Formula 1 at COTA in Austin in Question

Seeming less likely to go forward.

Maybe we'll end up with a useable & accessible track.

See LINK, w/wording below:
Ecclestone says he's ready to cancel Austin's F1 race

By American-Statesman staff | Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 12:22 PM
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone said he's ready to cancel an F1 race planned for Austin next year and that he needs a guarantee or letter of credit that he will be paid from officials with Circuit of the Americas, according to the Press Association.
If a deal is not reached before the final World Motor Sport Council meeting on Dec. 7 in New Delhi, when the final 2012 schedule is officially ratified, Ecclestone said the race would be axed.
"Yes it will be, for sure, 100 percent," Ecclestone told the Press Association, a British-based news organization.
Ecclestone today said a contract held by Full Throttle Productions for the rights to the race was canceled recently and that circuit organizers have been negotiating with him.
Developers stopped construction at the facility in southeast Travis County yesterday until a dispute over the contract is resolved. "The delivery of the Formula One Grand Prix race contract will allow construction operations to resume," officials said in a statement.
Speaking for the investors group Tuesday, circuit investor Bobby Epstein said, "I don't know why Formula One would want to kill this race. The money is in place; the project is on time. All COTA needs is for Formula One to convey the original contracts that were in place for a long time."
The Press Association today reported that Ecclestone said: "We've done everything we bloody well can do to make this race happen."
The American-Statesman has contacted circuit officials, who are expected to respond today.
According to the Press Association:
Explaining how the situation has spiralled, Ecclestone said: "We had an agreement with Full Throttle Productions.
"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.
"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."
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs yesterday announced a change in plans to provide a $25 million a year in state financial incentives to the project, saying a first payment would not be made until after the initial F1 race is held as currently scheduled on Nov. 18, 2012. Previously, it was thought that the payment could be made at any point up to a year in advance of the race.
Combs has been a big supporter of the race since 2008, when Hellmund first pitched the idea to her.
Yesterday she introduced some doubt, citing "recently publicized disagreements between the race right holders and the circuit developers," slowdowns at the Austin construction site and a potentially competitive F1 race recently awarded to New Jersey as reasons for concern.
Speaking shortly before the construction stoppage was announced, Combs said, "The State of Texas will not be paying any funds in advance of the event. Further, as is the case with all (Major Events Trust Fund) events, each application will be reviewed and analyzed for its likely economic impact, and only after the race occurs would any funds be disbursed."
No state money has been spent on the F1 race project, Combs emphasized.

Looks like Bernie set a deadline to get his $$$. LINK, w/wording below:

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By John Maher
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 6:34 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011
Published: 9:39 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011

Circuit of the Americas appears to have three weeks to sign a contract with Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone or lose the international racing event and jeopardize construction of the $300 million track in southeastern Travis County.

Ecclestone was asked by the British news agency Press Association if the Austin race was in peril of being dropped from the 2012 racing schedule, and he replied, "Yes, it will be for sure, 100 percent. We've done everything we bloody well can to make this race happen."
Late Wednesday, Ecclestone went even further, telling Britain's The Independent that the race has already been postponed, "The (new) contract we proposed to them is 10 years from 2013. We said we would wait for them," Ecclestone said.
Ecclestone said he needs a financial guarantee or letter of credit from circuit officials that they will pay the sanction fee for the race. Ecclestone said that he, not Austin-based promoter Tavo Hellmund and his Full Throttle Productions, controlled the rights to the race.
Ecclestone, a longtime friend of Hellmund's, said that contract with Hellmund had been canceled because Hellmund was in breach of it.
It is not known what led to the breach .
The lack of an agreement between Formula One and Circuit of the Americas was the main reason track investors suspended work on Tuesday, idling 300 workers.
Wednesday, it was 80 degrees and sunny, a near-perfect day for construction. But in the afternoon, the workers' parking lot was nearly empty, and heavy machinery was being lined up to be trucked away. Even the portable toilets were carted out.
Whether the workers and machines ever come back remains to be seen. The work stoppage could be a final bargaining ploy as investors try to strike an eleventh-hour deal with Ecclestone. Or it could mean the end of the project. The track has yet to be paved, and above-ground construction had just begun.
Investors, who include San Antonio billionaire Red McCombs, have not said how much money has been spent on developing the 1,100-acre site, but an earlier study for the circuit by Don Hoyte of TexasEconomicImpact estimated that $144.9 million would be spent in 2011.
On Wednesday, investor Bobby Epstein said he would have no further comments until a deal has been completed.
Negotiations were complicated this week by state Comptroller Susan Combs' announcement that no state money would be paid in advance of a Formula One race. Formula One had been slated to receive $25 million a year from the state's Major Events Trust Fund.
In a letter to Ecclestone last year, Combs said that if conditions were met, Ecclestone would receive a payment on July 31 this year. That, however, was when the race was scheduled for June 2012.
The race date was later pushed back to Nov. 18, 2012. Although the comptroller could make a payment as much as a year in advance of the race, she decided not to make any advance payment. The payment would come after the race and would depend on the extra tax revenue created by the event.
It now appears Circuit of the Americas would have to come up with a payment of at least $25 million for the 2012 race. Track investors are not saying what Ecclestone now wants for a sanctioning fee.
Ecclestone told Press Association that he has yet to receive a payment from Circuit of the Americas or a guarantee. He said, "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."
If a 2012 race is still possible, a likely cutoff date for negotiations appears to be Dec. 7, when the World Motor Sport Council meets in New Delhi and finalizes the 2012 Formula One racing calendar.
Meanwhile, in Elroy, Pedro Mar said some of his neighbors are sad that construction has halted, because they were hoping the track would increase property values in the area.
Mar was out in front of the Elroy Community Library, where he said some residents gather after work or on the weekends because of the better Internet connection there.
"There's nothing out here," Mar said as pointed around. "There's no businesses. There's nothing to do. There's not even any cows."
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At 1st I was like "OH, F1 In TEXAS" this i can has interest.

later I said ^^^