Construction at Austin track suspended

[Knock-on]

Load of bluff and bluster. They just need to sort this out.

Can't see how anyone's blaming Bernie for this p*ssing contest though

[Knock-on]

I understand it differently, that the race organisers are the ones who hold a contract with Bernie for a race in the US, but have not passed on the contract to the circuit builders/owners.

This is a tiff between these two parties and Bernie can't do much beyond banging heads together.

[EDIT I see D28 beat me to it]

Great minds think alike. I hadn't actually read this as it took longer to write mine than it seemed. Got distracted by the eye candy on Countdown. Cheeky little black dress with an animal print top today

BTW, they are in real trouble if the countdown clock is anything to go by

http://www.fullthrottleproductionslp...own/index.html

[Dave B]

Great minds think alike. I hadn't actually read this as it took longer to write mine than it seemed. Got distracted by the eye candy on Countdown. Cheeky little black dress with an animal print top today

That Jeff Stelling is quite the little minx, isn't he?

[Dave B]

By the way (and completely off topic), did you hear about the time Carol Vorderman got her calculator stuck up her bum and had to work it out with a pencil?

[kfzmeister]

With talks of Carlos Slim pushing for a GP in Mexico, i wouldn't be surprised if Austin died down! I always thought Austin was strategically a good location for the US. Draw plenty of Muricans and a lot of South Americans. There's plenty of support for Perez, Maldonado and the other South-south Americans.
New Jersey will definitely be glamorous and if a Mexican GP happens that will take care of South America.

[Alfa Fan]

Austin cancelled Ecclestone ready to drop Austin GP from 2012 calendar as circuit disputes escalate - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

[BDunnell]

Peter Windsor didn't turn up did he?

I was much looking forward to Jacques Villeneuve winning the inaugural GP at Austin for USF1. Now my hopes have been dashed.

[Osella]

At least DC drove around the track in a Red Bull before the dream was crushed lol.

Yeah, when I saw that I thought - now here's an idea!! Leave the track as it is and just hold the race on it as a dirt track - that would be awesome...!

On another note, I think Bernie probably had this whole scenario worked out.. He always wanted a race in New York, and go in giving the contract to Austin, all of a sudden he gets (to all intents and purposes) his New York race in under a year, surprise surprise..

What really p****s me off about it though is the sheer arrogance of people like Bernie saying 'well, it doesn't matter really, they can stay on the provisional calendar and then we can cancel it, or delay it a year, whatever really..' Well, what about people who live in/near Austin, who are looking for work, who are anticipating a race, who are/were putting in capital improvements in a difficult economic time to infrastructure, accomodation, hospitality, etc - then suddenly, there's no race, and a great white elephant on the horizon. And that's without mentioning those who (like myself) would not go to NJ for a race, but were actually looking forward to heading over to Texas for a combined holiday/race/etc..

Never mind solely the local support - if you want full grandstands, you will get them filled with travelling fans if your race is in the right place and on a decent track - just look at Spa and Monza.. Even Magny Cours drew a decent crowd, from all over Europe and I think Texas would have done the same.. But still, there's another street track. Yay.. F1 needs more of those..

[DexDexter]

Yeah, when I saw that I thought - now here's an idea!! Leave the track as it is and just hold the race on it as a dirt track - that would be awesome...!

On another note, I think Bernie probably had this whole scenario worked out.. He always wanted a race in New York, and go in giving the contract to Austin, all of a sudden he gets (to all intents and purposes) his New York race in under a year, surprise surprise..

What really p****s me off about it though is the sheer arrogance of people like Bernie saying 'well, it doesn't matter really, they can stay on the provisional calendar and then we can cancel it, or delay it a year, whatever really..' Well, what about people who live in/near Austin, who are looking for work, who are anticipating a race, who are/were putting in capital improvements in a difficult economic time to infrastructure, accomodation, hospitality, etc - then suddenly, there's no race, and a great white elephant on the horizon. And that's without mentioning those who (like myself) would not go to NJ for a race, but were actually looking forward to heading over to Texas for a combined holiday/race/etc..

Never mind solely the local support - if you want full grandstands, you will get them filled with travelling fans if your race is in the right place and on a decent track - just look at Spa and Monza.. Even Magny Cours drew a decent crowd, from all over Europe and I think Texas would have done the same.. But still, there's another street track. Yay.. F1 needs more of those..

So Bernie should just pay the bills and make the crowds happy? F1 is a tough business and if you don't have money to build a circuit and pay the sanction fee then you will not have a race and someone else will. This Bernie-hatred has gone way overboard particularly in this matter.

[D28]

From the Autosport link posted by Alfa Fan, Bernie talks a good line that the problems are solely the fault of the two promotion groups in Texas. Somehow I feel he is not telling us everything, I would like to hear the other sides to the story.

On Oct 30 I posted this story from NJ quoting Texas sources saying that the $25 M of public funds was conditional on Texas hosting the sole US Grand Prix, further that "the subsidy was no longer legal under state law".

N.J. hosting of Formula 1 race raises questions about Texas hosting with subsidies | NJ.com

I cannot believe that the announcement of the NJ deal for 10 years, and the halting of construction in Texas are not connected in some way.