US GP Site Announcement

[Josh]

I can't wait for that first corner though.

I don't know why, but the first track on a new race always excited me

 

[Mephistopheles]

I can't wait for that first corner though.

I don't know why, but the first track on a new race always excited me

Or even the first race on a new track Josh

 

[Josh]

Oh bugger

 

[Mephistopheles]

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

That is a ballsy 1st turn, I think this potentially could be one of the best tilkedromes yet. Unfortunately I can see Americans losing interest and only wanting to keep one F1 circuit which would probably the glamorous New York one.

What this has going for it is:

* Texas... economy that simple thumps along irrespective how far down the toilet the rest of the world or the US is... as well as being centrally located in the US... and there are a lot expats in Texas...
* Austin... a little cultural oasis... bands, music, food, IT industry

Certainly the New Jersey race will be a lot more sexy... but also a bucketload more expensive to see... but it will be a street race... another street race... soft and super softs... safety cars and mickey mouse corner complexes...

 

[Brogan]

Oh dear...

All appears not to be well at COTA. Garages haven't been built to spec and are far too small. Teams meeting Charlie to discuss.

https://twitter.com/willbuxton/status/254150107895832576

 

[Greenlantern101]

Its probably all relative. I wonder how big they are compared to Monaco.

Edit : Just had a thought, I wonder if the plans were in Metric and the Americans built it in Feet.

10 meter garage built 10 feet wide

 

[Andyoak]

wasn't that one of the reasons with one of the shuttle disasters?

 

[Dizzi]

It could have been, didn't NASA use imperial measurements when the rest of the world went metric?
Rather off topic but wasn't it a 13c o-ring failure that caused the Challenger disaster?
Scary thought.

Back on topic at least the circuit pits should be big enough for the MotoGP

 

[siffert_fan]

The size of the o-ring was was fine. It was the ambient temperatures that were the problem, as the flexibility of the o-ring was reduced, allowing the exhaust to get past the ring.

 

[The Artist.....]

wasn't that one of the reasons with one of the shuttle disasters?

Not entirely - that was the reason one of the Mars missions crashed though....

 

[Galahad]

Maybe teams will have to run one car and have mid-race driver changes.

 

[siffert_fan]

I can find no mention of any problem anywhere except the twitter cited above. I therefore find it more than a little unlikely, as news of that magnitude would be everywhere.

 

[Brogan]

I would tend to agree.

I did a bit of digging and COTA have stated they haven't heard anything from the FIA or FOM, however, neither did they deny it.

At this point in time I'm just going to file it in the "Unsubstantiated Rumours" folder.

 

[sportsman]

http://circuitoftheamericas.com/articles/fia-gives-cota-thumbs-up
Circuit of The Americas today announced that it has been declared ready to host the 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX™ by Charlie Whiting, who directs racing, safety and technical matters for the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the sanctioning body that oversees international motorsport. Whiting visited the Central Texas sports and entertainment venue as part of a scheduled pre-race inspection and approved the circuit for “Grade 1” status, which is the highest distinction awarded to a motorsports venue. The passing grade clears the way for the circuit to conduct Formula 1 racing this fall.
Whiting’s visit comes approximately two months before Formula 1 racing is set to return to the United States, Nov. 16-18. All Formula 1 circuits must be inspected and approved by Whiting before they can conduct Grand Prix racing, and the motorsports veteran spent approximately two hours touring the Austin facility along with representatives of Circuit of The Americas, general contractor Austin Commercial and German track architects Tilke GmbH. Whiting had rave reviews for the entire venue and the work completed since his last visit to the circuit in August 2012.
“Everything that I’ve seen so far has been absolutely first class, and the progress that’s been made since the last time that I was here is amazing,” Whiting said. “The guys have done an awesome job--it really is quite fantastic! It’s built to the highest quality, exactly as we expected, and I’ve got absolutely no complaints whatsoever.”
During his visit, Whiting inspected the now fully paved racing circuit and personally walked the 3.4-mile course to ensure the asphalt met FIA requirements. He inspected kerbing, guard rails, fencing and other safety measures that have been installed around the circuit. He also toured the pit/paddock building, which will house Race Control and serve as his base of operations during the Formula 1™ event. Whiting described the circuit’s permanent structures as “fantastic,” and said he was especially impressed with the design of the circuit’s turns, including its signature Turn 1.

 

[siffert_fan]

Could that twitter be more BE-inspired anti-US rubbish? He never seems to miss any opportunity to badmouth the Americans for transgressions both real and (primarily) imaginary. It has seemed to me that , for decades, Bernie has made pretty clear that he would much prefer no American presence in F1.

 

[FB]

Whatever happened to the days when circuits used to have to have run a race the season before F1 turned up? Some sort of race in advance of the whole F1circus coming to town would make sense to me. Maybe I'm just getting old?

 

[siffert_fan]

Whatever happened to the days when circuits used to have to have run a race the season before F1 turned up? Some sort of race in advance of the whole F1circus coming to town would make sense to me. Maybe I'm just getting old?

As I recall, that "practice" race had to be a non-championship F1 race (or F1 and Formula 5000 combined). Are there any such animals anymore?

 

[Brogan]

Recently they have used GP2 races to fill that role but the season is over now.
Perhaps there will be some sort of US race, assuming of course it is finished at least a few weeks before the F1 GP.

 

[Bill Boddy]

We all are.

Fancy wanting such a thing, where is your sense of adventure?

Edit: this was in response to FB but Brogan intervened (as is his or anyone else's right).