Circuit of the Americas Development Updates

[turn1]

Originally Posted by the Genral

In the still photo right after his intro, he gives a double 'GIG 'EM' , he also gives a GIG 'EM before he gives the, as you call it a hook 'em but is actually a 'ROCK ON' hand gesture

It was a "hookem" long before it was a "rock on" and long before a "thumbs up" became a "gig em"..

[turn1]

Need T12 Tickets? Hill Country Region Porsche Club of America still has unsold tickets in their allocation, which expires the first week of July. Get em while you can!

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...ml#post9628623

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by turn1

It was a "hookem" long before it was a "rock on" and long before a "thumbs up" became a "gig em"..

I was curious about when it got its start. So I looked around a bit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook_%27em_Horns

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Harley Clark introduced the Hook 'em Horns sign in 1955.

And here's the association with music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_of_the_horns

Music history and acoustics
Daniel Speer (1636–1707) calls this sign "zwey quehr Finger" and designates it as a measure of the distance between adjacent positions on a tenor trombone. Literally "athwart two fingers" this primitive measure may rank along with the cubit in its antiquity. Michael Praetorius (1571–1621) uses this term in his Syntagma Musicum III to describe the pitch difference between "Choir tone (Chorton)" and "Chamber tone (Kammerton)." To find the difference between Chorton and Kammerton, one must lower the slide on a tenor trombone made in Nürnberg the distance of "zwey quehr Finger" which is one-half step; zwei quer Finger is German for "two across fingers".

Contemporary use by musicians and fans
The 1969 back album cover for Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls on Mercury Records by Chicago-based psychedelic-occult rock band Coven, led by singer Jinx Dawson, pictured Coven band members giving the "sign of the horns" correctly and included a Black Mass poster showing members at a ritual making the sign. Starting in early 1968, Coven concerts always began and ended with Jinx giving the sign on stage. Incidentally, the band also recorded a song called "Black Sabbath" on their 1969 album, and one of the band members is named Oz Osborne, not to be confused with Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath.

On the cover of The Beatles' Yellow Submarine album (1969), the cartoon of John Lennon's right hand is making the sign above Paul McCartney's head. For many fans, this was one of the many "Paul is dead" clues. Some may think it is possible that the cartoonist misrepresented the sign for "I love you", which is very similar and more in keeping with the band's public message and image. However, the 1969 cartoon is based on many photos of John Lennon making the hand sign in 1967. One of these photos of Lennon doing the hand sign appears on the cover of a Beatles single release shortly after, making it the first time the hand sign appears on a rock release.

Beginning in the early 1970s, the horns were known to some as the "P-Funk sign" to fans of Parliament-Funkadelic. It was used by George Clinton and Bootsy Collins as the password to the Mothership,[4] a central element in Parliament's science-fiction mythology, and fans used it in return to show their enthusiasm for the band. Collins is depicted showing the P-Funk sign on the cover of his 1977 album Ahh... The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!

Frank Zappa can be seen making the gesture in the 1977 film Baby Snakes.

Music fans sometimes brandish this sign, often accompanied by headbanging, to signify that they enjoy the music they are listening to, mostly when the music is of the rock or metal genre (see below).

[the Genral]

Thanks Kevin...man you have a lot of free time on your hands! But your timely investigation proves that GIG 'EM predates Hook 'em by a quarter century. The year was 1930, the first opponent to be Gigged... TCU. I concede that hookem precedes rock on but sorry turn1, its gigem before hookem

[turn1]

Originally Posted by the Genral

Thanks Kevin...man you have a lot of free time on your hands! But your timely investigation proves that GIG 'EM predates Hook 'em by a quarter century. The year was 1930, the first opponent to be Gigged... TCU. I concede that hookem precedes rock on but sorry turn1, its gigem before hookem

Eh...OK, not that it's helped y'all much.



So, when did y'all start that "squeeze" thing? Does it help?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMmhnqUXseE

[BevoLJ]

Originally Posted by turn1

So, when did y'all start that "squeeze" thing? Does it help?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMmhnqUXseE

Oh, and here I was thinking the thing where they clutch their genitals in great pain was the gig'em.

It is probably a good thing in the video Mario Andretti gave a thumbs up rather than whatever the painful looking genital grabbing thingy is. lol

[Jdawgboy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMmhnqUXseE

[/QUOTE]




Um. Sorry my mind was wandering.

So good news is the Formula One expo did pretty good with over 15,000 attendees.

[BevoLJ]

Lol Jdawg! I am glad you didn't share with us where your mind wondered off to.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

Lol Jdawg! I am glad you didn't share with us where your mind wondered off to.

Did'nt need to. That pic says it all...!

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

Lol Jdawg! I am glad you didn't share with us where your mind wondered off to.

Me too.

[KevinFromTexas]

Check out the comment about downtown in the article.

http://www.statesman.com/business/so...a-2402366.html

Some F1 fans may get to track via helicopter

By Gary Dinges
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 8:29 p.m. Thursday, June 21, 2012
Published: 8:13 p.m. Thursday, June 21, 2012

With roads near Austin's soon-to-open Formula One track predicted to be backed up for miles on race weekend, some of the 120,000 expected attendees are looking skyward.

Austin Helicopter Tours, a spin-off of San Antonio-based Alamo Helicopter Tours, recently opened for business and has a waiting list of more than 100 people interested in taking a copter to the festivities on Nov. 16-18, according to owner Randy Riggs.

But Riggs said the company, which is already conducting flyover tours of the F1 construction site, isn't sure just yet whether it will be able to land at the track this November — or if its pilots will need to drop passengers at nearby sites instead.

[Jdawgboy]

Not surprised Downtown is the favorite. That would be a great forum meet outing . Of course its not cheap but the pics we could take and seeing first hand our city from the sky would be worth it.

[hookem]

Back to the F1 facility...

So I'm interested (as you probably already know) in observation towers, and the various photos from the tour last week showed the beginnings of vertical progress. This photo, from David Aksland and shared on the Friends of Formula 1 facebook page, shows the closest view:



Close-up renderings of the tower are hard to find, but there is a good look at it in this old video from CoTA (the rounded building at the bottom has been removed from more recent renderings, but the tower seems the same):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpC1w...utu.be&t=1m34s (see tower at 1:34)

So from the construction pic, I'm wondering if those stairwells are prefab items that will be placed around what looks like it might be the concrete elevator core shown in the picture? Any guesses?

Kevin, you've emailed other developers about heights in the past, I wonder if they will share that info? If not CoTA, I wonder if Miro-Rivera will reveal the final height. I've heard 250' and 280'.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

Not surprised Downtown is the favorite. That would be a great forum meet outing . Of course its not cheap but the pics we could take and seeing first hand our city from the sky would be worth it.

I checked a few companies just out of curiosity, a few were expensive. That company gives you 12 to 14 minutes over downtown for $84 a seat. Honestly, I'm sure I could take enough photos in that amount of time to keep me happy for a while.

Originally Posted by hookem

Kevin, you've emailed other developers about heights in the past, I wonder if they will share that info? If not CoTA, I wonder if Miro-Rivera will reveal the final height. I've heard 250' and 280'.

I'm also interested in finding the height. I've heard everything from 230 to 250 feet, but that 280 number is a new one. EDIT, I just sent an email to them. I'll let everyone know if/when they respond back. I also sent them a link to this thread.

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/...r-2402855.html

Noise from F1 hard to mitigate until after first race

By Farzad Mashhood
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 9:23 p.m. Friday, June 22, 2012

Come race day at Elroy's Formula One track in November, as many as 120,000 spectators are expected to congregate for what promises to be the end of a loud, long weekend.

But for neighbors of the track about a dozen miles southeast of downtown Austin, the rumble of race day might not be an exhilarating clamor but an unpleasant din.

Some preliminary sound mitigation measures are being put in place for Austin's first U.S. Formula One Grand Prix to ease the reverberations for neighbors, but officials say a detailed approach to reducing the noise — which can be as loud as an airport tarmac — won't and can't happen until after race day.

http://www.statesman.com/sports/form...s-2402837.html

Austin's F1 weekend to include vintage F1 cars racing series

By John Maher
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 8:28 p.m. Friday, June 22, 2012

The world's fastest museum will be coming to Austin.

The Historic Grand Prix, which features Formula One cars from the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, will be a support race at Austin's U.S. Grand Prix, which will be Nov. 16-18 at Circuit of the Americas.

"It's not a parade. It's not a show. It's a real race," said James King, the director of the series. "If form holds true to previous events, we'll have 25 to 30 cars, maybe more than 30."

The cars, from F1's golden era, can have top speeds of 180 mph and range in value from $250,000 to $2 million, depending on the manufacturer and the driving pedigree. King estimated it costs $15,000 to $25,000 just to prepare one for the weekend, which typically would have qualifying and a 30-minute race.

http://www.statesman.com/sports/form...e-2402778.html

F1 world confused about Austin race

By John Maher
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 8:28 p.m. Friday, June 22, 2012

Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton was on ESPN's SportsCenter earlier this month and said, "It will be great when we have the race in Texas Houston, Texas."

Hamilton is British, so maybe U.S. geography isn't his strong suit. But Hamilton's slip wasn't even noticed by the interviewer, who raced right by it.

Still, Hamilton did win the last United States Grand Prix — in Indianapolis in 2007 — and that means he'll be the defending champion when the U.S. Grand Prix is held Nov. 18 in Texas — Austin, Texas.

[turn1]

Originally Posted by hookem

Back to the F1 facility...
...

This photo, from David Aksland and shared on the Friends of Formula 1 facebook page, shows the closest view:

David shared that and other photos with me and I posted them on the FB page. I thought I had already posted them here. I'll post the rest in a bit, as well as some others.

Re: the height of the tower, I've heard a few times that it would be 22 stories.

ETA: More photos David gave me:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...7614878&type=1

[turn1]

Vance got some great shots today of armco going in along t10-11:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...7614878&type=1

[hookem]

Originally Posted by turn1

David shared that and other photos with me and I posted them on the FB page. I thought I had already posted them here. I'll post the rest in a bit, as well as some others.

Yes, I don't remember if you posted them here but I did want to be sure it was properly credited.. and hopefully it was okay for me to include that one of the tower base, since it had already been shared on your FB page.

Re: the height of the tower, I've heard a few times that it would be 22 stories.

That sounds right given some of the heights we've heard. I don't know what the typical floor height of an observation tower would be, but at 10' floors it would be 220' and 13' floors it would be 286'.

[turn1]

It's no problem Hookem.

[KevinFromTexas]

The tower won't have actual floors, although, it will have 4 levels apparently in the base, and the one observation level at the top. And it looks like it won't have an elevator, at least, they're showing a lot of stairs on it in that video. So it has 5 actual levels, plus all the stair landings. I wouldn't think the stair landings are much more than 8 feet tall per run.