Yesterday, Formula 1 announced that Austin will be the home of Formula 1 United States Grand Prix for 10 years, from 2012 until 2021. This is incredible news – not only will it provide revenue for the entire central Texas region, but Formula 1 racing is amazing. For those of you who don’t know much about racing (and believe me, I fall into that category), Formula 1 is nothing like NASCAR. Formula 1 is “the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). […The cars] race at high speeds, up to 360 km/h (220 mph) with engines revving up to a formula imposed limit of 18,000 rpm. The cars are capable of pulling in excess of 5 g on some corners.” (source) Cars that race in Formula 1 races are made by Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lotus, etc.
Living near the Hockenheimring, I think my excitement level over this may be elevated more than others, but really, if you aren’t excited about this, you should be! I love hearing the cars race for miles around on race day. And any of you who might complain about noise, I don’t want to hear it. To me it’s no different that any other event’s noise – consider all the people who could get worked up about the noise and disturbances on a Longhorn game day. It’s just not that big of a deal.
If you have a few minutes to spare, you really should check out the Formula 1 announcement (linked here). It contains a number of interesting stats about Austin that were really impressive to see all in one place.
So…who’s excited?
