Las Vegas F1 - LOL, devils in the details

Ozzie_Isaac

Nobody mentioned Desert is cold at night to F1 board.

https://jalopnik.com/formula-1-didnt-realize-las-vegas-would-be-cold-in-nove-1851011607

Battleborn

LOL, what a boondoggle. It looks like the temp will be in the low 50’s around race time. I think I heard there might even be a chance of rain. 

lousubcap

I have heard several F1 principals and drivers mention the Vegas temperature cool-down for the evening practices, qualifying and race.  It's no surprise to those on the inside of the track. 

And since we are here:

Below is the Las Vegas race weekend schedule in Vegas time (Nov 16-18): Broadcast schedule to be provided later-all on ABC/ESP{N suite.

18 Nov

Race

22:00

18 Nov

Qualifying

00:00 - 01:00

17 Nov

Practice 3

20:30 - 21:30

17 Nov

Practice 2

00:00 - 01:00

16 Nov

Practice 1

20:30 - 21:30

Here is the race course:

FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN SILVER LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX 2023

  Las Vegas Strip Circuit

Lights out!

JohnInCarolina

I did read somewhere that the bottom has fallen out from the ticket prices for this event.  I don't know if that's related to other people coming to the realization that the desert gets cold at night or not.  

Battleborn

JohnInCarolina said:

I did read somewhere that the bottom has fallen out from the ticket prices for this event.  I don't know if that's related to other people coming to the realization that the desert gets cold at night or not.  

Ticket and room prices have dropped significantly. Officials had/are expecting 100k people a day. For perspective, NYE generally has 300k attendees. There is no local support for this event. I don’t think the weather is to blame for it. 

lousubcap

The Vegas ticket prices opened at an outrageous price-point, much more than Miami or Austin.  They are dropping as the demand is not there as noted by @Battleborn.  Who knows where they will be next week.  If local you can score a good deal as the race itself approaches. 

The $$ do drive the attendance- all numbers for the race weekend: (Venue size does impact the below numbers).

Miami: 270,000

Austin 432,000

Vegas-TBD. 

Battleborn

lousubcap

@Battleborn That is a great article hitting on all the pressure points.  Clearly the projections (the selling feature) are woefully off the mark.  Will be interested in the post-race weekend articles. 

Stay healthy and safe out there. 

BTW- My son and D-I-L (live in L'ville) expressed major interest in making the trip back in July '22 for the race weekend.  Once the pricing rolled in, that killed any consideration.  

Battleborn

lousubcap said:

@Battleborn That is a great article hitting on all the pressure points.  Clearly the projections (the selling feature) are woefully off the mark.  Will be interested in the post-race weekend articles. 

Stay healthy and safe out there. 

BTW- My son and D-I-L (live in L'ville) expressed major interest in making the trip back in July '22 for the race weekend.  Once the pricing rolled in, that killed any consideration.  

If it continues on through the length of the contract, I expect the pricing to become a little more affordable and hopefully less inconvenient for locals. We will see if the juice is worth the squeeze. 

Ozzie_Isaac

Is this really annually for 10 years?  Like LV BLVD will be hosed for most the year for next ten years?

Battleborn

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Is this really annually for 10 years?  Like LV BLVD will be hosed for most the year for next ten years?

That’s the rumor. F1 built a brand new paddock area and got it put up in like 6 months. I’d imagine with the amount of money being spent it will go multiple years. 

lousubcap

The amount of $$ in F1 is staggering.  Just look at their logistics tail to fly everything around the world as mentioned a while back by @Ozzie_Isaac.  Engines alone are north of $10M and the total car upwards of $16-18M.  

Indy car engines around $2-3 M and the total car $8-10 M. 

Battleborn

lousubcap said:

The amount of $$ in F1 is staggering.  Just look at their logistics tail to fly everything around the world as mentioned a while back by @Ozzie_Isaac.  Engines alone are north of $10M and the total car upwards of $16-18M.  

Indy car engines around $2-3 M and the total car $8-10 M. 

That’s insane. As you posted a pic of the track, there is a long straight away down the Blvd that they should be open it up. 

So far I am not mandated to work the event (thankfully), though we are working 12’s this week. 

lousubcap

Las Vegas F1 weekend (Nov 16-19) TV broadcast coverage: Times below are EST-times in the detailed post above are PST-

Practice 1-ESPN2  11:30 PM (11/16)

Practice 2-ESPN    03:00 AM (11/17)

Practice 3-ESPNNEWS  11:30 PM (11/17)

Qualifying-ESPN 03:00 (11/18)

Race-ESPN 01:00 AM (11/19)

The DVR will be in play. 

CPFC1905

Battleborn said:

lousubcap said:

The amount of $$ in F1 is staggering.  Just look at their logistics tail to fly everything around the world as mentioned a while back by @Ozzie_Isaac.  Engines alone are north of $10M and the total car upwards of $16-18M.  

Indy car engines around $2-3 M and the total car $8-10 M. 

That’s insane. As you posted a pic of the track, there is a long straight away down the Blvd that they should be open it up. 

So far I am not mandated to work the event (thankfully), though we are working 12’s this week. 

12 hour shifts while others get the 'ceremonial' shifts at the event,  yep - been there a few times.  
We had some smaller towns that would host very big annual events,  with all the local citizens going along.  It was a burglars paradise!  And of course they get reported when people get home late at night, the next morning - so the knock on shifts were super busy too. 

[Deleted User]

This happened to NASCAR back in the early 2000's when they went through hyper growth after the death of Dale Sr. Tracks kept building stands to keep up with demand while at the same time tickets, hotels and VIP packages all went up in price. Now they can't fill half the stands at the tracks, can barely give tickets away and TV ratings are in the toilet. Now NASCAR has to budget the teams, driver salaries are down, all the old school drivers are mostly gone and no one knows who the hell these new guys are. 

Battleborn

CPFC1905 said:

Battleborn said:

lousubcap said:

The amount of $$ in F1 is staggering.  Just look at their logistics tail to fly everything around the world as mentioned a while back by @Ozzie_Isaac.  Engines alone are north of $10M and the total car upwards of $16-18M.  

Indy car engines around $2-3 M and the total car $8-10 M. 

That’s insane. As you posted a pic of the track, there is a long straight away down the Blvd that they should be open it up. 

So far I am not mandated to work the event (thankfully), though we are working 12’s this week. 

12 hour shifts while others get the 'ceremonial' shifts at the event,  yep - been there a few times.  
We had some smaller towns that would host very big annual events,  with all the local citizens going along.  It was a burglars paradise!  And of course they get reported when people get home late at night, the next morning - so the knock on shifts were super busy too. 

The good thing for us is we are not new to hosting large events. We have conventions that bring as many people as this will. The only thing different is the geographical area that it is taking up to spread the resources thin. 

F1 put out an “apology” letter for the inconvenience that building the track has caused. Hopefully in future years it won’t be as bad. 

JohnInCarolina

The_Buffalo said:

This happened to NASCAR back in the early 2000's when they went through hyper growth after the death of Dale Sr. Tracks kept building stands to keep up with demand while at the same time tickets, hotels and VIP packages all went up in price. Now they can't fill half the stands at the tracks, can barely give tickets away and TV ratings are in the toilet. Now NASCAR has to budget the teams, driver salaries are down, all the old school drivers are mostly gone and no one knows who the hell these new guys are. 

That almost sounds as bad as super small gifs on bbq forums.  

unoriginalusername

The_Buffalo said:

This happened to NASCAR back in the early 2000's when they went through hyper growth after the death of Dale Sr. Tracks kept building stands to keep up with demand while at the same time tickets, hotels and VIP packages all went up in price. Now they can't fill half the stands at the tracks, can barely give tickets away and TV ratings are in the toilet. Now NASCAR has to budget the teams, driver salaries are down, all the old school drivers are mostly gone and no one knows who the hell these new guys are. 

NASCAR did most of the damage to themselves no?  First stupid looking COT, restrictive plates everywhere and now this to look forward to https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a45755185/nascars-ev-racing-future-shaped-like-crossover/

BlueRidgeSmokers

unoriginalusername said:

NASCAR did most of the damage to themselves no?  First stupid looking COT, restrictive plates everywhere and now this to look forward to https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a45755185/nascars-ev-racing-future-shaped-like-crossover/

NASCAR has always tried to be (at least a fleeting) facsimile of production vehicles (even if just the roofline). So it's not really a surprise to see this. Doesn't make me enthusiastic for it, but I think I get it.

I once had a '68 Mercury Cougar XR-7. An upscale Mustang, apparently. Oh gawd I loved that car.

Botch

BlueRidgeSmokers said:

I once had a '68 Mercury Cougar XR-7. An upscale Mustang, apparently. Oh gawd I loved that car.

My best friend since 1st grade, fellow trombonist, college roommate, wedding party, and we're still in touch loved Cougars, and at one point owned five of them.  Most were metallic green/black vinyl top, he did have a red one/BVT also.  
I need to give him a call.  

Ozzie_Isaac

Botch said:

BlueRidgeSmokers said:

I once had a '68 Mercury Cougar XR-7. An upscale Mustang, apparently. Oh gawd I loved that car.

My best friend since 1st grade, fellow trombonist, college roommate, wedding party, and we're still in touch loved Cougars, and at one point owned five of them.  Most were metallic green/black vinyl top, he did have a red one/BVT also.  
I need to give him a call.  

I love cougars too.  They are the best rides.

lousubcap

Well played @Ozzie_Isaac!

Ozzie_Isaac

lousubcap said:

Well played @Ozzie_Isaac!

Wasn't sure if it was too subtle for our kore cultured crowd.

Ozzie_Isaac

*more