AustinF1 Posted September 26, 2013 Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 Comptroller Combs to be deposed in Schwantz case: http://www.statesman.com/weblogs/formula-a...-schwantz-case/ State Comptroller Susan Combs will be deposed as part of a lawsuit filed last year by motorcycling legend Kevin Schwantz against Circuit of the Americas and its CEO, Steve Sexton. In the suit Schwantz, the 1993 world champion, claims circuit officials undermined his relationship with Dorna, the Spanish rights-holder for MotoGP. That global series is motorcycling’s equivalent of Formula One and held its first Grand Prix in Austin in April. Schwantz and his company were not involved in promoting that event. Schwantz's suit claims he played a key role in getting a commitment of $4.6 million for 10 years from the comptroller through the Events Trust Fund administered by her office. In January, Combs established a state trust fund of about $2 million for this year’s MotoGP race. Schwantz’s legal team initially issued a subpoena for Combs to be deposed last December, but that subpoena was contested by Combs. Last week District Court Judge Tim Sulak denied Combs’ motion to quash the subpoena, saying that “Comptroller Combs has unique or superior knowledge of discoverable information relevant to the subject matter of the pending action that appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” The deposition will be in Austin and will be limited to 90 minutes for each side in the suit. It will be confined to communications and matters pertaining to the MotoGP race and the circuit. According to Lauren Willis, a spokeswoman for the comptroller, “A date has not been set and the deposition shall be used by the parties solely for settlement discussions or negotiations, pretrial proceedings, or trial of this case.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMRacer89 Posted September 27, 2013 Report Share Posted September 27, 2013 iRacing on track with their laser scanners. I've occasionally been trying to nudge them towards CTS and SAS with those two being within an hour of the track. Don't expect they'll actually go for it though (now or in the near future). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted September 29, 2013 Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 Statesman: Are COTA’s and state’s expectations on track with race crowds? http://www.mystatesman.com/news/sports/mot...tatesman_launch CHARTING THE CROWDS A look at the crowd projections submitted to the state by Circuit of the Americas for its races and series events over the past year — and what the crowds ended up being: Event;Expected;Actual F1;120,000-125,000;117,429 MotoGP*;161,000;131,082 MotoGP;86,000;61,091 Aussie V8s*;87,000;69,000 ALM/WEC*;116,851;33,591 * Three-day weekend projections Sources: Circuit of the Americas, Texas comptroller’s office That's just the summary at the end. This $$ story goes into much greater detail, & expands on a portion of this article from last Sunday: "Audi scores 100th sports car victory at Austin track" http://www.mystatesman.com/news/sports/mot...invitiation-box Sebring was on the calendar last year but has been replaced by Austin as the North American stop. At Sebring, the arrival of the sports cars was an annual celebration. At Austin, not so much. At least, not yet. According to circuit officials, the three-day attendance for the sports car weekend was 33,591. Circuit officials did not provide day-to-day attendance numbers. Friday was spoiled by rain, but on Saturday and Sunday, weather conditions were just about ideal for fans, if a little toasty for drivers. In the grandstands, however, there was only a smattering of fans for the weekend races. An economic impact study submitted to the state comptroller in May by the city of Austin and the circuit estimated that Sunday’s crowd would be 54,771, including 30,124 out-of-state fans. Saturday’s crowd was projected at 45,980, with the total attendance for the three-day weekend at 116,851. In asking for $1.5 million from the state’s Events Trust Fund, the study projected that the race weekend would give the area an economic boost of $21.8 million. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direct-flo Posted September 29, 2013 Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 33,591....really? even with Friday and the rain..I heard from several people that it looked like a county fair on a Tuesday...a lot of open seating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted September 29, 2013 Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 Working on my Saturday photos & some more from Sunday, but here are some of my Friday & Sunday photos that show the crowd. More to come, & more other photos at the links. Sunday was more crowded than Saturday, but only by a little. Friday: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.7...4878&type=1 Sunday during WEC race, from Main Straight, Pits, Paddock: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.7...4878&type=3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelracewriter Posted September 29, 2013 Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 By my count from the pictures, I got 3,359....maybe it was just a "typo?"......lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted September 29, 2013 Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 By my count from the pictures, I got 3,359....maybe it was just a "typo?"......lol Ha! Yeah. But in all seriousness, I was there all weekend & I'm pretty sure your count is much closer to reality than 33k is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelracewriter Posted September 29, 2013 Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 Ha! Yeah. But in all seriousness, I was there all weekend & I'm pretty sure your count is much closer to reality than 33k is. You're not the only one that doubted the weekend numbers.....But after your posting of proposed numbers, comptroller issues, it's easy to see why they seem to be so inflated..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted September 30, 2013 Report Share Posted September 30, 2013 Ha! Yeah. But in all seriousness, I was there all weekend & I'm pretty sure your count is much closer to reality than 33k is. You're not the only one that doubted the weekend numbers.....But after your posting of proposed numbers, comptroller issues, it's easy to see why they seem to be so inflated..... Here's the scam: Events get METF subsidies ahead of the event based on their own attendance projections, not based on the actual attendance. Why? IMHO, it's because that's the only way the scam will work. So just for the ALMS/WEC weekend alone, COTA is getting $1.5M based on a projection of 117K attendance when their announced attendance (which is quite dubious) was only 33K. If this doesn't piss people off, then I can't imagine what would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted September 30, 2013 Report Share Posted September 30, 2013 R&T's Marshall Pruett: How to get more butts in seats at Circuit of the Americas http://www.roadandtrack.com/voices/columni...of-the-americas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted September 30, 2013 Report Share Posted September 30, 2013 OK, I've added a couple of ALMS/WEC galleries. Still more to come from Saturday! Sunday during the WEC 6-hour: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.7...4878&type=1 More Friday rain pics: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.7...4878&type=3 Preview: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelracewriter Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 So just for the ALMS/WEC weekend alone, COTA is getting $1.5M based on a projection of 117K attendance when their announced attendance (which is quite dubious) was only 33K. If this doesn't piss people off, then I can't imagine what would. Sadly another reason why COTA will NOT get a dime of my hard-earned money..... On the bright side.....You got some nice pictures.....Good job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 ...On the bright side.....You got some nice pictures.....Good job! Thanks rebel. I'm learning...slowly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 OBTW, it's interesting...Marshall Pruett said initially in his article that there were about 25K people at COTA over the ALMS/WEC weekend. The article was later updated to say that COTA had revised this number upward to the ~33K number they announced. What we're hearing is that the writers were told by COTA at the track that the attendance was ~25K before they revised it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelracewriter Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 LOL....Still leaves 'em a bit short.....Like 83K....but hey maybe, like the govt. unemployment figures, there's some places that haven't reported yet?....LMAO It does prove one thing tho....no matter what it involves.....anything involving the govt., money, big business and figures is always going to be skewed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 New LivingSocial F1 USGP Ticket deal just hit the web. Seems like prices are dropping a bit more: Choose from the following offers: • $39 for one Friday ticket • $59 for one Saturday ticket • $79 for one Sunday ticket • $249 for one Turn-Four Weekend Pass • $999 for four Turn-Four Weekend Passes with parking https://www.livingsocial.com/events/cities/...tm_source=blast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 That's a big discount on the single-day GA tickets. On the TM site they're $49, $79, & $129. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racer61 Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 AustinF1, not sure what you use for a camera but you take some stellar shots!!! Thats awesome. Even the rain shots have perfect detail. Keep em coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted October 2, 2013 Report Share Posted October 2, 2013 AustinF1, not sure what you use for a camera but you take some stellar shots!!! Thats awesome. Even the rain shots have perfect detail. Keep em coming. Thanks Racer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted October 2, 2013 Report Share Posted October 2, 2013 Confirming what we heard over the ALMS/WEC weekend, Autoweek just released an article on the state of sportscar racing in the U.S: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20131002/A...mp;utm_campaign Several nights before the International Sports Car Weekend at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas—the American Le Mans Series on Saturday, Sept. 21, the FIA World Endurance Championship on Sunday, Sept. 22—FIA officials summoned COTA management to a hastily called meeting. The officials proceeded to slam them mercilessly, claiming this was one of the worst-promoted, worst-run races they've seen; that they expected this in China, but in America? Where their sophisticated Audis and Toyotas should be playing to a packed house in their only appearance here this year? Not acceptable, and we wondered if the WEC's three-year contract would see year two. This was days before the races even started. Friday, rain trimmed the crowd, but on Saturday and Sunday, the weather was perfect. COTA claimed a three-day crowd of about 35,000, which seems optimistic. Near the end of Sunday's WEC race, it is simply not possible to claim there were more than 5,500 fans there. The ALMS, with its familiar Corvettes and Vipers and comparably loud cars, outdrew the WEC significantly. That's item No. 1 you should know about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted October 3, 2013 Report Share Posted October 3, 2013 McLaren to conduct October test of 2014 Pirellis at COTA: http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-...in-7764141.html Google Translation: McLaren test for Pirelli: After Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull is now McLaren's turn. The team from Woking will conduct mid-October in Austin for a 2011 car with Pirelli tire testing. The competition fears that McLaren has benefited the U.S. GP. Pirelli continues its tire testing. But this time, the Italian tire manufacturer is not going to Barcelona like Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull The next test will be held on 20th and 21 October instead with McLaren in Austin. McLaren sets the rules according to a 2011 car. Pirelli bears the cost of the overseas trip. Pretty much effort for 1,000 kilometers in the service of the tire supplier. What McLaren learns the tire test in Austin for the U.S. GP? The date and the place has been taken by the competition. Only three weeks after the test tire, the GP USA will be held in Austin at the same location. Although McLaren with the MP4-26 of 2011 is underway and will 2014 Pirelli tires available, see some teams an advantage in competition for McLaren. One is reminded of the example of Ferrari. The troops from Maranello allowed three weeks before the Spanish GP with a 2011 car in Barcelona tires for Ferrari test. Prompt Fernando Alonso won the Spanish GP. Something you always learn, if only for the setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted October 3, 2013 Report Share Posted October 3, 2013 ...but then there's this: Ted Kravitz @tedkravitz A few #F1 news lines: McLaren tyre test pre-Austin cancelled, next yr's hot weather tests will be in Bahrain and Vet does not have tr ctrl! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted October 3, 2013 Report Share Posted October 3, 2013 f1talks.pl @f1talks @Austin_F1 @tedkravitz @joaoctm123 @TheFifthDriver FIA didn't give them green light to make the test. & Pirelli forced to abandon F1 Austin McLaren tyre test plan http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110283 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinF1 Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 Will there be shuttles for the USGP this year? First Vance found this: https://www.facebook.com/FoF1ATX/posts/718033318211216 Then just a few minutes ago John Maher & the Statesman released this article about roads with the following quote from COTA spokeswoman Julie Loignon: http://www.statesman.com/weblogs/formula-a...tting-facelift/ A September draft of the circuit’s transportation plan for the November F1 race shows a shuttle lot at the corner of Moore and Burklund Farms roads. But circuit spokeswoman Julie Loignon said Monday it had not yet been determined whether there would be a shuttle lot there for this year’s F1 race. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiTech Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 R&T's Marshall Pruett: How to get more butts in seats at Circuit of the Americas ;MORE BUTTS IN THE SEATS ..WELL FOR ME TO EVER SET FOOT THERE THEY WILL HAVE TO SEND EVERY CROOK OF OWNERS [iE] THIEVES PACKING . THEY DID NOT REALIZE WHAT THEY DID TO TAVO HAD A VERY LARGE IMPACT ON TEXAS RACING FANS AND I HAVE NEVER MET TAVO .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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