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From what I've heard:
- bought by Dietrich Mateschitz
- got governmental support
- the reconstruction began, pit area, paddock ruined
- lost governmental support b'cos of the green movements row or sumfin...
- reconstruction stopped
- dead...
Is this all true? Can you give me more details on this? That was a nice track, IMO
Thanx for the info.
Last edited by modbaraban on 06 Jun 2009, 03:01, edited 3 times in total.
Don't have sources on the top of my head but I think you nailed it.
From wikipedia:
"The grandstands and pit buildings were demolished in 2004, rendering the track unusable for any motorsport category. In later 2004 and early 2005, there were intense discussions whether the owner, Red Bull, would find another use for the site or actually bring back motor sports to it. However, as of January 2005, this seems more unlikely than ever, as Dietrich Mateschitz publicly announced that he had no intention to waste money on a deficitary circuit. This failure of the project, which was of considerable importance for the surrounding municipalities, may even have serious political repercussions, as Styrian governor Waltraud Klasnic had strongly supported the project.
In 2006, racing driver Alex Wurz claimed he would buy the circuit and have it renovated, but little has come about this.
During the whole of 2005 there were speculations of Red Bull Racing renovating the track and using it as a personal testing track in Formula One. It remains to be seen if Mateschitz and his Red Bull Racing will do something about the abandoned track."
Quite a shame as it was one of my favorites.
Bring back wider rear wings, V10s, and tobacco advertisements
In terms of F1 and A1 ring, you could forget it long time ago.
F1 is being sold in other countries... no more French GP... it's eaither Hungaroring, Silverstone or even Monza that goes next... just watch.
sooner or later... only rich people will go to grand prix because they will be able afford plane tickets to other continets, new 5 star hotels, extra expensive tickets...
The trouble with the rat-race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.
Hamilton alone won't save the British GP, if Silverstone can't cough up Bernie's increasingly high fee's it will be axed either way. There's some redevelopment in the pipeline, trying to add infrastucture to the area in order to raise funds, and also rumours of Government backing (for once) but we'll have to wait and see if any of this comes into Fruition.
Silence is golden when you don't know a good answer.
Because...
- Coulthard and Button can't save it either.
- Alonso was the first and only Spanish driver.
- The Spanish infrastructure is 50 times better (and that's about all that matters to Bernie when it comes to circuits).
- Well I'm not going to say this last one out loud to prevent flaming
Murphy's 9th Law of Technology:
Tell a man there are 300 million stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure.
Yeah..the Osterreichring was one of my fav ever too, loved its straights and the 2 hairpins, i even did a lap of it in 1:08:014sec in F1 challenge '99-'02, my best ever. Sad i have nt seen a 'live' race in it yet, only replays. Circuit De Nevers is beautifully laid out, but has lesser o.t. opportunities in it, and i can think only of the Adelaide hairpin for o.t. But if they remove Autodromo Nazionale, Monza, that d be a sad day for F1
“Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary...that’s what gets you.” - JC
It's a shame, I liked the circuit too!
I can understand F1 not coming back to the circuit but to have it abandoned to all types of racing is a shame. There are so many other strong series around: LMES, FIA GT and the large success of various one-off historic events around Europe mean any circuit has potential with good promotion behind it.
Posted by nicktrott at 5:19 pm on Wednesday September 24, 2008
Not content with owning two Grand Prix teams and one of the biggest drinks empires in the world, Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz is to build an F1-standard dream circuit in Austria. Well, it’s what we’d do if we had a spare 70million Euros doing nothing in our bank accounts…
The circuit has been given the go-ahead by the Styrian government despite a number of environmental protests. The new circuit will merge the A1-Ring and part of the legendary Osterreichring track. The A-1 Ring held seven Grands Prix between 1997 and 2003.
According to Autosport, the new circuit will be called Spielberg New and is expected to open in the Spring of 2010. Sadly, the Mateschitz has stated that he won’t be bringing Formula One to the new venue - which means the glorious new track will be used for F1 testing and, we presume, some epic track days.
hosting F1 races these days is a sucker business. sinking several hundred millions of his €€s anyway into F1 I understand Didi's reluctance to open up that can of worms.
nevertheless he had some unfinished business with the A1 ring which appeals to the national pride. his proud plan to put down the best technical, sporting and business facility in F1 smack in the middle of the Austrian Alps and dupe the Germans backfired.
Some bloody environmentalists put the spanner into his works 5 years ago and he got tired of it. if you can't be the greatest it's not worthwhile to continue the race. at least that was the philosophy then. so better dammn the torpedo's and let it all go to hell.
the locals kept nagging that things were promised and big splotches of egg were on Didi's face. so he eventually had his minions sort out a face saving plan. don't expect anything dramatic. it just a small scale effort to salvage something from the wreck without braking the bank.
Formula One's fundamental ethos is about success coming to those with the most ingenious engineering and best ..............................organization, not to those with the biggest budget. (Dave Richards)
This may be a little bit off topic but is Melbourne officially canned after 2010 because Bernie wanted it under lights and the Australians didn't want it?
I would hate to lose the Australian one but then again, I would also be happy because currently the Australian GP is on the government anti-siphoning list which means no PayTV company can buy the rights to Formula 1 as they don't sell individual races, they only do the whole season and the current FTA (free to air) channel always delays the races and treats F1 like ---. It's always delayed by hours and if there was no Australian GP then we could potentially have it on PayTV which will treat it better.
I mean. The stands are to be packed next weekend.
