US GP Austin 2013 Advise

Picture the muddy field at Woodstock.....

Or, maybe the Willie's 4th of July Picnic, where Robert Earl Keen, Jr's Chevy wnet up in flames from a grass fire....

 

They deleted some bleachers at Turn 6...more GA there.

 

Has anyone actually gotten their tickets in their hands yet?

 

I just saw that they ship late October

 

My extended family lives in San Antonio, which is only 45 minutes away. SA has lots of hotels, so don't think Austin hotels are the only place to stay.

 

Lots of people have been asking this on some of the other boards and our page. COTA said they'd send tix by now, so what gives? We're hearing some pretty abysmal sales figures. Not sure if that has anything to do with the delay.

COTA's FAQs say tickets should be mailed 3-5 weeks prior to the race. On Friday there will be 3 weeks remaining until GP Friday.

 

That's the site of a subsidiary or partner of COTA's & the shuttle info is outdated, from last year.

We can't find anything on COTA's website or anywhere else that indicates they'll provide the free shuttles this year, and we've been looking. Last year they made a point to include that info on the site FAQs and elsewhere.

Yep. Fitting.

 

I would say it's not the norm for F1 races or other venues, but it is the norm for COTA. Getting timely info from them has always been a struggle. We're 25 days out from FP1 now, & there's no schedule or transportation plan out there. We think this is by design.

The SVRA event is this coming weekend and COTA has no event schedule info up on the site (even tho it can be found here: http://www.race-monitor.com/Live/Race/12075). They were very late with the ALMS/WEC weekend schedule as well while both series had the info up on their sites.

 

Not difficult if you get there somewhat early. It will be the most crowded GA area though.

 

1. T15 GA viewing exists but has always been very limited. It's the same as it was last year. The two T15 GSs are permanent & nothing new has been added or eliminated there for this year. They've also added GA viewing between T19-20 and as another poster mentioned, they removed the T6 GS due to poor sales & complaints about the limited view there last year. The T2 GS is also off the map, so there's more GA room there, too.

Here's a link to the map, though it's a little misleading, not showing Hospitality areas that will encroach on some of the GA areas.

http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com/images/f1/f1_map.png

2. ...and pricing. Also, it turned out that the hotel room "shortage" and high pricing was artificially induced.
3. Maybe, but from what we hear, it isn't looking good.

If you're expecting larger attendance this year, you may be disappointed. If sales were strong I don't think we'd be seeing the persistent LivingSocial reduced-price ticket deals (GA, T3, 4, 5, 11E, 11W) popping up several weeks in a row. Even with the reduced prices, there's still high availability in GA & every temporary GS (T3, 4, 5, 9, 11E, 11W, & 12).

 

SA is a great option with lots of nice hotels at reasonable prices and good nightlife, resorts, golf, etc. Not a long drive either.

 

Truly disgusting for an event of this caliber. Thew teething problems were obvious last year and We stayed away thinking they'd learn from last year.

Honest question: why would they be intentionally vague on the shuttle/parking situation? to sell more parking passes through fear, uncertainty, and doubt?

 

Because if sales aren't going well and if they aren't offering free shuttles this year they wouldn't want to scare away further prospective customers or cause a ruckus with a release of negative news of that sort. IOW, they may be trying to slip it past us. What we think is going to happen is that the shuttles will be offered, but you'll have to pay to park in the shuttle lots that were included in the ticket price last year. We'd gladly be wrong about this, of course. Re: Selling more parking passes through fear, etc, it wouldn't surprise me at all. Ifthey do charge for shuttle parking, I also believe this would be part of an effort to push more people to pay for "on-site" COTA parking.

ETA: Otherwise I can think of no reasoning other than sheer incompetence (a possibility which can never be ruled out with this group).

 

I anticipated that COTA would screw up the ticket delivery and ordered from two different sources. But I'm still not sure that this works and will arrive with lots of cash willing to buy from a guy off the street.

Pretty idiotic situation for a race which isn't sold out.

At other F1 races one can simply buy tickets at the gate.

 

Anyone doing the Ferrari hospitality passes for 4000/ticket. Is it worh it?

 

For future reference if you buy through F1.com (not the cheapest I know) then they email vouchers that you exchange for tix at the gate. Just FYI in case you weren't aware.

 

I called COTA just now, and they are being shipped out on the 23rd via Fed Ex.

 

So now you'll be stuck with extra tickets to get rid of...for a race that isn't sold out? Bummer. It sucks that they put you in this position.

 

Thanks for the info digman.

 

That's ok, I like switching seats.

Again my worry is that I won't get any tickets.

 

Too bad they don't offer a reasonably priced multi-GS pass like some other venues do, where you sit in a different GS each day.

 

My guess is that they are waiting to estimate final attendance to avoid paying for any excess shuttle capacity. They want to pay for the minimum that will be required, I think. Based on the feeling on the ground here in Austin, attendance will be down this year. Perhaps by a lot. The hotels and city government aren't freaking out about the demand and traffic like last year. I don't see the airport scrambling for extra help, or a bunch of helicopter sites being proposed like last year. No announcements of GA selling out or grandstands being added.

However, the city experience for the visitors should be really good this year. With the football game happening the same weekend, everything will be quite lively, probably a lot more locals venturing out instead of being scared off like last year. Pretty sure everyone will have a blast, except maybe with the shuttle part.

 

FYI

I was told today via email that my company passes and reserved parking have been done, and they charged us today. FedEx delivery, and I should have them by 11/1/13
They still have non Ferrari pit, and trackside VIP passes at $2000 each.

If you need to order special passes or want reserved parking this is the head of the dept below.

Tuan Nguyen

Manager of Ticket Operations - Motorsports

Office: 512-394-3878

Fax: 512-394-3851

 

From my package of info:

"4 Park and ride locations (Pay to Park)

FM 973 and Burleson Road. Drop off at Shuttle Depot.
FM 812 Drop off at Shuttle Depot.
Lot Q Drop off at Lot T
Moore Road. Drop off at Lot T"

Sorry guys just got a new laptop and Air Card, sorry to have been scarce in this thread.

Turn 1 Way Wayfinder, part time bar tending and girl watching at no additional fee......

 

I think they nixed the Moore Road lot. Also, they've been acquiring land for lots & these sound like pay lots to me.

We've been trying to find info on free parking & shuttles from other parts of town & there just isn't any out there that we can find.