The Agony & the Ecstacy: my weekend at COTA:

My first trip to a U.S. Grand Prix in 27 years (!) was perhaps more interesting than it should have been, thanks to Mother Nature (and her girl, Patricia!). But in the end a fascinating race made it all worthwhile.

I arrived in San Antonio on Friday to better weather than anticipated. I spent several hours doing some shopping in the north end of town (where, as in greater Atlanta, all the new growth is), under skies more cloudy than sunny, but with only one brief, though heavy, shower. And it was hot - 89! I made it out of town to my motel in Seguin, 35 miles east, before the rush hour.

It began raining around midnight on Friday night and didn't stop for some 35 hours! I decided early on Saturday that making the 50-mile trip to COTA was not worth it, since the conditions reminded me of a horrible Saturday at Watkins Glen in '76. I did go out for lunch and to do a little sightseeing around Seguin (population about 25,000), which included a fun little museum that housed some 8,000 nutcrackers!

I returned to the motel to watch qualifying (perhaps) on NBCSN, but to no one's surprise, it kept getting postponed until it was cancelled entirely, which did replicate '76 and validated my decision to stay put. At least there was plenty of college football to watch, including Georgia Tech's scintillating last-play win over FSU! At least the forecast for Sunday was more promising, and that will be the subject of my next post.

 

On Sunday morning, the weather radar did indeed indicate that the end of the rain was in sight, so I set off at 8 AM, heading up the remarkable TX-130 toll road, which has automatic toll collection (I'm expecting a bill in the mail!) and something I thought I'd never see in the U.S.: Speed Limit 85! In view of the rain and the wind, I kept my rented Corolla at 80, which was fast enough, and remarkably, no one went whistling by at a much greater speed, so everyone was taking it easy.

The original park-&-ride lot that I had a pass for was a muddy quagmire, so the organizers had wisely arranged to use a paved high-school lot a bit further north. The line to board the school buses was quite long, but fortunately the rain had let up. It took about an hour from the time I arrived in the area until I actually got off the bus at COTA, so I missed the postponed F1 qualifying.

After checking out the vendors in the Grand Plaza - all official team stuff, no independent merchants - I headed to my seat at turn 12. It was near the north end of the stand, and the second row from the top, and had perhaps the best view I've ever had at a G.P.! The wind, thanks to Patricia, was blowing at a steady 25 MPH, with higher gusts, but fortunately it was at our back. As the temperature remained in the low '60s throughout, I was sure glad I had put on an extra shirt!

Just as I got to my seat, the Masters vintage F1 cars took to the track for what was supposed to be a race, but the pace car never left the track, so it amounted to an exhibition. As the rain had picked up again, I kept my "big" Canon in the bag and took a few shots with my "little" Canon, which has such a shutter lag that shooting moving vehicles is a chore. Here are a few, including my man Bud Moeller in his red Ensign. (Unfortunately, he left his Ferrari 312 T5 at home with a mechanical malady, so there were no Ferraris in the event.) The last car is rather unique; have you ever seen an Amon?
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After the Masters cars had returned to their paddock (off-limits to the public, unfortunately), I went down to have lunch, which was a good but expensive gyro. While this was going on, the Porsche Supercup race went on as scheduled, and from the P.A. babble, it seemed like a good race, which I could hear but not see.

By the time I got back to my seat, it was after 12 and the rain finally stopped for good. We actually got a brief glimpse of the sun, but that was a tease; it disappeared and did not reappear until evening. The first two photos show the view from my seat, now using the "big" Canon; I could see turn 1 (believe it or not!), turns 7 thru 9, and turns 12 through 16! That is easily the best view I've ever had at a G.P., and even trumps Spectator Hill at Road Atlanta.

I took photos sparingly during the race, but you can get some idea of the action I saw, and it was one of the better G.P.s that I've ever attended. I will definitely go back to COTA, and hopefully next time the weather will be better.
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Here are shots of the scoring pylon before and after the race; ignore the "lap 12" on the first photo - that was left over from the Porsche race. In the "after" photo, you can see Nico Hulkenberg's forlorn Force India sitting at the base of the pylon.

Monday dawned sunny and cloudless (!) and I had a few hours to sightsee in San Antonio before heading to the airport, and this included the required shot of the Alamo and a nice stroll on the city's picturesque River Walk. (A Venetian gondola would not be out of place there.)
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