Circuit of the Americas Formula 1 Race Track

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Mopacs

... regarding location, it would seem most logical to place along or near the 130 corridor, given available land, proximity to air and ground (highway, out-of-town) transportation, etc.

I wonder if they might put it on the site of the abandoned Villa Muse project? The whole Villa Muse project was supposed to be 681 acres 15 minutes east of downtown and 15 minutes northeast of the airport.

[electricron]

Congrats to Austin.

Too bad Fort Worth already has two NASCAR and one Izod Indy Car racing events, because that just leaves one Formula 1 event per year.
NASCAR isn't expanding anymore, there's already new oval tracks waiting inline for a new Nascar event. it's possible Izod Indy Car may provide a second event for the Austin track to strengthen its appeal in Texas. I'm not so sure F1 would allow that.

There are road courses all over America available for testing new technologies already, a new one really isn't needed.

[The ATX]

I'm curious as to how this will be financed and built so quickly in an era where virtually no large projects can obtain financing. If/when construction starts there needs to be flood of financing made available to hotel developers.

[Spaceman]

For a track to be ready for the 2012 season wouldn't ground have to be broken almost immediately...The track would be the easy part...pit garages, grandstands, media centers, parking, the list is endless..that's a LOT of structures to build ...I hope this happens but I can't see how it can be done in two years. The Austonian took nearly two years and it is miniscule compared the the vastness of a race track.

[wwmiv]

Financing is available, but only to the projects most likely to give a good return. I don't know where the track itself will get funding, but you can be sure that financiers and lenders will see this event as literally an insurance policy. In fact, this event is so large that many projects in similar markets (Charlotte, Raleigh, etc.) that were seen as likely to get financing could now not get financing due to an absorption effect into the Austin market of what limited funds that there are at the moment.

This is the biggest thing to ever happen for Austin apart from two things: The government (which is also responsible for UT) and Dell.

[Austinite]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Financing is available, but only to the projects most likely to give a good return. I don't know where the track itself will get funding, but you can be sure that financiers and lenders will see this event as literally an insurance policy. In fact, this event is so large that many projects in similar markets (Charlotte, Raleigh, etc.) that were seen as likely to get financing could now not get financing due to an absorption effect into the Austin market of what limited funds that there are at the moment.

This is the biggest thing to ever happen for Austin apart from two things: The government (which is also responsible for UT) and Dell.

ha ha ha ha

[bluedogok]

Originally Posted by DruidCity

I know some of you hate roads, but with all of this "world-class growth," what can be done to improve Austin's infrastructure to handle the growth ?

From San Marcos, I've found that it often takes as long to travel 25 miles north to Austin as it does to travel 50 miles south to San Antonio.
San Antonio is also a large, fast-growing city, but somehow I never see the traffic jammed up like I do so often on Austin's stretch of I-35.

What is I-35 going to be like when you host world-class events like Formula One ?

I went to San Antonio a few times this month, I-35 around Selma/Schertz is just as bad and 410 gets bad. The people complain about Austin traffic I guess have never been stuck in traffic in Dallas or Houston.

Originally Posted by electricron

Congrats to Austin.

Too bad Fort Worth already has two NASCAR and one Izod Indy Car racing events, because that just leaves one Formula 1 event per year.
NASCAR isn't expanding anymore, there's already new oval tracks waiting inline for a new Nascar event. it's possible Izod Indy Car may provide a second event for the Austin track to strengthen its appeal in Texas. I'm not so sure F1 would allow that.

There are road courses all over America available for testing new technologies already, a new one really isn't needed.

There is only one FIA sanctioned track in the US, Indy. Nascar ovals are overbuilt as the wait for race dates shows. There is a shortage of tracks that can hold these type of events in this part of the country as most of the tracks are country club style tracks or older tracks, neither were designed to handle these type of events. Road courses can handle all sorts of events and for the track to be profitable they would have to have other high profile events along with a bunch of regional events.

A FIA sanctioned track where F1 race could become the premiere facility in the country and attract the events that don't come to this part of the country because the proper facilities don't exist. I could see an ALMS race signing on quickly, they have nothing between Miller (Salt Lake City) and Barber (Birmingham, Alabama) since the Houston event folded due to the IRL/Champ Car merger, it was a crappy parking lot race anyway. World Superbike has hinted at wanting a second race in the US, MotoGP is another possibility.

I have heard there are large foreign investors behind this proposal, which if true is better than trying to get a financial company to invest in something like this. As far as the time frame many of the recent tracks have been built in about 18 months. Much of what is done is the track and necessary facilities are built and more amenities are built after the first race.

I consider myself hopeful that it will come through, I consider myself "cautiously optimistic" that it will.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by bluedogok

I went to San Antonio a few times this month, I-35 around Selma/Schertz is just as bad and 410 gets bad. The people complain about Austin traffic I guess have never been stuck in traffic in Dallas or Houston.

No, I-35 is way more annoying than anything I've driven on in Houston. Just my two cents.

[wwmiv]

Everything is Austin is way more annoying than anything I've driven in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.

[ATXboom]

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/...ys-711472.html

Track Site & Engineers secured

[The Lorax]

I agree that those who whine about Austin traffic need to spend some time inching south on 610 West between I-10 and the US 59 split. Painful.

I really don't see this happening. Perhaps its a play, a bluff to shake some incentives out of a New York or California facility.

[Jdawgboy]

This is not a play and the fact is they are farther ahead than the public knows about. They already have the land, they had it before the announcment was made, they just don't want the public to know exactly where it is just yet. They have big investors from what I hear and yes there is some international investors, this is not some pipe dream that people are throwing around. I can understand people's reluctance to really accept something this huge to happen here when honestly I never thought anything like this would happen in Austin. But all in all this project is very well off and has been in the works for awhile. They don't just announce something like this out of the spur of the moment with no investors or land and just say Hey Formula 1 is comming!!!! Im sure we will hear about the construction start of the track fairly soon.

[NormalgeNyus]

wasnt there suppose to be a track being built just east of the airport. never heard about a race being held on it but it was suppose to be a road course

[Schertz1]

I35 just south of New Braunfels to 1604 is brutal.

If this is built it will be good for Austin, but I would not expect too much from it. The 250 million a year impact is inflated. The impact will likely be just north of 100 million, closer to what Indianapolis experienced. Nevertheless, it will still be good for the region.

[feconi]

Originally Posted by bluedogok

I went to San Antonio a few times this month, I-35 around Selma/Schertz is just as bad and 410 gets bad. The people complain about Austin traffic I guess have never been stuck in traffic in Dallas or Houston.

That's merely subjective. I've seen no other freeway in Texas with the kind of all-day congestion as on I-35 in central Austin. The worst of Dallas and Houston might compare, but not San Antonio.

The stretch of freeway you reference in SA has 139,000 vehicles per day on six lanes. The stretch of I-35 in Austin that I'm referencing has 227,000 vehicles per day on six lanes. I'm guessing you're not on I-35 in Austin much.

[ATXboom]

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrob...=oid%3A1034935

[TXAlex]

Wish I owned the concrete company that will get or has that contract.

[KevinFromTexas]

The problem with I-35 is everyone and their dog uses it. And it's used by many more people than just Austinites. I-35 is the main north/south route in the US for transportation. People like to blame Austin for the traffic on it, but really the problem is much greater than just city traffic. Most of our other major highways are no where near as bad. Mopac can be a pain sometimes, but really I don't think anything comes close to I-35.

Loop 610 in Houston can be pretty bad. We've been stuck there more than a handful of times. And I-35 through Dallas can be bad. San Antonio though has pretty good flow, but there have been times when I-35 has been at a crawl there too.

The thing is, that's just the nature of highways.

[ATXboom]

http://m.statesman.com/statesman/db_...ZdYIqp&src=cat

[UTSABA06]

I hate Austin traffic!