Even then I'd wait for the pavement to be down & ready before counting on it.

 

God im so pumped! I love F1

 

Did anyone catch the GP in Turkey this weekend? I thought it was a pretty good race, right up to the point Vettel wrecked his teammate...

 

No one gave a damn when the tree huggers in Austin got the 2008 AMA SuperMoto Race cancelled. This time money talks!
http://www.sanantonioriders.net/view...ht=austin+race

 

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20100521/F1/305219998

 

Without seeing the plans I cant say for sure but being operational by 2012 is going to be very difficult. I work for the biggest testing lab in Austin, if these plans were out for bid we would have had them come across my desk. So either its not going to happen in their time frame or it hasnt been put up for bid for the inspection companies. Judging by what Ive seen from other F1 tracks that is easily a 2 year project unless they dump MASSIVE amounts of money for a 24 hour schedule.

I wouldnt put too much thought into this really happening in 2012, Ill check with some of the other PMs at my company and see if theyve bid it or not, but Im 99% sure if it was out for bid I wouldve heard about it.

 

update: http://formula-one.speedtv.com/artic...ek-to-save-gp/

basically:
A) This is only referencing the 2012 Austin F1 Race

B) V8 Supercar, MotoGP, The facility itself are not the topic here

C) This Tivo Hellmund guy that is getting nixed from the equation was the whole problem in the first place.

F1 2013 seems to be a certainty as well as all the other things reguarding Curcuit of the Americas.

 

It was Tavo's project (Full Throttle Productions) to start with. He lined up the State of Texas to kick in $25M. Texas got cold feet and said they would pay after the race was held. Tavo doesn't have $25M to give to Bernie, and there is your issue.

Red McCombs and other came onboard as the big money guys (COTA), but the problem was Tavo (FTP) still had exclusive rights with F1.

So, my understanding from what I have read is basically Bernie will take the $25M from FTM, if he does a new contract with COTA he wants " long-term financial security". Bernie has even said that COTA says it will cover the sanctioning fee ($25M) for the 2012 race.

So, basically if you keep Tavo in the picture and keep the original contract everything stays as is. If you push Tavo out and negotiate your own contract Bernie wants a LOT more money....

 

Yeah, its a big cluster-f for sure. We've got 3 guys out there full time that have been yo-yo'ing back and forth because of all this political BS. The jist of it is, they thought they were going to get the first 25M payment while construction was being done but the city of Austin is saying they get it after the first race. This money is suppose to be coming from a state fund for big events like the super bowl and the NCAA basketball tournament etc. The money is there, its just a big pissing match over when exactly they were suppose to get their first draw out of that account.

If this doesnt go through its going to be REAL ugly for the circuit of americas as there are a lot of contractors out some big bucks and lots of bills to be paid. There will be lawsuits for sure if something doesnt go through and this track is not built.

 

Fugro?

 

I think Tavo was in over his head and Bernie doesn't have a rep as being easy to deal with. I think once Bernie's buddy Tavo was pushed out Bernie got pissed and wanted commitments he knew he wouldn't get. At that point he can blame the investors instead of cancelling it himself.

F1 looks dead at this point but I really wanted a world-class track 10mi from me. Probably would have watched the F1 race on tv anyways. I would be happy if it was just a track with a parking lot + a few trailers.

 

Terracon, we had close to the same staff as them before the economy tanked but we've got atleast double their staff now.

 

Bernie said is that COTA sent F1 (him) a contract and and he told them they weren't in a position to negotiate with him. So, he sent one back, and that is wher it is stuck. By finacial security I would suspect he wants several years of licensing fees in Escrow. An assumption would be for the 10 year commitment of the contract @ $25M/year = $250M of COTA money tied up in the bank. So, I'm guess everyone is trying to figure out how much money they are willing to give Bernie. Bernie in a interview said he trusts Tavo, and he doesn't trust his partners. So I guess we'll see who blinks....

 

one other thing. No Tavo = no moto GP from what I understand

 

Bernie Eccelstone= Napoleonic ****