US GP in Austin Discussion and Speculation...

Very cool, thanks for posting.



At 10:20: talk about a blatantly unsafe release from Marussia!

 

LOL! Good one!

 

Video interview from a local blogger with Alexander Rossi. Much of it is kind of podunk "how much do you love Austin?" stuff, but skip to 11:40 for Rossi doing the best turn-by-turn analysis of the track to date. Trust me, it's worth it. They should play it before the broadcast of the race.

http://vimeo.com/47425466

 

Yep, I have the Tilke isometric here, somewhere...come eat BBQ!
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That is good..nice find.

 

I am getting excited. We will be in grand stand 5, 51 rows up. Praying that the view will be as great as we think it will be. Does anyone have a clue on on-site parking?

 

PSL's come with parking. Otherwise, I understand it will be off track remote parking and a bus ride.

 

Gee, looking at the on-site parking expense, $3,000 - $5,500 PSL, plus the season ticket price of $775 - $1,250, that would work out to be between $1,258 to $2,250 / Day. Since we will be flying in for the race from AZ and getting a rental car, maybe we should just rent a helicopter instead? Let me think about that……………….
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I just received an e-mail from COTA, 1:45 PM Mountain Time, Friday, August 17, but none of the links work.

Can anyone here help? Apparently there are seats left, they are promoting a 3 day VIP package, and they include hotel rooms, but the prices are just
ridiculous. I already hvae hotel rooms, are there just tickets available?

At these prices, I could get a flight to Milan and got to Monza for less.

 

I just got the same info.....just descriptions of all the packages, you have to call the '800' number.

THIS actually tells the tale..it was the TRACK themselves holding the blocks of rooms, to bundle up with these premium seats!

That's f*&^*&ed up......

 

The email links all go to:
http://cotaexperiences.com

Cheapest packages seem to be Turn 15 with San Antonio hotel at $1699. So now we know what they are doing with unsold PSL inventory.

 

I have never experienced such greed, or is it fear, before in any racing venue. No doubt, they will fail by the third year, and honestly, as much as I want to see a USGP anywhere, COTA deserves to fail.

Bring on New Jersey. This has nothing to do with Texas, just the promoters.

I just need to decide what to do with my two hotel reservations in Austin.

 

i heard a rumor that alex jones will sing the star spangled banner on race day.

 

2005 Laguna Seca MotoGP race; first year back for premier class: Motel 8 room was $450/night for a single king. Now a 2 bedroom setup at Embassy suites w/ 2 hr long happy hour with free drinks and a free hot breakfast is $235/night and can easily sleep 4. It's the usual foolishness.

 

I figure by the time the first F1 race is over and done with, an investigation of ticket handling and pricing will be undertaken by the state authorities. Pretty good chance that some changes will have to be made going forward.

 

It was the same at Indy in 2000. Ridiculous prices of the hotels and all the tickets bought out by scalpers. I went there totally unprepared and had to pay $20 on top of the ticket price to some guy on the street. Then on race day, after I was already in, we sold our tickets to another couple through the fence and end up attending for free.

 

I see tickets readily available through F1 though? Are you all trying to get them through brokers?

 

I always bought/planned ahead. In all the years of the race, I never paid more than $150 night for a really nice downtown hotel, and nver more than face value for the tickets. Scalpers get around local laws by packaging tickets with hotel rooms. "Legit" scalpers usually get their travel agent licence to do this.

Now COTA is basically scalping their own tickets. I have a a room in downtown Austin for 3 nights, for $180/night, but at this rate, I doubt if I go. I want to give my wife her first F1 experience, but sitting in decent seat. The prices of decent seats are a bit nuts, and I mean the PSL seats on the front straight.

Buying today, I can go round trip from El Paso to Milan Italian GP weekend for around $1018 per person (United). I found front stretch tickets for $200 USD each (a friend's brother lives in Lago de Garda), and a hotel that I have used before for $260/night USD. I would not need a rental car.

And I would be at the Italian GP in Monza, Italy.

Hmmmmm.......compared to Austin, this is a bargain. If the wife could only get away for 7 days.

So Andreas, you have the right idea.

 

Axecent wrote, “I figure by the time the first F1 race is over and done with, an investigation of ticket handling and pricing will be undertaken by the state authorities. Pretty good chance that some changes will have to be made going forward.”

Why would the “state authorities” care about what the promoters have done? They are business people attempting to make a buck in this challenging economic environment. Should we share the wealth and let everyone go to the race? Don’t get it. If you can’t afford to go this year, don’t cry about it, save your money for next year.

 

I know one group that must be closely investigating ticket sales in Austin, and that's the folks promoting the GP of America in NJ. I wonder what their prices/sales process will be like? Will they price them high and all 3-day passes, because they can? Or will they show us how it should be done and sell at prices closer to Indy? We shall see...

 

1) I have 2 tickets, and a PSL
2) Misrepresentation by promotors regarding availability of tickets. I have never seen such blatant gamesmanship before. My comments are in response to the number of complaints on this board and others, and feedback from many I know that have been told something by COTA that was simply not factual. If you find my post as "crying about it", you need to read it again.

 

This is just crazy. It is not about if we can afford it or not. It is if we are willing to be made fools of by people who are not "trying to make a buck", but trying to get few too many bucks for what they offer.
Maybe the people who tried to put chairs, tables, trash can and everything else you can imagine on the public street on their block, to not allow people to park, unless they paid them, were all honest folk in Indy trying to make a living too? I did park on such a street after politely removing someone's half of a dining set and when I got threatened with losing a windshield and slashed tires, all I said was "thank for telling me who to look for with the police if something happened to my car". Guess what? Not a scratch on her. And it had absolutely nothing to do with what I could afford and what I couldn't.
Just because I am attending an event, which I am paying for by the way, in someone's county and even neighborhood, does not mean that I will roll over and die just to make them happy.

 

I guess that our experience was much different with the COTA people in obtaining tickets than some other people here on F-Chat. We posted a whopping $100 on January 10th, putting our name on a seating waitlist. After discussing the seating options with a Mr. Asberry, a COTA sales consultant, we declined the offer of a private seat license on April 18th. I was told by Mr. Asberry that later we would be given an opportunity to purchase individual tickets ahead of those going on sale to the general public. In fact, we received an email from COTA on June 6th, informing us that we could purchase tickets through June 9th, and prior to the tickets going on sale to the public on June 10th. On June 8th we selected our tickets, using Ticketmaster. The Ticketmaster part was primitive, but we got the tickets. Nothing was promised by COTA that they did not deliver on, at least with us.

My apologies if my prior comments concerning “state authorities” disturbed anyone.

 

Same here - the process was simple and I know many folks that got their tickets that way. Maybe there is frustration because the "wait and see" approach that certain folks have taken hasn't panned out...

 

FROM AUTOSPORT: Texas Attorney General is doubtful COTA will receive nearly $30 POUNDS, not dollars, from the State's Major Events Trust Fund.

If true, what is the effect on the race?