Circuit of the Americas Development Updates

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In other news, the Historics will race on Saturday in Austin rather than Sunday:

http://www.formula1.com/races/in_det...timetable.html

2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX
Note - please be advised that this timetable is subject to change.

Thursday 15th November
Formula One Press Conference - Press Room 11:00

Friday 16th November
Formula One Practice 1 09:00 - 10:30
HGP Practice Session 11:00 - 11:30
Formula One Paddock Club Pit Lane Walk 11:30 - 12:30
Formula One Practice 2 13:00 - 14:30
Ferrari Challenge Practice Session 15:00 - 15:45
Formula One Press Conference - Press Room 15:00 - 16:00
Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA West Practice Session 16:15 - 16:45

Saturday 17th November
Formula One Team Pit Stop Practice 07:00 - 07:40
Formula One Paddock Club Pit Lane Walk 07:00 - 07:40
Ferrari Challenge Qualifying Session 07:45 - 08:15
Formula One Practice 3 09:00 - 10:00
HGP Qualifying Session 10:30 - 11:00
Formula One Paddock Club Pit Lane Walk 11:05 - 11:40
Formula One Qualifying 12:00
Ferrari Challenge First Race (10 Laps or 25 Mins) 13:30 - 14:00
Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA West Qualifying Session 14:30 - 14:50
HGP Race (14 Laps or 30 Mins) 15:20 - 15:55

Sunday 18th November
Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA West First Race (10 Laps or 25 Mins) 09:30 - 10:00
Ferrari Challenge Second Race (10 Laps or 25 Minutes) 10:30 - 11:00
Formula One Paddock Club Pit Lane Walk 11:05 - 12:15
Formula One Formula One Drivers Parade 11:30
Formula One Starting Grid Presentation 11:45 - 12:15
Formula One National Anthem 12:46
Formula One Race 13:00

...and Alexander Rossi will be at the wheel of the Caterham during Friday Practice:

http://blog.roadandtrack.com/america...abroad-racing/

ETA: In 2 tweets to me just now, Alexander Rossi says a USGP announcement indicated in the Road & Track story never happened, that the article is untrue, and that he never submitted such a quote. More info as we get it.

@AlexanderRossi: @Austin_F1 I do not know where this information has come from, but as there has been no announcement, please remove this from the press ASAP

@AlexanderRossi: @Austin_F1 I also have not submitted or approved that quote and do not know where this false information has come from. Thank you.

@Austin_F1: @AlexanderRossi It's not from us. It's from Road & Track Mag's blog. bit.ly/VBeqS2 I have no way to remove that.

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About a week ago, we got word & posted on our FB page that Stadium People was telling its employees they wouldn't be needed for events surrounding the Formula Run event planned for this Saturday at COTA. RunTex and the Statesman quickly responded that the run itself had not been cancelled and was to proceed as planned. We then thought Stadium People might be referring to the Open House we'd been hearing about for some time. Looks like that was it. If any of you had plans to attend that event, the Open House has been cancelled. No certificate of compliance for the Main GS:

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/a...ll-permits-yet

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.statesman.com/news/busine...ut-some/nSsj2/

Posted: 4:01 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012
Austin-area hotels filling up for F1 week, but some rooms still available

By Gary Dinges
American-Statesman Staff

Fear not, procrastinating race fans. With Austin’s inaugural Formula One race just two weeks away, some Austin-area hotels still have rooms available for the race weekend of Nov. 16-18.

bout 26,500 room nights had been booked through the site as of Monday, Goldman said, with the average reservation running about 4.16 days and an average nightly rate of $366.44.

Visitors heading to town shouldn’t dawdle much longer, though, Goldman said. He estimated about 80 to 85 percent of the region’s hotel rooms have already been reserved.

The cheapest rate available on the circuit’s website Wednesday afternoon was $79 for a room at a Holiday Inn Express in Northwest San Antonio, near Sea World. The priciest rooms were at the InterContinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel in downtown Austin, which was charging $919 per night.

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Since the COTA room block contracts began expiring, rooms have been slowly released back to the market. There are now 221 hotels with availability for Friday through Monday, starting at $156 in San Marcos and $234 in Austin.

http://www.hotels.com/search/search....=USD&r=2&cpr=0

Contrary to the hype, Austin was never sold out of hotel rooms. Thousands of rooms that were blocked for months are finally now being put on the market. Also, someone convinced the hotel industry here that price is no object to the typical F1 fan and that they would rapidly sell their inventory even if grossly overpriced. They also apparently were told that there will be 300K individual people descending on Austin for the race weekend. Judging from conversations I've had recently about preparations they're making, it would seem that many in the service industry still believe this. No distinction is being made between 300K total attendance and 300K individual people coming to Austin.

The 300K number is also an exaggeration. COTA itself is telling city departments and COTA employees and volunteers in training to expect 210K to 250K total attendance (40-50K on Friday, 60-80K on Saturday, and 110-120K on Saturday). Those numbers are much more realistic, imho.

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We heard a while back that the Turn 1 GS is being reconfigured & they've removed some sections due to low sales there. Now some fans in that GS are telling us that their tickets have been relocated to other sections there. Haven't seen any construction work on it in 3 or 4 weeks. They should still be able to get it done, but they seem to be waiting until the last minute on that one while every other GS looks done. Here's a shot of the T1 GS that Vance took yesterday:

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COTA photos with 14 days until FP1:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...7614878&type=1

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COTA photos with 14 days until FP1:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...7614878&type=1

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Going to the race? Get an early start.

Some of you may have heard about or even attended the RunTex fun run this morning at COTA. Seems like it was a good time once the estimated 3000 people got there. At 8am (the scheduled start time) FM812 was backed up about 1.5 miles from the COTA gate, past SH130. The fastest road in America ground to a halt as it was backed up about 1.5 miles back from the southbound exit to FM 812. Many people reported travel times of more than 1 hour from SH71 to FM812. Some traffic control at the 130 exit to FM 812 would have been a good idea. There was none. The only traffic control was at the front gate of the circuit. The Main GS lot only filled to about 75% capacity, yet the delays had people still arriving over an hour after the run was scheduled to start. I found a couple of tweeted traffic photos. Event photos to follow.

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Great new aerial photo album via @jaredten. Check it out:

http://www.jtpics.com/cota

[KevinFromTexas]

^Nice. It's crazy how vivid the paint is on the track. And nice skyline photos.

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Here are the official road closures surrounding the USGP at COTA:



...and here's a map of them from the Statesman:

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This morning I posted a bunch of photos from the Formula Run:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...7614878&type=1





Temporary Team Buildings in the Paddock behind the Pit Building:



Medical Center:



Work resumed Saturday on the T1 GS:



Pit Lane:



East end of the Pit Building:



Looking from the start line back to the Main GS:



Looking from P1 on the starting grid up toward T1:

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Up Turn 8 to the Turn 9 GS:











Construction along the Longhorn Straight:

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Last set, but there are lot more at the link above...

Construction at the stadium complex:





Turn 3 pedestrian crossover & GS:



Turn 13 spectator suites:



Crossing under the Longhorn Straight:





Turn 19-20 temporary hospitality buildings:

[MightyYoda]

I would like to see more of the concrete replaced/overlaid with the natural stone from the last image. Would give a more finished look.

[Jdawgboy]

Some of those pictures really show how much of the track you can see from many of the stands.

Also I am banking on 300K in Austin. People fail to realize not everybody is staying in a hotel or motel. A lot of people are staying with friends or family and also renting property or even camping areas.

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Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

Some of those pictures really show how much of the track you can see from many of the stands.

Also I am banking on 300K in Austin. People fail to realize not everybody is staying in a hotel or motel. A lot of people are staying with friends or family and also renting property or even camping areas.

Do you mean 300K individual visitors, or 300K total attendance over the 3 days.

Just FYI, even COTA has retreated from 300K total attendance, with the following projection:

Fri: 40-50K
Sat: 60-80K
Sun: 110-120K

That = 210-250K total 3-day attendance.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by turn1

Do you mean 300K individual visitors, or 300K total attendance over the 3 days.

Just FYI, even COTA has retreated from 300K total attendance, with the following projection:

Fri: 40-50K
Sat: 60-80K
Sun: 110-120K

That = 210-250K total 3-day attendance.

im basing on totale visitors whether they are attending the races or not.

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New venue map from COTA website:

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One of our Field Operatives got some photos today at COTA that you all might be interested in: