Can we really pull off the F1 race? (Houston, Dallas: car rental, 2015)

[CarnivalGal]

I think the transportation issue is going to kill us. And now that there is US competition, I think it will last a couple years at best. New York has far better transportation, dining, hotels, and generally everything than Austin. I think people are going to attend the F1 events there instead. This first event will be well attended just because of the novelty. But after that, foreigners will fail to see the "charm" of "luxury" amenities that can't hold a candle to the amenities of New York.

The F1 crowd is not the same as the NASCAR crowd. They are very wealthy group used to accommodations at a level that Austin just can't provide.

[atxcio]

I get the feeling the the transportation issues are significantly overblown. To this day, some people actually believe there is just one 2 lane road to the track and that 120K people will be driving there on raceday. But the reality is that it's more like 8 lanes total over 3 entrances, and only 17K cars going to the track. So yeah, I expect traffic like during any of the other 100K attendance events we have... maybe a little worse. People will still complain, I'm sure.

Plus, this ain't NASCAR... not every redneck driving 1 person per car right into the track like TMS. Plus, F1 fans can afford more than 1/4 tank of gas, so there likely won't be the disabled vehicles that have plagued some of the other tracks. Should run much smoother, fewer cars and a whole heck of a lot more shuttles. Austin will show them how it's done.

[CptnRn]

I voted that it will be a disaster, not that I think it will be quite that bad, but that choice came closest to my expectations. I voted that way because I think this whole thing has been rushed far to fast.

The Austin City Council did not even vote on endorsing Formula 1 until late June of 2011. 16 months ago. At that time neither the County or State were backing the project.

http://www.insideline.com/car-news/a...unding.htmlThe first F1 race is set for June 2012. An international motorcycle grand prix has been contracted to begin in 2013.
Former Travis County tax collector Bill Aleshire sued city comptroller Susan Combs, accusing her of illegally promoting the event. Sen. Dan Patrick, a Texas Republican, questioned the wisdom of the special-events fund at a time when state government is wrestling with a deficit.

I predicted then that they would never make that June 2012 deadline, and they did not. That was not even enough time to build the race track, much less plan and coordinate all of the public entities and activities that have to happen to make it a success. Given the slow buy in to the project there simply has not been enough time for all of the entities involved to coordinate and plan out how that massive influx if people is going to be accommodated and managed. I definitely have little faith in Capital Metro's ability to handle the transportation needs through out the City and from downtown to the race track.

Fortunately that first race got delayed from June to November. Can you imagine holding that event in the Texas summertime heat? The fact that they ever planned on holding the race in June shows how little the planning staff understood what they were taking on holding it in Austin.

In Nov. 2011 construction had stopped and there were serious doubts that the race would ever be held. That had to have slowed down any serious planning efforts to accommodate the race.

The Hindu : Sport / Motorsport : Ecclestone says US Grand Prix set to be axed
Next year’s inaugural United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, is set to be scrapped, Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has said in an interview.
The race, scheduled for November 18, would be called off at the next meeting of F1’s governing body the FIA, Ecclestone told Britain’s Press Association.
Ecclestone’s comments come after developers of the new Circuit of Americas track said building had stopped in a row between the event promoters and the track’s organizers.
“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.”

[cBach]

Originally Posted by atxcio

Here's some of what F1 visitors will be expecting from Austin. As is typical with British media, it's way too long and informative. Lost my attention span after about 45 seconds.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/vid...o-austin-video

Link doesn't work.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by cBach

Link doesn't work.

Those dodgy Brits must have moved it. Anyway, it was a link to the video about Ginny's off this page:

Austin city guide | Travel | The Guardian

[gpurcell]

I think it will be fine; biggest headache is going to be at the airport.

The one thing I was wondering about was the crush at the end of the race, but with the announced concerts in the evenings people will have a choice the skedadle home or wait and watch a show. Should make it much more managable.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by atxcio

I get the feeling the the transportation issues are significantly overblown. To this day, some people actually believe there is just one 2 lane road to the track and that 120K people will be driving there on raceday. But the reality is that it's more like 8 lanes total over 3 entrances, and only 17K cars going to the track. So yeah, I expect traffic like during any of the other 100K attendance events we have... maybe a little worse. People will still complain, I'm sure.

Only 17K cars going to the track? How do you figure, is that how many parking spaces they have? * The Circuit of the America's website says:

Economic Impact | Circuit of The Americas - Home of the Formula 1 US Grand Prix | Nov. 16-18, 2012 | Austin TX

The CoTA-hosted FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX™ will attract as many as 300,000 people each Grand Prix weekend,

and

On major event days, more than 3,000 seasonal/event-specific employees will be hired.

I assume the 3000 event employees will be required to use a shuttle bus.

If the 17K cars each carry 3 people, that totals 51,000 people. Leaving 252,000 people that are going to get the track how? Shuttle bus?

Looking at the CoTA Transportation page http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com/transportation it shows only two roads coming in from the West, FM 812 and Elroy Road. Looking at Google maps it would be possible to drive farther East and enter the site from that direction, but those are small two land country roads and mostly funnel traffic back onto Elroy Road and FM 812.



Yes I see from their Traffic Management Plan, which you can download here http://austintexas.gov/department/ev...-road-closures , that they have only 17,000 parking places on site. But there will be far more vehicles trying to access the site when you add in all of the Taxi's, Limousines, shuttle buses, charter buses, emergency vehicles, service delivery trucks for food, souveners, fuel, etc., etc.

I found the "Traffic Control Plan" (Mass Gathering Permit) at that same link above and disturbingly it assumes a total of 22,000 vehicles on site and only two Shuttle locations: (Downtown and Expo Center, each requiring only 36,250 people, or a total of 72,500 people)". It estimates " Total: # of Shuttles to serve 72,500 people = 269 + 269 = 538 Shuttles ".

So how to you reconcile this? "The CoTA-hosted FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX™ will attract as many as 300,000 people each Grand Prix weekend"

[EzPeterson]

300K for the weekend is a rather optimistic estimate - they're counting on 100K per day for Fri/Sat and Sun.

I still think it'll be more than 17K autos, maybe 30K with another 1-2K bus? It'll be congested, no doubt, but I don't think it'll end up being Carmageddon 2K12.

Since folks will trickle in and the concerts will (hopefully) cause a more staged exit, that'll reduce the rush.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Only 17K cars going to the track? How do you figure, is that how many parking spaces they have? * The Circuit of the America's website says:

I assume the 3000 event employees will be required to use a shuttle bus.

If the 17K cars each carry 3 people, that totals 51,000 people. Leaving 252,000 people that are going to get the track how? Shuttle bus?

The 300K figure is pretty much irrelevant to the track itself. That is *maybe* how much attendance they will count combining all days and all events related to F1 within the city. It's one of those "city visitor" attendance figures that is cumulative, the same way they might measure SXSW attendance. The track itself will have a maximum of about 120K attendance on race day (Sunday Nov 18). In fact, COTA says they've sold 116K tickets so far, so it might not even be that many:

Of the 116,000 tickets already sold as of last week, 15% have been to international guests, mostly from Mexico and Canada, with 1,000 from France being the largest European contingent. So, although most of the ticket sales have been in Texas, California, New York, and Florida, there still may be several thousand guests who expect to eat very late and smoke everywhere.

(from Food-O-File: What will be the impact of Formula One on the local hospitality industry? - Food - The Austin Chronicle)

And yes, the 17K cars are from the parking capacity at the track. If that's 51,000 people like you suggest then we'd be looking at about 69,000 taking the shuttles from various locations. I believe the main shuttle stops are from downtown and the Expo center, but there are also:

* The bicycle park-n-ride at Richard Moya park
* 2 additional car shuttle lots that have been added by COTA since the traffic plan (next to airport and on FM812 about 5 miles east)
* Employee shuttle lot (Del Valle HS I believe)

Also as shown on the traffic plan, the shuttles take a completely different route from 130 to the track, so they won't compete with car traffic on the roads closest to the track. I also understand the city will be closing lanes for the shuttles in downtown, and will be directing traffic, so the shuttles won't get bogged down there either. Expo center? not sure about that. It has it's own entrance/egress problems.

Finally, the county did end up getting in gear finally and will complete a whole new route to the the track via Pearce Rd and a 3-lane extension of Kellam Rd that they are about to finish (scheduled to be done by race day):

The two-thirds of a mile extension will create a northern entry for the track off Pearce Lane and should help ease traffic flow. A graded dirt road was punched through weeks ago.

One month till Austin

Overall, I don't think traffic will be a disaster. Congested? Yes, of course. Hopefully the bars and restaurants will be full too, and everyone can make a profit and then the visitors will leave!

[atxcio]

Also, Mario Andretti will be opening the track... this Sunday?!

F1: Andretti To Open COTA In 2010 Renault

He'll be driving a Lotus team 2010 F1 car. A real modern day F1 car, pretty amazing he'll actually drive it (or even fit in it)... Probably won't be driving fast, but who knows? Could be a pretty cool show. Wish I had an invite...