the deal with Ecclestone was announced.

Of course, I'm only going by the way things work down here. In order to fast-track development, you can apply for development permits that will come into effect once the project gets underway. Until that time, though, the permit is worthless, and to stop people selling them on, they can only be executed by the permit holder. It may only be a local thing, though - our council drove our city bankrupt with an unnecessary and very expensive project and the interim council have been doing everything they can to get money flowing back into the town. Fast-tracking development was seen as the best way to do it.

 

[Northstar]

The Freedom of Information Act is a living document that all governing authorities here abide by. And someone would have requested this information and it would have leaked already.

Could be that the info was there but nobody was looking for it.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Could be that the info was there but nobody was looking for it.

Or that nobody noticed it. The information may have been put out there, but it's not like the project is the only one in Austin or Texas. Plus, the Powers That Be can hardly start calling up every local contractor and telling them about the project because that would be dangerously close to corruption.

 

[FishforRent]

Could be that the info was there but nobody was looking for it.

Or that nobody noticed it. The information may have been put out there, but it's not like the project is the only one in Austin or Texas. Plus, the Powers That Be can hardly start calling up every local contractor and telling them about the project because that would be dangerously close to corruption.

All true, however a project of this size which I would estimate would be in the $250-$500m dollar range, and would be tapping on Senate Bill 1515 would make this project draw attention, even if it was not fully known what it was.

I would suspect the second this information was made public there were many request for public information on this endeavor and the States involvment, so we will know soon, as these requests generally take a few weeks to satisfy.

I honestly hope the investigative journalists tracking this endeavor are accurate in their reports of the pace it is moving. But my experience in the Transportation/Construction/Land Developement industry (15yrs) tempers my optimism that it as far along as it is preported. (I hope I am wrong, because this thing literally has a short fuse to get done, in planning/developement/construction terms) 👍

 

[NoonenF1]

Haven't you worked out yet that Bernie likes Formula 1 to be run on circuits built for Formula 1 first and everyone else second?

I figured that out when I started watching F1 back in the 1990s when I was a kid. F1 isn't nicknamed the "Piranha's Club" for no reason.

 

[ranhammerR34]

For those who think that Austin can't host it.. I'll put it to you this way. I lived in Indy in the last 2 years of F1 and we hosted F1 very well. I really enjoyed both the races and going to them.. but the downtown didn't. We didn't enjoy the F1 fans from Europe especially. Now, if there is a silver lining, MotoGP has been a better event (for the downtown people) even though the attendance figures do not show it. We could host F1, just make the inner first turn chicane wider. However, I think Austin is A MUCH MORE cosmopolitan city than Indy and a better host regionally than Indy. (BTW, to who said it was unsuccessful in Indy, actually in attendance figures compared to F1 standards, it was the biggest in figures every year they raced at Indianapolis than other circuits.) Back to the city of Austin, TX. South by Southwest is one of the best music events of the year in this world. University of Texas in Austin has 6 weekends where there are close to 100,000 people show up to watch College Football. Austin is a very pretty city too. I can't wait til 2012 because I so want to go down there! It will be an awesome event. 👍 As for a second race, it may go to Indy and be called the Indianapolis Grand Prix... In 2015. --- Randy

 

[CAMikaze]

:idea:Randy, given that the race will take place in Austin in 2012, do you or anyone else here think American Airlines will be on board as the title sponsor?

 

[ranhammerR34]

:idea:Randy, given that the race will take place in Austin in 2012, do you or anyone else here think American Airlines will be on board as the title sponsor?

AA would be good, South West Airlines would be as well, but I see a deal with Coca-Cola, Monster Energy (owned by Coca-Cola now), Dr. Pepper/7 UP... possibilities are endless. =) --- Randy

 

[astrosdude91]

:idea:Randy, given that the race will take place in Austin in 2012, do you or anyone else here think American Airlines will be on board as the title sponsor?

AA doesn't maintain a hub in Austin, the nearest hub is in Dallas. I'd think that Southwest would be a sponsor if anything.

 

[Omnis]

Guess I'm going to have to apply to some Texas universities.

 

[Northstar]

AA would be good, South West Airlines would be as well, but I see a deal with Coca-Cola, Monster Energy (owned by Coca-Cola now), Dr. Pepper/7 UP... possibilities are endless. =) --- Randy

Actually, Monster is just distributed by Coca-Cola, it's owned by Hansen Natural.

 

[FishforRent]

Unless the Airline industry takes a positive leap forward, I don't see any of them as a sponsor. Maybe someone like ATT or one of the cell phone providers. RedBull always is a contender, as is one of the major electronics companies located in the area. Who knows what 2012 will bring in the economy front.

A date hasn't been released yet has it? If it's in September like Indy (I think Indy was around then), the temps down here could easily be in the triple digits. Late October could be prime.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

A date hasn't been released yet has it?

They haven't even released the 2011 calendar yet.

 

[FishforRent]

They haven't even released the 2011 calendar yet.

Yeah, I know that. But I was thinking of maybe rumours??? I am just geeked about this whole thing. Truely happy about it.

 

[peterjford]

A date hasn't been released yet has it? If it's in September like Indy (I think Indy was around then), the temps down here could easily be in the triple digits. Late October could be prime.

To cut down on travel costs it will happen right before or right after the race in Montreal. This year its in June, I don't think it would change too much by 2012, but you never know... Korea and India might want June for 2012