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Questions and answers about going to a race weekend
#285759
Austin race remains on 2012 calendar

By Dave Doolittle | Wednesday, December 7, 2011, 06:40 AM

The World Motorsport Council kept a planned Austin race for Nov. 16-18 on the 2012 Formula One schedule this morning, and circuit officials say they have reached an agreement with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone to keep the races in place for 10 years.

Ecclestone had said the council meeting in India would be the firm deadline for striking a deal with the track to host the Grand Prix next year. Ecclestone has not commented publicly on the Austin race today.

“Mr. Ecclestone received his check today for the USGP. We want to thank the fans supporting us, the local officials and businesses that have encouraged us, the state of Texas, Circuit of The Americas’ staff and Bernie himself,” Red McCombs, chairman of McCombs Enterprises and a founding partner in the circuit, said in a statement.

“Our investors have believed all along that this project has tremendous benefit for our region, and provides a strong economic engine for the future,” founding partner Bobby Epstein said in the statement. “We remain committed to reaching our goal of being valuable community partners as we establish a platform for sports and entertainment.

“We’re glad that Tavo’s vision of bringing F1 to the people of Texas will become a reality,” Epstein’s statement said, speaking of promoter Tavo Hellmund, who was a key player in bringing F1 plans to Austin.

“We have a substantial number of fans who have expressed interest in buying tickets and hospitality, so today is a win for all of them as much as it is for Circuit of The Americas,” Steve Sexton, president of Circuit of The Americas, said in the statement.

Three weeks ago uncertainty about the status of Austin’s Grand Prix caused work to be halted on the $300 million circuit being built in southeast Travis County.

The statement said construction on the 3.4-mile circuit and buildings would resume immediately.

Read the full statement here.
#285761
I'm happy bernie got his money. God knows, we don't want him or his middle aged children to starve.

In other news, hell yes, we have a race back here :D My bother in law lives in austin. Maybe we might have to "visit" him. :hehe:
#285765
In other news, hell yes, we have a race back here :D My bother in law lives in austin. Maybe we might have to "visit" him. :hehe:


I wouldn't count your chickens yet. There is still more than enough time for the organisers to gets bogged down in more disputes.
#285869
"You can build a track pretty quickly. It's no different than building a campus for a university," Wilson said. "We built a project that was actually bigger (than Austin's track) in less than a year."

Just as well ,they only have 11 months now
#286265
Just found this new rFactor video of CoTA posted yesterday on youtube.

[youtube]2cHCkTRpFQQ[/youtube]

The elevation changes are actually much more dramatic than they appear here, but this looks like a fairly good estimation of the circuit.
#286284
Thanks for posting this tim. It actually looks like a good circuit. The elevation and road camber changes look great. For some reason I've felt flat about this entire Austin affair from the beginning. The contract negotiations have been a fiasco from the get go and it's highlighted many issues of the sport that are just downright flaky.

As a fan, I won't get my hopes up about this until it's here and given the choice of venues would likely go to Montreal or NJ to see their GP, (cheaper for me) but it would be nice to see this circuit take root and gain some visibility and notoriety in the racing circuits, have ALMS and GRAND-AM events there as well. Let's see.
#286341
As you all can imagine us Texans are getting quite frustrated so we just gotta wait and see. Accusations are flying about that BE would prefer the Jersey venue but that will just be another street circuit and not a fulltime track that can host all sorts of events and series. MotoGp has commited aswell as the V8 Supercars from the land down under and I think their best interest should be taken into account.
#286603
Looks like the 10-year guarantee went out the window with the old contract:
http://www.pitpass.com/45421-Ecclestone ... r-10-years

More of Bernie's words from the Statesman:
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... ula_austin

...and now, as Hellmund alluded to weeks ago, Argentina is looking to add a round as well, following their announcement of a MotoGP round:
http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/66697.html

I've also heard rumors of another South American round, and one on the U.S. West Coast as well.
#286749
BTW, it's raining again today. Back during the delays I told my friends these guys would regret missing all these nice, dry working days. It's not like you can just bank 'em & use 'em later.

It's been almost 2 weeks since they signed the deal with Bernie & work out at the site is still very spotty & slow.



Also, we found two stories regarding Kevin Schwantz's motorcycle riding school. Apparently the COTA delays have forced Schwantz to keep his school at Barber for at least another year.



Schwantz School has tentative date for Austin:

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/Dec/11121834sk.htm

The final school might be the most special of the year for Schwantz. If the facility is ready, the Schwantz School will have its first two-day event at the Circuit of the Americas near Schwantz's home in Austin, Texas before the end of the year. If it happens, the first school at COTA will be a preview of 2013, when the track becomes the permanent home of the Schwantz School.




Schwantz School delays departure from Road Atlanta:

http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/road- ... to-ducati/

The school's move back to Road Atlanta wasn't planned. Originally, the plan was to move to a permanent base at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, but that track has beset with various financial problems which have delayed construction. So the school is going back to Road Atlanta and also to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"We had told Barber that we were probably leaving at the end of the year in hopes that things would be done in Austin a lot earlier than they are actually going to be done," Schwantz said. "We just needed a place to go. Barber's been okay to us; it's just been a tough place with the cost of the track, plus medical. It's just a really, really big nut to crack every two-day program that we run. In our three years there, we were never allowed a three-day weekend. We never got a three-day weekend. We had to go to Atlanta to get our three-day. They're busy enough, I guess, as it is that they didn't have to cater to us."
Last edited by tim wood on 19 Dec 11, 16:35, edited 1 time in total.
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