US Grand Prix, Formula One hits Austin!

[cartman]

I'm heading out in a bit to catch the practice sessions. I'm really excited that they were able to pull this off, and have the brand new track ready in time for the race. There are supposed to be over 130,000 people in town this weekend for the event.

Circuit of The Americas - Home of the Formula 1 US Grand Prix | Nov. 16-18, 2012 | Austin TX

[cartman]

Looks like the Westboro Baptist folks will be there on Sunday for the race as well!

Westboro Baptists Hate Formula One: God's least favorite homophobes to picket Circuit of the Americas - Sports Blog - The Austin Chronicle

WBC will picket Formula 1 racing at The Circuit of The Americas in Austin, TX to remind this nation that God hates the vwicked people of this land of vain idolaters and that they shall be turned into Hell. These sporting events resemble the patriotic worship-the-flag pep rallies masquerading as sodlier's funerals in that this Bible-ignorant fools worship these race car drivers like they are little gods! Shame on these people for worshipping these athletes instead of following the plain commandments of their God. They ought to obey today before it is too late. WBC knows they will not, never the less, we will kindly warn them to flee the wrath to come. These are the last days of all, Doomed america. Wake up before you find yourselves cast into the deep pit of endless fire!

[Warhammer]

Does this mean a new Formula De map is coming?

[TLK]

I can't believe they actually pulled this off.

[whomario]

Formula 1 weekends are definitely fun, although admittedly insanely expensive ... Was at 2 so far, one about 10 years back and another 2 years ago.

At this point only Vettel and Alonso with a shot at the title, Vettel is favoured because he´s ahead a little and the last 2 tracks should favour his car (although with Austin that´s obviously a guess)

most hilariously awesome guy right now has to be Kimi Räikkönen who´s not only nicknamed "The iceman" but also has a terrific dry sense of humour and seems to be a pretty cool guy overall (he´s also almost allways the first guy with a beer, or vodka, in hand after a race ). His radio messages with his team are at times priceless :

Funny Kimi Räikkönen 2012 (what a legend!) - YouTube (from about 1.33, though the rest of the vid is worth watching as well )

now he sent all team members theese shirts because of his radio message :

[Scoobz0202]

I've been reading over the past couple weeks that traffic is supposed to be an absolute nightmare, or at least worse than expected.. That the roads to the track are not sufficient. Something about there was an event there recently that had 10K or so people and it was a mess then.

Any truth to this, Cartman?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

I've been reading over the past couple weeks that traffic is supposed to be an absolute nightmare, or at least worse than expected.. That the roads to the track are not sufficient. Something about there was an event there recently that had 10K or so people and it was a mess then.

Any truth to this, Cartman?

Deloss Dodds promises that the bleachers will be in place to seat the large crowds, but you won't be able to see the race from those bleachers.

[cartman]

That was one of the worries, but I had absolutely no issues parking and getting a shuttle to the track. Granted today is only a practice day, but based on what I've seen, delays should be minimal on Sunday.

[cartman]

There was a really long line leaving the track today to get to the shuttles, but the lines moved along pretty fast. The line was almost always moving, there were very few times that the line just stopped. It took about 45 minutes between leaving the track, getting on the shuttle, driving to the parking area and being back in my car. I've had longer times leaving the stadium for Longhorns football games.

[cartman]

82,000 people at the track today for qualifying. There was also a Ferrari Challenge race, as well as a Grand Prix Historics from the 60s and 70s. Collective Soul played a concert at the track after racing was concluded. Once again no real issues with getting people to and from the track.

Tomorrow will be the big day, when they are expecting over 120,000 people, and Sebastian Vettel can clinch his third straight World Championship. He's on the pole, so he'll have an excellent shot at doing so.

[Scoobz0202]

That's pretty cool that it seems to be going well. Another forum that has a good representation of Austin people were freaking out a couple weeks leading up to it thinking traffic would be a disaster. Good to see they were worried over nothing.

[cartman]

Attendance today: 117,429.

What an awesome race. Hamilton made his move after a long straightaway, and held off Vettel to win the race. Alonso finished 3rd, so the World Champion won't be crowned until the final race in Brazil.

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by cartman

Attendance today: 117,429.

What an awesome race. Hamilton made his move after a long straightaway, and held off Vettel to win the race. Alonso finished 3rd, so the World Champion won't be crowned until the final race in Brazil.

Agreed, tremendous race today. The new rule changes have really moved F1 from funeral procession to racing. The duel early in the race for 6th between Maldanado, Schumacher, Button and others was fantastic and Raikkonen had a couple of awesome moves as well. If you didn't like the race today, open wheel racing probably isn't for you.

[whomario]

That first turn looked great, genious decicion by whoever designed it ! Also i thought the look of the track itself was very pleasing. Not that it should matter much, but as a somewhat casual observer it does (which is why the night GP in Singapore is my favourite race)
Overall a lot of the newer tracks are doing a great job setting a counterweight for the classic ones that are there forever.

It got a little less exciting in the 2nd half of the racem, but even then there were a few nice overtakings going on.

Vettel now even closer to a 3rd title, but then again Brazil can be unpredictable (the track is tough and weather is allways a factor), great race by Alonso though in a clearly inferior car on that track at least.

Good that Ferrari was upfront about their move before the start (changing a "broken" part at Massa´s car and thus taking a 5 spot penalty for him and getting Alonso not only 1 place up but onto the better side of the track for the start)

[cartman]

Gonna be interesting next year. Texas has a home game against Oklahoma State the same weekend as the F1 race.

[cartman]

The 747s with all of the cars and gear have started arriving in Austin. Unfortunately, I'm not going to make it to the race this year, I'll be in Vegas. But on the plus side, I did rent my house for 5 days/4 nights to some folks who are going to the race. Austin is going to be a mad house next weekend, with both the race and the Texas-Oklahoma State game. Two events with over 100,000 planned attendance.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by cartman

The 747s with all of the cars and gear have started arriving in Austin. Unfortunately, I'm not going to make it to the race this year, I'll be in Vegas. But on the plus side, I did rent my house for 5 days/4 nights to some folks who are going to the race. Austin is going to be a mad house next weekend, with both the race and the Texas-Oklahoma State game. Two events with over 100,000 planned attendance.

And probably only limited cross-over, I would imagine.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

And probably only limited cross-over, I would imagine.

Probably not. Might be some Europeans going purely out of curiosity. The bigger issue will be parking for the race. Last year they used a lot of the garages and lots near the stadium, and bused people to the track. At least on Saturday, none of those are going to be available. The hardcore tailgaters even set up on Friday night.

[aej]

Not a good start to the weekend with the start of Free Practice 1 being delayed 40mins because the weather was too bad for the medical helicopter to fly and then being red flagged after 10mins because the chopper hadn't appeared. Turns out it was parked up at the airport instead of heading for the track and a further 40mins lost.

[nilodor]

Why did they move it from the original date of the week after the Canadian gp? Too hot or too much rain? In seems like june would be a good time because it wouldn't go against the logistics of college football. I know that it was at this time last year but I remember that when it was originally announced it was going to be in the summer, but the organizers wanted it bumped.

[cartman]

Yeah, I think temps were a big reason they moved it from June to November. But in Texas, you can never count on the weather. Conditions last year for the race were absolutely perfect, they couldn't have ordered up better weather.

But looking at the Weather Channel, it looks like the weather is fine right now. What was it like this morning?

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by nilodor

Why did they move it from the original date of the week after the Canadian gp? Too hot or too much rain? In seems like june would be a good time because it wouldn't go against the logistics of college football. I know that it was at this time last year but I remember that when it was originally announced it was going to be in the summer, but the organizers wanted it bumped.

June/July/August is usually where they put the Northern Europe GPs, where the weather can be wildly unpredictable outside of the summer months.

Given Austin's climate, it was always going to be placed at the start or the end of the season and pair it with Brazil or Mexico. If the GP in New Jersey ever gets off the ground, it will probably be paired with Canada in early June.

[cartman]

My tickets arrived on Wednesday for this year's race. They are ramping up the weekend fun. The closing concert at the track this year is Elton John. They also throw a free FanFest event downtown, and the headliner this year is Public Enemy.

Any other FOFCers planning to be at the race?

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by cartman

They also throw a free FanFest event downtown, and the headliner this year is Public Enemy.

I was having a discussion on another board a couple weeks ago about Public Enemy, and it devolved into universal disappointment over their live shows. One fellow won the discussion by telling how he went to see "Public Enemy" in Europe somewhere, but it ended up just being Flavor Flav and someone he introduced as his "cousin Tony".

[cartman]

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I was having a discussion on another board a couple weeks ago about Public Enemy, and it devolved into universal disappointment over their live shows. One fellow won the discussion by telling how he went to see "Public Enemy" in Europe somewhere, but it ended up just being Flavor Flav and someone he introduced as his "cousin Tony".

I absolutely love PE, but their live shows suck. Every live album or concert just sucks. I'm not sure if it's that their stuff isn't tight enough for the road, or that the production value just isn't there or if it's just not planned out ahead, but it sucks. Chuck was great to meet in person, even passing his business card out. He even responded within 5 minutes to an email that I sent him. Totally bummed on the live stuff though.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

I absolutely love PE, but their live shows suck. Every live album or concert just sucks. I'm not sure if it's that their stuff isn't tight enough for the road, or that the production value just isn't there or if it's just not planned out ahead, but it sucks. Chuck was great to meet in person, even passing his business card out. He even responded within 5 minutes to an email that I sent him. Totally bummed on the live stuff though.

Pretty much my experience as well. I saw them on the Welcome to the Terrordome tour, and even back in their heyday they were still just lipsyncing over their records....but then again I've been disappointed by nearly every hip-hop show I've ever been to (classic era Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Run DMC, Beastie Boys). My theory is that most of those artists weren't served well by playing in the confines of big(ish) arenas/expo centers/armories, but the only time any of those artists were ever going to make it to the hip-hop backwoods of Oregon was once they were popular enough to be playing in said arenas.

[cartman]

Well, at least it sounds like the correct price is being charged for the PE performance.

[cartman]

Should be real interesting this weekend. They are projecting up to 14 inches of rain in spots over the next few days.

[sachmo71]

I enjoy running formula E in forza 6. so quiet...

[cartman]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

I enjoy running formula E in forza 6. so quiet...

I was so happy that COTA was in Forza 6!

[cartman]

Just got back from the track. The worst weather fears were realized over the weekend. The remnants of the hurricane were a direct hit. There was only one practice run on Friday, and another limited practice on Saturday. It was still raining this morning up until about an hour before the start of the F1 event. They ran two qualifying stages in the morning, but a 3rd was cancelled due to the weather. In all, they had nearly 18 inches of rain at the track from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon.

But once the race got underway, it was epic. Easily the best Formula 1 race I've ever seen. Lewis Hamilton won for the 3rd time in Austin, and also sealed his 3rd World Championship. The closing event was a concert by Elton John. The dude knows how to put on a show. He played without any breaks for over two hours.

This weekend will be remembered on the F1 circuit for a long time. First because of the weather, and second because of the epic nature of the race itself.

[timmae]

Due to this thread I was flipping between the replay of the F1 race, the Carolina football game and Barnyard Builders. That first turn of the race was really crazy to watch. So much for teammates. Is Hamilton well received amongst other drivers?

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by timmae

Due to this thread I was flipping between the replay of the F1 race, the Carolina football game and Barnyard Builders. That first turn of the race was really crazy to watch. So much for teammates. Is Hamilton well received amongst other drivers?

Hamilton is known as someone who is pretty fair and that you can try to pass and he won't take your front wing or punt you into a barrier. I think he just hydroplaned a bit because he was on the wetter side of the track (normally when it's wet you can get better traction around the outside of a corner on what they call the carting line). I also imagine there was a little bit of no f'in way you're getting by me to that as well. I've only seen the highlights of the race, I'm looking forward to watching the recording. I did see some of the post race stuff, Rosberg sure can pout with the best of them.

[cartman]

Looks like we'll have great weather again this year, after the hurricane deluge nearly wiped things out last year. They had a deal for this year where if you had reserved seats, and there was 2 inches or more of rain in the 24 hours before the start of the race, you'd get 105% of your ticket price back.

Reports are this is going to be the best attended race since the inaugural one in 2012. Taylor Swift is playing a concert after track activities end on Saturday, and Usher with The Roots are playing after the race on Sunday.

One of my cousins is getting into town on Friday, and we've got 3 day passes. Looking forward to another great weekend at the track!

[Senator]

Have fun, was planning the trip until some last minute business took me out of going. Cousins will have fun, though.