Eeeee Yaaaaa! F1 in Texas?
The Bear was told this is a “15 minutes of fame” deal. Cash paid to Bernie (a kind of application fee to FOA), but unlikely to get much beyond that. The number to get the “purpose-built” facility entirely prepared (garages, spectator amenities, track, etc.)? Murphy was quoted “a quarter billion dollars.”
Though three “possible sites” have been mentioned, The contemplated site is said to be a 7/8ths oval south of Austin, which makes sense to the Bear, since it will already have been “permitted” for racing activities…Thunderhill, baby! From NASCAR West to F1 in one big leap.
The deal has been floated by Full Throttle Productions, LP, whose managing partner is apparently 39-year-old Tavo (C.T.) Hellmund, most recently a part-time (14 starts) driver in NASCAR West’s K&N Pro Series (before that Formula Ford in Britain, and a few other nondescript racing adventures). Can a promoter for which a “big event” was drawing 9,000 to the Allstate Thunderhill 150 really build a $250 million facility and promote an international event that will have to draw 150,000 spectators to succeed? Can a promoter whose racing career was characterized by “under-funded efforts,” raise a quarter billion dollars for a facility, plus at least another $10 million for promotion and other operating costs? Can all that get done in 24 months?
“C.T.” is the son of the Tavo Hellmund, who promoted CART in Mexico City in the early 1980’s, now an Austin Ford dealer.
Murphy thinks the Austin Formula 1 race will have more in common with the F1 events in Moscow, Mexico, and India, than it will with Bahrain, Brazil, and Belgium. Time will tell, won’t it?
About Abruzzi (Cliff’s Notes version)
The Abruzzi chassis originated with Multimatic in Toronto about the time the Esperante lost its DOT certification in 2006. The Canadian company, which built the Esperante tube frame chassis for the Esperante race car and shipped them to Panoz Auto Development (PAD) in Georgia, did a second generation design in 2006, this one with a carbon fiber floor pan, firewall, and rear panels.
The Multimatic tooling went to PAD after 2006, where a few race cars, but no road cars, have been built since then; Esperante road car sales have been made out of existing inventory (permitted after of the certification of the Mustang on which it piggybacked ended).
Enter the Don, who decided to use that second generation chassis along with a Corvette drive train for his Abruzzi. Danny hired designers, Comprent built the patterns, and Elan built the body panels. Except…they didn’t fit! Danny and Don had a little family tiff over that, and a few of the “old guys” were brought back to Elan, but it was all such a mess they were gone after a few days.
So there it is, a huge scramble to get the car ready to leave for France June 1, where it will (maybe) do a demonstration lap ahead of the pace car at Le Mans. Will it make it?
Laguna Seca
The cold put just a small crimp in Friday’s forum get-together. Huge and Brian were happy to see each other, and atlantafalconsfan met the Bear. The next day, even the house Canuckistani was dressed for winter, apparently guarding the Port-a-Potties.
Murphy froze his little tush just about off. It was so cold even fur didn’t help much. If they say the crowd was up, or even, or close to it, they’re spinning. Fifty feet of empty fence above Turn 2 at the start doesn’t qualify even as “the new up.”
The Corkscrew (inside the track) looked pretty good, but sports car types being among the smarter racing fans, they likely quickly figured out it’s one of the few spots sheltered from the bitter winds.
Notes
Murphy can imagine the conversation Laguna Seca had with its big sponsor. “You know that new media center we promised? Well, how about a nice new scoring pole instead?”
A dispute over who was supposed to pay for what has ended the Marcelli-Feinberg partnership before the season’s third event. It’s likely we won’t have Joel to kick around anymore.
The engine and head in Dyson Racing’s Lola were redesigned over the winter. Will that make a difference? They believe so. Is the oil filter the next candidate for re-engineering? A Fram, perhaps?
Whether ALMS/IMSA is or is not for sale, it’s widely believed in the paddock that the series will change hands if there’s acceptable offer. Since to date the seller’s definition of “acceptable offer” seems to be damn near double that of the interested parties’ definition, a change any time soon would appear to be unlikely.
Cats (Not the musical)
Though what we saw on the track at Laguna Seca was still more Grizabella than Mr. Mistoffelees. Yes, there was the Jaguar on the last lap, but there were also the 46 laps the cat didn’t make over the course of 6 hours, and even that makes no reference to pace. The best run to date, but not one that instills confidence for Le Mans.
Audi: R15+ Last of the Line?
There have been hints that Audi has decided “the way forward” in sports car racing is in GT, not prototype. If so, that continues a world-wide trend amongst manufacturers. Murphy suspects this recent “golden age of prototypes” may soon be behind us, replaced (he can hope) by a “golden age of GT.”
Tags: Abruzzi, Audi, Austin Formula 1, Austin TX, CART, Cats, Comprent, Corvette, Dyson Racing, Elan, Esperante, Formula 1, Fram, Huge, K&N Pro Series, Le Mans, NASCAR West, Panoz Auto Development, Port-a-Potty, Tavo Hellmund, Thunderhill
gt cars make more sense for any mfg’er. only the fans want more newer protos and the mfg’ers except for 2008 have avoided meeting on those terms. 80′s imsa was exciting with the protos when there was a mfg’er who knew how to build-them-and-they-will-come. today not so much.
leave the proto class open for entries but build the series on the backs of the gt classes. invite the protos for a few select races like the old 6 hr of glen, sebring and daytona here in the states and the brands and le mans races in the eu. let the mfg’ers decide when they want to once again participate in the proto class.
Does that mean Ratel will have the last laugh? Ratel championed GT’s in the face of the FIA Prototype Championship out of the remains of the original FIA GT series.
I always thought Prototypes were great, but when you have boutique car builders and privately rich team owners going against cubic dollars in the OEM’s the Rich Private Team Owner wants fans to feel “sorry” for him, which due to America and British’s tradition of supporting the underdog, many fans do. But the reality is, if the Rich Private Team Owner wanted to beat the Factories, he needs to find advantages. If its with drivers, chassis or engines, you need to find it. But there desire to be Rich overrides their desire to be competitive and constantly look for the “moral” victories in Sportscars because there’s no such thing in Stock Cars or Open Wheel.
Why is that???
If Audi drops from the ranks of Prototype supporters, I would say the death of Prototypes is wildly overrated. I still believe Honda sees value in ALMS/Le Mans and so does Toyota. Audi has largely accomplished what it set out to do and now firmly under the umbrella of VW, might have to do devote more man power to DTM with the coming of BMW into the series in 2011.
With Porsche also under that VW umbrella, they might take on the mantle of defending Germany’s honor. I see this is the likely scenario if Audi drops down to the GT ranks, taking a page out of Porsche’s book…
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