As Comptroller of Texas, Susan Combs spends most of her time as the state's fiscal control officer.
Combs' husband is a former race car driver and she says she went to England to be with her husband and to get ideas on ways of making the Formula 1 in Austin truly unique.
While there Combs says there were a number of features in Silverstone which impressed her.
Texas State Comptroller Susan Combs just returned to Austin from Silverstone, England where she and her husband got to experience Formula 1 up close and personal.
"I wanted to go see firsthand what do the facilities look like? How do they handle crowds? How do they handle security? How do they handle access? How do they handle amenities? What can we do to improve upon? How can we make this really an Austin, Texas event?" added Combs.
"I didn't know what to expect. I saw babies in strollers and I saw young ladies. It was not a guys only deal," said Combs. "The facilities were well spread out. You did not feel jammed up or crowded."
What the Comptroller is especially impressed with however is the economic implications for the Austin area.
"There's going to be jobs here for folks in hospitality, in I.T. in all kinds of things, it's going to be a job-creation, value, property tax value for Travis County in an area that I think has probably not been well served," said Combs.
Combs believes Formula 1 in Austin will mean $300 million for the Texas economy for the three day event.
When questioned about the environmental implications the Formula 1 track would pose on the Austin area, Combs said "I think you're going to find that it's green both physically with trees and grass and environmentally and I think you're going to find that the way the vehicles are managed is environmentally friendly."
"I think people will be very relieved when they get the details, I honestly do," added the Comptroller.
The Comptroller and her husband paid for the trip out of their own pockets.
Next week, the Austin Formula 1 investor and the location of the track will be unveiled for the first time. Ms. Combs says groundbreaking on the track somewhere in the Austin area will begin in December with a completion date scheduled for June of 2012.
