Anyone from up here heading to Austin for the weekend to see the F1 race?
Carol and I went last year. Slightly underwhelmed at the track. There was a piece of property with a house on it for sale close to the track that we should have stopped and bought for a flip. Be sure and go to Franklins for barbeque as in the credit card commercial being shown now with Nobu. That guy is really doing smoked barbecue right. When the locals don't want to stop eating to talk, you know it is just that good. Go to the East Side Show Room on sixth street just to have one of the drinks that may take 10 minutes to make. Just check a few times to see if your wheels are still out there during your stay. Carol thought they would be gone for sure. Then go to New Orleans for a couple of days just to relax. We had a good time there for sure. We received a call from one of the ticket people at the track a number of months ago trying to upgrade our seats. Finally we were asked if we were planning to attend the race this year. We said no. They just hung up. We never even received anything in the mail or an email offering us our old seats. Guess they feel they don't need us back. Know they are trying hard to pay all the bills from the construction. We would have had a heart attack for what the owners went through to be up and running for the first race. We wish them every success.
Not sure how you can say that. Just back from Austin and have to say the experience was top notch: - fantastic track - unbelievable hospitality - terrific city US GP in Austin IMHO is among the best F1 experiences on the calendar. We will certainly go back there some year.
I went down for the weekend and ha a great time. The event was well organized and the track is great. We had the FCA ticket package and the seats were fantastic. From turn 12 one not only sees some great passing at the end of the back straight, but much of the rest of the track is also vissible. The food is excellent as well! It's hard to believe you are in Texas.
We know each other well. Both of us have different criteria as we both know. (Thanks again for the Gum Ball Trophy in 2011 even though I am not an FOC member, and we drove an ambulance to Mongolia not a Ferrari. It is so great for me when people like you and me are at peace with each other. Just a great feeling every time I think about it.) Norbert
Everyone is saying the numbers were alot lower than COTA claims. COTA said 58,000 on Friday wich from what I hear was a ghost town practice. You better not wait to go again!!
I saw rows and rows of empty buses on Friday downtown in Austin waiting for fans, so the ghost town comment sounds right. But on Saturday it was very packed. About as packed as any GP on that day. And on Sunday I saw endless long lines of cars stretching to the GP. I believe you that it wasn't sold out and that the numbers were down, but that's normal for any GP (where the premier attracts the most people) and also this track seats a lot more than most European venues. So even at like 80% this GP is doing equal if not better than a Euro GP. What mattered more to me to make a prediction about the GP's future is to see in what context it is taking place: Here we have a race, which is endorsed and supported by the community of Austin and the Governor of Texas. That translates to me into subsidies. In contrast I have been to e.g. the Turkish or European GP in Valencia and in both occasions you had a hard time even telling that there was a race in town, it was such a non (welcome) event. I heard similar stories about Korea, so no wonder those races are all gone. I'm not saying that the Austin GP is a sure thing for the future, but I'm willing to bet it is around for at least another two years. Once Mexico GP comes online things might change.
