Sooo, I can understand the excitement but the near lack of skepticism makes me even more skeptic. :frown2:
Everyone understands this is Formula One and Bernie Ecclestone, right?
Everyone understands that Austin, TX is in the United States, right?
Everyone understands that there has been no land acquistion yet, right?
Everyone understands that the economy probably hasn't hit bottom yet, right?
Some recent permanent circuit price tags...
Sakhir, Bahrain...$150 million US
Istanbul, Turkey...$100 million US
Shanghai, China...$450 million US
and another Texas venue...
Texas, Stadium...$1 billion US
Indianapolis already had the facilities and the seating and needed only to add some infrastructure and part of a circuit at a cost of $50 million to procure F1.
So where's the money to come from? What are the Texas newspapers saying this morning?
That article was staring to get out of hand with quotes from politico's, etc. I was waiting for a quote from the maintenance team lead talking about what a pleasure it has been to work on the trash removal plan for the upcoming track....
Yep, saw that and things become more clear now...no government money just secret investors at this point which makes me think it's those same secret investors that backed USF1 into the toilet.
Are we clear that signatures have actually been inked on an FOM document and if so how many "ifs" are there in that document?
Well, I'm also firmly in the "I'll believe it when I see it" camp, but if they build it..........I will come!
Texas does have a strong economy, and $150 mill is not that much to build a racetrack - Kansas Speedway cost $215 mill when it was built 10 years ago. It has been a boon to the area too, major shopping, hotels and attractions have opened in the area and it is still booming. 10 years later the growth shows no signs of abating either.....the tax ramifications to the local gummint are just now coming onstream since there were healthy deferrements granted when the thing was built, but they promise to be substantial.
There has been an IRL, a Nascar truck, the two major Nascar series - Nationwide and Sprint Cup - and a whole host of lesser series run there every year since it opened, including ARCA, and there's talk that they'll get a second Nascar weekend next year.
Now wouldn't it be cool to see 3400lb sedans racing around an F1 circuit? How about SCCA, IRL, Daytona Prototypes etc? Lot's of racing can be had there, since the weather's pretty good year round. I see it as a do-able deal...but I understand the reference to Indy. I think Indy failed, not because of the track - which I thought was brilliant in that you can see the whole thing from the stands - but because it wasn't an international enough city - not glamorous enough for the wealthy F1 clientele. Cowboys however hold a certain appeal for Europeans, and Austin is a pretty nice city in general.....
Not taking anything away from Indy, but that's the attitude I heard.....
I only brought Indy into the equation because most of the requirements to stage a modern F1 race were already in place with the addition of a $50 million investment. From what I've read about Austin, they're looking at at least $250 million and that's just for the facility and that's an estimate.
You don't hear much about this, but in my opinion Indy failed because Tony George refused to raise ticket prices to the level that the rest of the world including Canada are paying. I paid $85 for a raceday grandstand seat at Indy back in 2002, while the equivalent in Montreal in 2002 was over $200 for a Sunday ticket.
That's the only thing I would ever admit that Tony George did right...twas "for the fans" and not the deep pockets of FOM.
BTW, has anyone even noticed that the 'greatest spectacle in racing' is this Sunday? Indycar popularity is at an all-time low, I'll be anxious to see if they can fill the stands like they used to...which begs the question:
Who's to say that F1 will even survive the next 10 years in it's present state and make this initial investment in Austin a worthy proposition?
I've noticed ... if only for the fact that Danica got booed for trashing her team over the PA system. (Or maybe it was for her crappy driving?) Either way, love it!
See, I didn't know that...5 women! I had to search out the pole day results online on Sunday. I assume that the qualifying was not on ABC, but Versus instead?
I rest my case on the Indy 500, but will try to watch a some of it on ABC on Sunday. :cornut:
