Austin is hardly the sticks. It is the new Silicon Valley. It is also one of the Music Capitals of the US. Then there is SXSW.
"According to the Nielsen Company, adults in Austin read and contribute to blogs more than those in any other U.S. metropolitan area.[128] Austin residents have the highest Internet usage in all of Texas.[128] In 2013, Austin was the most active city on Reddit, having the largest number of views per capita.[129] Austin was selected as the No. 2 Best Big City in "Best Places to Live" by Money magazine in 2006, and No. 3 in 2009, and also the "Greenest City in America" by MSN.[130][131] In 2008, Travel & Leisure magazine ranked Austin No. 1 on the list of cities with the best people, referring to the personalities and attributes of the citizens.[132] In 2012, the city was listed among the 10 best places to retire in the U.S. by CBS Money Watch.[133] In 2015, Forbes listed Austin as No. 1 Boom Town[134] because of its economic strength, including jobs among other appealing attributes." - from Wikipedia
If you want to put on an event for expensive sports cars and vintage race cars, wouldn't you want to do that in a place where people have a bunch of money.
California already has the Monterey Historics and the Pebble Beach Concours. Another event in California would compete against that.
Having events in Watkins Glen or anywhere in the Northeast will attract the old guys who where there back in the day. Having an event in COTA might actually attract younger people and a whole new audience to vintage sports car events with money to spend.
COTA is not in Austin. It's in the middle of nowhere. Austin is the closest civilization. It's like saying that High Plains Raceway is in Denver.
Is High Plains Raceway what they used to call Second Creek Raceway? It's been a while since I have lived in Denver.
Yeah. COTA is 15 miles from Austin. They always build race tracks out in the middle of nowhere.
Snowdoggie said:
There are 29 million in the State of Texas. There is a reason the USGP is where it is. We have the airports and the lodging as well.
There are as many registered cars in Texas as in both Illinois and Michigan.
We may have Tesla soon.
And those cars and people are spread out over a region much larger than Illinois and Michigan put together. It's not like they are right next door to COTA. And I've been to COTA, and it is absolutely out in the sticks. All of which is getting us off topic, of course.
I maintain that it should be at a place with some history and natural beauty around them. That's why I suggested Road America in the first place.
I think Michigan is a great place to have this. Sure there are more historic venues / scenic tracks but what makes Goodwood is not the track or the hill. It's the cars and the people they bring to the event that make it what it is.
High Plains is the replacement for Second Creek, which got eaten by the city. It's a long, long way out. Second Creek is basically suburbia now.
If COTA is only 15 miles from Austin, it's a long 15 miles. I remember that being a long drive.
Indianapolis might be a good place to do this as well. Right in the middle of the city ;), undeniable heritage and spectator friendly for running cars around, say, 3/4 of a lap. I'm not sure how well it would lend itself to the car show aspect. Bringing out a bunch of vintage Indy racers would also give the event instant cred and a different flavor than the UK edition.
Keith Tanner said:
Indianapolis might be a good place to do this as well. Right in the middle of the city ;), undeniable heritage and spectator friendly for running cars around, say, 3/4 of a lap. I'm not sure how well it would lend itself to the car show aspect. Bringing out a bunch of vintage Indy racers would also give the event instant cred and a different flavor than the UK edition.
Indy would be OK. The road course is pretty lame, but at least they have one. And there's no denying the history, plus they have a pretty great museum right on the premises.
Festival of Speed doesn't depend on a road course, thankfully. It's just a hillclimb, one car at a time. Basically a chance for the cars to make squealy sounds and loud noises and smells.
Keith Tanner said:
High Plains is the replacement for Second Creek, which got eaten by the city. It's a long, long way out. Second Creek is basically suburbia now.
If COTA is only 15 miles from Austin, it's a long 15 miles. I remember that being a long drive.
Indianapolis might be a good place to do this as well. Right in the middle of the city ;), undeniable heritage and spectator friendly for running cars around, say, 3/4 of a lap. I'm not sure how well it would lend itself to the car show aspect. Bringing out a bunch of vintage Indy racers would also give the event instant cred and a different flavor than the UK edition.
Sorry to hear about Second Creek. I worked many RMVR events there and learned to drive at the Danny Collins Drivers School. I understand that Danny has passed on too.
Road America wouldn't be bad. Elkhart Lake is a nice resort town. I could see them do a concours there right on the lake. The airport in Milwaukee is a little over an hour's drive and it isn't exactly DFW. Not so good. I guess you could fly into Chicago which is more of a drive.
No road course needed and that limits options. It would be cool to have this sort of event right in a closed off historic part of a city, preferably with a hill but definitely not needed.
All of the tracks listed already hold historic racing too which draw in people that really want to see that sort of thing (like myself). The festival of speed is more/different than that, one pass is a drifter boi making lots of smoke and the following pass could be a pre WW1 automobile also making lots of smoke, or a funny car making lots of smoke, or a...whatever but it's probably making lots of smoke.
It's too bad the Henry Ford Museum grounds doesn't have an interesting road going through as that could be a cool place to host it and have that estate/park vibe.
What about Terlingua, Texas?
It's about a 12 hour drive from the middle of nowhere. They don't only not have a major airport, they don't have radio stations out there. Yep. Dead air from one side of the radio dial to the other.
As for history, look it up!
Colorado Springs is the answer.
Friday night a parc expose of sorts in the center parking on Pikes Peak Ave downtown, Saturday at the PPIR and showcasing the vehicles to the masses, and Sunday make the hour drive to the north west from the track and run up the hill.
Better views and surrounding roads for spectators to enjoy. And since it wouldn't be during ski season, lodging would be available.
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:
Colorado Springs is the answer.
Friday night a parc expose of sorts in the center parking on Pikes Peak Ave downtown, Saturday at the PPIR and showcasing the vehicles to the masses, and Sunday make the hour drive to the north west from the track and run up the hill.
Better views and surrounding roads for spectators to enjoy. And since it wouldn't be during ski season, lodging would be available.
Maybe if you could get the hillclimb course and PPIR for track events and the Broadmoor Hotel for the concours.
I kinda like the idea of doing it on someone's estate. There's got to be some titan of industry who's got at least a few hundred acres and a long, twisty driveway.......
Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:
I kinda like the idea of doing it on someone's estate. There's got to be some titan of industry who's got at least a few hundred acres and a long, twisty driveway.......
Rattlesnake Raceway, Midland, TX. Home of Chaparral. It's still there according to Google Earth.
Yes it is Keith. Can confirm. COTA is 15 miles from south Austin.
The Springs doesn't have enough class for an event like this coming from someone who owns houses there.
This is a job for Aspen if it's in colorado. Use the resort for the Concourse. Summer road for the hill climb and plenty of wine and booze for all of the crowds.
Georgetown is actually reviving an old hillclimb. It's more "Race of gentlemen with elevation gain" than anything else, but it's interesting. That town can't handle the traffic for it to really grow.
Keith Tanner said:
Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:
I kinda like the idea of doing it on someone's estate. There's got to be some titan of industry who's got at least a few hundred acres and a long, twisty driveway.......
Rattlesnake Raceway, Midland, TX. Home of Chaparral. It's still there according to Google Earth.
The Chaparrals are still there too. Once a month they take one out and drive it around the parking lot.
https://petroleummuseum.org/chaparral-gallery-exhibits/
That was my first thought, but I think the racetrack would be a better draw than the parking lot at the museum :)
79rex
Reader
6/19/20 5:53 p.m.
Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:
Michigan has better weather. Watkins Glen or Elkhart Lake would be great, but no nearby big airports and probably not enough lodging.
Not sure you have been to elkhart lake. But the lodging around it is building up. Plently big enough airport in milwaukee which is less then an hour away. Massive area for paddock. It would fit the bill for an event like this. Come for the brian redman vintage event in july once, and see the amazing shows that fills the streets of down town elkhart lake friday night.
I would love to have an American festival of speed event so I wouldn't have to travel as far to go to it.
I don't think it has to be in some big metropolitan area. The regular FoS is kinda in the middle of nowhere as far as England goes.
STM317
UltraDork
6/19/20 6:19 p.m.
Just sayin, Indy has most of the Indycar and NHRA team shops within 15 minutes of the track that could act as satellite venues or even support for some of the more exotic racers. There's a golf course in the infield where you could show the priceless cars, and the on-site museum of course would also be a cool backdrop. The infield is massive for staging the rest of the vehicles. The Dallara factory is across the street from the track and has a cool tour, plusthere are a bunch of other motorsports businesses in the neighborhood if parts support is needed. It's 10 minutes from the core of downtown Indianapolis, and 10 minutes from one of the highest rated international airports in the country. Between races, large conventions and sporting events, the city routinely handles crowds in the hundreds of thousands, and downtown is super walkable just 10 minutes from the track.
Nobody is really asking me, but here's my opinion anyway. Road America is a great and beautiful and historic track worthy of your bucket list of tracks. It has lots of room for people and cars and whatnot. There's plenty of nearby lodging for an event like this and the tourist friendly towns of Elkhart Lake and Plymouth could be co-opted for events.
Michigan is a logical place for the event, but can't they do better than a 1.5 mile club track?
Well, since the people in Detroit were the ones who actually stepped up with the idea, I guess it's their prerogative to have it in Detroit. 
