Another USF1?
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 10:55AM
The blog today can be about nothing else but the shock news that F1 is going to Austin, Texas, in 2012! I am not alone in asking, "show me the money." Did Tavo Hellmund, whoever he is, not read my blog from yesterday? How do you hope to make money on this when an established track is hoping to break even? It is very hard to see that either the City or State Governments are going to pony up for this.
Not that Austin is a bad spot, I am working on a track just down the road in San Antonio, and it is nice country, and Austin they tell me has some money. I see numbers of $2-300m to build the track, not from Mr. Hellmund, but would suggest this is way low if we are going to have something approaching the rest of the world. The contractor for the Yas Marina circuit told me that the track and infrastructure for it, not all the rest of the development, just the track, cost $1bn. A lot is being made of the fact that for the first time we will have a purpose built F1 track, but that discounts Watkins Glen, which for its day was no better or worse than the overseas tracks. If someone wanted to promote a State or City why would you not do a street track like Singapore, or Valencia, or Adelaide and Melbourne?
Let us hope that this is not another USF1, I am tired of being the laughing stock of the world when there is so much expertise here if only it were listened to and used properly. If you check out Tavo Hellmund's web site, and that of Full Throttle Productions, I am afraid they are a little underwhelming. One report says that Tavo has been a friend of Bernie's for thirty years, and just maybe Bernie is using Tavo as a front man, but unless he really is a good friend why would you choose someone with so little seeming credibility?
The one thing that says that this may be kosher is that Bernie has not come out and denied it. Is he playing one of his games and is using this to put pressure onto someone else to sign up? Or does he see a mug and is going to take his money and then take more when it does not eventuate, as he has done with Korea in the past? Only time will tell, as they say in the classics. I am sure there is a lot more of this story still to come.
As if we need reminding, the Turkish F1 GP is on this weekend at a purpose built F1 track that does not make money and never will.
Not that Austin is a bad spot, I am working on a track just down the road in San Antonio, and it is nice country, and Austin they tell me has some money. I see numbers of $2-300m to build the track, not from Mr. Hellmund, but would suggest this is way low if we are going to have something approaching the rest of the world. The contractor for the Yas Marina circuit told me that the track and infrastructure for it, not all the rest of the development, just the track, cost $1bn. A lot is being made of the fact that for the first time we will have a purpose built F1 track, but that discounts Watkins Glen, which for its day was no better or worse than the overseas tracks. If someone wanted to promote a State or City why would you not do a street track like Singapore, or Valencia, or Adelaide and Melbourne?
Let us hope that this is not another USF1, I am tired of being the laughing stock of the world when there is so much expertise here if only it were listened to and used properly. If you check out Tavo Hellmund's web site, and that of Full Throttle Productions, I am afraid they are a little underwhelming. One report says that Tavo has been a friend of Bernie's for thirty years, and just maybe Bernie is using Tavo as a front man, but unless he really is a good friend why would you choose someone with so little seeming credibility?
The one thing that says that this may be kosher is that Bernie has not come out and denied it. Is he playing one of his games and is using this to put pressure onto someone else to sign up? Or does he see a mug and is going to take his money and then take more when it does not eventuate, as he has done with Korea in the past? Only time will tell, as they say in the classics. I am sure there is a lot more of this story still to come.
As if we need reminding, the Turkish F1 GP is on this weekend at a purpose built F1 track that does not make money and never will.
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