Welp, Austin is likely kaput.
1
F1 Crew 2011 Season Thread
Started by
vietlol
, Mar 24 2011 12:10 AM
737 replies to this topic
#651
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Posted 15 November 2011 - 09:16 PM
#652
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Posted 15 November 2011 - 10:47 PM
I'm not as shocked as I should be.Welp, Austin is likely kaput.
#653
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Posted 16 November 2011 - 12:11 AM
Rodolfo Gonzalez claims to be better suited to grand prix machinery than GP2 cars after his second taste of Formula 1 with Team Lotus today.
The Venezuelan, who has raced in GP2 since making his debut in the Asia Series in 2008, has started 55 races in the second-tier category and scored only four points.
But after enjoying his day of testing with Lotus, he insists that he is far more comfortable in F1 machinery after setting the tenth fastest time of the day, four seconds off the pace, with a time set on super soft rubber in the final hour of the day.
soo... he's scored 4 points total in GP2, is 4 seconds off the pace, is tied for the most laps run today, and he's more comfortable with in a F1 car...
#654
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Posted 16 November 2011 - 01:10 AM
soo... he's scored 4 points total in GP2, is 4 seconds off the pace, is tied for the most laps run today, and he's more comfortable with in a F1 car...
This reminds me of the late 70s/early 80s when there wasn't any good young blood coming into the sport at all...:sigh:
#655
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Posted 16 November 2011 - 06:44 PM
Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011, will go down as the day when the racing died in Austin, Texas. The 2012 Formula One United States Grand Prix and the track that would host it, the Circuit of the Americas, were dealt a one-two punch that seems unsurvivable--though neither the race nor the track has formally been pronounced dead.
Of course, neither has Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign, but we all know how that's going.
The two punches that apparently finished off the race and the track, which have been ailing for six months, began when Texas comptroller Susan Combs, by far the biggest fan motorsports had in the state government, backed away on Tuesday from a gutsy incentive she helped engineer.
Using a special state trust fund which, more than 200 times, has provided money to encourage big annual public events to come to Texas, Combs was going to advance race organizers $25 million a year, to be repaid by the projected additional tax money generated from the event, mostly from tourists.
This $25 million, to be paid up to one year in advance of the U.S. GP, would have roughly covered the annual sanctioning fee to F1 honcho Bernie Ecclestone. This is a lot of money--probably double or triple a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series sanctioning fee--but it is also a comparative bargain, given what some race organizers in other countries must pay Ecclestone. This contract was assigned to Full Throttle Productions, headed by Tavo Hellmund, whose personal family relationship dating back 40 years with Ecclestone was an enormous factor in getting the deal. It was not assigned to the other two founding partners of the Circuit of the Americas, colorful businessman Red McCombs and Bobby Epstein, the low-key founder of a money-management firm.
So here comes Punch One: Comptroller Combs, clearly weary of the infighting inside the track organization, announced on Tuesday that she would not advance the $25 million to the organizers, which--had all gone well--could have been paid as early as Saturday. The debut F1 race was scheduled for Nov. 18, 2012, and the guidelines, particular to this one race event, said the money could be advanced as early as 364 days before the event takes place.
That option is gone. Now, the state would offer up the money after the race, assuming certain criteria were met. To get the race now, promoters would have to advance that $25 million out of pocket, assuming such a semisweetheart deal is even on the table. By all indications, it is not.
Which leads up to Punch Two: Financier and main money man Epstein--billionaire investor McCombs is reportedly in for less than 10 percent of the budgeted $300 million or so--would like to have Hellmund's 10-year F1 contract assigned to the Circuit of the Americas and not to Hellmund's Full Throttle Productions. Ecclestone has apparently offered Epstein a new contract, but not at the friends-and-family rate Hellmund received. For whatever reason, according to multiple sources, Epstein doesn't like the contract Ecclestone provided.
So later Tuesday afternoon, Circuit of the Americas, which apparently no longer includes cofounder Hellmund, issued a statement saying, "Organizers of Circuit of the Americas, a premier motorsports racing and entertainment venue being developed in Austin, Texas, are suspending further construction of the project until a contract assuring the Formula One United States Grand Prix will be held at Circuit of the Americas in 2012 is complete. The race contract between Formula One and Circuit of the Americas has not been conveyed to Circuit of the Americas per a previously agreed-upon timetable."
What "previously agreed timetable" is that? No one is talking. Presumably Hellmund expected to get paid for landing a 10-year F1 contract, a 10-year MotoGP contract, bringing Australian V8 Supercars to the United States, locating a site for the track, arranging for Hermann Tilke--the top F1 track designer in the world--to create it, and getting the State of Texas to advance the money for the sanctioning fee. Presumably he has not been paid what he expects. But again, no one is talking aside from prepared statements.
This is Hellmund's: "After years of effort in getting F1 to Austin, Full Throttle Productions and city, county and state officials have done all we could. It is the responsibility of Circuit of the Americas to bring it across the finish line."
In the past few months, there has been evidence that Epstein, who is used to running his own show, wants to run this one, too, which is sort of like George Steinbrenner insisting that he should coach his New York Yankees, except that Steinbrenner actually had some experience in baseball. Epstein may be guilty of thinking he can bluff or shame Ecclestone into awarding Austin a new sweetheart deal, but the F1 king has countries, tracks and promoters standing by, begging for a race. He does not need Austin, especially since he has the New Jersey race on tap beginning in 2013.
Thus, barring something that would qualify as a motorsports miracle, there will be no F1 race in Austin, which--according to Epstein's statement--means there will be no Circuit of the Americas, either.
So what will happen to this big, $40 million (that's dollars spent until now and a long way from what is needed for completion) mudhole near Austin? Perhaps the world's nicest RallyCross track? Presumably it could be completed as a less-ambitious, less expensive paved track, attracting lesser racing series, but only NASCAR Sprint Cup would essentially guarantee a profitable product, and Sprint Cup isn't coming to Austin.
Look at reality, and it has to be considered cautionary that IndyCar's recent, very successful Baltimore Grand Prix, which attracted a huge crowd for the street race, was unprofitable to the point where a second Baltimore race is not assured.
The only thing that seems certain in Austin is that it's just about time for lawyers to get involved. It's hard to imagine the plethora of lawsuits that could result from the Circuit of the Americas-Full Throttle conflict: the contractors, the designers, the suppliers? Oh, well.
Six months ago it seemed as if there was a gorgeous site just waiting to be one of the world's most interesting racetracks--a 10-year contract with the world's top auto and motorcycle series, adequate financing, happy politicians willing to help out, area businesses excited about the international crowd the races would draw, and subsequently all the building permits in place.
Now, nothing.
Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011: Not a good day for race fans.
Read more: http://www.autoweek....0#ixzz1dtY9YJVG
Of course, neither has Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign, but we all know how that's going.
The two punches that apparently finished off the race and the track, which have been ailing for six months, began when Texas comptroller Susan Combs, by far the biggest fan motorsports had in the state government, backed away on Tuesday from a gutsy incentive she helped engineer.
Using a special state trust fund which, more than 200 times, has provided money to encourage big annual public events to come to Texas, Combs was going to advance race organizers $25 million a year, to be repaid by the projected additional tax money generated from the event, mostly from tourists.
This $25 million, to be paid up to one year in advance of the U.S. GP, would have roughly covered the annual sanctioning fee to F1 honcho Bernie Ecclestone. This is a lot of money--probably double or triple a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series sanctioning fee--but it is also a comparative bargain, given what some race organizers in other countries must pay Ecclestone. This contract was assigned to Full Throttle Productions, headed by Tavo Hellmund, whose personal family relationship dating back 40 years with Ecclestone was an enormous factor in getting the deal. It was not assigned to the other two founding partners of the Circuit of the Americas, colorful businessman Red McCombs and Bobby Epstein, the low-key founder of a money-management firm.
So here comes Punch One: Comptroller Combs, clearly weary of the infighting inside the track organization, announced on Tuesday that she would not advance the $25 million to the organizers, which--had all gone well--could have been paid as early as Saturday. The debut F1 race was scheduled for Nov. 18, 2012, and the guidelines, particular to this one race event, said the money could be advanced as early as 364 days before the event takes place.
That option is gone. Now, the state would offer up the money after the race, assuming certain criteria were met. To get the race now, promoters would have to advance that $25 million out of pocket, assuming such a semisweetheart deal is even on the table. By all indications, it is not.
Which leads up to Punch Two: Financier and main money man Epstein--billionaire investor McCombs is reportedly in for less than 10 percent of the budgeted $300 million or so--would like to have Hellmund's 10-year F1 contract assigned to the Circuit of the Americas and not to Hellmund's Full Throttle Productions. Ecclestone has apparently offered Epstein a new contract, but not at the friends-and-family rate Hellmund received. For whatever reason, according to multiple sources, Epstein doesn't like the contract Ecclestone provided.
So later Tuesday afternoon, Circuit of the Americas, which apparently no longer includes cofounder Hellmund, issued a statement saying, "Organizers of Circuit of the Americas, a premier motorsports racing and entertainment venue being developed in Austin, Texas, are suspending further construction of the project until a contract assuring the Formula One United States Grand Prix will be held at Circuit of the Americas in 2012 is complete. The race contract between Formula One and Circuit of the Americas has not been conveyed to Circuit of the Americas per a previously agreed-upon timetable."
What "previously agreed timetable" is that? No one is talking. Presumably Hellmund expected to get paid for landing a 10-year F1 contract, a 10-year MotoGP contract, bringing Australian V8 Supercars to the United States, locating a site for the track, arranging for Hermann Tilke--the top F1 track designer in the world--to create it, and getting the State of Texas to advance the money for the sanctioning fee. Presumably he has not been paid what he expects. But again, no one is talking aside from prepared statements.
This is Hellmund's: "After years of effort in getting F1 to Austin, Full Throttle Productions and city, county and state officials have done all we could. It is the responsibility of Circuit of the Americas to bring it across the finish line."
In the past few months, there has been evidence that Epstein, who is used to running his own show, wants to run this one, too, which is sort of like George Steinbrenner insisting that he should coach his New York Yankees, except that Steinbrenner actually had some experience in baseball. Epstein may be guilty of thinking he can bluff or shame Ecclestone into awarding Austin a new sweetheart deal, but the F1 king has countries, tracks and promoters standing by, begging for a race. He does not need Austin, especially since he has the New Jersey race on tap beginning in 2013.
Thus, barring something that would qualify as a motorsports miracle, there will be no F1 race in Austin, which--according to Epstein's statement--means there will be no Circuit of the Americas, either.
So what will happen to this big, $40 million (that's dollars spent until now and a long way from what is needed for completion) mudhole near Austin? Perhaps the world's nicest RallyCross track? Presumably it could be completed as a less-ambitious, less expensive paved track, attracting lesser racing series, but only NASCAR Sprint Cup would essentially guarantee a profitable product, and Sprint Cup isn't coming to Austin.
Look at reality, and it has to be considered cautionary that IndyCar's recent, very successful Baltimore Grand Prix, which attracted a huge crowd for the street race, was unprofitable to the point where a second Baltimore race is not assured.
The only thing that seems certain in Austin is that it's just about time for lawyers to get involved. It's hard to imagine the plethora of lawsuits that could result from the Circuit of the Americas-Full Throttle conflict: the contractors, the designers, the suppliers? Oh, well.
Six months ago it seemed as if there was a gorgeous site just waiting to be one of the world's most interesting racetracks--a 10-year contract with the world's top auto and motorcycle series, adequate financing, happy politicians willing to help out, area businesses excited about the international crowd the races would draw, and subsequently all the building permits in place.
Now, nothing.
Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011: Not a good day for race fans.
Read more: http://www.autoweek....0#ixzz1dtY9YJVG
#656
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Posted 16 November 2011 - 06:45 PM
FUCK THOSE FUCKING FUCKS IN THE FUCKING EAR!!!
And fuck New Jersey too. Without a race in that shithole, Bernie would have had a weaker bargaining position for Austin.
#657
cASe SenSiTive
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Posted 16 November 2011 - 06:45 PM
And fuck NY for having a picturesque skyline!
#658
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Posted 16 November 2011 - 06:48 PM
In for Bernie dying in a freak Nazi-ladyboy enema scandal.
#659
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Posted 16 November 2011 - 06:52 PM
Fun fact: Bernie Ecclestone fellates dead barn animals as a hobby.
#660
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Posted 16 November 2011 - 07:19 PM
Honestly, i blame Rick Perry. I don't know why, but I do 
#661
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Posted 17 November 2011 - 07:21 PM
I blame Bernie, DIAF MF
#662
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Posted 17 November 2011 - 07:26 PM
Kimi supposedly wants stake in Williams to drive for them. According to British motorsport journalist Joe Saward, it "is not as simple as most team-driver negotiations as I hear that Raikkonen is looking to acquire some equity in the team."
http://planetf1.com/...ty-in-Williams-
YOU GOT FIRED FROM YOUR LAST F1 GIG, AND COULDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO SHOW UP TO RACES IN THE WRC? The fuck do you get off demanding ownership of your next team?
#663
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Posted 17 November 2011 - 07:31 PM
Williams is public now, pretty standard practice for public companies to compensate any high value employee with salary and stock.
http://planetf1.com/...ty-in-Williams-
YOU GOT FIRED FROM YOUR LAST F1 GIG, AND COULDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO SHOW UP TO RACES IN THE WRC? The fuck do you get off demanding ownership of your next team?
#664
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Posted 17 November 2011 - 07:35 PM
Williams is public now, pretty standard practice for public companies to compensate any high value employee with salary and stock.
I still don't see where Kimi gets to make demands, as he's pretty far off form from his glory days of his teammate-ensured 2007 WDC.
#665
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Posted 17 November 2011 - 08:20 PM
This is true. Article is just sensationalizing the demand. No real difference between asking for 20 million salary vs. 10 million salary and 10 million stock.I still don't see where Kimi gets to make demands, as he's pretty far off form from his glory days of his teammate-ensured 2007 WDC.
Bottom line is that kimi shouldn't be demanding 20 million of anything. (and I made that figure up btw)
How about kimi drives for 500k base, plus another 100k per point? No compensation for qualifying like shit but posting fastest lap
#666
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Posted 17 November 2011 - 09:06 PM
With equity tho, perhaps he'll be extra motivated and we'll see KR of old again...? Who knows. I for one would love to see a Kimi on form again.
#667
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Posted 18 November 2011 - 04:21 AM
Austin Grand Prix chiefs are ready to accept moving their inaugural race back to 2013, after conceding for the first time that next year's race is probably not going to happen.
After a dramatic week at the Circuit of the Americas, where construction work at the venue was stopped on the back of a dispute over a race contract, track chiefs issued a statement responding to comments from Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone that next year's event will be dropped from the schedule.
With no contract in place, and time running out ahead of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council meeting in early December to ratify the 2012 calendar, it now appears certain that F1 will have to wait another year to return to the United States.
In the statement, which came after Ecclestone told the Press Association that the event will be scrubbed from the schedule by the FIA, Circuit of the Americas president Steve Sexton said that the breathing space of a year would help the venue get matters in order.
"We have been excited for and working towards a 2012 USGP race and now understand that Mr Ecclestone is interested in moving the Austin race to 2013," he said.
"We know the US market is important to the teams and their sponsors and 2013 certainly allows time for the Circuit of the Americas to be ready."
A shift of date to 2013 would mean that the Austin event would take place in the same year as the inaugural New Jersey Grand Prix, which is pencilled in for June that season as part of a double-header with the Canadian GP.
Event promoter Tavo Hellmund acknowledged in a press conference that the circuit had been in breach of its contract with Ecclestone, but remained optimistic that the situation could be salvaged.
"This project needs to meet its obligations to Formula 1," Hellmund was quoted as saying by the Statesman newspaper. "I'm hoping we can get this back on the road."
#668
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Posted 18 November 2011 - 04:53 AM
Why is USA so much fail on everything F1 these last few years? Scott Speed, USF1, COTA... le sigh.
#669
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Posted 21 November 2011 - 02:02 AM
Probably a garbage rumor article at planetF1, but McLaren looking at Honda engines for the turbo changeover? 
http://planetf1.com/...edes-For-Honda-
McLaren are reportedly considering joining forces with Honda when F1 begins its new era of V6 turbo engines in 2014.
At present McLaren are powered by Mercedes for free, however, that deal is set to expire at the end of 2012.
The contract, though, does state that Mercedes can continue supply the Woking team until at least 2015 but they will have to pay around eight million Euros (6.8 million pounds) for the engines.
And with Mercedes now having their own works F1 team in Mercedes GP, McLaren are reportedly already looking around for a new engine partner.
One name that has been raised is Honda with Auto Moto und Sport claiming that sources at Woking have put the Japanese carmaker's name down as a possible candidate.
The German publication added that a senior Honda manager in Suzuki also stated that the company is ready to make a return to Formula One, although management have yet to give the go-ahead.
The duo have collaborated in the past, enjoying a period of success between 1988 and 1992, which saw McLaren win four Drivers' titles with Honda power.
Honda's most recent foray into Formula One ended in 2008 when they sold their F1 team to Brawn GP, which subsequently became Mercedes GP.
http://planetf1.com/...edes-For-Honda-
#670
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Posted 21 November 2011 - 02:02 AM
PS: Am i that much older now, or did the text on here get smaller?
#671
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Posted 21 November 2011 - 04:03 AM
Good article written by Mario Theissen on the 10 years of BMW F1 engine development in the last decade.
http://sd-2.archive-...eurs_BMW_F1.pdf
Imagine what the p85 could have done if they didnt change the longevity requirements.
http://sd-2.archive-...eurs_BMW_F1.pdf
Imagine what the p85 could have done if they didnt change the longevity requirements.
#672
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Posted 21 November 2011 - 03:50 PM
Great article, thanks Bucket!
I'd love to see Honda back in F1...
But their car division needs to up the ante too...
I'd love to see Honda back in F1...
But their car division needs to up the ante too...
#673
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Posted 21 November 2011 - 04:13 PM
De la Rosa to HRT with a 2 year contract...
him and Rubens just need to let go...
him and Rubens just need to let go...
#674
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Posted 21 November 2011 - 04:53 PM
Probably a garbage rumor article at planetF1, but McLaren looking at Honda engines for the turbo changeover?
Jimmy goes to Honda R&D.
Honda is happy.
Jimmy meets Prez of R&D
Honda expresses interest in Jimmy for longer period of employmenet.
Jimmy meets Wirth Racing Prez.
Honda hires Jimmy for longer.
Jimmy starts Honda rumors of McLaren engine program?
#675
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Posted 21 November 2011 - 05:48 PM
Jimmy goes to Honda R&D.
Honda is happy.
Jimmy meets Prez of R&D
Honda expresses interest in Jimmy for longer period of employmenet.
Jimmy meets Wirth Racing Prez.
Honda hires Jimmy for longer.
Jimmy starts Honda rumors of McLaren engine program?
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