F1 Experiences Review - Austin

my sister, BIL, niece and her husband were there all 3 days in GA. they had a lot of fun, were cheering for RB so I guess they had a successful weekend

they said it was crazy packed. they've been to F1 and WEC/IMSA races there before and said the crowds were way bigger than before, even the first year of F1.

did you get to talk to Megan Thee Stallion?

 

Looks like a good time and thanks for the pics!

For reference, my wife and I went in 2016 and sat in the Turn 12 bleachers. Tickets were $700 each for the weekend with a parking pass and no free anything (I bought them off a PSL owner and didn't have to pay any of that cost). I have no idea how much the package I purchased in 2016 would cost now, even without the PSL.

 

$5K for that! Packed in like cattle, couldn’t do it. Is there a higher level of hospitality one can purchase than the $5k paddock club?

Does Ferrari have their own paddock club you can attend with and buy through?


For less than $5k you can rent the entire circuit at COTA on a non-race weekend and have your own private track day.


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Last I heard, the least expensive daily rate to rent COTA was about $50K, partial days and shared event rates are possible, but I do not believe any are close to $5K and certainly not for the entire track for a weekend, that's more like $100K+

Remember, when you rent COTA, they have permanent staff, emergency workers, etc, it's not like you are there by yourself.

 

Shared event where you have the private track, that’s what I was referring to. During an HPDE, you get your own private group on track where the track is yours for 5-6 20 minute sessions. Book through the HPDE organizer. $3899 was the last price through chin track days.


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Thanks for the incite and pics @rob lay.

 

Totally agree.

Americans have no idea how to do luxury hospitality the right way. I could easily justify $5k for the paddock club experience in Silverstone, Spa, Monza, etc. Austin, Texas?? Not a chance. At the end of the day, F1 just contracts out everything to local vendors and no one can tell me there is a local vendor in Austin, Texas who actually knows how to cater to such clientele, been down this road so many times with VIP, private events, etc. Unless you’re in New York or LA, anywhere else in the US when it comes to an “exclusive” VIP experience is going to fall very very short.


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Ah, that's not with COTA, that's through the track event organizer (they are the ones renting the track, in that case you are paying the event organizer for their package). There are totally private events, not via Chin or any other organizer, directly with the track, where everyone splits the cost to run on a weekday, that is about $40K and if you have 20 people each putting in $2K each, there you go.

And, for instance, the Ferrari dealer will put on an event for 6 hours plus a meal and the track time is shared with other events (Audi driving school for instance), in that case the cost varies quite a bit depending on how much track time there is.

 

Some great pictures !


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Thanks so much, Rob for the post-race experience report. I enjoyed reading this very much!

 

This.

I might consider looking into Turn 13 trackside suites, but for enjoying the actual race itself, high in Turn 12 is hard to beat, or High in Turn 1 because an F1 Standing Start is something everyone needs to enjoy from time to time.

The Turn One Top Row Breeze is always nice on the warmer days.

 

Spoken like a person who knows his home track inside and out. Great advice for the future. Thanks.

 

I sat at Turn 12 the one time I went - 2015 - and the view was the best of any of the 25-or-so Grands Prix that I have ever attended. Not only do you see a fair amount of passing, you see the track all the way into Turn 16 as well as at least part of the track in Turns 3-7. And as a bonus, from my seat I could even see Turn 1 off in the distance! Unfortunately, it rained so hard on Saturday that I never went to the track, and Sunday was wet until about noon, so it wasn't as much fun as it could have been.

Here's the view of the field negotiating Turn 1 on the first lap. Remember, this is taken from Turn 12!

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I like T12 BUT I sat lower in the seating area and the screen-fencing in front is difficult to see the cars coming down the straight. You can hear them...but you can't see them until they are in front of you....then they disappear(again the screen-fencing)going into T12.

It's best if you get a higher seating area at T12 to see the cars coming and exiting T12.

Same goes for in front of the pits as well.

 

The seats at Turn 12 are epic. Damn.

 

We took 18 FCA members from Long Island Chapter and We were top row turn 12 section 7. It’s the 2nd time we had those seats and they are perfect. You can see first the whole track except for start line and the speed coming down that long straight is unreal. Traffic sucked, but it was still an awesome time.