Game over for Texas F1

[GH85Carrera]

Game over for the U.S. Grand Prix and the Circuit of the Americas - Autoweek

Rats. I was planning on attending.

[onewhippedpuppy]

That sucks, only 10 hours from me. My son and I were absolutely going.

[pwd72s]

Like I said on the other thread...Benie is a butt. You'd think people would learn to not deal with him. My sympathies to the Texas folks..

[herr_oberst]

Geez, who could see that coming?

[Scooter]

Sucks!

[Deschodt]

That article has no new information, really... yesterday was the same status quo and it was not game over, it was still being discussed... Sounds like stopping work is a ploy from the land owners to force Hellmund to sell them the contract.

If hellmund and the track owners make nice, it could still happen. It's dead when Bernie says it is... Are they bluffing ? I bet they don't want to walk away from all the work they did already...

[willtel]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

It's dead when Bernie says it is...

You mean like this?

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

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone says he is ready to axe the Austin Grand Prix in the wake of internal disputes between the race organisers.

Ecclestone had intimated in India that the race was at risk, but the situation reached a critical point this week when circuit construction was halted amidst a growing row between the event promoters and the track's organisers.

"We've done everything we bloody well can to make this race happen," Ecclestone told the Press Association. When asked whether the race was in danger of being dropped, he replied: "Yes, it will be for sure, 100 per cent."

Ecclestone said that his original contract, with Tavo Hellmund's Full Throttle Productions company - who owned the rights to host the race - had been cancelled recently.

He said he had instead started negotiations with the track developers, the Circuit of The Americas, who halted construction work on Tuesday after claiming contract talks had not progressed as previously agreed.

Ecclestone says he is yet to receive a guarantee of payment from COTA, and has given them three weeks to resolve the situation or risk having the race dropped from the 2012 Formula 1 calendar when the World Motor Sport Council meets in New Delhi on December 7.

"We had an agreement with Full Throttle Productions," Ecclestone explained. "Everything was signed and sealed, but we kept putting things off like the dates, various letters of credit and things that should have been sent, but nothing ever happened.

"Then these other people [COTA] came on the scene, saying that they wanted to do things, but that they had problems with Tavo [Hellmund]. They said they had the circuit, and that they wanted an agreement with me.

"I told them they had to sort out the contract with Tavo, which they said they would. But that has gone away now because we've cancelled Tavo's contract as he was in breach.

"We've waited six months for him to remedy the breach. He knows full well why we've cancelled. He's happy. But these other people haven't got a contract. All we've asked them to do is get us a letter of credit.

"We are looking for security for money they are going to have to pay us. That is via a letter of credit, normally from a bank. If people don't have the money they find it difficult to get the letter of credit, and so we don't issue a contract."

The dispute means F1's current four-year absence from the US, a key market, could be further prolonged, although a deal to race in New Jersey from 2013 was recently agreed.

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by willtel

You mean like this?

Yes and no ;-) Wouldn't be the first time Bernie calls a bluff and wins... He's on Hellmund's side...

Not calling it either way, but right now it looks like a giant game of poker to me.

[TheMentat]

It seems strange to me that somebody would build a track without owning the rights to the race... It would be a huge risk to rely on some promoter to ensure that everything on that side was taken care of, and I can understand why they would try to squeeze him out.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by TheMentat

It seems strange to me that somebody would build a track without owning the rights to the race... It would be a huge risk to rely on some promoter to ensure that everything on that side was taken care of, and I can understand why they would try to squeeze him out.

It would also seem strange that you would get $40M into the project before figuring this out. I wonder exactly whose money got spent.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Once the shell is cracked the egg is no longer good to use. I sensed this deal was flawed from the time the race date was moved several months from June to Nov.

Now all the parties involved can stand on the edge of one of the canyons they've carved out and piss into it. That's pretty much what they've done all along is piss away time and money.

Totally piss on it.

[Noah930]

Now you're quoting yourself like tabs.

[DaveE]

Seems like Bernie's looking for a guarantee payment from somebody and no one's forking it over. Not sure exactly what HE'S doing wrong here.

[nostatic]

yeah, can't fault Bernie on this one. He's a businessman. Sounds like there is a pissing match between the promoter and investor on the US side. Problem is that playing chicken with Bernie is a lose/lose. He'll just take his ball elsewhere and get his 8-9 figure payment.

[teenerted1]

if bernie gets his $25mil he's fine with it...

korea and india we still construction site mud pits weeks before those races happened

shame that v8 and moto will have to suffer

[regency]

F-Who? Maybe they can go the way of the NBA.......yeah.

Steve

73 911 T MFI Coupe, Aubergine

[legion]

These kinds of problems tend to become self-perpetuating once they become public. This will probably spiral from here. I hope it doesn't, but it probably will.

Bernie tends to prefer government-financed deals so his income is guaranteed. I hardly call someone a "businessman" when his business is getting governments to foot the bill. For as much as people malign NASCAR, their business model is built on having fans pay for tickets and profitable tracks, not races with sparse attendance and taxpayer subsidies. I think that Bernie needs to re-evaluate his business model, because the fans are slowly disappearing because they can't afford to go to the races.

I'd like to go to an F1 race. I have to wonder how New Jersey will fare.

[Baz]

Reminds me of the current NBA dispute as well as the super-committee stalemates - too many pissing contests going on by egotists......not enough "get 'er done' mantra!

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by nostatic

yeah, can't fault Bernie on this one. He's a businessman. Sounds like there is a pissing match between the promoter and investor on the US side. Problem is that playing chicken with Bernie is a lose/lose. He'll just take his ball elsewhere and get his 8-9 figure payment.

He said pissing.

[dennis in se pa]

I can't see Texans letting limp wrist-ed Bernie getting away with this. If this does not happen (the F1 race in Texas) Bernie won't be here much longer. You don't mess with Texas.