Austin's Formula One race track will be fast, have a signature start, pay homage to some of the world's best Grand Prix circuits and offer plenty of good sight lines for fans, according to race promoter Tavo Hellmund. "It should be nice," Hellmund said Tuesday as he looked at plans for the track. "I think drivers and fans should really like it." Since May, when the race was announced, fans have been eager to see drawings of the track. Hellmund, head of Full Throttle Productions, unveiled the track layout Tuesday in a meeting with the American-Statesman. The 3.4-mile track has 20 turns, a maximum elevation change of 133 feet, a back straightaway that is three-quarters of a mile long and a width that will vary between 39 and 52 feet. Hellmund said the F1 cars should be able to reach a top speed of 200 mph on the track. He also estimated the cars might be roaring by the grandstand at 180 mph on their way to a tight, uphill corner at Turn 1, one of the highest points on the track. Hellmund said Turn 1 could be the circuit's signature corner and that it would also be one of the four designed spots to give drivers their best chance for passing, or overtaking as it's called in F1. "Everybody will pull out and probably go three-wide into that braking turn," Hellmund said. Unlike some NASCAR races, there's typically not much passing in an F1 Grand Prix. Some F1 fans blame that situation on Tilke GmbH, the German engineering firm that has designed most of the sport's modern circuits and is also overseeing the U.S. Grand Prix project. Hellmund said the cars themselves are more to blame for the single-file racing than the engineers. "They're so on the ragged edge that it's hard to pass," Hellmund said. He said the best way to create such opportunities is with a good straightaway that leads to a turn with more than a 45-degree angle. Hellmund said that's the plan for turns 11, 12 and 20. In addition, turns 3, 4, 5 and 6 and will be a nod to the Maggots/Becketts section at Silverstone in England, and turns 12, 13, 14 and 15 will have the feel of the Hockenheimring in Germany. There's also a shout-out to Istanbul Turn 8 in turns 16, 17 and 18. "It will be similar to one gigantic turn," Hellmund said of that sequence. Hellmund said fans should be able to see plenty of action from most of the turns and straightaways. "They will all offer good viewing because of the (changes in) elevation," he said. The U.S. Grand Prix circuit is slated to be built on a 900-acre tract southeast of Austin and could hold 130,000 to 140,000 fans. Austin's first U.S. Grand Prix is slated for 2012. December has been mentioned as a possible starting date for construction. "I don't want to put a date on it. Everybody is hustling and bustling," said Hellmund, who said construction would begin as quickly as possible. Statesman
Interesting. Anyone get a tingle from that 4000' long back straight over a crest, ending in a double-hairpin? And how about that uphill turn 1? I guess my biggest reaction is relief to see that many of the "20 turns" are nice little sweepers! If this manages to end up in some decent surroundings, this could be a great track. I'n no fan of Tilke, but at least this design looks promising... _Dave_
Texas officials question U.S. Grand Prix logistics Most race fans expect to sit in traffic a bit while getting into and out of their favorite race venue--two or three hours is almost normal--but wait times at the proposed Austin Formula One venue in 2011 are expected to be an astounding 12 hours. “It was like, hello, that [12 hours] cannot happen,” Joe Gieselman, manager of Travis County’s Transportation and Natural Resources Department, told the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. Gieselman and planners penned their estimate after a visit to Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth, where getting in and out of that facility takes “only” three hours. The figure highlights some of the many details still to be worked out at the proposed Austin track. According to the newspaper, the 12-hour figure emerged during a county commissioner’s court meeting during which Richard Suttle Jr., the attorney for race promoter Tavo Hellmund’s Full Throttle Productions, was peppered with questions. Gieselman said the county’s delay-time estimate, as well as other pointed queries about who would pay for road improvements and how many jobs the project might create, served to highlight the county’s frustration over the paperwork submitted by Full Throttle--which is thus far so sketchy as to make planners’ jobs nearly impossible, he said. We’re still trying to imagine 12 hours idling in the Texas sun. As one guy we know from Austin said, “There’s not a lot of roads out that way. Given the current situation and time frame, this will be like evacuating Houston for a hurricane.” Read more: Formula One: Texas officials question U.S. Grand Prix logistics
Lets just say that when Ike hit back in 2008 and Houston had mandatory evacuations there were reports that the trip to Dallas, normally about 5 hours was taking in excess of 30 hours. That was even after they closed the southbound interstates and diverted northbound traffic into those lanes as well. There are about 5.7 million residents in the Greater Houston area.
Certainly the infrastructure issues MUST be highlighted and remedied. So, with today's roads..........yeah it will be brutal getting in and out.
So when are you building that heli-port that we can all use to get to/from the track back to your place where we are all staying?
The problem is that I do not live close enough to the track. So, even with the heli-port in place I am still ~18 mi. away. So, that could still be many hours of idling in the car with today's infrastructure.
12 hours in slow and go traffic? I'd kill myself.............or someone else! I'm taking a motorhome, then I can leave the next day once things have cleared up a bit....having had a nice night's sleep in air conditioned comfort. :idea: