US GP Austin 2013 Advise

Just made travel plans for my daughter and I. Which is the best seat location of turns 3,4,5 or 11? Thanks.

 

Just sent you an e-mail about 2 tickets in turn 12 Section 2 I have for sale for $450 each.

 

Of those...5, imho.

 

Funny thing happen on the way to the race. I was just on the phone with COTA asking about the staus of my tickets. While on the phone, the door bell rings and who could it be, the FedEx guy. Race weekend here I come!!!

 

I agree. 3 & 4 are somewhat blocked because of the pedestrian bridge and some of the hospitality tents (at least last year). But 3, 4, and 5 are all convenient to the best GA areas and the other "stuff". Turn 11 has a great, sweeping unobstructed view but it is far away from the plaza/tower/amenities. I sat in T11 East last year, with a friend. This year my friend chose turn 4 instead.

However, T12 or T15 are probably the best seats in the entire place, if you have the opportunity. T1 is awesome for the start, and pretty good for the rest.

 

COTA Facebook page says, "Last year 300,000 people attended the USGP. You don't want to feel left out this year, do you?"

Other than not true, I have found that the Facebook page is not useful information, but gimmicky "click here" spam. A good start to improvement would be getting an adult to make the page a source of information to attendees as well as selling events.

Thanks to you guys for the real scoop.

 

I wanted to try to answer the "taxi from the airport" question.
Only PRE approved taxis can drop off at COTA, so make sure you get one, that is.

There was mention they may release race broadcast coverage to the public AM/FM bands, but no final info. Last year we didn't know it but it WAS there, but of course a competitor to the inside radio system licensed by F1.

Sorry I am not more help...pretty busy with personal issues right now, I am fine but my kids have turned into train wrecks! Excepting Amanda of course (fingers crossed)!!

 

I was thinking, since the race is going to be broadcast live on NBC, would a radio with TV band work? Does that even work anymore? I suspect there would be a delay, but still, better than nothing.

 

How do we find out which cabs are approved from the airport?

 

Indeed. Not too surprising, but no less irritating. They exaggerate everything. They certainly didn't meet their 300K projection. They didn't even sell out.

Watch. This year there will probably be a markedly smaller crowd & they'll no doubt tell us it was bigger than last year's.

ETA: Which posting is that on? I didn't see it.

 

Great question. I have no idea.

 

The 300K statement? That was yesterday AM.

 

Down to $350 each for 2- 3 day passes in Ferrariclub section 2 turn 12 row 33.

Sit in front of Jimpo1 for no extra charge.

 

I don't see it..

 

Sold one and possibly second.

Another DFW attendee.

Thanks Ferrarichat!

 

I was looking on FCA for a ferrari parking ( parking lot F) but I could not find any spot.

Do you know where I can find one?

 

That should cost extra!

 

Have you rented an RV space from COTA? Hope you have an onboard generator.

This was just posted on another forum. Oy.

 

I'm thrilled to have just found this event:

https://kpa-poleposition13.eventbrite.com/

Kevin Paige is a great artist from Houston who makes stunning F1 themed oil paintings. I met him at the USGP in Indy and later at the Canadian GP in Montreal. And I'm a happy customer, he custom made an ALMS Ferrari drawing for me.

Anyway, check this out, it is a free event on Friday evening in downtown Austin.

PS: His website ain't the best, the paintings look a lot better in person. Mateschitz and DC are amongst his clients.

 

Amazing artist and a nice guy. Met him here in Austin last year. We hosted him at a meet & greet. He's not only great at what he does, he "gets" what he's painting. Thanks for the link. We'll post it for our followers as well.

 

Those spots went on sale on July2 iirc. Turns out on September 30 they sent out an email that included notification of the change. So they waited almost 3 months to tell people about this requirement. Nicely done, COTA.

 

So it looks like COTA has reacted & has sent out a clarification email. Funny how that always seems to work with them. LMAO. The problem there is, as with the Sep 30 email, the info seems to only be available to people who have already purchased spots. Might affect sales to let everyone know.

Also, with only 11 days left until FP1, many people still haven't received their tickets and are getting antsy.

Just got a message on our page from a follower who is also still waiting. He says he called cota & it took forever to get thru. He also says they're telling people if tickets aren't at your house by Friday, then to pick them up at will call. The problem there is that many ppl are also waiting for parking passes. So how do you pick up your tix at will call when u can't park anywhere?

 

Oy. If you were counting on the USGP Wednesday Fan Pit Walk like I was....well, don't.

Sadly, it looks like COTA has removed it from the weekend schedule.

Circuit of the Americas

 

A lot of people have been asking about the condition of the COTA grounds after the recent flooding. I thought I had posted this here already, but I guess not. I posted this in response to a question on Motorsport Mayhem about the condition of the grounds. Keep in mind, these pics are from the SVRA weekend, hours after a mere 1/3" rain on Saturday night. They are not from after the big floods.

After the Halloween flooding it was reported that the lower areas of the COTA property had flooded, as did many low areas immediately surrounding the track. Apparently the tunnels flooded also. Amazing that they have no drainage.

During the SVRA event last weekend (before the much bigger Halloween storm) there was mud & standing water everywhere hours after the rain ended & some of the footpaths were heavily eroded from rains over the past few weeks. The turn 1 GA area would have been a disaster with an F1 turnout there & at least one grass high-traffic area was reduced to a muddy mess even with by far the smallest race day crowd they've ever seen.

Here, you be the judge.These were taken during the SVRA event with paid admission. Imagine the scenes with an F1 crowd:

The high-traffic "walkway" from the paddock to the esses & the stdium complex. This was taken in the morning. It was much worse later:


Just behind a main straight hospitality area. During the first few sessions on Sunday, walking through here was our only path from the Main GS to the T1 GS:


The T1 GA area and the bottleneck traffic area between it and the T1 concessions/restrooms:




Behind the T1GS:





Standing water in the walkway along the esses:


On a somewhat related note, here's the nearest open "restroom facility' we could find to T1 when my son needed to go. It was behind the Main GS. We had to walk all the way down from the T1GS to find this:


In summary....pray for dry weather for the race. COTA is certainly not prepared for the alternative.

 

Looks like they've added "Formula Vintage" to the USGP weekend schedule. I guess that's the Historic GP guys?