Austin MotoGP 2013 in jeopardy?

Circuit of the Americas approached Leffingwell and Ott about a month ago with the offer to fly two city officials to London to see the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, a permanent track in the English countryside. Last week, Leffingwell accepted one of the trips, and Ott accepted the other. Ott also decided to send (Austin Police Chief) Acevedo and (Austin Fire Chief) Kerr as well as Sue Edwards, the assistant city manager for development services, and Rodney Gonzales, the deputy director of economic growth and redevelopment services.



Leffingwell's and Ott's flights and lodging will be paid for by Circuit of the Americas, a circuit spokeswoman said, and the city will pay for the other four trips. Officials did not know how much the trip would cost, but a search of travel websites found that airfare and lodging in London for five days could be about $2,000 per person.



"The intent is for (Austin officials) to go and see how others do a job they're going to do in Austin in November ... and learn from some very experienced people what it is that they need to do to make sure they run a successful event in Austin," said Julie Loignon, a spokeswoman for Circuit of the Americas.



Loignon said Silverstone representatives have arranged for the Austin contingent to meet with their counterparts in the track's nearby county of Northamptonshire. Silverstone is similar to the F1 track near Elroy, as both are permanent tracks in somewhat rural areas, Loignon said.



On Tuesday, Travis County commissioners nixed a similar trip for two staff members that would have been primarily paid for by race organizers. The offer made to Austin was never discussed by the City Council.



While the track is not within Austin's city limits, the city said it will be closely involved and affected by the estimated 120,000 attendees for the race weekend Nov. 16 to 18.



The majority of those people will stay in Austin, city spokeswoman Roxanne Evans said. "All city public safety agencies will be engaged during the event," she said.

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steeeeeve said:

for 5.5 million we can hire a college football coach for a year!

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City Aviation Department staff is asking council today for $5.4 million to build a temporary customs facility to handle international charter flights arriving for Formula One. Staff say they've been told to expect about 200 international charter flight arrivals, including six to 10 jumbo jets and 10-30 other full-size commercial planes, even though Indianapolis, the last U.S. city to host F1, reported six to 11 total charter arrivals a year from 2001 to 2007, with "relatively few" direct international arrivals.

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...the suit says, “Defendants COTA and Steve Sexton [COTA's President] wanted the MotoGP race, but did not want to have to pay 3four as the promoter. So, while purportedly negotiating with 3four, COTA was actually scheming to side-step 3four and deal directly with Dorna so it could pay less by cutting 3four out of the picture. Through tortious interference and fraud, COTA and Sexton encouraged Dorna to breach and purportedly terminate 3four's agreement to avoid the obligation to pay 3four. 3four sues for what it is owed as the exclusive promoter of MotoGP in Texas.”



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Schwantz's spokesperson attributed this statement to Schwantz: “I have devoted over 25 years of my life to MotoGP, the premier motorcycle road racing world championship. I spent four of those years bringing MotoGP to Texas, my home state. As a result, MotoGP agreed in 2011 to host an annual race at Austin's Circuit of the Americas [COTA] track. I'm sorry to say that COTA is now attempting to unlawfully force me out of this project. I believe COTA has committed fraud in doing so. Earlier today, I took legal action against COTA. I was forced to file this lawsuit in order to protect my rights, my reputation, and MotoGP itself. I want to see MotoGP come to Texas, but I cannot allow COTA to take advantage of me. More important, I will not sit idly by while a newcomer to racing discredits the sport I love.”

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Angel said:

Hold on, so motogp is going to Texas too? Didn't know that. The F1 race is supposed to happen there in November and I know on the forum I used about that there is a thread discussing whether it will be ready or not. They are no more optimistic than here it seems. I hope it is ready, sounds like an awesome track if they can get all the issues ironed out in time but there's lots of i's to be dotted and t's to be crossed yet I reckon.

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