COTA Austin - construction and infrastructure

[Richard]

So are we to presume you are posting primary evidence, did you make the sighting?

[hairy_scotsman]

He was sighted by my buddy who knows him by sight.

Could be a good sign. Could be just a guy out to get a great burger.

[WhiteBlue]

http://www.pitpass.com/45393-Exclusive- ... n-for-2012

Bernie's anal cleaning brigade report that a deal was done. Austin shoukld be on for 2012.

[hairy_scotsman]

Thanks white/blue. I was busy tweeting it.

[Jeffsvilleusa]

*Collective sigh of relief*?

[strad]

Not sure I trust PissPass but we can hope.

[Richard]

The BBC are reporting a 1 week reprieve for Austin. Seems like Bernie can smell money.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula ... 067944.stm

[beelsebob]

I'm not sure how you read that in that article richard – as I see it, they're reporting that 1 week ago, the US GP was given a 1 week reprieve, and that subsequently it has been reconfirmed on the calendar. It is all a bit murky though.

[WhiteBlue]

Austin is on the officially approved schedule now. So the conclusion is that they have paid up. The BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula ... 067944.stm
mentions a fee of $35m. This is thought to increase by a contractually agreed 7% annual rise. A special finance package that reduced the initial payment to $25m and used a steeper annual increase of 10% was offered to Hellmund. But that package was withdrawn when COTA failed to sign the contract issued to Hellmund. The loss of the special package and the advance finance from the METF will mean that there will be a massive finance double digit cost increase. On top the circuit will have to accelerate the construction schedule to catch up with the time lost since the summer slow down. That is also very likely to cost them extra. The whole thing looks like a lot of egg on Bobby Epstein's face for trying to play hard ball with Tavo and Bernie. I would not be surprised if the price for this folly would add up to $ 20-30m.

[Richard]

WB - The report says they have "been given a deadline of this week to raise money to pay the sanctioning fee."

So its not a done deal just yet.

[beelsebob]

WB - The report says they have "been given a deadline of this week to raise money to pay the sanctioning fee."

So its not a done deal just yet.

had, not have.

[WhiteBlue]

WB - The report says they have "been given a deadline of this week to raise money to pay the sanctioning fee."

So its not a done deal just yet.

In the BBC report it says:

"Mr. Ecclestone received his cheque today for the USGP," the statement quoted Red McCombs, a founding partner of the Circuit of the Americas.

I reckon that Red McCombs would know if they paid or didn't!

[xpensive]

...
You can safely assume that it has already been decided by now. Bernie will have to take an official position at the meeting and I guess that cannot be changed in the last five minutes before the topic of the F1 calendar is discussed. He will have to submit a paper to the council ahead of the talks so that everybody gets updated on his proposal.

So my impression is that Epstein has blown it by now. If he had come to an agreement with Bernie it would have been published immediately.

And what a difference a day makes?

[blokkie]

interesting : ref : http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/2725 ... been-paid/

Quote : "Mr. Ecclestone received his check today,"

[WhiteBlue]

The first news that COTA paid was published 7 hours after I posted my remark. So that was well before the meeting took place. It shows that my general observation was pretty accurate. It just took a bit more time to leak than I thought.

I'm not sad to see my last minute prediction of the outcome overthrown. It was quite unclear how the investors would decide. They will take a huge hit due to Epstein's folly and he will get a lot of egg on his face when the details of the deal will emerge in the future. Estimates range from $20m short term to $80m over the duration of the contract.