Seems like the GA ticket would be pretty legit, would be nice to move around some.
"Premium Seats" are still held back for folks who are willing to buy a PSL. Totally ridiculous. I want the USGP to be a success but they are shooting themselves in the foot. Contemplating skipping between the PSLs and the hotel situation...
This is going to sound pretty hippie, But if I end up going I am taking my tent and driving down from Little Rock in my 95 Subaru Wagon and camping out for the weekend
+1 And you're going to have a great time with great people in a great city. If you want glamour, go to Monaco or Singapore. If you want the automotive equivalent of Austin City Limits fest, try Austin. I have a feeling (assuming everything comes together without any undue further drama) this race is going to become the new Adelaide on the F1 calendar. A "big small town" where the F1 circus comes to let its hair down at the end of the season and soak up the local culture. If you know anything about the history of F1 you know Adelaide was one of the most popular stops on the calendar with the teams before it got usurped by Melbourne.
The only thing "wrong" with that is they still won't give any details regarding camping or RV parking. I just bit the bullet yesterday on my trip: sitting toward the top at turn 12 and found a "good enough" hotel (Red Roof Inn @ $170)... which is fine since I don't plan on being in the room much. I say 'bring it on' and put my money where my mouth is. Anybody else done the same yet?
I say the only thing really wrong with camping: November in Texas, hard to say if the weather will be sunny, overcast, pleasantly warm, bitterly cold... could be any or all three that week. Which reminds me I need to look up which weekend deer season opens this year.
...well if Austin isn't your cup of tea, there is always the New Jersey Grand Prix in 2013, I am sure the hotel prices and overall cost of attending will be far more approachable
The way I see it, there's no way they're going to have a Formula 1 race 2 hours from my home and me not attend (within reason.) I'm really wanting to be at Turn 12. I'm not at all thrilled with their pricing (especially the Premium or PSL or whatever they call it) or the purchasing system they've set up...or the parking for that matter. Apparently the pre-sale tickets for Turn 12 are sold out. I do think we've found a reasonable hotel in Austin though. Debating going to the Formula 1 festivities thing coming up. I have a feeling I'll be disappointed and that it's more geared towards turning the Nascar crowd on to Formula 1. If we go, I hope I'm wrong.
Maybe. But, Austin is a much better place to spend 4 nights than Singapore. And, you don't have to 30+ hours in an airplane!
Just a heads up, barnyard and I are in talks about a private/enclosed and locked parking area for FChatters Fcar's (one of his properties intown). Once the details are finalized we will start a thread. I am uncertain of the amount of spaces available at this time but it will most definitely be by reservation only and then any spaces left will also be on a first come first serve basis. I am not worried about missing friday's practice so I will be on location and in charge. I only have one request, make sure you have a full tank of gas and don't ***** if there is an extra 50 miles on you OD!!!!!! I'm just kidding about the last part, I think! Mayor, Your on the list so no worries if you need help.
I agree with you and I decided no way for me either, BUT.... This morning I decided to look anyway just for fun. I ended up getting a non-smoking King at a Holiday Inn Express 9 miles away for 40 bucks a night + 15,000 points/night. I have 211,000 total right now. That's $120 for three nights and it still leaves me with 166000 Priority Club points. It's Booked! So I am going
Here are my notes after going to the GP, for future USGP goers: Turn 12 was excellent, if you sit in the very top row, you can even see the hill at turn one from turn 12, in addition to seeing the stadium section. Turn 11 (the hairpin) was also excellent. You got to see the cars more up close than I've seen them at any F1 track, you could see the individual movements the drivers hands were making. I think I liked 11 better than 12. That being said, if you do general admission, you can get a chair and sit at the hairpin and save some bucks! You'd have to secure your location early though. Hope this helps someone.
My seats were at turn 11 and you are correct they were great seats. Back at the house after the race BigTexs lady friend told me about sitting at turn 3 and how she could see all the way down to the S turns and then the cars entering turn 12 and then exiting turn 1 or 2. She said they are probably some of the best seats at the track for viewing asmuch ontrack action as possible. That seating area is probably what I will try to get for next years ALMS race in Sept and for the F1 race in Nov if I am still stateside.
My notes: - Turn 12 was fantastic with around 1 minute total of car visibility (of the 1:40-ish lap time) viewable from my seat! That's really hard to beat. - I was in row 28 and I wouldn't want to be much lower for both range of views and being clear of the fencing to get unobstructed pictures. As it was the fence was basically right at the bottom of the wheels in many of my pictures.... a little higher would have been better. - From section 3 I could see turn 1 pretty well, but I'm thinking maybe sections 5 or 6 would have given the best view with the added bonus of seeing the brakes glowing after braking from the straight. - The Red Roof Inn in north Austin is a dump. Period. I shoulda stayed in a tent.
There was this platform way up on that tower in the infield. Definitely the place to watch the race from. I'm even imagining that they had waitresses in cool outfits serving food and drinks. No waiting in line for 30 minutes to find out that they were out of what you wanted.
Top of turn 1 or turn 12! Paddock suite seats suck; but it did buy me the grid & pit walk for all 3 days and I managed to hang out in the Ferrari paddock for a bit.
LaGrange, New Bransfels, most Texas towns have SOME sort of airport, to cater to Oil Barons and cattle ranchers....they don't all have Rent Car counters tho....
I was amazed, Dr. Tommy walked RIGHT up to me in the midst of 120,000 people, and said: "Hi, BigTex!!!" So much for blending in......
My seats were at turn 2, and I loved them. I could see the esses at 3-6, then turns 12-15 without doing much more than turning my head. I bought 4 tickets so $ was a concern. If it was just me, I'd do turn 12.
We sat in T6(7) and had a good view. The area to our right was a bowl of dirt and rock where GAs unfolded their chairs and watched. The biggest problem was the slope. The only people sitting there were perched on the rim. I went down after the Ferrari Challenge to investigate and was told by people sitting there that it was fine. My own observation was that the view of the track was great, but limited compared with sitting high in the stands. From row 26 we could see the back straight. However, if COTA were to terrace these areas and do something with the surface, they would be the best buy in the house and that's where I would be next year. If COTA did this, and I'm assuming they are going to do something, they would greatly expand capacity.
