grantwoodtx

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin...0/9/11198.html
http://www.formula1unitedstates.com/

tgoss

Thank you! Should try to get a meet together down there when the big boys come to play!

Jakpro1

Hope they do better than Indy.

I was in Indy during F1 and I couldn't PAY a guy to go with me.

"What the hell is F1 dude?" (in a slight Kentucky accent)

"That those European guys? No thanks bro"

Plus they were confused over the Euro fans. I LOVED IT. The Italians would be running up and down the street with Ferrari flags. It was awesome.

Guess it went the way of soccer in ole Indy.

Good luck Austin!

Karlson

still don't like an idea to have a race in Austin, but oh well. Montreal is not far away from me..

shardul

iTrader: (1)

wow look like there are a lot of elevation changes!

HeissRod

Can't wait. Only 2 hours away for me.

jrcart

Miss Texas must have blown Bernie...what a joke, looks like a great track but come on, austin, TX? I know when I think of iconic Americana the first thing I think is Austin friggin Texas. This is gonna flop even quicker than Indy. This is America, we have lots of famous iconic cities, a street course in Hollywood, Vegas or NYC would have been right up there with a Monaco event, it would have been a promotors wet dream, A-list celebs would have been lined up to attend, the tickets would be sold out in about a week...but instead we get ho hum Austin Texas. No disrespect to Texas or Austin, I own a home in Dallas, Texas is nice but F1 markets to a world wide arena and the fact that Austin is the best we could come up with is almost laughable. I give it 3 years and out. It does not get much more iconic than Indianapolis from a motorsports point of view and that event flopped after about 5 seasons. Furthermore Indy is located smack dab in the middle of the US so it was easy for the masses to get to, Austin is a pain to get to.

Karlson

can't agree anymore, but it will be probably easy for Mexicans to attend that race

jrcart

...and for the record, I will not be wasting a weekend of my life or any of my money to attend any US GP in Austin, Texas. These races are supposed to be complete destinations, the nightlife and entertainment in and around the main event is supposed to be part of the draw. Can anyone tell me what there is to do in Austin?

C43AMG

6th street and U of T poontang.

F1Bobby

Well in looking at the track it is a disappointment. The 1st corner will probably take out half the field.
Now for Austin. I'm going to go simply because its the only show in town. I've never been to Austin but it gets some good reviews but jrcart is correct. There are a few other place that make a hell of a lot more sense. I'm thinking SoCal.

i_am_amused

you are completely clueless, to the point of foolishness.

BINGO!

jrcart

I'm clueless? LOL you idiots proved my point for me, you say 6th street and U of Texas pvssy...so basically you are saying Austin has one cool street with a bunch of frat boy dive bars and lots of college girls. I don't have to travel to Austin to bang some hottie and one street with a few bars is not going to hold my attention for too long. You guys are clueless and need to get out a little more and sample some culture. College girls are fun, titty bars are great, but we are talking about being center stage for the entire racing world for a weekend and "6th Street and U of T pvssy" is the best we can come up with???? LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!

i_am_amused

you underestimate Austin, again.

HeissRod

I grew up in Round Rock, a suburb of Austin. 6th Street gets old and the rest of Austin is boring unless you live on the lake.

i_am_amused

Any place can get stale, but 6th Street will stay fresh far beyond the time it takes to host an F1 event.

The last time I visited the lake it was down 20+ feet due to drought (1998?). Quite spectacular, actually.

indyjoe

For those that say Indy is a joke with a bunch of rednecks that doesn't get F1 couldn't be more wrong. Indy supports all forms of racing more than any other city in the US, period. It's been proven over and over. Austin is a joke. I said this before, the track owners will be begging the city for money in two years, and taxes will be raised to cover the losses.

The only other location that could successfully support this race is Vegas.

GT40MkI

Austin is a decent place to party...but my big concern would be traffic....the city is a cluster*ck 7 days a week without anything going on...highway is a parking lot and it's just a nightmare. Can't imagine it with tourists and people who aren't from around here...

Jakpro1

Indy supports all forms of racing Joe but come onnnn, you obviously were there when I was and you know those stands were far from full.

Indy is the Home of motorsports and will always be my favorite place that I have ever lived.

I still get misty for some stupid reason when ole Jim belts out Back Home Again. I just got close to alot of the hard drinkin, titty bar visiting, blue collar dudes in the shipping dept of my old company....lot of um from Brownsburg and the outskirts and most of them had a southern Indiana, slight KY touch voice. Super nice guys who would do anything for ya and adopted me as an Indiana brother.

I would beg um to go to the race and they just didn't care. These are guys whose parents were part of the famous infield mob when they were kids and went to the 500 and Nascar religiously.

Just didn't seem like the locals were totally into it. Just me though. Drinks on me at The Noodle after the next Colts game!



*

F1Bobby

Put in a vote for Las Vegas for me!

jrcart

Here are five better locations for a USGP than Austin, TX. If promotors and Bernie want a HUGE draw the following should have been considered. In order

1) Las Vegas- Imagine a street course which utilized Las Vegas Blvd between Flamingo and Tropicana as the front straight.

2) Hollywood- Street course, Sunset Blvd...enough said

3) NYC- Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, it does not matter where, any NYC location would be a hit.

4) Chicago- Central location, international airport that handles direct flights from everywhere. Street course Lake Shore Drive...Priceless

5) Miami- Already a very ethnically diverse city, a destination location with an already huge F1 fan base.

Sure, street courses are pretty boring, but look at Monaco, its arguably the biggest event on the F1 schedule, not because the racing is so great but because the city is so great. If Bernie and the folks at F1 really want the US to be a permanent stop for the series why wouldn't they try for an event in one of the above mentioned cities, IMO a race in one of those cities would be the only way to make it happen. Indy is the motorsports capital of the world and they could not fill the stand or hotels. Put a race in Vegas and I'm buying the best seats/package money can buy...Austin, not so much.

I know the above is noting but a pipe dream at this point but its nice to dream.

And before you Austin residents chime in again to tell us how great your city is and how it could rival the cities above that I mentioned, save your breath and save yourself some embaressment too by not opening your mouth because you don't have a leg to stand on, how Austin got a race is going to be a question that is asked for years to come.

MB-BOB

jrcart, if you knew anything about F1 at all, you would completely understand WHY Austin got this race.. It's partly because Bernie Ecclestone is VERY good friends with the TX promoter. But you probably don't know who Bernie Ecclestone is, either. F1 is NOT about street circuits, other than the tradition of Monaco. And some of the venues you suggest have been tried (Vegas) with abysmal results.

Really, there are pluses and minuses to the Austin venue, BUT this boat has sailed, and there is little option to turn back. We understand that your regional jingoism has been ignored, but it doesn't matter. Either get on board, or be content with NASCAR racing at Chicagoland Raceway in consolation... not.

Moving this to the appropriate forum (Mercedes Motorsports and Racing)...

grantwoodtx

I'm just glad it's within driving distance, I know that sounds selfish but after spending nearly $6000 this year on a trip to Monteal for the wife and I, this is a 2 hr. drive away.

That aside F1 is about passion, passion to race and a passion to be the best in the the world BUT it's also about $$$'s and if Bernie didn't think he could make a ***** load in Austin the race WOULD be somewhere else. There are tracks like Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen and Laguna Seca which are awesome but a new track in Ausitn TX was choosen and that's all I have to say about that.

jrcart

Bernie who?

LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!

Austin GP = FAIL on a GRAND SCALE!!!!!!!!

Your argument against street courses is a weak one, again, more fail. My point is that from a marketing to the masses in the US (who is not in tune with F1) point of view those citys would have been the wise choice.

Now want to talk about venues? Miller would have been a better closed course circuit choice as would have been Laguna Seca as would have been Road America, all of those tracks look more exciting the the circuit in Austin. I see by your sig that you are a Texas boy and that fact must have blocked your view of reality ever so slightly.

...and for the record Mr SUPER MODERATOR, go back and read my first post in this thread, I know exactly who Bernie is, he's a clumsy old greedy perverted piece of euro trash with several loose screws, bad hair and bad glasses......

grantwoodtx

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS!