Circuit of the Americas Development Updates

[turn1]

2014 provisional calendar leaked: Mexico si, New Jersey no.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/109646

DRAFT 2014 CALENDAR

March 16 - Australia (Melbourne)
March 23 - Malaysia (Sepang)
April 6 - China (Shanghai)
April 13 – Korea* (Korea International Circuit)
April 27 – Bahrain (Sakhir)
May 11 – Spain (Barcelona)
May 25 – Monaco (Monaco)
June 8 – Canada (Montreal)
June 22 – Austria (Red Bull Ring)
July 6 – Britain (Silverstone)
July 20 – Germany (Hockenheim)
July 27 – Hungary (Budapest)
August 24 – Belgium (Spa)
September 7 – Italy (Monza)
September 21 – Singapore (Marina Bay)
October 5 - Japan (Suzuka)
October 19 – Russia* (Sochi)
October 26 – Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)
November 9 – Mexico* (Mexico City)
November 16 – USA (Circuit of the Americas)
November 30 – Brazil (Interlagos)

Re: the asterisks by Korea, Russia, and Mexico...these slots are pending track or contract confirmation. That seems normal and expected for a new race. Looks like Korea might not happen.

[hookem]

Some of the F1 related city activities are starting to pop up...

2013 Fan Fest - http://austinfanfest.com/ (placeholder website with minimal info, but at least they updated it from last year)

2013 Formula Run - http://beta.active.com/austin-tx/running/formula-run-2013 (RunTex?)

[turn1]

Originally Posted by hookem

Some of the F1 related city activities are starting to pop up...

2013 Fan Fest - http://austinfanfest.com/ (placeholder website with minimal info, but at least they updated it from last year)

2013 Formula Run - http://beta.active.com/austin-tx/running/formula-run-2013 (RunTex?)

FanFest was the one that was run by COTA, right?

[turn1]

Discounted ALMS/WEC tickets at Amazon Local:

http://local.amazon.com/austin/B00EPOGMA4

[TexasRacer98]

New to the forum. I work for Circuit of The Americas (just want to be transparent). We’ve got the ALMS and WEC races coming up on Sept 20-22 and wanted to get y’alls thoughts.

What are some of the reasons you like to go to races besides the race itself? Open pits, track walks, family time?

P.S. Anyone interested in a pretty good discount on ALMS/WEC tickets? $59 instead of $79. Let me know if you’re interested!

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by TexasRacer98

New to the forum. I work for Circuit of The Americas (just want to be transparent). We’ve got the ALMS and WEC races coming up on Sept 20-22 and wanted to get y’alls thoughts.

What are some of the reasons you like to go to races besides the race itself? Open pits, track walks, family time?

P.S. Anyone interested in a pretty good discount on ALMS/WEC tickets? $59 instead of $79. Let me know if you’re interested!

I'm strickly stock car, Sprint Cup. Been to Watkins Glen when it was Winston Cup. I go for the racing however, we do walk around a lot and try to get a closer look at the cars and drivers. Also we've been known to drop some serious coin on food and souvenirs. I'd be first in line for a NASCAR event and probably Indy...but nothing else right now.

[East7thStreet]

Originally Posted by TexasRacer98

New to the forum. I work for Circuit of The Americas (just want to be transparent). We’ve got the ALMS and WEC races coming up on Sept 20-22 and wanted to get y’alls thoughts.

What are some of the reasons you like to go to races besides the race itself? Open pits, track walks, family time?

P.S. Anyone interested in a pretty good discount on ALMS/WEC tickets? $59 instead of $79. Let me know if you’re interested!

I went one day to last year's F! race. Loved the track but probably won't be back if I have to pay 30/more dollars for parking and 9 dollars a beer. Not a fun way to spend the day- getting price gouged.

[hookem]

Originally Posted by TexasRacer98

What are some of the reasons you like to go to races besides the race itself? Open pits, track walks, family time?

Welcome to the forum. Since you asked....

I like to see the cars up close; more so like the open support paddocks you had at the Aussie V8s rather than the pit walks/track walks. I like the fact you can just linger and walk through at any time, vs. 10K people lining up for a 20 minute pit or track walk. But I do like those too.

Also, I like live music. The more stages the better, timed so you can always catch some music. I was disappointed there wasn't any (or none that I saw) for the V8s race. Every Austin festival, even the small ones, have live music -- we love it. Even if I'm not a fan of the band/genre, I'll still stop and spend 15 mins or more just listening and enjoying the show. Usually while I have a beer or some food. The wife loves this too. Again, I think it's the freedom of being able to stop in and out to entertain yourself on your schedule while you have some downtime at the track (like the open support paddocks).

I don't mind the high food prices, as long as it's good and varied selection and the lines aren't too long. The $8 beers (16oz) that you sell are fine, typical of sporting events. I do agree the parking is excessively high, though.

Finally, a little shade or some indoor space to hang out would be nice. The women and children get cranky when they can't get out of the sun/weather all day.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by East7thStreet

I went one day to last year's F! race. Loved the track but probably won't be back if I have to pay 30/more dollars for parking and 9 dollars a beer. Not a fun way to spend the day- getting price gouged.

You shouldn't plan on attending any more "world class" events if you are not willing to pay "world class" prices.

You could avoid the $30 parking fees by riding a shuttle bus to the racetrack. $9 beers could be avoided just as easy, just don't buy them. I'm sure there were other cheaper drinks available at the track.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by electricron

You shouldn't plan on attending any more "world class" events if you are not willing to pay "world class" prices.

You could avoid the $30 parking fees by riding a shuttle bus to the racetrack. $9 beers could be avoided just as easy, just don't buy them. I'm sure there were other cheaper drinks available at the track.

Yeah, I agree with you. Unfortunately, this prohibits me from attending most events as they are becoming more and more unaffordable to me. The alternatives would be staying home and watching on tv, but there's really no substitute for actually being there and experiencing the specticle and sound of it. I would be willing to pay the price if I could.

[East7thStreet]

Originally Posted by electricron

You shouldn't plan on attending any more "world class" events if you are not willing to pay "world class" prices.

You could avoid the $30 parking fees by riding a shuttle bus to the racetrack. $9 beers could be avoided just as easy, just don't buy them. I'm sure there were other cheaper drinks available at the track.

I have no problem paying the 9 dollars per beer and riding the shuttle to an F1 race. It's all the other events that they still charge outrageous prices for food/beer/parking. There are just way too many other entertainment options in this city that charge reasonable prices. I'm going to both weekends of ACL.

[lzppjb]

I went to the Grand Am this Spring. My friends and I had a great time. We are Nascar people, but were excited to see the new track and check out the Camaros and Corvettes (which dominated, by the way).

The thing we all liked the most was the open garages. We spent a lot of time back there walking around and checking out the guys working on the cars. It was really cool to see one of the cars come in from practice and pass by mere feet from you.

Going down to the pits before the race was cool, but way too crowded to really enjoy it. Didn't have enough time for the amount of people that crammed in there.

We also really liked the Camaro Corral or whatever it was called. It was just a small car show with folks' Camaros.

We sat in Turn 1 and loved the vantage point. I preferred it to the grandstand because I liked seeing the other end of the track.

[turn1]

Originally Posted by the Genral

I'm strickly stock car, Sprint Cup. Been to Watkins Glen when it was Winston Cup. I go for the racing however, we do walk around a lot and try to get a closer look at the cars and drivers. Also we've been known to drop some serious coin on food and souvenirs. I'd be first in line for a NASCAR event and probably Indy...but nothing else right now.

IIRC, the Gainsco Corvette DP won the class, & only then after Pruett blew the race at T4 on cold tires. The Corvettes & Camaros were well down the results in GT & the Camaros didn't fare well in GS either.

As for what we want from a race weekend, it should be obvious to anyone running a race track. Y'all are racing fans, too, right?

[TexasRacer98]

Originally Posted by the Genral

I'm strickly stock car, Sprint Cup. Been to Watkins Glen when it was Winston Cup. I go for the racing however, we do walk around a lot and try to get a closer look at the cars and drivers. Also we've been known to drop some serious coin on food and souvenirs. I'd be first in line for a NASCAR event and probably Indy...but nothing else right now.

Yeah, having NASCAR at COTA would be pretty crazy! I have my fingers crossed for you.

[TexasRacer98]

Originally Posted by East7thStreet

I went one day to last year's F! race. Loved the track but probably won't be back if I have to pay 30/more dollars for parking and 9 dollars a beer. Not a fun way to spend the day- getting price gouged.

Hey, sorry to hear that. We'd love to see you back again this year!

[TexasRacer98]

Originally Posted by hookem

Welcome to the forum. Since you asked....

I like to see the cars up close; more so like the open support paddocks you had at the Aussie V8s rather than the pit walks/track walks. I like the fact you can just linger and walk through at any time, vs. 10K people lining up for a 20 minute pit or track walk. But I do like those too.

Also, I like live music. The more stages the better, timed so you can always catch some music. I was disappointed there wasn't any (or none that I saw) for the V8s race. Every Austin festival, even the small ones, have live music -- we love it. Even if I'm not a fan of the band/genre, I'll still stop and spend 15 mins or more just listening and enjoying the show. Usually while I have a beer or some food. The wife loves this too. Again, I think it's the freedom of being able to stop in and out to entertain yourself on your schedule while you have some downtime at the track (like the open support paddocks).

I don't mind the high food prices, as long as it's good and varied selection and the lines aren't too long. The $8 beers (16oz) that you sell are fine, typical of sporting events. I do agree the parking is excessively high, though.

Finally, a little shade or some indoor space to hang out would be nice. The women and children get cranky when they can't get out of the sun/weather all day.

Race day isn't all about the race is it. I love to hear that you really try to squeeze every ounce of fun out of the day. We'd love to see you back again this year!

[turn1]

Originally Posted by TexasRacer98

Yeah, having NASCAR at COTA would be pretty crazy! I have my fingers crossed for you.

I'm not much of a fan anymore of big oval racing, but NASCAR on road courses is a lot of fun to watch. I'd love to see it here but I doubt very seriously it will happen anytime soon.

[turn1]

I went out to the track yesterday and caught a bit of the first ALMS/WEC practice. Caught the new DeltaWing Coupe in action. I posted some photos on the FB page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.708663115814903.1073741888.157330087614878&type=1

Here are a few of them:









I little too quick onto the throttle out of 11:





Mowing the astroturf approaching 10:







Hot brakes into 11:

[TexasRacer98]

Originally Posted by turn1

I went out to the track yesterday and caught a bit of the first ALMS/WEC practice. Caught the new DeltaWing Coupe in action. I posted some photos on the FB page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.708663115814903.1073741888.157330087614878&type=1

Here are a few of them:









I little too quick onto the throttle out of 11:





Mowing the astroturf approaching 10:







Hot brakes into 11:

Great pictures! Keep posting if you are there today!

[hookem]

Originally Posted by turn1

I went out to the track yesterday and caught a bit of the first ALMS/WEC practice. Caught the new DeltaWing Coupe in action. I posted some photos on the FB page:

So who is driving, Ace or Gary?