since 2007, when the Grand Prix was held at Indianapolis, and teams are eager to return to a country that is a key market for sponsors and car manufacturers but one that the sport has found hard to crack over the years.Ī second Grand Prix was planned for New Jersey in 2013 but has been postponed until 2014.į1 is expected to race for a decade at the 20-turn Austin track featuring a steep climb to a hairpin Combs has called “that extraordinary drive up into the heavens.” People are going to come here, buy their boots, let their hair down, and they’re going to have a lovely time.”į1 has not raced in the U.S. “Austin is very European, with its politics, its progressive thinking. “It’s just another thing that makes Austin weird,” said Julie Loignon, a spokeswoman for Circuit of the Americas, adding that F1 was too shiny, too chic for Austin, more of a Dallas-type thing. Texas Comptroller Susan Combs touts the economic impact of the event, which she says will generate some $220 million (139 million pounds) for the state.Īnd many Austinites are thrilled about the race at the 3.4-mile (5.5 kilometre), $400 million track facility southeast of town, as well as a downtown fan festival and concerts by Aerosmith and Enrique Iglesias. Officials at Circuit of the Americas, which owns the new racetrack, say they’re working to minimize the environmental impact of the event and point out that F1 innovations lead to more efficient passenger cars. “Many opponents said that this is kind of the wrong image - frivolous emissions, carbon and other pollutants into the air just for amusement purposes - for a city that wants to be seen as the most sustainable city in the United States,” said Tom Smith, director of the Texas office of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. Some sceptics have come around, embracing the race and the sleek parties that come with it, while others are still shaking their heads over fears of clogged streets, noisy helicopter traffic and a negative impact on the environment, all for a ritzy event they say is simply un-Austin. In this environmentally-conscious college town of 800,000, where the bumper stickers say “Keep Austin Weird” and there are no professional sports teams, there is widespread opposition to the Formula One race. AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - As the Texas capital prepares to host the first Grand Prix in the United States in five years, some in laid-back Austin say this weekend’s glamorous race clashes with the city’s soul.
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