US Grand Prix- Austin (USA)

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Wims

Says the guy from Winston-Salem, NC haha

Do explain to me what exactly is wrong with that.

[BobHWS]

Originally Posted by Matt

Do explain to me what exactly is wrong with that.

I guess he thinks what I said is funny because it's equally true of Winston-Salem, i.e., that no visitor stays here 6-7 days unless they have to. So what. I readily admit that's true.

On the other hand neither I nor anyone in Winston is proposing that we should host an F1 race here and then expect people to stay for a week. I compared Austin (yes, I've been there) to Montreal, a city that is infinitely more interesting than Austin but not so interesting that most F1 fans stay there a week. I stand by my contention that Tavo's statement that most F1 fans would stay in Austin a week is pure fantasy (I can think of less kind words). The fact that I live in Winston-Salem, a city not that different in size and character from Austin, helps me to recognize Tavo's PR hogwash about Austin.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by BobHWS

The F1 track would will become a venue for "large scale festivals and music concerts."

Ridiculous--no road course is really suitable for such a use.

Some circuit owners disagree.

Originally Posted by BobHWS

"Hellmund said Austin was chosen to host Formula One over other cities, including Dallas and Houston, because there would not be a competition with other sports franchises, such as the National Football League."

there is no natural fan base for F1 racing within thousands of miles of any city in Texas

The point is that it should be easier to build a fan base somewhere with no major sports franchises.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

The point is that it should be easier to build a fan base somewhere with no major sports franchises.

I don't see how that computes?

[BobHWS]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Some circuit owners disagree.

That's an interesting exception, but I still don't think it's typical for F1 venues to host big concerts. Austin is a great music town, but it already has a big music festival located in a park close to downtown. Why would they want to move it to a remote venue that has poor access and was designed for a completely different purpose?

It would be better to design an outdoor amphitheater with good access to major highways. Using the proposed F1 track as a concert venue is another one of Tavo's fantasies that he throws out there to bamboozle the public into supporting a track that, in truth, will benefit no one but himself and his buddy Bernie.

[Purist]

Correction, Bernie will be the ONLY one to benefit, as Tavo will be drained dry by the time this is out. Who knows, the failure might cost Tavo more than actually getting the job done, as the legal costs could easily be "murder".

[Wims]

BobHWS, why do you hate Tavo so much? Do you know something about him that I dont?

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by BobHWS

That's an interesting exception, but I still don't think it's typical for F1 venues to host big concerts. Austin is a great music town, but it already has a big music festival located in a park close to downtown. Why would they want to move it to a remote venue that has poor access and was designed for a completely different purpose?

It's not just Rock Am Ring, Donington Park has held music festivals for ages, as has Hockenheim. There also used to be an amphitheater for large concerts at the track in Mexico City, but it was converted in to a baseball stadium.

[BobHWS]

Originally Posted by Wims

BobHWS, why do you hate Tavo so much?

Because he is one of Bernie's stooges.

[BobHWS]

Two more articles this week about the proposed F1 track and still no answers, just the same and more questions:

1. Where will the $200M+ cost come from? Who are the mysterious "investors" behind this project? But don't worry, because Tavo says "money is not an issue."
2. Where will the 140K spectators come from (well, we know 20K are coming from Mexico)? How will they get to the track? The promises made to upgrade the road infrastructure are not credible and realistic.
3. Now we learn that it's not really an F1 track that is being built, but a "speed city" that will make Austin into the ultimate research center of "speed," whatever the heck that means. Sounds like a desperate attempt to garner more financial support from government .

Racing official gives thumbs up to Austin's F1 plans
John Maher
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010

Nick Craw, a top U.S. auto racing official, took a helicopter tour Thursday of the 900-acre U.S. Grand Prix site southeast of Austin a prelude to promoter Tavo Hellmund's project passing muster with the Formula One sanctioning body early next year...

...Preliminary construction is slated to begin in December on Austin's 3.4-mile circuit and a venue capable of holding 140,000 fans. Wahl once again said that he is not worried about meeting deadlines or laying a track on the clay soils of eastern Travis County.


F1 Austin promoter talks about project's history, businesses getting involved
Austin Business Journal - by Jacob Dirr
Friday, October 22, 2010

Formula One promoter Tavo Hellmund, in a rare speech earlier this month, talked about the potential for new business development and a desire to partner with the University of Texas on research.

Since announcing a $180 million track to be built on 350 acres earlier this year, Hellmund has said that the master plan is to create a research and office park — on 550 additional acres his team has bought — that will overshadow the race.

Officials have not announced specifics of development outside the track, such as whether it will be financed by debt or cash.

In a recent television interview with Fox Business, Red McCombs — the billionaire sport investor bankrolling the Austin track — said his employees have nicknamed the development Speed City.

It will focus on “the speed of everything, including the human body,” McCombs said. “It will be a 365-day program, with Formula One being our headliner, but we will do a lot more than Formula One.”

[BobHWS]

It's worth downloading the document referred to in this story. It is classic PR BS designed to persuade government officials to hand over public funds to support a private business venture. The argument is always the same, i.e., that the venture will have an "economic impact" far greater than the public money expended. But the claimed benefits, as in the case of Tavo's Folly, are always wildly exagerrated and totally unsubstantiated. My advice to Austin and Texas officials is: DON'T DRINK THE KOOL-AID.

‘Confidential’ F1 records at City Hall
Austin Business Journal - by Jacob Dirr
Date: Monday, November 1, 2010

Sometime after the May 25 Formula One Austin announcement, the folks at the Austin American-Statesman did a public records request for a F1 document marked “confidential” at city hall.

According to the Statesman: “The documents had originally been deemed off-limits to public view by city officials...

The Texas Attorney General’s office disagreed and ordered the city to hand it over...

Today, in the spirit of government transparency, I’d like to bring you those documents in high definition color...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by BobHWS

It's worth downloading the document referred to in this story. It is classic PR BS designed to persuade government officials to hand over public funds to support a private business venture. The argument is always the same, i.e., that the venture will have an "economic impact" far greater than the public money expended. But the claimed benefits, as in the case of Tavo's Folly, are always wildly exagerrated and totally unsubstantiated. My advice to Austin and Texas officials is: DON'T DRINK THE KOOL-AID.

‘Confidential’ F1 records at City Hall
Austin Business Journal - by Jacob Dirr
Date: Monday, November 1, 2010

Sometime after the May 25 Formula One Austin announcement, the folks at the Austin American-Statesman did a public records request for a F1 document marked “confidential” at city hall.

According to the Statesman: “The documents had originally been deemed off-limits to public view by city officials...

The Texas Attorney General’s office disagreed and ordered the city to hand it over...

Today, in the spirit of government transparency, I’d like to bring you those documents in high definition color...

Thanks for that. I've downloaded it and will give it a good read.

[BobHWS]

The document referenced above is so full of BS, half-truths, propaganda and completely unsubstantiated "facts" that it reads like a hastily thrown together report authored by a real estate huckster trying to sell worthless, alligator infested Florida swampland to little old retired ladies from New York. Here are some of the gems from Tavo and his fellow hucksters:

F-1...attracts the rich and famous as “must attend events”

You mean like Ozzie Osborne? I saw him on the track in Montreal several years ago where he was introduced to the crowd before the race and, like the drunken old fool that he is, he staggered around seemingly clueless about where he was.

Many of the worlds most recognized corporations spend billions annually in F-1.

Many? Several is more like the truth and some of them are looking for the exit when their current sponsorship deals run out. The only growth in F1 sponsors is coming from governments blackmailed by Bernie.

"The demand for hosting a Formula-1 Grand Prix is extremely high, with many countries remaining on the waiting list for decades."

Decades? Ludicrous.

[Austin is] Vastly different geographically and culturally from any other city in Texas.

Translation: We're not like those hicks from Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. There's an element of truth in this claim, but it's not exactly a great strategy to state this if you want to attract fans from those cities.

State Government financial commitment in place for 10 years towards the sanction fee for the F-1 United States Grand Prix.

This might be the one completely truthful statement in the document. But what do the citizens of Texas really think about this? A statewide vote on using state funds to pay Bernie might be interesting.

Lead investors being identified for construction of facility.

"Being identified?" So you haven't actually found any yet?

300 Million dollar economic impact annually to hosting territory.

Nobody really knows what "economic impact" means but it sounds good.

1.0 Billion adults, 15% of the world population are Formula-1 fans

Also sounds good. Texans like big things, including big numbers.

Formula-1 fans spend more time following Formula-1 on TV, print, radio and the internet than other sports fans.

Yeah, right.

Jobs Associated with Facility – 40

So the state is going to spend tens of millions of dollars to create 40 permanent jobs? Not a good idea.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Originally Posted by BobHWS

1.0 Billion adults, 15% of the world population are Formula-1 fans

Formula-1 fans spend more time following Formula-1 on TV, print, radio and the internet than other sports fans.

Jobs Associated with Facility – 40

My three favorites right there.

1,000,000,000 adults? I suppose that explains why the highest-viewed F1 race had 80,000,000 worldwide viewers. I guess the other 920,000,000 recorded it.

I'd certainly expect F1 fans to spend more time following F1 than other sports fans would spend following F1. Because, based on the wording of that sentence, that's what they're trying to say.

40?! Gahahah. I have nothing to even say to that.

[BobHWS]

Strangely, the Austin Business Journal article about the "confidential records " outlining plans for the Austin F1 track has disappeared from the newspaper's Web site. (I wonder why?) However, here's a link to another article about the document cited above. And the link to the document itself still works.

Formula 1 confidential records released
Document: Could create 1,500+ construction jobs
Monday, 01 Nov 2010
Josh Hinkle

AUSTIN (KXAN) - In an unexpected move, the City of Austin finally released an e-mail containing specific plans from Tavo Hellmund, the man behind bringing the F1 Grand Prix racing series to Central Texas. The document, obtained through a public information request by the "Austin Business Journal" and posted online, lists the anticipated track construction time as 24 months...

[Tall Chris]

Seems that they're not that confident of finishing early

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/87892

[BobHWS]

Even if Tavo manages to find $180M to build his track and hold a race in 2012, I don't see any way that they can upgrade the road and transportation infrastructure in that area to handle the crowds that they predict and expect to attend the race. I predict that the roads leading to Tavo's Folly will look like this in June 2012.

[Spritle]

As I said before, I would have been 1st in line to buy tickets for the first race until the traffic studies came out. For that reason I think I'll watch from afar the first few races and see how things go.

If they get it sorted out and I can expect to get to and from the track as easily as I did at Indy, I'm in. If not, I'll be staying home.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Remember Richard Suttle, the man in that embarrassing video?

He's back.

In fact, the development plan is right on schedule and, with the help from the city and county, we've been able to not only stay on track but may even be ahead of schedule.

Ahead of schedule, eh? I guess they planned to have negative development done because right now they're at zero!

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/2...e-green-light/

[BobHWS]

A classic case of the blind leading the blind:

Grand prix representative is no dummy
By American-Statesman staff | Friday, November 5, 2010

If you click on the photo at right, you’ll see that the book tucked under the arm of attorney Richard Suttle is “Formula One Racing for Dummies.” Suttle represents the promoters of the proposed Austin Grand Prix Formula One race.

He had the book with him Wednesday night when he addressed the city Environmental Board. While explaining some F1 basics to board members, Suttle said that he was still learning about the sport and then held up the book.

[ECW Dan Selby]

One word:

Worrying.

Selby

[djb]

or three---Snake Oil Salemen in Suits (ok, five)

[bjohnsonsmith]

Richard Suttle obviously hasn't a clue about motor sports, period.

[BobHWS]

Here's more evidence that drinking F1 Kool Aid is harmful.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix offers glitzy glimpse of things to come in Austin
By Angela Shah
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Sunday, Nov. 14, 2010

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES —

...In just a few years, Abu Dhabi's leaders carved up an uninhabited desert isle, transforming it into a Formula One marina to rival Monaco...




Though vastly different cities, Austin and Abu Dhabi share a similar opportunity in hosting a F1 Grand Prix race: the chance to market their communities internationally in a way that few other events can do.



"I think it could, for businesses looking to relocate or set up offices in the U.S., advertise Austin as a city that they ought to be considering as a place to have a base."

Austin and the state of Texas are already good places to do business. They don't need to pay millions to Bernie and F1 to prove that.

"It's a fantastic atmosphere there," he said. "Famous race car drivers, Richard Branson walking through with actors and models."




..Sinders...owns Khaleji Motorsport, and his personal collection of cars includes a Ferrari 997 GT3.



"People didn't have a view of Abu Dhabi at all, and all of a sudden the F1 gives it a chance to put forth in a controlled fashion its view to the world: This is Abu Dhabi," Sinders said.

Sorry, I still think of Abu Dhabi as a desert wasteland with an F1 track. Wait a second, that could also describe the countryside around Austin in summertime.

...while laid-back Austin has seen its share of music and film celebrities, Strong said, the Formula 1 events draw an entirely different set of international jet-setters, playboys and princes alike.

Maybe Abu Dhabi and Austin really do have something in common. If so, I think it's a severe case of "wannabe syndrome."

[BobHWS]

This article reveals how the US GP organizers plan to use public and quasi-public money to pay Bernie's extortionate rights fee of $29 M. It seems clear that Austin got the GP because it is one of the few places in the U.S. that would and could cut a deal like this. Apart from Tavo and his close associates, I doubt that anyone in Austin realizes how Bernie operates. But one day, when Bernie takes away the Austin GP to give it to some oil-rich kleptocracy like Venezuala, people may realize what happened to them.

City, county to discuss incentives for Formula One Austin
Austin Business Journal - by Jacob Dirr
Monday, November 22, 2010

Austin officials plan to further discuss the possibility of providing $40 million in economic incentives — $4 million annually for 10 years — for a Formula One development, City Council Member Laura Morrison said Thursday...

On Friday, a spokeswoman for the $250 million racing complex development said Travis County will also discuss possibly participating in the Texas Major Events Trust Fund program.

Through that program, the state has offered incentives of $25 million per year during the next decade, provided a local government contributes a match of $1 per $6.25 in state money, said Robert Wood, director of local government assistance and economic development for the comptroller’s office.

Such incentive money could go toward paying the annual sanction fee charged by the worldwide management organization for Formula One racing. The average sanction fee in 2009 was $28 million, according to documents provided by the city...