planetf1.com

Wow.

http://jalopnik.com/5970719/austins-cir ... socialflow

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Good, keep it nice for professionals I'm sure they'll sort out refunds for the groups that have already paid.

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Not that i'm in a position to be affected... but why??? It's not like track days affect track conditions.. if anything it'll just be more rubbered.
Shame that such an awsome track can't be experienced by the common man.

They're still honoring club race dates, at least for the SCCA. Track day clubs can unknowingly abuse facilities. Not that I think that's the reason.

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The track will see quite a bit of rubber before next year's GP, there's 2 days of Grand Am in late February, the MotoGP and Super V8s weekends.

I'm not really sure why they would cancel the rentals. I know the Grand Am cars paid a visit recently for some testing and that was well received by all parties. I don't know if they've done some rentals and that didn't go well. And there's always the possibility that insurance issues may prove too difficult or costly that the rentals would end up in the red for COTA. As the circuit doesn't seem close to any significant residential areas, I don't imagine exceeding any restrictions of number of days that the noise would be excessive would be the issue.

Make of this what you will: https://twitter.com/atx_racing/status/282559221944430592/photo/1

Somebody is telling porkies.

There is at least one club that says they've already paid, and their check has been cashed, and their date cancelled. I dunno why they'd lie about that, but maybe there was a clerical error on behalf of the circuit or they're just planning to refund the money. I don't know what the big deal is really. I've had venues cancel on organizations I run with for a variety of reasons and nobody has had a major cow about it.

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Another issue may be a matter of wanting to save some more 'open dates' as ALMS ran private tests for a few teams this past Monday and Tuesday while conducting some tours in preparation for its event in September and indicated it wanted to set up open tests for all its teams but mentioned that they were having a hard time finding dates because the track's schedule was filling up quickly.

That took place Monday and Tuesday and now a few days later this comes up about cancelling some rental contracts and stepping back from some others that had been in discussion.

I'm guessing the 2 are connected, and its a case of wanting to ensure it has some flexibility for accomodating more testing.

That was my first reaction actually - they want to be the premier test facility for pro teams and that means short term notice of availability. But MOST clubs run on weekends, and teams hardly ever test on weekends.

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They're a new track, they put on a good show for F1, it's possible that they want to leave the calendar clear to try and fit in higher profile races. As for those who signed contracts, I feel for them but I'm sure that there's a cancellation clause for CoTA in the contract that the renters signed.

Here's COTA's latest statement (massive backpedal) regarding their most recent PR disaster. Looks like in the face of the massive public outcry and threats of litigation over travel arrangements that cannot be refunded, etc, they decided to honor only the 4 paid events:

http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com/media-center/

As for COTA's event costs, several race and track day organizers have chimed in saying that the clubs almost always bear these costs (insurance, staffing, etc).

Regardless of the partial reversal, this incident is being viewed by most involved as a red flag for dealing with COTA. Buyer beware.

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Does this affect the 2013 and subsequesnt Grand Prix at the COTA?

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Vettel / Raikkonen / Button

Nope.

It's a non-story as far as F1 is concerned.

Why is this a "bad thing"? They decided to make a policy, obviously based on some decision we're not privy to, they got an outcry due to the policy, and they accommodated those complaints. There's a lot of companies in this world that would have said, "too bad, we make the rules, you signed a contract that gave us an out-clause, suck it up."

Kudos to CoTA for accommodating the individuals they made promises to regardless of their new policy or the reasons behind it.

^Agree completely. My racer buddies are all flipping out over it, and boycotting the GP and WEC race next year. I'm sure COTA will be so hurt by that. NOT.

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So what ever happened here? I see reports of track days going on, I thought everything got cancelled. Where's the outrage?

What it is that other than the first race being fairly good, everything about the COTA organization has sounded like a nightmare since it was formed? Doesn't sound like a very friendly or hospitable place, that's for sure.

Cowboys
Out
To
Annoy

It is an amazing track, 1 of the best in the past 3 decades for F1. But at least it's there now! If the current owners have had enough, it exists and would be available for sale as a track and not a big dirt mound it was a year ago.

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There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals that Chuck Norris allows to live.

Teams from all walks of motorsport that have turned laps there have nothing but compliments for the circuit and its management. Its just some track day clubs that had their events cancelled whining about it. Its really not that big a deal, I've had track days cancelled at Road Atlanta, VIR, Lime Rock, and nobody threatens any kind of boycott.

Some good friends of mine are taking a couple of cars to Europe this year to run in endurance races and are currently trying to get onto the testing calendar at COTA. Looking for another team or two to share with actually. I'm patiently waiting for my invite to do some tire testing

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I don't think anyone got cancelled, perhaps they got moved on the calendar. There was a big program from some in the community but it seems that everything is fine without much incident. Right?

I figured there was a reason for all this, like more time was needed for "team" testing and perhaps even new events coming this way and CoTA wanted to make sure those teams had track time as well.