I know it's frickin rediculous!!! COTA is behind in construction and seem's to be cutting corners (aluminum bleacher seating like at a high school football game) so they can meet their deadline but have rediculously priced tickets and are deciding for the F1 fan what they will and will not get. If I paid $600 for a GA ticket it damn well better include a hot hooker and motel room for the weekend!!!!!!!! You could not have said it better!! If COTA does not take the answers to their survey seriously they should just stop all construction right now and sell all asset's. They think they are being smart when in all reality they just keep making a bigger fool of themselves.
Tater lets celebrate the demise of COTA in NY/NJ I will buy the first round and I will bring a nice bottle of Hungarian wine my father in law gives me each time Im in Budapest LOL! He has access to the good stuff. He is an agro-scientist.
I'm not ready to "celebrate" anything - A purpose built F1 track in the States would be awesome. I think it's a damn shame that it may fail having come this far. Cheers, Ian
Sooo much hyperbole... You'd think CoTA ran over your dog. The USGP is for people who want to see the first F1 race in the USA on a purpose built track, and not for those too cheap to pay a measly $300 for a 3-day ticket (which is what I suspect it will cost). And why do people continuously whine about when tickets are going on sale? CoTA has always been saying early summer/June. What's so hard to understand about that? If your plans can't accommodate tickets being available only 5 months in advance, then go to another race or watch on TV. Bernie wants you to be watching from the couch anyway.
They've run over the sport I love. **** 'em. You "suspect"? Have you looked at ticket prices for the other races? WTF should COTA be the *only* ones able to rape people? Yet another example of how far their heads are up their arses - *Every* other race on the calendar has had tickets available for months (excluding Brazil if we're pedantic) - They need to attract a *global* audience, and for that you need to make plans months (possibly a year) in advance. Right now, I can't buy a ticket, don't know if the thing's even gonna happen, have no idea where I'll be allowed to go with GA and suspect it's gonna be cancelled - Wonder if you then get a refund? They appear to have believed they could "do a Superdome" with PSL's (Wonder how many of those they've sold? ) **** 'em. Oh, you better believe it! Even folks here who would love for it to succeed (me included) have basically given up - and I have somewhere to stay. Cheers, Ian
Im a fan of the track. COTA....no. They are all that needs to be changed. A decent management organization should be able to get this on track.
+1 But, I now honestly believe it's too late to do anything for this year. *Maybe* with a more realistic promoter they can pull something from the hat for 2013, but am starting to suspect someone will be in chapter 11 by then and it'll never happen. I hope I'm proven wrong. Cheers, Ian
No prob. Bernie wants your butt on the couch watching it on TV anyway. I will just hope that the real fans at the race aren't as whiny as they are on the internet forums... would hate to hear nothing but "hey, this beer costs too much, parking was such a hassle, blah blah..." Been to NASCAR and Indy and the fans weren't that bad.
Real fans, "Lucy you have some splaining to du"??? Maybe you just don't get it or the issues us REAL F1 FANS have about the way COTA is handling this entire race? The US finally has a chance at becoming a premiere F1 location once again but COTA it seem's is trying to milk the cow and make up for their errors and behind the scenes 'cat fights' at our expense (You know the people who are really paying for this race and track). Anyone with any decorum or common sense would try to understand both sides so please re-review and think. I want this race and track to become reality asmuch as the next person but I'm not an idiot and will not take a finger up my butt without dinner and drinks but COTA is treating us like a blind date who decided to just not show up.
I attend a couple races or more a year. I have an opinion. I have a problem with COTA and not the track. I find it others from Texas(TexasMR2), are as vocal and un happy and you call me out and Im in Europe. Next direct your anger at the locals as well. IM a fan. I think fans are not getting a good deal from COTA. Others agree. I have ZERO problems with any race fans. I like alot of racing forms - in air, water and with wheels.
Real as in real-life fans at the track. "Real" (airquotes added) fans are open to your own definition, and that's fine. You can describe them however you want. I'm not going to complain about $250-300 for a 3-day ticket. It's just not that much money, and frankly it's surprising to see people on a Ferrari board finding it too expensive... I will certainly attend at that price, but I'm a local. I would figure this is more of a "if you have to ask..." type crowd. But I get it. You're insulted by any price over $150, and by the fact CoTA won't be selling those tickets til June. And I guess all the reports of behind the scenes problems really get to some people. I don't care as long as they build the track, make it good, and have it ready in time. That's the only promise I expect them to keep. And DF1, didn't mean to single you out, just the whole "COTA is the biggest insult to F1 fans on the planet" was such absurdity it deserved a response. However, plenty of forumers obviously share your outrage about what terrible humiliation CoTA has forced on you as an F1 fan. So you are in good company, at least online.
COTA is the problem hookem it's not the fans and I think you would also really like this race to happen. I have mentioned once or twice before that if the Austin GP is cutting corners to meet the race deadline that they are making a mistake especially with what they want to charge for tickets. They would be better off postponing until 2013 and coincide with the New Jersey (New York) Grand Prix and Canadian GP. I honestly think that we/us US F1 fans should come together and weed out the nonsense, voice our opinions and simply just try to get a F1 race back on US soil regardless of where it is held. I mean no disrespect hookem but I must ask you how long have you been following F1? It will give us all a greater perspective of your (appreciated) input.
What corners are they cutting? You hear this a lot, but really, is it true? I'm sure that not 100% of the original plan is going to be ready in Nov. But that's the same with any project, it evolves over time based on several factors. Money is one of them. That's inevitable. Surely that is something more than just I can understand? Also, I think waiting til 2013 is a non-starter. The USGP in Austin needs 2012, without NJ on the schedule. This will be what establishes the feel of the event and the excitement around it (hopefully) for next year. And if they are ever going to get METF money, the best shot is 2012. If they applied for 2013 as their first year, they will get flack about not being the exclusive race. However, if 2012 is a windfall for the state, I think the following years will have no problem sailing past the politicians. As for my F1 experience. This will be my first F1 race, but being a hare over 40, I grew up when F1 was huge in the USA. Not like it is now. That's all my Dad used to watch. Our family lived in Dallas in 84, and it was a huge deal although we didn't attend. When the track was announced for Austin, I started following F1 again. Going to the local watch parties, as well as the F1 track get-togethers. Last season was frankly a little depressing, but this season so far has been great fun to watch. Anyway, so there you have it. I'm probably not real fan material in your estimation, but I guarantee you I will be at the USGP.
All I can say or add is just read more as I do not not have the patience or the desire to debate or argue over something that is blatantly apparent, good day sir.
What's the issue with aluminum bleacher seats? I sat in those multiple years at Indy. All ticket pricing (except PSL) is still speculative. No reason to get angry. COTA will pick their price, and those who can afford it will go, those who can't will be moaning. Pretty much the same as any concert ticket. Heck, $300 for a race ticket (number pulled from the air) isn't bad. Six Flags is $50, a decent cheeseburger is $10 these days. It's not 1984 or even 2005 anymore. Traffic will be a nightmare, but it was also the first several seasons at Texas Motor Speedway. Infrastructure evolves. What I see is a facility that's pouring the track right now. There will be a race in November. The naysayers will be *****ing even after the checker flag is thrown. I love Internet Heroes who know how to do everyone else's job perfectly. Everything is always easy when you don't have a clue about reality.
I heard from someone close to the project that COTA had sold less than 1000 PSL's as of a couple of weeks ago. I think this survey is undoubtedly about getting the most $$ for the rest of the seats. Non-GA grandstand seats will be available without PSL's because the PSL's have been a flop. But the question is how many and for how much. COTA wants the absolute most they can get. So we'll see. The GA costs are a bit silly as given. As for the "surely Ferrari fans can afford it so why the complaining". That's not the point. They were planning for 120,000 people there. With tickets not even on sale until after half the season is done and after the time window to make other arrangements is mostly closed, they are going to have a hard time filling the place. And high ticket prices will guarantee it. Not because a few hundred Ferrari fans will not go, but because the other 119,500 people they need to show up are going to balk at those prices.
Whoa, he played the "real fan" card. Name one of those races where the cheapest ticket was even close to $300 (as you hypothesize this one will be).
How about Silverstone, Spa, Monza, Suzuka, Interlagos, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Hockenheim, Hungaroring just to name a few? The facts (check the official F1 website if you must) are that for these F1 races the lowest adult Weekend General Admission ticket still available (if you checked it earlier in the season there would have been more examples to cite) is $118.27 US and the average is $159.95 US In addition (for those who don't want to sit on grass) 6 events still have adult Weekend Grandstand tickets available for as many as 10 grandstands (Hockenheim) and 5 (Monza) $300 US for a walk-around adult Weekend General Admission ticket to sit on scrub grass or dirt in the middle of some Texas pasture and see little to nothing is way out of line when compared to prices at established (dare we say "historic") venues.
