Quote:
Originally Posted by Spaceman
Drove to the construction site today and two things are obvious. First, the building needs to quicken...The hillside is cleared but I saw no structure of any kind being built..If the weather changes in the fall and winter and rain starts to fall, construction will slow greatly putting a June date at risk..Secondly, on a quiet Sunday, Highway 812 is a mess...We got behind a horse trailer and the twisty road made passing impossible There is no way a quarter of the projected attendance could get in and out of that place...The poor access could ruin this event..No one is going to wait four hours to get into the track and another four to return home.
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812 from 130 to the track entrance will be completely redone before the first race. Plus since the city has deemed remote lots and shuttles handle the majority of traffic it will probably easier to get in/out of there than Jerry World. After going to events in other places and utilizing shuttles or subways it is the only way to go. I would hope they have some sort of motorcycle express lane and parking for the MotoGP races. I think with the number of major events and the amount of people that the track can hold that combined attendance could easily exceed that of UT football games. There is a max of 6 or 7 UT home games, most race weekends are three days of paid spectator events and with only three already announced that is 9 days of spectator attendance and after going to the USGP at Indy in 2007 the Saturday attendance is about the same as Sunday. Not sure about the Friday attendance as that is the day that we traveled to Indy but from what I have heard it is typically 75% of a Saturday or Sunday. If the USGP in Austin attracts 150,000 for the race then I would say you could expect at least 125,000 on Saturday and probably 80,000 on Friday.
Also, expect an ALMS announcement for 2013 in the near future and possibly a World Superbike race there as well. There are rumors of DTM (German Touring Car) joining the V8 Supercars weekend. COTA will become the center of non-Nascar based racing in the US in the not so distant future. The only (non-Nascar) event that will be able to come close is the Indy 500.
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