Circuit of the Americas Development Updates

[Nickelplate]

I'm also excited about the tailgating aspect because touring bands like Dave Matthews Band etc dont get much love here because that aspect has not been offered. Glad to see the big wigs of COTA are acknowledging that. It is an integral part of a concert experience! Glug Glug Glug Glug!!

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

While it is something that Austin has needed for a long time, I am a disappointed in the end product. They went from announcing it was going to be 20-25 thousand capacity down to 17,000, then to 15,000, now only 14,000? Judging by the artists booked so far at the venue looks like I will not be going there anytime soon other than MotoGP. So much for having the top music acts in the world coming rather than just to Houston or Dallas.

Chill out. Hopefully they book more than country acts. I'm not into country music, but I am not going to get upset at COTA just because they haven't booked an artist I personally listen to.

[Austin_Expert]

I went to the Grand-Am of the Americas, and was able to check out the Austin360 Amphitheater up close. It is going to be a great place to see a show. Austin has never had an outdoor concert venue of this caliber, and I have no doubt it will draw top acts.

[turn1]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

While it is something that Austin has needed for a long time, I am a disappointed in the end product. They went from announcing it was going to be 20-25 thousand capacity down to 17,000, then to 15,000, now only 14,000?

Yeah, for a long period every time they talked about the capacity of the amphitheater, the number was always wildly different from the last time....and if you take a good look at the place, count seats, rows, & sections, you can see that it only has about 5000 fixed seats. The grassy area behind that is even smaller. There's no way that's a 14K person venue unless all those people in the back are packed in like people standing on a NYC subway train at rush hour. Probably not even then.

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.statesman.com/news/sports/tickets-for-novembers-formula-one-race-to-go-on-sa/nWscx/

Posted: 8:17 a.m. Friday, March 15, 2013
Tickets for November’s Formula One race to go on sale March 21

By Dave Doolittle
American-Statesman Staff

Tickets for November’s Formula One race at Circuit of the Americas will go on sale at noon March 21, circuit officials announced Friday.

Three-day passes will cost $169 for general admission and between $299 and $1,200 for reserved grandstand seats.

There is no single-day ticket option, circuit spokeswoman Ali Putnam said.

[turn1]

Haven't been here for a while. Sorry about the string of posts, but I figgered it'd be better than one big one.

BTW, here are a few of my Grand Am photos, & there are about 200 of them in these two galleries:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.609653765715839.1073741829.157330087614878&type=1

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.610502178964331.1073741831.157330087614878&type=1

Here are a few:

[lzppjb]

[lzppjb]

These were taken with my phone.

[KevinFromTexas]

I've never really been a corvette guy, but I have always loved this body type:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v345/l.../2013-03-01_12-18-22_197_zps7c532600.jpg

[turn1]

MotoGP weekend schedule just released by COTA:

http://circuitoftheamericas.com/images/pdfs/schedule.pdf

[turn1]

Carruthers not pulling any punches in Cycle News piece on COTA's poor handling of the Schwantz/MotoGP mess:

http://cyclenews.uberflip.com/i/119121/100

[turn1]

Event schedule: http://circuitoftheamericas.com/moto-gp

FAQs: http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com/faq-motogp

Circuit Map: http://circuitoftheamericas.com/images/moto/moto_track_large.jpg

[turn1]

Statesman: MotoGP attendance not likely to match projections

Well...DUH. Their various weekend projections ranged from 161K to 300K. However, 100K is well below average for U.S. MotoGP events.

http://www.statesman.com/news/sports/mot...e-not-likely-to-match-projections/nXBCr/

Julie Loignon, a spokeswoman for Circuit of the Americas, estimated Tuesday that the three-day attendance for MotoGP, motorcycling’s equivalent of Formula One, would be 100,000. That would likely translate into a race-day crowd of somewhere above 50,000.
“Right now it looks like about half of what a UT (football) game would be,” said Leah Fillion, a spokeswoman for the city’s transportation department. She said it would be business as usual downtown and that the city is anticipating about 40,000 to 50,000 for the race.
A study by Don Hoyte, a former economist with the state comptroller, projected 86,000 for the Sunday race and 161,000 for the three-day weekend, April 19-21.

[lzppjb]

Doesn't surprise me. I must be one of the many people that just aren't interested in seeing motorcycles race...at least in this area. I'm not badmouthing it. It just doesn't pique my interest.

[turn1]

Wow. Check this out.

Corner workers opting out of Moto GP gig in support of Schwantz:

http://www.motohouston.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-253721.html

[alwaysmiling]

I wanted to go to the race but $60 a day to park? Is that for real? So its a $40 cab ride each way or $60 to park? Someone please tell me I'm missing something, so that I can still go to the race without feeling like a sucker...

[ivanwolf]

I'll be a volunteer for this race as bikes are interesting but I'm more a car guy.

[turn1]

Kevin Schwantz will be on Wind Tunnel Sunday night. Send tweets to @SPEEDWindTunnel if you'd like to suggest a question for him.

[turn1]

I went to the Gypsy Lounge watch party today. Great crowd and great race! Kevin and the FreeKevin34 people were their guests. They did not suggest a boycott of the race. They did suggest a show of support for Kevin by wearing his colors or other gear along with that of your favorite current rider.

Pics & video later.

[turn1]

Pics from the Gypsy Lounge Watch Party:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.625893177425231.1073741845.157330087614878&type=1