COTA Austin - construction and infrastructure

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What do you think of the prospect of a USGP 2012 at Austin Texas

Good thinking. Place has good infra structure and nice climate in winter.
126
47%
Not good as it has no motor sport tradition in the US.
23
9%
I will wait to see how it will shape up.
97
36%
I don't care.
23
9%
 
Total votes: 269

Pup
Pup
50
Joined: 08 May 2008, 17:45

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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All the sour grapes you can eat.

xpensive
xpensive
214
Joined: 22 Nov 2008, 18:06
Location: Somewhere in Scandinavia

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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Pup wrote:All the sour grapes you can eat.
I was thinking plenty of humble pie, nomex and Colt45?
"I spent most of my money on wine and women...I wasted the rest"

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Ray
2
Joined: 22 Nov 2006, 06:33
Location: Atlanta

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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thearmofbarlow wrote:The Super Bowl is the event. It moves around from place to place. F1 is the event. It moves around from place to place. F1 has existed for over fifty years. The venue does not matter. The idea that a circuit somehow needs history is utterly laughable. Hungaroring has history. Doesn't make it any more interesting.
Formula 1 racing in the US needs all the help it can get. There isn't anywhere near the historical value in the US as there is in Europe for this series. Not knowing how expensive the tickets will be, how badly the hotels are going to jack up rates, and the very possibility that the race track my not be done on time is very bad for F1 here in the States. History is very important, we don't have any. We've had races here, but there is no real following here and CoTA isn't doing themselves any favors with thos ticket prices (or lack thereof) and hotels asking ridiculous rates for rooms has priced me straight out of even attending one day. I'd have to travel all the way to Austin from Atlanta and I can't possibly afford to drop 2 grand getting there and back for one days worth of racing. And the race isn't all that long anyway. I guess I'll just have to miss out on the possible last time Formula 1 comes to the US. We aren't Europe, we don't have tracks like this all over the place and I'm guessing the amount of people willing to travel and get ripped off royally for a place to stay is going to be very small. Formula 1 probably won't be back in the US two years from now. Most people just can't afford it and Bernie asks way too much money to have a race. I wish that bastard would leave Formula 1. The only thing he's done with F1 is make himself more money than is realistically spendable while squeezing out fans that aren't billionaires.

Nando
Nando
2
Joined: 10 Mar 2012, 02:30

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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I wish we would see F1 on Watkins Glen again, it´s a nice track especially the esses which are absolutely ridiculous (in a good way)
"Il Phenomeno" - The one they fear the most!

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strad
117
Joined: 02 Jan 2010, 01:57

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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Nando wrote:I wish we would see F1 on Watkins Glen again, it´s a nice track especially the esses which are absolutely ridiculous (in a good way)
And it was cheap and a great party,,both in the mud bog and for the racers who really enjoyed the more relaxed atmosphere.
It is correct that Bernie and this Super Star Circus he's created that has driven up the price for us and for the teams.
To achieve anything, you must be prepared to dabble on the boundary of disaster.”
Sir Stirling Moss

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outer_bongolia
5
Joined: 13 Feb 2009, 19:17

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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I have been seeing a few postings about how expensive ATX will be during the GP weekend: travel, accommodation, and entertainment-wise. I have a few hints:

Traviel: As far as flights go, if it is expensive to fly into Austin, just fly to San Antonio and rent your car there. It is only an hour's drive. Dallas and Houston are both ~4 hours of drive, but if the price is worth, go for it.

Accommodation: As an Austinite of 16 years (yip, that's what we call ourselves), I suggest avoiding hotels. Look at http://airbnb.com or http://istopover.com for regular folks renting out their houses for the weekend. If the prices remain comparable to SXSW (South by Southwest - one of the biggest music-software-film festivals in the world), you could get a 2 bedroom house for about $100-$150 a night. Both sites verify the owners and renters in great detail. Avoid craigslist, because there are too many scammers there.
Also, bed and breakfasts are way more affordable than big name hotels, check out http://bedandbreakfast.com for availabilities.
If you really want to stay at a hotel, check smaller local places: Austin Motel (pretty much every single famous musician of the last 30 years has spent a night there), San Jose (boutique, but way cheaper than W),

Food and bar: Not every restaurant will jack up their prices. In Austin there are too many good restaurants and bars that will not care about what festival is around any given weekend. Check out the http://do512.com (512 is Austin's area code), http://austinchronicle.com, and also http://yelp.com

Austin Chronicle ([url]http://austinchronicle.com)[/url] is a free publication that details anything that's going on in ATX) is a very good resource on what to eat (http://www.austinchronicle.com/Awards/RestaurantPoll) and bars, etc.
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Carl Sagan

Pup
Pup
50
Joined: 08 May 2008, 17:45

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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Thanks - that's some great info.

bhall
bhall
244
Joined: 28 Feb 2006, 21:26

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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I just noticed that there's a Texas Longhorns home game that weekend, too. That adds about 100,000 people to the Austin soiree.

hairy_scotsman
hairy_scotsman
15
Joined: 13 Nov 2010, 22:47

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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bhallg2k wrote:I just noticed that there's a Texas Longhorns home game that weekend, too. That adds about 100,000 people to the Austin soiree.
Nope.

11/10/12 vs. Iowa State * Austin, Texas TBA
11/18/12 USGP
11/24/12 vs. TCU * Austin, Texas TBA

http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/ ... sched.html

That would be a nightmare.
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bhall
bhall
244
Joined: 28 Feb 2006, 21:26

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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Oops. My mistake.

hairy_scotsman
hairy_scotsman
15
Joined: 13 Nov 2010, 22:47

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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Got out to the Austin Auto Show today with the boys. Got a couple of photos, including the COTA display and the Ferrari display with Schumi's gorgeous Ferrari F2001. Ferrari's display won "Best in Show".

ETA: The Show said that's the F2001, but is it maybe the F1-2000?

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Last edited by hairy_scotsman on 21 May 2012, 19:14, edited 2 times in total.
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raymondu999
54
Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 07:31

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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Great stuff. Which Williams was that? Looks like an old car bastardised to look like a 2012 car
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hairy_scotsman
hairy_scotsman
15
Joined: 13 Nov 2010, 22:47

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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I also took about 30 photos today out at the site.

The backside of the site was very busy, with lots of dirt work going on. The front side was completely idle.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/edit ... 087614878/

As usual, here are a few samples:

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New sealant application to Turn 1:
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The end of Kellam Road:
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Turn 11 Berm:
Image
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ecapox
8
Joined: 14 May 2010, 21:06

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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Like has been stated millions of times already, Turn 1 looks like it is going to be amazing.

Also, that Turn 11 berm. That berm is just the outside of the turn or is the turn actually banked like an oval? That seems very steep banking. And if it isnt banking, where is teh run off area for hat turn? Turn 11 has got me cornfused.

Oh, and GO CYCLONES!

hairy_scotsman
hairy_scotsman
15
Joined: 13 Nov 2010, 22:47

Re: 2012 US GP to be held in Austin

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ecapox wrote:Like has been stated millions of times already, Turn 1 looks like it is going to be amazing.

Also, that Turn 11 berm. That berm is just the outside of the turn or is the turn actually banked like an oval? That seems very steep banking. And if it isnt banking, where is teh run off area for hat turn? Turn 11 has got me cornfused.

Oh, and GO CYCLONES!
The berm is for seating. It's not banked. You can see the runoff there in the photo (the darker dirt & a portion of the lighter dirt as well, I believe, as part of the runoff will likely be paved). Here's a wider look that will give you a better idea of the layout.

Image
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