Formula 1??? in TEXAS???

[redstriker]

Click the link below and read

 

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

 

 

What are your thoughts about this?

[Gary Bechtold]

It's cool. I would never have thought Austin would host F1. This is pretty cool.

[redstriker]

I know, it's amazing that they would pick Austin.

[Gary Bechtold]

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=48503

 

Tilke to design new Austin track

 

Thursday, 27 May 2010 00:00

 

The new circuit in Austin, Texas that will host the United States Grand Prix from 2012 will be designed by Formula 1’s favoured architect Hermann Tilke.

 

It was announced earlier this week that F1 will return to the US in 2012 in a new 10-year deal with Full Throttle Productions, who will promote and organise the race.

 

FTP has now confirmed that Tilke – whose company has designed almost all the new F1 tracks of recent years and modified many existing venues – will be responsible for the Austin layout.

 

FTP managing partner Tavo Hellmund told Adam Cooper’s F1 Blog that an 800-acre site has already been identified to the east of the city and preparations are at an advanced stage.

 

“This has been long in the works,” Hellmund said. “Everything is in place.”

 

The site is said to be in hilly terrain and Tilke has been asked to create a fast and challenging circuit in the mould of classic European venues such as Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps.

 

The event will reportedly be able to draw on some public funding, but the circuit construction will be financed by private investors at an estimated cost of $200m (£140m).

 

Promoters told the Associated Press that the circuit would be “one of the finest permanent road course facilities in the world.

 

“Fans should expect the craftsmanship Tilke is famous for, with a priority placed on green building and a track similar to the great grand prix tracks of previous generations.”

[dr_sharp]

There was some formula type of race in San Antonio around 2000 or 2001. They closed the downtown streets for it.

[redstriker]

There was some formula type of race in San Antonio around 2000 or 2001. They closed the downtown streets for it.

 

I know, it would be awesome if they did that but with our own moddified cars at least 3 times throughout the year, lol

[Gary Bechtold]

U.S. Grand Prix Formula 1 Track, Financier Revealed

http://jalopnik.com/5597593/us-grand-prix-formula-1-track-financier-revealed

 

Pics from the article...

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/12/2010/07/340x_track_location.jpg

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/12/2010/07/500x_track_size.jpg

[dr_sharp]

Outstanding!

[redstriker]

it is!!! now all we need are track days!!!!

[Gary Bechtold]

http://www.statesman.com/sports/formula1/f1-course-designer-tilke-ready-to-start-work-846462.html

 

F1 course designer Tilke ready to start work on Austin track

By Andreas Grosse Halbuer

 

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

 

Updated: 12:21 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010

 

Published: 12:11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010

 

The German firm designing the Formula One racetrack in Austin is about to open a local office and already has geologists testing the site in eastern Travis County.

 

"There is land, there is money, there is a Formula One contract. We are now ready to enter the final stage of the ambitious project," said Christian Epp, a Tilke GmbH executive in charge of the Austin project.

 

The track and related structures are destined for about 900 acres near Elroy and bordered by FM 812 and McAngus and Elroy roads, about a mile east of Texas 130.

 

Although the course layout is about 95 percent determined, Epp said questions remain about the type and design of auxiliary buildings.

 

A preliminary plan shown two months ago to city officials indicated that the project would include a welcome center as well as permanent and temporary grandstands for an event that could attract 100,000 or more fans.

 

"We have to figure how many buildings and access roads are needed, how in detail to manage the water supply, drainage and power," Epp said. "It's like planning and building a complete new city."

 

Epp said a Tilke delegation including architects, engineers, geologists and environmental experts will be in Austin for a few days starting Aug. 16 to work on a detailed plan for the track complex that could cost upward of $200 million.

 

Epp said as many as 20 Tilke employees will be in Austin over the next two years to design and oversee construction of the first U.S. track that is being built specifically for Formula One. Past F1 U.S. races have used NASCAR tracks or other facilities.

 

F1 organizers have yet to submit requests for permits to the city and Travis County, which will jointly review the plans. But Tilke hopes to begin grading the site in December.

 

The first race is scheduled to occur in 2012, although the date has not been set.

 

"The engineers and the contractors tell me it can be built by summer 2012," said Richard Suttle Jr., the attorney for the Austin project, adding that F1 sets the actual race schedule.

 

Given problems with heat in past U.S. F1 races, the assumption is that the Austin event would occur in cooler months.

 

Epp said the track complex will be designed with energy efficiency, water conservation and other environmental factors in mind. He said the company is also considering adding renewable energy sources, such as solar panels, if feasible.

 

The Tilke manager is optimistic that the track could encourage economic development and construction in Elroy and greater Austin.

 

"A lot of people will come to the city and spend their money in Austin," said Epp, who is based in Cancún, Quintana Roo, to oversee Tilke operations in Mexico and South America.

 

Tilke already has hired some subcontractors, Epp said, although he declined to identify them. His firm will be in charge of the bidding process for contractors, although local promoter Tavo Hellmund is in charge of the project and will make the decisions. Epp said preference will be given to companies based locally or elsewhere in Texas.

 

During construction, as many as 2,000 workers will be involved in building the track complex, Epp said.

 

Hellmund's Full Throttle Productions estimates another 1,200 temporary workers would be hired for Formula One race weekends, according to documents presented to the city and obtained by the American-Statesman under the Texas Public Information Act.

 

According to Full Throttle's estimates, an F1 weekend in Texas would have a $300 million impact on the area every year, although some economists question that estimate.

 

Epp said there are many ideas on the table about additional uses for the track site.

 

"We could use the area for typical Austin live music festivals to reflect the spirit of the town," Epp said.

 

Organizers also have said the site could be used for vehicle research and testing.

 

Epp said an F1 race will raise Austin's international profile.

 

"Austin can be spoken of in the same breath as (other F1 host cities) Istanbul, Melbourne or Shanghai," he said.

 

ahalbuer@statesman.com; 445-6766

 

Grosse Halbuer is a correspondent with Capital, a leading German business magazine, who is in Austin through the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, an exchange program for U.S. and German journalists.

[pillboy]

I think they should run pick-up trucks.

[Sideways the Seven]

I'm glad to see them bring Formula 1 to Texas. Hopefully it will mean more road courses/tracks will come here too.

[Cincy05LGT]

$50M spent at Watkins Glen to meet current F1 specs makes WAY more sense than $200M spent on a new facility that they're yet to break ground on. (It is already schduled into the 2012 season.) If this project fails, especially after the embarrassing USF1 failure, FIA may abandon the US indefinitely due to all the regulations that make it difficult. It will be awesome if they succeed, however I am doubtful.

[Gary Bechtold]

http://www.statesman.com/sports/formula1/county-planners-f1-race-day-traffic-could-take-905095.html

 

County planners: F1 race day traffic could take 12 hours

By Eric Dexheimer

 

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

 

Published: 11:09 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010

 

Twelve hours. That's how long it would take fans on race days to get into, and then out of, the proposed Formula One track to be built southeast of Austin, according to a quick analysis of the site plan by county planners.

 

Planners working on the racetrack site plan reached that estimate after a field trip to Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, where it takes about three hours for fans to enter and exit the track, said Joe Gieselman, manager of Travis County's Transportation and Natural Resources Department.

 

The 12-hour figure emerged during a Travis County Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday, during which Richard Suttle Jr., the attorney for promoter Full Throttle Productions, was peppered with questions from commissioners.

 

Gieselman said the county's delay-time estimate, as well as other pointed queries about who would pay for road improvements and how many jobs the project might create, served to highlight the county's frustration over the paperwork submitted by Full Throttle — which is thus far so sketchy as to make planners' jobs nearly impossible, he said.

 

Promoters have said they intend to submit their land-use paperwork to the city and county incrementally, gaining approvals for each stage along the way. Full Throttle hopes to break ground on the facility by December and be prepared to host the first F1 race in 2012.

 

Last week, Full Throttle submitted the first two parts of the site plan to county and city planners: one for grading the land and the other for construction of a single road through the middle of the land.

 

But Gieselman said his department needs a better idea of what the whole project will look like before it starts issuing approvals.

 

"Mainly what's lacking is the big picture and the context," he said. "They're still at the PR level — still selling F1. But now let's talk about what we have to do to make it successful."

 

At Tuesday's meeting, County Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt also told Suttle she wanted to see a "hard number analysis" on how Formula One racing has affected other communities economically.

 

edexheimer@statesman.com

[Gary Bechtold]

Video inside...

http://jalopnik.com/5640308/county-commissioners-laugh-at-us-grand-prix-lawyer

 

County Commissioners Laugh At US Grand Prix Lawyer

 

The unfrozen caveman lawyer representing the organizers behind the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin faces down the Travis County Commissioners Court. Watch as they mock his transparent bullshit and lack of plans.

 

In order to get the U.S. Grand Prix built and running in time for the planned 2012 date the organizers behind it — a group of people who make Sammy Sosa look talkative — have to start building it in December. To start building they need to climb though a Legends of the Hidden Temple level of bureaucracy. Unfortunately someone didn't listen to Olmec because they're just now starting to talk to the County Comissioners and everyone else about the environmental, economic, and crazy traffic impact on the area.

 

They're pretty obviously hoping their connection with the state government and metric crap-ton of money will help them out. Here's hoping they're right, because the county government isn't buying it so far.