FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

Discuss the sport you love with other motorsport fans

Questions and answers about going to a race weekend
#283580
We have New Jersey in 2013.


It's looking more and more like classic Bernie foresight that.
#283635
It seems that very odd that NJ has been given the go-ahead and suddenly Bernie Ecclestone is telling the press that he is concerned that Austin will not be ready in time for 2012. We know that originally he wanted a race in NY/NJ, not he has that, is he trying to scupper the Austin GP? And now we hear that contracts have not been signed by FOM, you'd think that'd be signed before breaking ground! With Russian slated to join the F1 calendar in 2014 and NJ in 2013 and the fact that teams don't want any more than 20 races, something has to give!!!
#283638
It seems that very odd that NJ has been given the go-ahead and suddenly Bernie Ecclestone is telling the press that he is concerned that Austin will not be ready in time for 2012. We know that originally he wanted a race in NY/NJ, not he has that, is he trying to scupper the Austin GP? And now we hear that contracts have not been signed by FOM, you'd think that'd be signed before breaking ground! With Russian slated to join the F1 calendar in 2014 and NJ in 2013 and the fact that teams don't want any more than 20 races, something has to give!!!


As i said in another thread:

It's looking more and more like classic Bernie foresight that.


:P Basically i think NJ was a fall back plan.

PS gonna merge both these threads cause they seem to be about basically the same thing and the discussion may become fragmented otherwise...
#283641
MrE is no fool. It sounds like Austin is in dire straights. Having a back-up plan of another venue in the US is a shrewd move. If Austin isn't ready in time, it wont be so much as a race cancellation but more of a race relocation.
#283647
The $25M from city of Austin is supposed to to cover the FIA sanctioning fee for race but it appears Tavo Hellmund wants the Austin revenue stream for himself and also income from promoting the race. The shareholders can't build a $250M track and pay $25M per year FIA sanctioning fee for 10 years for a total of $500M and make a profit. If the Austin GP is not built it's because Tavo Hellmund is trying to Screw the major investors.
#283656
I don't read too much into Bernies comments. He has said the same in the past about other locations and they spring up on time. But he has said if they aren't ready for 2012 then they'll be pushed to 2013 no big deal.
#283686
Plenty of news in the Austin newspaper, none of it good.

Comptroller: No state funds for F1 in advance

F1 track work stops amid dispute


It seems some in Austin now are saying publicly what I was musing when it first was announced Bernie was planning a new bespoke F1 circuit in Austin. That his intention all along was to use the proposed circuit as a stalking horse against other possible venues in the USA.
#283688
I doubt that is the case. There is nothing to be gained in building a race track for ultimately nothing.

I think it is a case of the Austin track is in difficulty so New Jersey will serve as a Plan B should one be needed thus keeping a US GP on the calander.
#283710
I doubt that is the case. There is nothing to be gained in building a race track for ultimately nothing....

Try convincing the owners of Donington Park that is the case. You fail to recongnise how ruthless Bernie is and what a cutthroat enterprise he has turned F1 into.
#283713
I doubt that is the case. There is nothing to be gained in building a race track for ultimately nothing....

Try convincing the owners of Donington Park that is the case. You fail to recongnise how ruthless Bernie is and what a cutthroat enterprise he has turned F1 into.


I fail to recognise nothing. Donington Park was the fault of the BRDC alone. MrE was trying to get the BRDC to make improvements to the track and its facilities and the BRDC kept putting it off and off, though they did build a nice new club house for themselves (bunch of self serving wotnots!). MrE quite rightly threatened to move the GP to an alternative location and the BRDC decided to compy weith their agreement only once Donington had been made to resemble a ploughed field.

The track at Austin was going along nicely until this latest dispute has meant that the track may well not be ready in time. Very wisely, an alternative venue has been secured early enough to avoid cancelling the event altogether. So there will still be a US GP, it's just difficult to say with any certainty where it will be held.
#283727
Donington Park was the fault of the BRDC alone. MrE was trying to get the BRDC to make improvements to the track and its facilities and the BRDC kept putting it off and off, though they did build a nice new club house for themselves (bunch of self serving wotnots!). MrE quite rightly threatened to move the GP to an alternative location and the BRDC decided to compy weith their agreement only once Donington had been made to resemble a ploughed field.

The race was handed to Donington Park because the BRDC didn't want to spend out the money given that there wasn't too much profit available after paying Bernie's sanctioning fee to pay for the modernisation of the track. Donington Park screwed themselves by failing to complete the upgrades because of poor financial management...

It looks like Austin will be missing out because the local government won't pay in advance because the financial benefits are not as large given that half the people likely to attend will go to New Jersey, they clearly don't think the following is large enough in the United States to support two races and we know realistically that Bernie allowed Austin because at the time, NY.NJ was unavailable, and apparently the original promoter failed to secure enough funding, then the track builders themselves stepped in with backing from the local government and now that's disappeared, it's dead in the water! And my hopes of attending a GP any time soon along with it! Flights for the family, plus tickets is too expensive and driving is out of the question!

SRC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula ... 766613.stm
#283747
Looks like only Redbull got to sample Austin this year on a dirt track. :hehe:
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 26
Hi

2 is not enough, no! Uh oh - more horny than chri[…]

See our F1 related articles too!