While watching Wind Tunnel last night on Speed, the host, Dave Dispain, asked the Indy Car guru, Robin Miller, for a scoop. Robin Miller reported that Indy Car is working with the Circuit of the Americas to bring an Indy Car race to the site for 2013. Call me silly, but I'd love to see a combo F1 / Indy Car weekend. I know it would not happen, but golly wouldn't that just be a hoot.
COTA has got F1, Moto GP, V8 Supercars, and possibly Indy. It has the potential to become one hell of a venue.
And only 7 months to go, I hope they make it, I really do! I doubt they would ever do a combined Indy/F1 event tho, for a number of reasons. One would be revenue, if they hold them at opposite ends of the season, they double the ticket sales. Still, I can see an Indycar event there - especially since Indy is committed to doing more road courses than ovals now. "If you build it, they will come"!
IndyCar just announced a race in Houston (Reliant Park) starting in 2013. Probably means no race in Austin.
Where The Hell Is America’s Next Great Sports Venue? (Jalopnik.com) ** This is just a snip, click the title to read the full article.
You know what......I'm OK with this. One of the things that torques my shorts about motor sports and F1 in general is how much money it takes to be any part of it. Many F1 tracks in times past were not much to look at and located in really out of the way places - both Watkins Glen and Zandvoort come to immediate mind - and yet both the fans and the racers managed to get there and have a great time! So if the super rich yacht dwelling F1 fans turn their nose up at Elroy, good - more room for us normal folks! What is true tho is that there have to be accomodations - even if it's not a world class moorage in a sun drenched harbor on the Mediteranean - folks gotta have a place to eat, sleep and pee. I hope they're on top of this too come November.....
Welp, I'm priced out of all the Grandstands. Least expensive seat in a grandstand is $375 + $1500 for a Seat License.
Well I'm out...if 50,000 do G/A, you better get there early for the good spots. I've done Montreal that way and it's a stampede across the bridge when the gates open, small venue though...5am in the rain, shoulder to shoulder. umbrellas and way too many tifosi. :cornut:
This is from Jalopnik so consider the source, but not the sort of prices I was expecting. The Cheapest Seat For The U.S. Grand Prix Is $159
Here is a link to the pricing on the COTA site: Get Tickets | Circuit of The Americas - Home of the F1 US Grand Prix | Nov. 16-18, 2012 | Austin TX- Circuit of the Americas
I have to admit, that General Admission pricing is not bad at all. Now to figure out what travel and a hotel may cost to see if this is within my budget at all.
Oy...hotel rates are maxed out... $199 a night with a 3 night minimum for a Days Inn... that's before taxes too. This is for whats termed a "budget" location too. $450 a night, 3 night min, for a Holiday Inn Express... I want to go, I really do, but these rates are so high it annoys me to no end. At least the airfares are not terrible.
About the only way I can justify it is that my brother lives there in Austin, so I have a free couch to crash on, even so I figure it'll be a minimum of $1200 for the weekend for the two of us. I'm still going of course.....