COTA Austin - construction and infrastructure

[hairy_scotsman]

I guess it's possible that this is some sort of trial balloon being floated, as the most recent survey made it all pretty clear that they weren't at all sure how they would structure things even that recently.

[xpensive]

Or am I missing something here?

Only that there appears to be no end on the horizon to short-sighted greed. Then again, I guess that's why it's short-sighted.

They seem certain that everybody trusts there will be a race, in this preliminary situation, i.e there is no track yet, you'd might xpect a tad more flexibility, no? But the chances of the track being ready for inspection in August are slim or less if you ask me.

[hairy_scotsman]

Or am I missing something here?

Only that there appears to be no end on the horizon to short-sighted greed. Then again, I guess that's why it's short-sighted.

They seem certain that everybody trusts there will be a race, in this preliminary situation, i.e there is no track yet, you'd might xpect a tad more flexibility, no? But the chances of the track being ready for inspection in August are slim or less if you ask me.

It's almost like they're seeing how few people they can get to attend.

[WhiteBlue]

..the chances of the track being ready for inspection in August are slim or less if you ask me.

Come on, man. I'm getting sick from hearing this again and again! There is all the evidence before your eyes that the track will be ready long before the inspection. They have at least done 40% of the excavating and filling work which is the main work to the track itself. Just have a look at the above picture to confirm it. The rest is easily done in the next two months. Laying the asphalt is less than a week with the modern machines available and within two or three more weeks they will have the curbs and other track components in place. So according to my reckoning the track itself can be done by the end of May. They will probably not push it that hard because they simply do not need to. This race is going to go ahead and with a bit more time to spare even than the Korean race had if you ask me.

[strad]

Come on, man. I'm getting sick from hearing this again and again!

WB..I agree...I don't remember any of these type of criticisms of the Indian GP that was plagued with construction problems and wonder if it was going to be ready,,Or that it had a huge offering of "Grass Seating".

[hairy_scotsman]

I'm curious about the stadium section of the circuit itself. It's the only portion of the circuit that's not even cut yet, while most of the circuit is advanced stages of "dirt work". Wonder if there's a design/redesign delay, or if it's planned.

[hairy_scotsman]

This ---'s gettin' real now:

Hellmund sues Circuit of The Americas investors, may seek to regain control:


http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120303/F1/120309942

http://www.statesman.com/sports/formula ... 15199.html

[xpensive]

...
<snip>

There is all the evidence <snip> that the track will be ready long before the inspection.
...

<snip>

[bhall]

Well, I've flipped. I mean, honestly, it probably should have happened before, because these people have managed to complicate everything within their power to complicate - and even some things that aren't. But, I guess I just wanted to believe.

That said, anyone with an IQ in the 60-70 range and above who still thinks...

2) GA tickets will likely be grass seating only.

...is a passable idea, much less a good one, or even allows such a nasty rumor to persist for longer than ten minutes, is either smoking some of the very finest hashish ever produced or is simply brazenly incompetent. Neither can be trusted to accomplish anything.

To only offer seats to those who are willing to underwrite the cost of construction is so patently absurd that it's very likely that such a classification is actually quite insulting to other genuinely absurd things.

[xpensive]

What confuses me is in which way these somewhat bizarre ticket-rules are thought-out to encourage overseas visitors?

I'm not so sure that I would want to sign for the next decade or so just to see this one race from a proper seat?

Or is it thought to be locals only sitting down?

As for the Circuit of the Americas, I'm sure it will make the finest dirt-track ever conceived.

[WhiteBlue]

Thanks to HS! At last we see some information emerging on the struggle over the COTA contract:

Hellmund, the suit states, offered 75 percent of the venture to McCombs and Epstein for financial backing. But by “withholding the promised funding,” the suit claims, “Hellmund's partners executed an improper and unlawful takeover of the very project he conceived, and may well have it careening toward a wall.”

After F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, a longtime personal friend of Hellmund's, canceled the contract Hellmund negotiated because the required fees of $23 million had not been paid, the other partners, led by Epstein, negotiated a last-minute contract with Ecclestone that kept the race alive.

Hellmund, whose title was chairman of the USGP, now claims to hold 20.58 percent of the organization--the rest of his 25 percent was surrendered when “Epstein/McCombs refused to pay the circuit's architect,” the suit says--was to be paid an annual salary of $500,000 to head the project, but he says in the suit he has not been paid since September 2011.

Hellmund's suit asks for, among other things, an open inspection of the COTA books, as well as damages, though no figure was submitted.

Source: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2012030 ... z1o9VSAhAR

Improper and unlawful take over by withholding promised funding. That is a very serious claim. It pretty much describes what I have thought has happened there last year. It will be interesting what the law will say about the claims and what additional information will emerge through the law suit.

[bhall]

That must feel great, huh?

[FW17]

Thanks to HS! At last we see some information emerging on the struggle over the COTA contract:

Hellmund, the suit states, offered 75 percent of the venture to McCombs and Epstein for financial backing. But by “withholding the promised funding,” the suit claims, “Hellmund's partners executed an improper and unlawful takeover of the very project he conceived, and may well have it careening toward a wall.”

After F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, a longtime personal friend of Hellmund's, canceled the contract Hellmund negotiated because the required fees of $23 million had not been paid, the other partners, led by Epstein, negotiated a last-minute contract with Ecclestone that kept the race alive.

Hellmund, whose title was chairman of the USGP, now claims to hold 20.58 percent of the organization--the rest of his 25 percent was surrendered when “Epstein/McCombs refused to pay the circuit's architect,” the suit says--was to be paid an annual salary of $500,000 to head the project, but he says in the suit he has not been paid since September 2011.

Hellmund's suit asks for, among other things, an open inspection of the COTA books, as well as damages, though no figure was submitted.

Source: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2012030 ... z1o9VSAhAR

Improper and unlawful take over by withholding promised funding. That is a very serious claim. It pretty much describes what I have thought has happened there last year. It will be interesting what the law will say about the claims and what additional information will emerge through the law suit.

His time was up when he failed to get the $25 million from the state.

Even more interesting is that the paper claims it as $23 million, Tevo must be having to explain to do.

[WhiteBlue]

That must feel great, huh?

No, that does not feel great at all. The story is very sad and I would have preferred had it not happened at all. But it did and I'm sure there are a lot of fans who want to know what really went down.

[Nickel]

Now we can get down to some more plausible names... Consultation Corner, Libel bend, Billable Hours backstrait, The BAR... No US story is complete without a good old fashioned law suit!