Decided to stop threadjacking Scott's post on this subject. Anyway, apparently the land has been decided on and unfortunately they've hired Tilke GmbH to design the track. I wonder if this will be enough to get Disney to move on their Texas project.[nb]Not a theme park, but rather a new DVC/hotel facility[/nb] ; I think every hotel within 30-50 miles will be booked for race week. ; We already approach that with SXSW.
Should be interesting to say the least. ; Are they building a road course or an oval? ; I would guess the prior. ;
Tilke must have an exclusive contract with Bernie. ; I'll have to admit that his design for Turkey wasn't half bad. Have they announced the location of the land? ; Is it topographically interesting or just flat and boring? ; I'd rather see something like Elkhart Lake or Sears Point than the featureless plain in Utah.
I'd say that it's going to be flat boring farmland.... http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=austin,+tx&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Austin,+Travis,+Texas&ll=30.202707,-97.609406&spn=0.404721,0.606308&t=h&z=11 This morning they said it's going to be along the 130 Corridor. ; Options are at the 130/290 interchange; 130/71 interchange near the airport, or closer to 130/183.
Yeah, the Tilke/Bernie things sounds a lot like the FIA/Cosworth thing last year. It may not be written down anywhere, but if you want to play ball, you have to go with their "recommendations". Erich
They could make the land somewhat interesting by moving it around and creating hills and valleys, but I guess it all depends on what they are looking for.
An interview with Hellmund was posted today: http://www.statesman.com/news/local/formula-one-promoter-promises-austin-track-will-be-715886.html?srcTrk=RTR_504016&viewAsSinglePage=true He says the investors are already lined up so basically they can begin immediately.
I have been watching the coverage on Speed all weekend, and it seems that Tavo Hellmund (the man behind the Austin project) has known Bernie Ecclestone for many years. ; It also sounds like he wants to have a lot of influence on the track design, so he's not stuck with a typical, boring Tilke creation. The next big question will be when they fit it into the schedule. ; A lot of people suggest piggybacking on the Canadian race, but Austin in June doesn't sound too appealing. ; I hope they make it a stop to or from the Asian races either at the beginning or end of the season. What do you think?
The best time would be late Spring or mid Fall. ; Yeah June wouldn't be ideal, but early Spring wouldn't be either. I think they will piggyback, at least for the first year.
Re: F1 in the U.S. chose Austin after Jersey backed out http://www.statesman.com/news/local/formula-one-boss-chose-austin-after-new-jersey-771563.html
They apparently have released the location: http://www.statesman.com/business/future-f1-site-revealed-825045.html I think the paper sniffed it out a few weeks ago; but it should be a good area - flat, and there is a creek that runs through it....
It is an option, but the roads leading to it wouldn't be an option! Austin has hills on the west, plains on the east.
I really hope they come up with an interesting track. As for timing, I'm sure they will put it alongside the Canadian race. But I doubt it'll be spring or fall, because of the Canadian weather. I remember sitting at Indy for a later in the year f1 race, and it was so cold they ran out of coffee, and it hailed on the starting grid! They'll just deal with the summer Texas heat, after all, they do for the far east races, both in the desert and in the humidity. Erich
One factor in scheduling those first Indy races was that they weren't sure how long it would take to convert the track from oval to road course configuration. ; After a few years, they were easily able to do it in a few weeks, allowing the change from September to June. And yeah, the weather always stunk for those fall races. ; At least there was no hurricane like the one that hit for the 2008 MotoGP race!
Tilke's almost ready to build, and they're really confident that it can be done on time. http://www.statesman.com/sports/formula1/f1-course-designer-tilke-ready-to-start-work-846462.html I think the design of the track will be released soon - the newspaper got to see the preliminary rendition that was provided to the city (under TX's FOIA), but they didn't want to publish it because it's 'copyrighted'. ; (Personally I think they were going to, and Full Throttle asked them not to, because it wasn't final, and they were promised first dibs on the final rendition when it's ready......)
The paper is reporting that the track design should be made public soon - right around the time they submit the plans to the local government. ; Once they do, I'll post the link!
F1 track layout released http://www.statesman.com/sports/formula1/promoter-unveils-f1-track-layout-890582.html Looks like that they've made room for lots of viewing places around the track. ; Heck they even have RV parking off one of the sides.
Looks like an interesting layout. ; Let's hope they provide plenty of unobstructed views for photos. My complaint about Indy for F1 was that every year there were fewer holes on the catch fence to shoot through. ; Fortunately, they've opened many of those back up for MotoGP.
