COTA Austin - construction and infrastructure

[hardingfv32]

If I say Texas, what type of motor racing do you think of? Do you even thing of motor racing?

What percentage of US sports car sales are made in Texas? Would a Truck GP be more appropriate?

Austin, TX has as much appeal as Phoenix, AZ GP did. When the money is gone, so is the GP.

Brian

[i70q7m7ghw]

Most American sports car racing enthusiasts were and maybe still are skeptical of an USGP in Texas.
I can easily understand the rest of the world being skeptical.


Brian

Really? Have a source? Pehaps a Gallup poll? Harris poll? A vision? Three drunks?

It is this sort of unsupported generalization that is so damaging to any intelligent discussion in this and other threads.

Passive-aggressive users are damaging to this forum

[strad]

Don't see any anti American sentiment? That's a joke.
I tend to agree with Tazio on that subject.
Also I think many under estimate the draw of F1. It has very little to do with the number of actual residents that will attend..in fact non resident travelers is what it is aimed at.
Jeeeez ya think the people of SPA are what supports the race there?
The promoters of any major race are looking for money from hotel and restaurant business from vacationers coming for the race.
It's pretty easy to get to Austin from ANYWHERE so it's not like people can't get there...It ain't the boondocks by a long shot.
Why not an existing track???
Because it's easier to get money for shiny new things than to fix up old things.
And Bernie wants a lot of fixing. Many tracks would require almost as much money to bring up to F1 standards as to start from scratch.

[RacingManiac]

The location of Austin in the state of Texas is at least most appropriate within the state of Texas. As my politic savvy coworker puts it, its a dot of blue in a sea of red. Austin in itself is a high tech, progressive city in a very conservative state. All a GP needs to succeed is an audience that doesn't have to be local. Been to Montreal many times and you see a lot of out of town folks from US or elsewhere in Canada to the race, as long as the infrastructure around it supports it(airport accessible, close to city), it could do ok. A lot of existing road courses in US(Laguna Seca, Road America, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen...etc) are all in the middle of no where....its hard to attract crowd when the nearest big city is 3-4 hours drive away....thats beside the fact that all of them needs major work to bring it up to F1's lofty standard(debatable if the standards are necessry, but thats the price of admission)

I am quite interested to see how it'll turn out, and I'm also planning to go next year if it happens....

[donskar]

If I say Texas, what type of motor racing do you think of? Do you even thing of motor racing?

What percentage of US sports car sales are made in Texas? Would a Truck GP be more appropriate?

Austin, TX has as much appeal as Phoenix, AZ GP did. When the money is gone, so is the GP.

Brian

Interesting questions. And worthless unless you can support what you imply.

You imply that Texans buy few sports cars. Well, enlighten us -- what percentage of sports cars ARE bought by Texans?

Maybe this will be easier for you: quantify the "appeal" of the Phoenix GP for us. Are you comparing annual rainfall? price of beer? proximity to international borders? number of topless bars? availability of hotel rooms? quality of local schools?

Or are you just blowing hot air?

[Mr Alcatraz]

If I say Texas, what type of motor racing do you think of? Do you even thing of motor racing?

What percentage of US sports car sales are made in Texas? Would a Truck GP be more appropriate?

Austin, TX has as much appeal as Phoenix, AZ GP did. When the money is gone, so is the GP.

Brian

Ok Now I know you are talking out of your a$$
Colin Edwards and Ed Spies are from Texas and honed their racing skills on Texas tracks and organizations, ever heard of them?
Eric Bostrom rode the Austin Ducati in the AMA Superbike Championship in 2004 You might want to check this site out as well!
http://www.cmraracing.com/schedule.html
This is the compulsive disorder that afflicts this forum. Try reading a couple pages of the thread topic before you ask dumb-a$$ questions, and or comments. Fongulo!!!!!
Austin has as much appeal as Phoenix? That may be the most ignorant statement I've read on this forum ever.

Phoenix is the Armpit of the USA.

Austin was voted one of the top two Best Cities in the US- by Money Magazine
Voted the #1 Best cities for the next decade -by Kiplingers

Comparing the two is like saying Lake Tahoe is just like Sadre City.

You have absolutely zero credibility, and I will bet you have never been to Austin or Phoenix!

[munudeges]

Now THAT is an interesting point. We will probably never know (unless I have missed something), but it is quite possible Tony G (and Indy mgmt team) simply was not satisfied with the ROI on the investment to run an F1 race, especially if Bernie tried to up the fee -- pure business decision.

No circuit is satisfied about the ROI on running a F1 race, usually because there isn't one. That's why a lot of people are extremely sceptical about this whole thing. We see circuits in the Far East that have had millions pumped into them with no bums on seats, we've seen traditional circuits like Spa, Silverstone, Monza and others struggle to make any headway financially and we saw the shambles that was Donnington.

[hardingfv32]

"The Texas Tornado"... that name went threw my mind just after I hit the sent button. Then there is the great AJ Foyt who won Le Man, and Austin's great music scene, LBL Library, but so what? Still an very odd place for a GP circuit and race. I'll be happy to race on it before it folds.

Brian

[AbbaleRacing77]

"The Texas Tornado"... that name went threw my mind just after I hit the sent button. Then there is the great AJ Foyt who won Le Man, and Austin's great music scene, LBL Library, but so what? Still an very odd place for a GP circuit and race. I'll be happy to race on it before it folds.

Brian

Where are you from?

Austin is a spectacular place to have a GP. Its the fastest growing city in the united states right now with plenty of accommodation. It will attract sponsors and fans with lots of money to spend not only from texas and california but your also gonna see a ton of mexican f1 fans take a quick plane ride to austin. Not to mention texas actually has alot of young people living within the state which will be great exposure for future f1 fans. Texas is a state that loves its sports and that includes racing. Where would you prefer to hold a GP? Indianapolis is in the middle of nowhere i have no desire to spend thousands of dollars going to indiana to see corn fields when montreal is clearly a better venue and a better time... New Yorkers- couldnt care less about racing.... MIAMi- Wayyyy too hot hot combined with the humidity youll be sweating like crazy. At least texas has no humidity... I live in new york but i was in arizona a few weeks ago doing heavy physical labor and i didnt even sweat a drop. Believe it or not it feels hotter here in New york because its so damn humid.

[CyleB]

^^^^ can vouch for that i used to be a welder in TX and even though i was sweating like crazy because of the welder it didn't feel near as hot as Georgia where i live now... and if you haven't ever been to Austin your missing out its a very diverse city with plenty to do i think it will be a fantastic race venue.... Hook'em Horns!!!!!!!

[xpensive]

Don't see any anti American sentiment? That's a joke.
...

...
Ok Now I know you are talking out of your a$$
...
You have absolutely zero credibility, and I will bet you have never been to Austin or Phoenix!

There's to my mind two ways Americans can percieve "anti-Americanism", both represented with the above quotes;

- First there's the imaginary way, a spinal-reaction to everyone who dares questioning anything American, we have it on this thread with rage and verbal abuse towards those, like myself, who doubts the wisdom of an F1 race in Austin, TX.

There was xactly the same furor when the so obvious farce "USF1" was criticized 18 months ago.

- Secondly, there's the very real reaction from the rest to the world to "ugly-americans" like Taz, who tries to bully other people with aggression and foul language, such behaviour can easily prompt real anti-American sentiments. Think about it.

On topic however, munudeges is obviously right, there's no way to get a decent ROI from an F1 race without government subsidies, why I hope that the local Austin community and perhaps the lone star state itself is prepared to chip in?

Or actually, I don't.

[andrew]

At the risk of sounding anti-American, there is a rumou that Red Bull may be the title sponsor for the US GP. Just a rumour at the moment though.

[Mr Alcatraz]

At the risk of sounding anti-American, there is a rumou that Red Bull may be the title sponsor for the US GP. Just a rumour at the moment though.

That's not what I call Anti-American,
they already sponsor more sporting events in "The States" than any one other entity by a long shot.
It is just more evidence of an antagonistic attitude, trying to illicit an aggressive, confrontational response.
Bait fully rejected :-"

[HampusA]

It will be a track that will go down in history as one of the great ones.

SPA, Nordschleife, Suzuka and now Circuit the Americas.

[andrew]

At the risk of sounding anti-American, there is a rumou that Red Bull may be the title sponsor for the US GP. Just a rumour at the moment though.

That's not what I call Anti-American,
they already sponsor more sporting events in "The States" than any one other entity by a long shot.
It is just more evidence of an antagonistic attitude, trying to illicit an aggressive, confrontational response.
Bait fully rejected :-"

I wasn't trying to bait anyone. I am still waiting for the anti-American sentiment to be demonstrated so am wanting to tread carefully.

Seriously though, if there really was anti-American (or any other nation) sentiment do you not think that, given the location of 3 of the moderators, we would have not been told off by now?