I flew to Istanbul from Los Angeles, where I've been working on a film project. I had to take three different planes to get here and made my final connection in Zurich. There, I bumped into Speed Week's editor Matthias Brunner. I had taken a couple of sleeping pills on the Washington DC - Zurich leg and was very very drowsy, so when Mattias said "Have you heard about the grand prix in Austin? Is it true?" I thought I was hearing things...
After all being quiet on the US front for a number of years, rumours of an imminent return fired up in Australia. Bernie wants to go back to the US, they said, and he wants the race to be in New York.
A race in Jersey City was announced and then canned within 24hrs. That was three weeks ago. The concept sounded pretty good - it would have brought a bit of glamour to the much-derided Garden State and the circuit would have had Manhattan's skyline in the background, which would add a bit of glamour to F1 too.
But no, the mayor responded to a bit of environmental pressure and canned it. So then Bernie was said to be looking at the Catskills. Somewhere called the Monticello Motor Club, based at a little track 70km from NYC. Doesn't sound ideal, but it does sound pretty.
And then on Tuesday night, completely out of left field, Austin has thrown its hat in the ring along with official confirmation from Bernie and the blessing of Texas governor Rick Perry.
First up, I used to live in Austin and I can tell you the F1 circus is going to love the city. It's brilliant for bars, live music and Mexican food. Culturally it's a melting pot. It's the one blue dot on the red map, as rednecks are outnumbered by hippies, latinos, students and the tech crowd - largely from the coasts - who come to work for Dell and AMD, who have big manufacturing plants and offices there.
I was there because I was doing F1 sponsorship for AMD at the time, and I did daydream about what it would be like if F1 were to race there. Very few people that I ran into in Texas knew anything about the sport.
In principle, I'm in favour of it as a venue, though I still think Las Vegas, New York City, Long Beach or South Beach would be better suited. Austin won't have the halo effect the other venues could have offered, but there should be a decent A-list presence. Austin is home to a growing film industry. Robert Rodriguez has a fantastic studio in the nothern part of town, and a number of movie stars have homes there.
But there's a lot of cynicism as to whether this is going to happen. Is Tavo Hellmund, the 39 year-old former racer with 14 NASCAR starts to his name, going to be another Simon Gillett?
Where's the money coming from? Not from the taxpayer, that's for sure. Hellmund's company, Full Throttle Productions, has yet to purchase land on which this permanent circuit will be built. Apparently they are looking at three sites. There's a lot of undeveloped land near the airport, to the east of the city, which would be suitable.
Announcing the race before the land has been bought is likely to increase the land costs.
2012 is not far away. Is this going to happen? I wouldn't put money on it, no. I hope I'm wrong as everyone wants the USGP back on the calendar. Another let-down Stateside - first Indianapolis 2005, then USF1 - is going to make it all the harder to revive and win over the audience over there.
Anyway, back to my trip to LA. The highlights were:
When three police cars showed up and threatened to arrest my friend Jules for weeing in an alley.
Drinks at the Formosa Cafe. The place is famous firstly for its celebrity clientele (Bogart, Gable and Sinatra were all regulars) and secondly for how bad the Chinese food is.
Flying to Catalina Island for a buffalo burger, and then flying straight back. The trip is known as 'the $200 burger'. And yes, that is me flying.
After all being quiet on the US front for a number of years, rumours of an imminent return fired up in Australia. Bernie wants to go back to the US, they said, and he wants the race to be in New York.
A race in Jersey City was announced and then canned within 24hrs. That was three weeks ago. The concept sounded pretty good - it would have brought a bit of glamour to the much-derided Garden State and the circuit would have had Manhattan's skyline in the background, which would add a bit of glamour to F1 too.
But no, the mayor responded to a bit of environmental pressure and canned it. So then Bernie was said to be looking at the Catskills. Somewhere called the Monticello Motor Club, based at a little track 70km from NYC. Doesn't sound ideal, but it does sound pretty.
And then on Tuesday night, completely out of left field, Austin has thrown its hat in the ring along with official confirmation from Bernie and the blessing of Texas governor Rick Perry.
First up, I used to live in Austin and I can tell you the F1 circus is going to love the city. It's brilliant for bars, live music and Mexican food. Culturally it's a melting pot. It's the one blue dot on the red map, as rednecks are outnumbered by hippies, latinos, students and the tech crowd - largely from the coasts - who come to work for Dell and AMD, who have big manufacturing plants and offices there.
I was there because I was doing F1 sponsorship for AMD at the time, and I did daydream about what it would be like if F1 were to race there. Very few people that I ran into in Texas knew anything about the sport.
In principle, I'm in favour of it as a venue, though I still think Las Vegas, New York City, Long Beach or South Beach would be better suited. Austin won't have the halo effect the other venues could have offered, but there should be a decent A-list presence. Austin is home to a growing film industry. Robert Rodriguez has a fantastic studio in the nothern part of town, and a number of movie stars have homes there.
But there's a lot of cynicism as to whether this is going to happen. Is Tavo Hellmund, the 39 year-old former racer with 14 NASCAR starts to his name, going to be another Simon Gillett?
Where's the money coming from? Not from the taxpayer, that's for sure. Hellmund's company, Full Throttle Productions, has yet to purchase land on which this permanent circuit will be built. Apparently they are looking at three sites. There's a lot of undeveloped land near the airport, to the east of the city, which would be suitable.
Announcing the race before the land has been bought is likely to increase the land costs.
2012 is not far away. Is this going to happen? I wouldn't put money on it, no. I hope I'm wrong as everyone wants the USGP back on the calendar. Another let-down Stateside - first Indianapolis 2005, then USF1 - is going to make it all the harder to revive and win over the audience over there.
Anyway, back to my trip to LA. The highlights were:
When three police cars showed up and threatened to arrest my friend Jules for weeing in an alley.
Drinks at the Formosa Cafe. The place is famous firstly for its celebrity clientele (Bogart, Gable and Sinatra were all regulars) and secondly for how bad the Chinese food is.
Flying to Catalina Island for a buffalo burger, and then flying straight back. The trip is known as 'the $200 burger'. And yes, that is me flying.
From Adam Cooper F1.com:
Tilke designing Austin track, site already purchased
http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/05/26/tilke-designing-austin-track-site-already-purchased/
May 26, 2010…11:59 pm
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Austin would be good venue -I agree other sites you mentioned would probably be better, but Texas is DJ Eroks backyard. Keep up good work Adam!
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