I finally got to spend some quality time at the Circuit of the Americas during the inaugural Grand Am & Continental Tire Challenge this past weekend.
Here are some things I learned.
First of all it's not really located in Austin, well not the Austin you've been to before. It's way out in the boonies and isn't near anything like gas, food or lodging - yet.
It's located about 80% around on the outside of a toll road bypass that has only recently been completed that bypasses all of Austin. That's 80% if you are coming from the north as I was. If you are coming from the south it's only about 20% around.
That's hint #1. If you are flying in and can't fly to Austin Bergstrom Airport then fly into San Antonio, not Houston or DFW.
You'll also want to get lodging on the south of town, not towards the north. From the north the closest reasonably priced lodging on the toll road is the Jetson's Holiday Inn Express in Hutto which is about 30 minutes, way north. You will swear the creator of the Jetson's decorated the hotel. Except for it being way more plush than European hotels (but stark compared to the usual American hotel) it is decorated & furnished like many hotels in Europe. Scandinavians will love it.
The loop goes through some of the worst & most desolate areas around Austin. You will see lots of scrub land and trailers, there's even a burning landfill near the track. Don't expect pretty until you reach the track. Even heading back into Austin don't expect decent until you pass the airport.
The speed limit on the loop is 80, that's cool!. The cops routinely travel 90 on there, but 95 will get you pulled over. We saw it several times and learned just to tail the cops, they were probably going faster than you would have on your own.
There are only 2 routes from the loop over to Austin. One takes you right by the airport and is unbelievably congested from the airport all the way to south Austin. If you want to get to Austin take 183 north just past the airport and where the congestion really gets bad. This is a shortcut to downtown, but it will look like you are headed in the wrong direction. You'll want to stay on Ben White, but that is the slowest and longest way into town. The other route is on the north side of town and also heads to Houston so it's probably not the best option.
I love Austin, but right now it's looking a little long in the tooth. It's gone through spurts like this in the past and hopefully will grow out of it again. Traffic is horrible. OK, not Houston, Dallas or L.A. horrible but on Friday's the rush hour goes on much longer than you'd expect and hotel prices have taken quite a hit. Expect close to $200-$250 a room in Austin during an event whereas rooms in Hutto will be $100.
GO SOUTH FOR YOUR ROOMS! Your pocketbook and sanity meter will love you for it.
The track facilities themselves are about 2/3 finished. They are wonderful and feel complete, but there's a lot more coming to make it even better. I've been to tracks all over the world and this is the best by far of any I've been too. I have not been to Abu Dabai.
The drivers and mechanics felt that way too.
I must have talked to a dozen drivers, 15-20 mechanics and an unbelievable number of support people & I never heard even the faintest hint of a negative comment. It is not like any of the "typical" tracks you've been too. The track surface itself is flawless and the drivers don't expect it to ever develop any problem area because the FIA will require it to be fixed.
It is wide. It is smooth. It is challenging. It is smooth. It is very different from other tracks. It is uniquely suitable for "regular" cars over F1 cars. It is great for car watching. There is hardly a bad spot to sit!
I got to talk to Brian Till and Chris Neville and they said they hadn't heard one negative comment from anyone either. They just loved everything about the track from food to the hospitality. The workers seem to seek out anyone who looked the least little bit confused and they helped you out.
Every racer type person said this is the track everyone will compare all other tracks to. It is the best they ever expect to race on. I wish I had a nickle for every time I heard someone say "I've raced on tracks all over the world and nothing compares to this." I still wouldn't have had enough to buy a large souvenir soda ($9), but at least I could have bought an ice cream cone. BTW there was quite a variety of food available and all of it I saw was good.
It is a very balanced track. I was talking to the top 2 Miata drivers who took pole and 3rd place during qualifying in STI and they said that this track had great technical areas that gave them an advantage and then took it all way with the long straights. Every one I talked to said basically the same thing. It didn't favor the high speed cars or the low speed handling cars, it gave everyone what they wanted put didn't give either type an advantage.
Before the race we got to talk to all the Skyactive Diesel drivers and questioned them on what they felt their chances were for this race and the future and they think things look pretty good for them. Yes, I know one went out, right in front of us, but this is only their second race and they are still running a "conservative tune" and are still learning the chassis. Of course they wouldn't give us all the inside info, but they still have a few little worry spots and one of them took the car out this race. But the key thing I took away was that they feel they have most of the bad gremlins worked out and now can focus on the more minor things.
It is impossible to be more than a few steps from a bathroom anywhere on the track.
But it is an awfully dang long track to walk around. They could use a couple more bridges to give you some short cuts. 3.41 miles of track gives you at least 5 miles to walk around. We did it several times. It also means that lap times are long and until the cars get spread out you have plenty of time to
Turn 1 is a great place to watch the race from, but so is anywhere from turn 7-11. Turn 11 is AWESOME! The grandstands around turn 15 where what I felt were the best grandstands. You've got the end of the long straight plus 6 corners laid out in front of you plus 2 big screens to allow you to see action on the rest of the track.
The sound system all around the track was great with speakers placed about every other fence pole apart, but it felt like they had the volume turned to 8 and they needed it turned to 11. Unlike most tracks you could hear enough to do a pretty fair job of staying up on what was happening on the rest of the track. I still could wish for some sort of headphone radio feed.
The main grandstands by the start finish lines and across from the pits were my least favorites. The sound was channeled and it was ear bleeding raucous & loud. The walls on either side focused the sound and I don't know how anyone sat there during F1.
The bridge overlooking the S's was also fabulous. Looking down the Esses with all the bright paint work makes for some great pics and
There's not a bad place to watch (except maybe the RV park area down the long back straight) and no matter where you are you can see all kinds of great racing.
Pit access could have been better. You have 2 ways to get there and if you are leaving the pits and rushing to a viewing spot at Turn 1 or Turn 15 before the races start you will be out of breath and barely have time to plop down and get your camera out before the race has begun. The issue is that you have to cross a couple of roads and any traffic into or out of the pits impedes the foot traffic.
With that said, we got to be part of the vehicular traffic most of the time as anyone with a golf cart or golf cart limo would stop and offer you a lift. We rode with various well known dignitaries. They'd just stop and ask if you wanted a ride.
BUY YOUR PARKING PASSES ONLINE! They stop selling them a few weeks before the race. They have golf car limos acting as free shuttles so walking isn't a huge deal, but get into parking lot C if you can. It's right across from the main entrance.
When it comes time to leave they send you out 3 different ways to keep congestion to a minimum and either one of the secondary exit, or entrance routes (Elroy road & Pearce lane) are faster than the main entrance and have no downsides for parking, buying tickets or anything.
While you're there be sure to visit the "Whole Foods Mother Ship". Whole Foods is a greenie grocery store that requires you to be a card carrying PETA member and Democrat to even enter, but this store is worth a trip to Austin all by itself. There are over 10 mini restaurants inside the store plus an ice skating rink on it's roof. If you can't find a way you like tofu at one of the restaurants, then you won't find any way you like tofu. They have real food like barbecue too.
I'm sure I've forgotten a lot, but let me sum it all up by saying Indy is bush leagues by comparison.
