Not quite, but the talk is that the track will be near Bergstrom! Wow, imagine seeing the Ferrari and McLaren Racing Teams battling it out just 30 miles from San Marcos. Some Quotes:



http://www.news8austin.com/content/sports/272735/construction-on-formula-1-race-track-to-start-in-december

not really close to SM. Talk is it will be either on 290 or 71. My bet is 71 towards Bastrop but I dont know for sure. I dont know if people here can appreciate F1. We will see, its not a done deal yet. Oh well we still have to give Uncle Bernie 25M for it to just come to TX.

I can tell you what I know about the location specifications:
approximately 750 to 1,000 acres
Close access to two multi-lane divided highways, prefer limited access
low potential for Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) opposition
Within 30 minutes of International Airport
Avoids floodplain and sensitive environmental features
Vacant land nearby for supportive development (hotels, etc.)
Usual stuff about utility/infrastructure capacity
and the kicker: a view of the Austin skyline is supposedly a criterion

That narrows the sites significantly and restricts it to southeast Austin. There are some large tracts available on 71, 183 and SH130 near the airport that meet the criteria. My money is on a tract between FM 973 and SH130 on the southside of 71. It is about the right size and I believe is owned by a single person (no pain in the a$$ land assembly required).

If you don't consider difficulties of land assembly, then my money goes on the Cemex quarry property off Dalton Ln, just northeast of the 183/71 intersection in the bend of the Colorado River. This property might hold appeal as a brownfield/greyfield redevelopment site (potentially qualifying it for some other funding sources), and it would be a visually attractive property for a track.

The interesting thing about F1 is that it would be the only Grand Prix facility in the U.S. That means that Austin does not have to provide all of the fan support because fans will travel (F1 tends to have wealthy fans), though Austinites tend to meet the F1 demographic. Also, while the focus is on F1, this track would have a ton of potential for superbike races and a variety of other racing events. To that extent, it has far more utility than, say, Texas Motor Speedway up in Denton.

An article the AAS a week or so ago stated that there's been a lot of unusual real estate activity right at the airport in the past 6 months...and it included a couple hundred acre tract that is/was owned by someone connected to the effort to bring F1 to Austin.

Tivo (hope I spelled that right) was quoted on ESPN on the 21st that the new site was 10 minutes from downtown and 10 minutes from AIA. I still think 71 towards Bastrop is the deal.

I'm really beginning to think it is the Cemex site, assuming they mean a "real" 10 minutes and not 10 miles. Definitely the area between 183, 130 and 71. I mentioned the SW corner of 71/130, but the NW corner might be viable as well. I don't see them going any further east than Garfield where that car graveyard is, partly because around there you cross into Bastrop County and the City of Bastrop's ETJ (they assembled a huge ETJ beginning in the late 80s to create a barrier against Austin). Bastrop County doesn't do incentives like Travis County can and will (Bastrop County doesn't have the financial resources or aggressiveness that Travis County does), and the property being in the Bastrop ETJ means that Austin would never reap the tax revenue from the project.

Read an article in the statesman today that states that someone from F1 told someone from ESPN that it will be going near 290. Sucks for me if true, since I live off 71 going towards Bastrop. Was hoping that it would bring some much needed retail along with it.

Site revealed:

http://www.statesman.com/business/futur ... s_business

Hope it brings an HEB along with it...

Further south than I anticipated, and it appears the only major highway access is SH130. I'm very interested in seeing the site design once it is fleshed out a bit more, especially how access and traffic control will be handled.

Sweet. I already have my TxTag.

That's just south of the airport - thanks!!! According to google maps, from the center of San Marcos to what looks like the southern tip of the property at Piland triangle and FM 812 is less than 34 miles (using I35 and 130). That is pretty darn close for an FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) circuit. There aught to be plenty business to be had during major racing events - the FIA consists of 213 national member organizations in 125 countries and have millions of fans worldwide (many travel). Hopefully we (San Marcos area) can capitalize on this with hotels/city-tours + shopping promotions and maybe even shuttle buses from SM to the track.

Since Formula 1 racing is coming in the near future to the area, I found this vignette called "What qualities make an F1 driver special?" on the BBC news for all the F1 fans here. Enjoy!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11117061