2012 Austin GP ticket prices...

This was posted on another forum a few days ago:

Platinum Suite/Paddock Club: Full hospitality, directly above pit box. These suites looked decent, but the seats looked amazing (they include digital renderings of each grandstand area). Estimated cost: $4500

Gold Grandstand: Front-straight seating, lower level. Located opposite the pit wall (and the toffee-nosed crowd in the suites above), you could see the entire front straight and Turn 1. Access to the hospitality section (which includes a couple 5-star restaurants) is included. Estimated cost: $1800-2500

Silver Grandstand: Front straight, above Gold & one Stadium Section Same deal as Gold, but no access to hospitality. Estimated cost: $1000-1500

Bronze Grandstand: Several locations, including the back hairpin & the technical "stadium section" of Turns 12-16 Some seats look great, others don't. They tried to put grandstands at potential overtaking spots. Sometimes this works. Estimated cost: $500-700

Infield General Admission: 3 vantage points to choose from This is where it gets tricky so try to stick with me. If anyone's been to Indy for F1, you'll remember that a GA ticket was dirt cheap, allowed you to roam anywhere you wanted and see the best action. This has changed. It sounds like you now have to choose which part of the infield you want to view the race from: back downhill sweepers, back Suzuka slalom section, or back straight. No more roaming. I think some of these vantage points will give the best views of the cars in action (jaw-dropping directional transitions). Also, roaming vendors will come to you with food/drinks. Mid-Ohio already has this & a lot of people like it. Estimated cost: $250-475/season

That's right. It's a season ticket. It allows you that same infield spot for whatever other events they hold there that year. Sounds like Indycar, Trans-Am & MotoGP are contenders. My thought was: "But I can't afford to travel to Austin 3 times a year!" Well, they thought of that. Kind of. They'll be setting up a StubHub-type site where you can attempt to pawn your event tickets off to people who want to see a particular event. IF you can recoup some of the money for other events, these prices could be Indy-cheap for F1. But let's be realistic: no one is going to offer you $125 for a infield pass at a Trans-Am event. You might get $25. Maybe.

Again, these prices are just what I remember from taking a lengthy, complex survey late at night. I could be way off on some of these prices but most I believe to be accurate.

Yeah, that makes that impossible. Tickets to the Indy GP were like 50 bucks for the weekend. I cannot afford 500 bucks to get my girlfriend and I in for the weekend. Selling tickets to Trans Am, Indy and Moto GP is the job of the ticket office, not me...

Displeased.

Agreed that is ridiculously expensive.

If that's the way they go, there will be a lot of empty seats.

Stub-hub will help, but unless those tickets are able to be sold months and months in advance, the flying attendance will be limited to those with the means of relatively short term plans.

The prices listed are much more expensive than the Spa and Monza tickets, combined. While we are still hoping to go, I would not buy a season ticket. And we are travelling F1 fans. So.....

That sucks! I understand that it's the spectacle of F1 but please.

I spent $85 on my ticket for the Rolex 24 and that was for everything for the entire weekend! I got through the whole trip for ~$250

I can't justify spending ~$1000 for just myself to see a race that I'll end up watching again on my DVR.

Same here, we are in OK, so I was thinking we'd be able to do F1 around $1200 or so for me and the wife to drive down and drive back.

I'm just not seeing how that is possible now, unless we camp, eat bologna sandwiches and don't bring a few cases of our favorite adult beverages...........and at that point, why go?

I got free tickets to the USGP in 2001 and 2002. They weren't worth the price I paid.

I kinda enjoyed walking through the garage the day before the race (I got Ross Brawn's autograph, but gave it to a bigger-fan-than-me), but for watching the race, the TV was best.

It was cool to see the start and hear the first lap, but other than that, F1 just doesn't do it for me.

Those prices are just about what I expected based upon the price of tickets I've seen posted for F1 at several other venues. They don't seem to have an issue filling the stands at other tracks so I don't think they'll have any issue here, especially when you factor in the curiosity factor and the idea of it being the first race.

I'm close and I'm saving. I'll pay just about anything to see a real F1 race (or at least I will do it once). F1 isn't for the masses. You want masses then go see a Nascrap race.

The ALMS race at Road America cost me maybe 150 for the whole week! It sound like they are trying to please rich investors with the uber high ticket prices and it trickled down to GA tickets as well. The thing I loved about the ALMS race was wandering to all of the different corners to see different turns and crashes etc. There is no one place that I would want to sit to watch the entire thing!

As crappy as the season ticket pricing is; it's probably the best way to get spectators to fill the seats. They have to get revenue somehow. Oh, and Bernie needs his Cristal.

Doesn't make much sense when we've been hearing about how they're trying to build a bigger fan base in the U.S. Even as a semi-rabid F1 fan this just pisses me off.

GL Austin, you may need it.

Now I'm off to research Montreal ticket prices.

carguy123 wrote: I'll pay just about anything to see a real F1 race (or at least I will do it once). F1 isn't for the masses. You want masses then go see a Nascrap race.

Once being the key word. I've seen races at almost every U.S. venue . . . once. Are they amazing to hear, yes. Is it a spectacle? Yes, but from a notable distance, since you can't walk among the cars as in other series. Is it worth doing once? Possibly at $100 for GA, but paying $500 for a bench seat so Bernie can get his share and we don't lose yet another F1 track in the U.S. when you've seen it before? Pretty tall order.

Have to say that I'd agree with Matt B. The situation is sad considering we're always hearing about building F1 in the US. Elitism and tracks that need to fill stands don't mix.

Those prices are just crazy... Went to Indy 3 times, that was a steal looking back now

Hell no.

Pricey but not that much more than Montreal: http://www.circuitgillesvilleneuve.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39&Itemid=20&lang=en

Aprox. $450 for grandstands and $125 for the weekend for General Admission, which ain't what is was when I went there about 8 years ago, they've put up new grandstands at the best GA locations, but still allow roaming AFAIK.

I'm glad I went once. Seeing the way the cara change directions, feeling the exhaust concussion in your chest as the cars accelerate from the hairpin (I was standing no more than 10' from the track edge there during quali), chatting up the mechanics on the Thursday pit lane walk, and the overall spectacle was awesome. Now that I've done it once I'd rather watch on TV since inevitably that's how you watch 90% of the race even there, on the jumbotrons.

Pricing does a good job of keeping the Nascrap type individuals out.

There'll still be tittie flashing, but it will be of a higher class, not nearly as many tats or multiple piercings.

It all seems a little pricey to me, but I'll spring for the $25 Trans Am tickets on Stub Hub and sign up when the local PCA chapter rents this world class facility for a track day.

So aside from the year-old thread bump, is there any news regarding the Austin track? I stopped paying attention after the initial rumors that the project was getting canned.

I was there not long ago and construction is proceeding quite rapidly. Other than that I haven't paid a lot of attention to the press.

I'll be getting some. I only live 2.5 hrs from Austin and all my friends and family are there. Gives me an "excuse" to get back down there. Hehehe.

carguy123 wrote: Pricing does a good job of keeping the Nascrap type individuals out. There'll still be tittie flashing, but it will be of a higher class, not nearly as many tats or multiple piercings.

wow that is a stunning statement.....

Sultan wrote:

carguy123 wrote: Pricing does a good job of keeping the Nascrap type individuals out. There'll still be tittie flashing, but it will be of a higher class, not nearly as many tats or multiple piercings.

wow that is a stunning statement.....

Yeah. Definitely the kind of person I'd be proud to hang with . . . if I was a fascist without a clue.

PodF1 wrote:

Sultan wrote:

carguy123 wrote: Pricing does a good job of keeping the Nascrap type individuals out. There'll still be tittie flashing, but it will be of a higher class, not nearly as many tats or multiple piercings.

wow that is a stunning statement.....

Yeah. Definitely the kind of person I'd be proud to hang with . . . if I was a fascist without a clue.

Come on. Fascism has always been a part of F1. Google Max Mosley.

Sultan wrote: Come on. Fascism has always been a part of F1. Google Max Mosley.

Good point. And tough to argue . . .

PodF1 wrote:

Sultan wrote: Come on. Fascism has always been a part of F1. Google Max Mosley.

Good point. And tough to argue . . .

CLICK BACK!! CLICK BACK!!!

What has been seen cannot be unseen...