Why are they so stupid? Serious question. Is this just the bloody amateur league with no experience and concept?
They have only 1 or 2 guys with any motorsport experience & they're mid-management. The brass won't listen & knows better than anyone. They think they're reinventing the wheel. In a nutshell, they're supremely arrogant. I spoke to one SVRA official yesterday who said she still hadn't met a single friendly person from COTA.
So, tweeting is now the official form of disseminating information to 100s of thousands of possible attendees? 27 Oct, website still says this (pay cash at the lot): OFF-SITE PARK + RIDE LOTS (FM973 RED, FM812 YELLOW, & Lot Q) * NO drops-offs will be allowed at any of the Park + Ride locations. * Our off-site parking lots are located at Lot Q, FM973 RED, and FM812 YELLOW. You can purchase these passes here. Shuttle Lot FM973 RED parking is $10 per day or $20 for the weekend. You can purchase in advance here or pay cash at the lot. FROM THE SOUTH: Take SH 130 N to Elroy Rd. travel west on Elroy Rd. to official COTA Park + Ride. Address: Intersection of FM973 RED and Burleson Rd FROM THE NORTH: Take SH 130 S to Pearce Ln. and travel east on Pearce Ln. to FM973 RED. Travel south on FM973 RED to official COTA Park + Ride. Address: 6005 South FM973 Del Valle, Texas 78617. Shuttle Lot FM812 YELLOW parking is $10 per day or $20 for the weekend. You can purchase in advance here or pay cash at the lot. FROM US 183 to FM812 YELLOW: Travel east on FM812 YELLOW to official COTA Park + Ride. Address: 9605 FM812 Del Valle, Texas 78719 one-eighth mile east of The Crown Center. Parking at Lot Q is SOLD OUT. Take SH130 (from Austin/San Antonio/Dallas) or SH71 (from Houston/Bastrop) to SH21. Take SH21 to the exit at FM812 and travel West on FM812 3.2 miles to Lot Q. During peak periods, alternative access to/from CoTA via SH 21 may result in the fastest travel time. Address: 12700 FM 812 Del Valle, Texas 78617 Park + Ride lots will open at 7AM CT daily, and shuttle buses from those lots will drop patrons at COTAs shuttle bus depots on McAngus Road, just one-half mile from COTAs Grand Plaza entrance. COTA GATES OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AT 7:30AM.
As I said on another forum, I predict you better go this year because I believe this COTA will be bankrupt in five years. Bernie and his bunch will take their dog and pony show to some far away spot with a gazillion dollars and no running water. He's going to get fed up with some complete fools running the local track pissing serious racing fans off, and then wondering "where did everyone go". Hey, I hope I'm wrong, but I just cant get a feel good feeling about this place at all.
I agree that COTA could be bankrupt before too long. Other than MotoGP and F1 (which bring their own big fan base), COTA's events seem to be hemorrhaging money... at least based on visible attendance. However, Bernie's not going to get fed up with the fools running the track or how they treat the fans. He will only care about the sanctioning fee check, and as long as the state of Texas is still subsidizing the vast majority of his fee, he'll be fine with it. Of course, after 2014 there will be a new governor and comptroller in Texas, so that's when things could get really dicey with the subsidy. Also, I think I read somewhere that much of COTA's financing is on balloon notes which come due in 2017. So you might be pretty accurate with your 5 year prediction, Bernie or not. Too bad, because the track and facility is really, really good. I had a blast at the SVRA races there today. Typical light attendance, but that meant that with my $25 ticket I could sit in the really nice grandstand seats. Which I did for a while, but the fun in these races isn't sitting in the stands, it's walking through paddocks and trying out various GS and GA sections for potential F1 spots.
FYI - tickets are being sent via FEDEX between now and November 4th; emails with tracking info will be sent when they are shipped....
Yeah it's crazy. It's hard to be surprised by these guys' ineptitude anymore. They are what they are. During the biggest race of the weekend on Sunday a car went off-track exiting 20, got his wheels wet on the astroturf strip, then spun re-entering the main straight & hit the wall. That resulted in a 21 minute caution period as the COTA safety crew took forever to load the car onto a flatbed truck. This is the norm here, not an exception. A guy I tweet with who happens to run safety for the Long Beach GP weekend, says he can't figure what these guys are doing. Says it's just bizarre how they work. We've offered COTA his crew's services, but they aren't interested. You know...they "got this". Clearly Epstein isn't interested in what other tracks do or running races properly.
I hear ya....and every time I go out there someone knew will tell me it's their first - and last - visit to COTA. Seems they always interview a high-ranking official from each series over the PA during the event. They always have nothing but glowing things to say about the circuit, of course, and even about the COTA staff. They did that this weekend & with V8SC and with ALMS's Atherton, but when you talk to series officials off the record, they say things like what I was told this weekend, that COTA staff is hard to work with, ignorant of racing culture, slow to respond, and generally unpleasant.
Good post. I agree with almost all of this with only a minor exception. The track is spectacular. The facility itself is in desperate need of spectator mobility infrastructure. That is, they need to do something about the lack of grass in obvious high-traffic areas and they need better walkways in others. It's really strange because these are obvious needs that could be remedied relatively inexpensively. But then again if the things we hear are true (high-interest, backloaded debt as you noted, cutbacks, bills going unpaid) then maybe it makes sense. We've been talking a lot about the METF's future with a new Gov, & I agree it may not be so bright for COTA in that regard. Two things are for sure, so long as Bernie gets paid and the circuit is up to snuff there will be a race, and COTA will continue to insult our intelligence with their attendance figures to ensure the subsidy. I also agree that the more lightly attended races are the best to go to. The racing is always great to watch, and the paddock areas are a blast, esp this past weekend. I spent hours walking the paddocks. It was unreal. This event has real potential...if only the track would promote it, maybe there would be a crowd. I'm still sorting my pics from this past weekend, but I was struck by how muddy the Turn 1 GA and concession areas were, & hardly anyone at all was up there. The trail up to T1 was all eroded, washed out, & rutted after the rain Saturday night. Also, the ped route up the hill from the south tunnel to the bridges was a muddy mess by mid-day yesterday after the smallest race crowd they've ever had. That area's an ankle-biter even under the best conditions. They'd better be praying their asses off for good weather between now & F1, because apparently they aren't gonna address it. They've been extremely lucky in this regard thus far. Fans weren't allowed access to 3/4 of the track this weekend, so I can't tell how badly the rain affected the other areas, but I doubt it's pretty.
I just had to jump in to say SOME of them are friendly!!! Now, the caterer has some raving &^%&*^^s on the payroll...LOL! But, I shut them down pretty quickly..
Last year the night before the F1 race a service vehicle broke the water main to the T1 VIP Suites....it slicked the hill down, but you've never seen plumbers work so fast! I met a Track Owner from Mexico back on Turn 6, he said the same thing about the conditions of the grounds, back there the lose rocks and tree roots from construction were still evident. I do agree mobility on site is bad...
Oh yeah, most workers I've come into contact on site are very friendly with a few being a little hard to take. Most of those people, though, are supplied by Stadium People. This lady was referring to actual COTA upper staff. There aren't many of them, and you don;t see them at the track much, other than the few COTA employees actually working their asses off on the facility with one arm tied behind their backs.
I have looked through this thread as closely as I could and only saw one mention of getting from the track to the airport after the race, and that post suggested that there may not be Taxi's available. It would seem that there must be some way to go straight to the airport, does anyone know?
Yeah, that was me. I was planning on flying in just for the race and flying out the same night. After searching flights, the last flight out of Austin to LAX was like at 7pm. I didn't feel like it would give me enough time, considering I don't have transportation out there. I booked my flight for early Sat, gonna explore the city, and probably stay with friends in San Antonio, leaving monday morning. Gonna have to get a rental, but whatever. Now I just have to figure out exactly which shuttle pick up point to use.
I am driving up from SA myself, and the Red and Yellow lots are exactly the same distance by miles. The FM812 Yellow seems to be easier on and off the freeway, however, as Tim recommended in post #245. Last year the traffic was heavy until a few miles north of SA. The last 1/2 hour of the drive was easy with no traffic. Worst coming and going is 1604 and 35 up to San Marcos, with heavy traffic, not just race traffic.
On the official COTA page, someone mentioned that they were getting their two parking passes for the race. Maybe they meant two days.
I expect their plan is several truckloads of decomposed granite on the trails right before the race. It's cheap stuff, the labor is cheap, and I don't think they care if it lasts beyond F1. After last year, I figured the most important thing for them to do was the widen the pedestrian bridges... but if this year's attendance will be down, that shouldn't be a problem. It's a shame they don't have any AM/FM broadcast for the race, seems like that would be cheap to implement. But perhaps you have to pay F1 a big fee for the rights? Hopefully at least the screens will be working and they have a lot of port-o-potties again. I should add that the COTA employees who dealt with the fans all seemed very friendly. The problems appear to be with the higher-ups. A typical fan should have a great experience I think. Personally, I can't wait for the upcoming mega-weekend where I'll be going to F1 AND joining 100K+ fans at what seems to be lining up to be a very good UT football game on Sat. Add in the UT tailgating and F1 fest downtown and I'll be lucky if I survive the weekend.
Yep. There's seemingly a permanent traffic backup there, and I'm really kind of mystified as to what causes it.
Yeah it's amazing how bad Greg Robinson is making Manny _iaz look right now, eh? I hope you're right about the added granite & I hope COTA uses some of it to create an actual honest-to-God walking trail up from the end of that sidewalk by the south tunnel to the bridges.
Bad, unlicensed, rude, aggressive drivers, texting, cell phones, too many trucks/buses, not enough lanes, construction, speeding, weird service road and exit lanes, not one working turn signal in SA, etc. I have been to a lot of Texas, and SA is an island unto itself.
I went to all the USGP races in Indianapolis and had a great time. Im not comparing the tracks, only the event. There were NO problems with any parking and plenty of nice people to assist you. It seemed like it was yesterday, but things at COTA seem so complex and odd, like they want to do all they can to make it lousy for the fans. Maybe someday I'll make it down there, but it's not looking like something on my bucket list. Have fun and be sure to post some pictures.
I've been to all USGPs at Indy as well but have to tell you that Indy spoiled us: they were not only better than COTA but better than most GPs I've been to around the world It does however show that a USGP can be top and doesn't have to be a CF
