Austin F1 Announcement on Speed Tuesday night

[BlueFirePony]

Any knowledge or informed speculation on what is being announced? I'm travelling and hotel does not have Speed so I'll have to check in here or at home and find out.

[kbrewmr2]

I have the show DVR'd - so hopefully I remember to post what it was :)

[ShadowBolt]

Moto-GP in 2013. I have been hearing this for a few weeks. Don't know if this is what today's announcement is though.

JJ

[RichardP]

I don't know if this is an addition or a change???


TODAY: Organizers for the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas will hold a press conference today, Tuesday, April, 12, 2011 at 4:00 pm Eastern/1:00 pm Pacific.

SPEED.com will provide Live! Video Streaming coverage of today's Press Conference from Austin, TX at 4p ET/1p PT.


Richard P.

[BlueFirePony]

Just saw the live stream....I hope NASA is already talking to the COTA people. I had dinner with a relative of the architect last night and that info plus what I just heard from the press conference tells me that if you are not already in conversation you will be left out.

[jdlingle]

Track has been named "Circuit of the Americas". John Dagys of SpeedTV is also guessing that GT1 might come there next year as well!

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-austin-track-gets-a-name

[ShadowBolt]

http://www.statesman.com/sports/formula1/formula-one-plans-get-grander-with-motogp-race-1395138.html

[jdlingle]

http://www.racer.com/austins-circuit-of-the-americas-stages-media-open-house/article/200583/

Of note was that Hellmund stated that about 30 days out of the year would be race days. It would appear that they are thinnking they will have some club racing then. This facility looks like it is going to be awesome.

[cjlmlml]

riiiiiiigggggghhhhhhhhhht

[kbrewmr2]

http://www.racer.com/austins-circuit-of-the-americas-stages-media-open-house/article/200583/

Of note was that Hellmund stated that about 30 days out of the year would be race days. It would appear that they are thinnking they will have some club racing then. This facility looks like it is going to be awesome.

if they can afford it

we'll see at some point... can't be that much worse than Road Atl, Barber, Mid-O, Miller, Road America, etc

[HoustonNW]

if they can afford it

we'll see at some point... can't be that much worse than Road Atl, Barber, Mid-O, Miller, Road America, etc

What is a comparable track? I'm not sure those really are. I'm thinking Indy is possibly the only one. Do they have club days there?

[ShadowBolt]

AI/CMC should be the support race for the F1 race. We could whip up the crowd.

JJ

[kbrewmr2]

What is a comparable track? I'm not sure those really are. I'm thinking Indy is possibly the only one. Do they have club days there?

You wanna know how I know you haven't been to any of those? :p Add VIR and Watkins Glen to that list while we're here. While the Indy track has been the only one that has hosted F1 in the past couple decades, all are considered world class facilities and do host big time professional stuff from the US and abroad too...

And yes, every one of those tracks listed has many club racing weekends (NASA included) even though for most their track rental per day costs more than your race car.

[HoustonNW]

You wanna know how I know you haven't been to any of those? :p Add VIR and Watkins Glen to that list while we're here. While the Indy track has been the only one that has hosted F1 in the past couple decades, all are considered world class facilities and do host big time professional stuff from the US and abroad too...

And yes, every one of those tracks listed has many club racing weekends (NASA included) even though for most their track rental per day costs more than your race car.

I'm aware of the history of some of those tracks but I'll stick with my opinion that, as of right now, the only track that would compare to a purpose-built F1 track in terms of prestige is Indy. And I'm making the assumption that "prestige" will drive up the rental cost beyond what NASA can consider.

[kbrewmr2]

You owe me a 6pk at the first NASA-TX event there ;)

It'd have a large enough multi-region draw that the economics should work. Doubly so if it ends up being able to host Nationals at some point, people will want their cheatin' bastard practice

[ShadowBolt]

I'm aware of the history of some of those tracks but I'll stick with my opinion that, as of right now, the only track that would compare to a purpose-built F1 track in terms of prestige is Indy. And I'm making the assumption that "prestige" will drive up the rental cost beyond what NASA can consider.

If NASA can't afford it who will? SCCA? I'm sure it will be higher than most other tracks but if they don't do club events it will do what........just sit there empty? I hope your wrong.

JJ

[Fbody383]

but if they don't do club events it will do what........just sit there empty? I hope your wrong. If it does we can all call our state reps and tell them we want the economic development funds back.

[HoustonNW]

You owe me a 6pk at the first NASA-TX event there ;)

It'd have a large enough multi-region draw that the economics should work. Doubly so if it ends up being able to host Nationals at some point, people will want their cheatin' bastard practice

It's a deal and a debt that I will gladly pay.


If NASA can't afford it who will? SCCA? I'm sure it will be higher than most other tracks but if they don't do club events it will do what........just sit there empty? I hope your wrong.

JJ

Again, I hope I'm wrong but I don't think that they will "need" to schedule any other events and therefore it just might sit there empty most of the year.


If it does we can all call our state reps and tell them we want the economic development funds back.

From the press conference:

Promoters say they expect to generate up to $6 billion of economic impact over the current 10-year United States Grand Prix contract.

The state reps might not be too concerned.

One nice thing is that the track might actually be on iRacing for some virtual CBB!