Austin Formula One Grand Prix

[Martin Bulgin]

Why does that section with the hairpin thats between two fast straights remind me of another old F1 track, can't think of what one it is though.

But this looks like a LOVELY track, that little winding zig-zaglike section after the first 2 corners may be my fav bit of the track, will definitly need some skill and courage to go through there at speed, and looking at it, it will vital for overtaking into the hairpin before the back straight. 5/5 star track, looks to be a good replacement for Indianapolis.

Magny Cours ?.....................I like the look of this, especially the elevation changes in the 3d pic, the elevations had me thinking of Sears Point, Infineon, Sonoma or whatever it's called now, I loved driving that track in NR03 but have never seen a version for rfactor.

 

[Scott Webber]

Construction work at the Austin GP site will resume immediately after a deal was reached between the organisers and Bernie Ecclestone

Work on the facility in Texas had been suspended following a contractual dispute. After two weeks of negotiation, full payment of the 2012 hosting fee has been made, co-founder and investor Red McCombs confirmed.

"Mr Ecclestone received his check today for the US GP," said McCombs in a statement on Wednesday. "We want to thank the fans supporting us, the local officials and businesses that have encouraged us, the state of Texas, Circuit of The Americas' staff and Bernie himself."

Bobby Epstein added, "Our investors have believed all along that this project has tremendous benefit for our region, and provides a strong economic engine for the future. We remain committed to reaching our goal of being valuable community partners as we establish a platform for sports and entertainment. We're glad that Tavo's vision of bringing F1 to the people of Texas will become a reality."

source

 

[David Jundt]

Awww, and I thought we were going to do the race Rallycross-style like DC showed us already.

Ah well, at least they continue. Would be quite a failure if you want to build a track to get F1, and then they pull the plug before it happens.

Re-build wise, Donington can tell.

 

[Roger Bertran]

Awww, and I thought we were going to do the race Rallycross-style like DC showed us already.

That would be really funny

 

[Chris Jenkins]

I get the feeling this is going to be a dull race when it eventually happens.

 

[Danny Asbury]

Yes!

I need to get some tickets and go to Texans. Something I thought I'd never consider in my lifetime. lol

 

[Ramon Alonso]

Wow, if things go as planned, 2 GP's in the USA for some time to come. If Canada is always there, and Mr. Slim adds a GP in Mexico, that's 4 in North America. They better get their **** together and start a GP2 series for North America.

 

[F1Ace]

so is the GP in New Jersey going to happend???...hope it does i live right next to the potential track(in a way)

 

[Scott Webber]

The United States Grand Prix circuit under construction in Austin, Texas, is behind schedule, according to an experienced engineer familiar with the construction timetable.

Despite organisers insisting the facility will be completed on time for the November 18th race, the so called 'slack time' in the schedule has all been eaten up, partially because of poor weather, but also because of the financial problems which plagued the organisers in late-2011 which saw the workers leave site for almost a month.
To ensure the circuit meets the FIA's inspection deadline of mid-September, founding partner Bobby Epstein revealed he is ready to throw extra funds at the project.

"It's not so much a matter of whether the circuit will be completed," he told CultureMap. "It will be completed. It's really about how much it will cost if we need to accelerate the construction in order to finish."

The timetable, which has been seen by The F1 Times, reveals just how behind they are. The main grandstand was scheduled for structural completion by January 10th, however work on the structure hasn't even begun on-site.
Meanwhile, the pit and paddock building should have been watertight by January 20th, but the latest images show that this is far from a reality.

William McAdoo, Senior vice-president of Austin Commercial, the general contractor in charge of the tracks completion, admits they will need a long hot summer to ensure things are completed on-time.

"There's very little float [or slack] in the schedule," he confirmed. "We have no time to spare and the weather is factor. We're hoping for a long, hot summer and we’ll be able to accomplish a lot."

McAdoo is confident the construction will meet the FIA's 60-day inspection deadline.
"We will have a significant amount of the items that the FIA needs done by that point in time," he added. "I'm confident we'll be able to give them what they need to commission the track and have the race ready to go.

source

 

[Carlos Luna]

All due to when they stopped construction while the contract to run the race was in limbo. Hopefully they get it done on time!

 

[Alexander Macdonald]

Getting a strange sense of deja vu... don't know why

 

[Hampus Andersson]

This track will be an instant classic i think.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

As long as the Texan's give a damn, it'll be fine.

 

[Kevin Cordice]

I hope they pull it off

 

[johnnymat]

Autoweek says that Tavo Hellmund, the man behind the F1 race at the Circuit of the Americas , has filed a lawsuit against his partners. They have a link to the lawsuit document at the bottom of the page at the Autoweek site. It alleges that he's been frozen out of a lot of the process of making the race a reality.

This can't help as far as actually having an F1 race in Texas.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120305/F1/120309920

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Wasn´t it Hellmund who could not come up with the mandatory fee to Bernie?

I think that was what happened and then another firm took over and now everything is running just fine.
He´s mad because he blew it.

 

[johnnymat]

Wasn´t it Hellmund who could not come up with the mandatory fee to Bernie?

I think that was what happened and then another firm took over and now everything is running just fine.
He´s mad because he blew it.

From reading the lawsuit document, he's alleging that his partners were the ones responsible for failing to come up with the sanctioning fee in a timely manner.
53. Still trusting his partners at their word, Hellmund continued to support the
Company so that he may eventually assign the Fl Contracts and make his dream a reality.
Hellmund leveraged his personal friendship with Ecclestone, the FI head, by asking him to push
the Austin race date to accommodate EpsteinIMcCombs' funding failures and construction
delays. Because of Hellmund, Ecclestone adjusted the worldwide Formula I race schedule and
moved the Austin race from June 2012 to November 2012.

54. Additionally, Hellmund pleaded with Ecclestone to delay terminating the FI
Contracts until the necessary funds could be raised to pay the sanctioning fee and complete
construction by the new race date. Epstein/McCombs repeatedly claimed to have secured the
funding, but refused to provide any documentation verifying this fact to Hellmund or Ecclestone.
,
At Hellmund's request, Ecclestone gave the Company an additional several months to pay the
sanctioning fee and arrange the construction financing.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I have to read the whole lawsuit tomorrow, that is a very low thing to do if true.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Read it now.. Man what a pair of leaches...

 

[Diego Lopez]

I will be heading there...savbing up money to get my chance to blow $8000 to get top tickets. Is only a 3 hour fly to Austin, plus 6th Street is the place to party....would not be surprised if I find Kimmi falling off drunk at the Coyote Ugly