Texas to host US GP from 2012

[Flakis]

Creo q llegué tarde a la discusión pero mi opinióm coincide 100% con Accord, Oscar y Rocket.

Por otro lado muy cierto eso de que tuvieron muy buena visión a la hora de escoger el lugar para la nueva pista, es muy centrico por asi decirlo. Ojalá el diseño no nos decepcione...

Yo tb espero estar por allá, ojalá en la inauguración.

[JK.]

Nunca es tarde cuando la dicha es grande, y no hubo discucion, solo cambios de parecer...

[Accord]

Bueno, ustedes saben como es la cosa, a pasos agigantados va la cuestión, ya tenemos los planes para la pista nueva:

Nunca es tarde cuando la dicha es grande, y no hubo discucion, solo cambios de parecer...

Eufemismos.....

[pmontero]

ja ja Accordeón póngase serio mae... y no es un eufemismo!

Lo que sí leí es que está cornfirmado el encargo a tu amigo Hellman TIliches como era de esperarse, ya tienen el lugar visto y aprobado y supuestamente los planos casi que listos. Veremos cuánto se asemejan al final al que hiciste ayer en el kinder. Ja ja que tan bueno el toque de los camellos falsos...

[Danenbs]

Pues qué tuanis que vayan a hacer el GP de USA ... más cerca para nosotros !!!

De todo lo que se ha comentado, pues yo nada más espero que salga un buen diseño, y pues si va a ser en un lugar con colinas, pues ojalá tengamos por ahí pendientes en la pista, estaría de pelos !!

Y qué risa ese último plano... jajaja ... ahora solo falta que el que saquen sea parecido

[Accord]

Si no tiene aPsolutamente nada que hacer, pueden leerse esto. Hace rato huele a Donnington, pero hasta ahora veo algo más concretón

What public officials are revealing about F1

By Eric Dexheimer | Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 12:25 PM

The preliminary results are in for which government agencies and officials are the most forthcoming about they know about the prospect of bringing taxpayer-supported Formula One racing to Austin.

The short analysis: So far, those who appear to know the most have been willing to share the least.

To review: Three weeks ago, the Statesman submitted a series of open records requests to the various parties that participated in luring Formula One racing to Austin: Comptroller Susan Combs, Gov. Rick Perry, state Sen. Kirk Watson and Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, through the city of Austin. Over the past several days the results have trickled in.

The operative word is “trickle.” That’s because most of the information is being withheld. Each party has invoked one or more exceptions to the Texas Public Information Act as a way to delay or prevent the release of some documents. The Office of the Attorney General will decide whether the protests have merit in about a month.

As a result, nearly a month after the announcement that F1 racing was coming to Austin — thanks in part to a $25 million per year government incentive plan to be handed to a heretofore little-known race promoter named Tavo Hellmund — the public still knows little. Big questions remain about everything from the identity and financial and organizational capability of the local parties involved, to the location of the proposed track and what might be expected of local governments.

So, what do we actually know, based on what Combs, Perry, Watson and Leffingwell have released?

We do know that several members of Gov. Perry’s staff are excited about the idea. They said so in a series of short e-mails exchanged following the May 25 announcement that F1 was headed to Austin — the only documents that the governor’s office has seen fit to release. “Awesome, I will be there. Even though I much prefer stock car racing…” reads one.

In fact, the only correspondence that at all references the governor’s prior involvement was from Perry’s policy adviser Ed Robertson, addressed to several other office staffers: “A few years ago I went to a meeting with the Comptroller and [former secretary of state] Phil Wilson, the talk [about track location] was near the airport for easy access for cars to be flown in, Mrs. Combs grew up a big fan of racing.” (Through a spokesman for Luminant, the energy company he now works for, Wilson referred questions back to Perry’s office.)

In one e-mail from Perry senior adviser Mike Morrissey, dated April 1, 2010, the subject line references an attachment showing “Final 2 conceptual F1 facility renderings.” But those were withheld.

Perry’s office also included a previously released letter, dated April 7, 2010, and signed by the governor, Combs and Hellmund, that confirms Texas will provide $25 million a year for the next 10 years to Hellmund from the trust fund.

Similarly, the city of Austin has released nothing related to city staffers’, or Leffingwell’s behind-the-scenes involvement in bringing the race to the city.

The largest batch of information came from Watson’s office. The Austin Democrat carried a bill during the last legislative session that added F1 to the big sporting contests eligible for the Texas Major Events Trust Fund, which uses sales and other tax revenues generated by large events to help off-set the staging of the events.

The secretary of the Texas Senate, Patsy Spaw, claimed that inter-office policy communications leading up to that bill did not have to be disclosed according to the so-called Deliberative Process exemption to the open records laws, so no documents from the session were released except a couple of entries from Watson’s appointment calendar.

On Feb. 19, 2009, the senator met with Combs to discuss the race project. Four days later, the calendar notations show, Hellmund was “coming in to discuss the Formula 1 racing bill, per susan combs.”

On the day F1 executives announced the race was coming to Austin, a memo from one of Watson’s advisers reviews the history of the senator’s involvement: “the Comptroller approached you early in the session and asked you to carry this (due to your background and understanding of economic development) and that you understood Tavo was trying to put this together, though you really didn’t know the details.”

All of which seems to confirm the assessment that Comptroller Combs was the driving force behind bringing the race to Texas. So, what has her office released in response to our open records request?

Nothing yet. In a letter dated June 10, her office said it was referring some of our request to the attorney general’s office. The rest of their documents, she said, wouldn’t be made available for another week.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... re_in.html

[pmontero]

Chiquillos ya vamos teniendo humo blanco, resulta que ayer fueron revelados los inversionistas, el lugar donde será contruida la pista, y otro montón de detalles. Mis disculpas pero no he encontrado la nota en español, esa se la dejo de tarea a Jr u otro de los fiebres que colaboran en este foro. Ahh y por cierto dicen que para finales del verano ya van a estar mostrando los planos en los cuales ha estado trabajando TIlke, tan esperados por Accord


La ubicación la pueden ver en este link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 13&iwloc=A

Es prácticamente a la par del aeropuerto internacional de Austin, cerca del centro, hoteles, zonas comerciales, etc. Y el viejillo Red McCombs que dice la noticia es la fuerza monetaria detrás de la vaina no es ningún jetas o limpio. Ha sido dueño de los San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets y Minessota Vikings, además de un habitual en la lista Forbes 400 de los más platudos de gringolandia. Con decirles que hace unos años la Facultad de Negocios de la Universidad de Austin recibió una donación de $50 millones ( ) de este roquillo para invertir en programas de investigación y educación.




Austin reveals track site, chief backer

Tuesday, 27 July 2010 18:25

Organisers for the new US Grand Prix venue in Austin, Texas have revealed details of where the new purpose-built track will be located and the identity of the project’s main financial backer.

Since Bernie Ecclestone made the shock announcement in May that he had struck a 10-year deal for a revived US round to take place on a brand new circuit in the Texan state capital from 2012 few concrete details had emerged about the venue, apart from the fact the track would be designed by F1’s resident architect Hermann Tilke.

However, in a press conference in Austin on Tuesday the promoters of the race, Full Throttle Productions, announced further key details about the project.

Firstly, it revealed that the track would be located in the south-eastern part of the city, near Austin International airport, on a 900-acre site, most of which was part of an area known as ‘Wandering Creek’ which had previously been earmarked for residential development.

Organisers say the track layout – which previous reports have suggested will be built on a hilly terrain – will be released later this summer, along with a master plan of the venue.

“The track and facility will be located in southeast Austin along the SH 130 corridor near FM 812 [roadway]; the majority of the site involved is formerly known as Wandering Creek,” the promoters said in a statement on the new official website for the event, which launched on Tuesday.

“Its location in Austin is one that is nearly impossible to replicate – hotels, downtown Austin and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport are all located within a seven-mile radius. The site also offers convenient access to major highways and other transportation
arteries.”

Promoters also announced wealthy Texan businessman Red McCombs as the project’s main backer.

McCombs is a well-known name in both automotive and sports circles in America having previously owned the San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets NBA basketball teams, as well as American football’s Minnesota Vikings, while he is also the owner of a car dealership giant in Texas.

The businessman, who was named one of Forbes magazine's top 400 richest Americans in 2005, said: “Bringing Formula 1 back to the United States represents the opportunity of a lifetime and one that any city in the world would want.

“The size and scope of an F1 event is comparable to hosting a Super Bowl and will bring substantial economic benefit to Austin, San Antonio and the entire State of Texas.

“We know Tavo [Hellmund, the managing partner of Full Throttle] has a clear vision for developing Formula 1 into a major event with year-round opportunities.

“Over the past few years, he has built a solid business foundation and has assembled a great team – one we are proud to be part of. We are ready to roll-up our sleeves and work alongside Tavo to make this project a huge success.”

Formula 1 has been without a US round since 2008 after Ecclestone failed to agree terms on a new deal with the grand prix’s previous home of Indianapolis.

The new Austin track will become the eighth different American venue to host an F1 grand prix, but the first to be purpose-built to the sport’s requirements.