17 replies to this topic

[tomspar]

Going to the next USGP?
Lets network here!

I know from other threads there is much interest in attending the next USGP.

Let's share accommodation tips and ideas, ideally for the playboy set, the family group and the budget guy. We can share great ideas for everyone.
Anyone planning to meet up, this is the place to talk about it.
Your opinions of what the best corner/stand will be. Any news on tickets, seating, VIP packages, etc.
Anyone from Austin with tips would be especially welcome.

My tip: maybe not to helpful to the race, but my hometown Chicago is a great layover town, with nonstops to most European and many Asian cities. My experience is airport and US customs much more efficient than MIA, LAX or IAH. Chicago means business. Spend a few days here then fly to the race on Southwest or many other airlines.

[tlrlz82]

Hello

im thinking about it and starting to research the above f1 usa .

im coming from Australia(sydney) . thinking flying Qantas to Dallas hiring a rv and then driving down to Austin for around a weel Monday to Tuesday the following week then flying to brasil for the f1 and then back to Dallas then back to Sydney .

any thoughts ? anyone care to join .

thanks thomas

[tiiCarrera]

I plan on going and have been researching lodging options. Can anyone recommend a decent hotel? I would probably prefer to stay in downtown Austin.

[Peat]

Hold your horses chaps. No guarentee's that the place will actually get built!

[tlrlz82]

Hold your horses chaps. No guarentee's that the place will actually get built!

im sorted hoping it goes to 2013 then i can do all 3 . texas new jersey and canada ... also the v8s are there as well in 2013 we will see what happens

[Taboot]

I sure hope they pull it off. What do you think the tickets will cost?

[Berner]

Can't believe the hotel prices posted on sites like Expedia! We don't mind paying $400 for four or five star accommodations in Melbourne or Milan, but not for a Motel 6 out on some desolate highway! Sure hope they offer packages at a reasonable price.

[jcbc3]

Can't believe the hotel prices posted on sites like Expedia! We don't mind paying $400 for four or five star accommodations in Melbourne or Milan, but not for a Motel 6 out on some desolate highway! Sure hope they offer packages at a reasonable price.

As I indicated in the USGP thread a couple of weeks ago, I am planning to go too. May meet up with my brother that's coming down from NYC. Butalso horrified as to what the motel/hotels within an hours drive from the circuit charges. Had planned to fly into Houston and drive up.

[Collective]

As I indicated in the USGP thread a couple of weeks ago, I am planning to go too. May meet up with my brother that's coming down from NYC. Butalso horrified as to what the motel/hotels within an hours drive from the circuit charges. Had planned to fly into Houston and drive up.

Check vacation rentals. I found me a townhome for two near downtown for about 120 a night. Some owners get greedy with events, but there were many affordable options still open for the GP weekend. Much better than paying 300 for a crappy Super 8 (and that's not counting the chances of waking up in a tub filled with ice without your kidneys).

www.homeaway.com

[RobertoLarcos]

I'm also interested in going to the US GP this year.

Am I right in thinking that the track isn't too far away from the city centre? Is it better to stay there rather than close to the circuit?

I can't find much information regarding travelling to the circuit.

I agree that the hotel prices are ridiculous!

[tomspar]

Check vacation rentals. I found me a townhome for two near downtown for about 120 a night. Some owners get greedy with events, but there were many affordable options still open for the GP weekend. Much better than paying 300 for a crappy Super 8 (and that's not counting the chances of waking up in a tub filled with ice without your kidneys).

www.homeaway.com

Great idea, today there are a lot of great alternative lodging options on the net . I will add my thoughts regarding hotels...

Hotel prices now are huge, of course! Everyone shooting for the moon. The top joints (think 4 seasons) will get it, but Texas is big and has a lot of motels!
Here are some cities nearby:
Houston has the closest airport to Austin with long-haul flights. 170 miles, 3 hours drive. (about 300km) Houston has roughly 67,000 rooms.
San Antonio, 78 miles (130+-km) has 43,000 rooms, 1 1/2 hour or less drive.
College station, under 2 hours, if Texas A+M college not playing football (stadium capacity 83,000!), they have 1000s of rooms.
Temple, about 90 minutes. About 250,000 population in county, must be some hotel rooms there...
Austin has about 6,000 coveted rooms downtown, and about 30,000 "citywide" The circus, with resource caps, will probably use about 2500 rooms (guess?).
I bet at least 100,000 rooms wihin 90 minutes distance.
My experiences with Indy:
I went to every USGP, usually driving from Chicago, 3 hours away. Sometimes I would impulsively get a last minute room.
Indianapolis has 7,100 downtown rooms, 33,000 in the metro area. In 2005, I stayed downtown, last minute, 4 stars, <$150 per night. I stayed at the "speedway Motel" in 2006, 3 nights < $350. Not 4 star but on the race track property, with in/out VIP parking!
Don't know the race attendance, but I think Michelin refunded well over 100,000 tickets for 2005... I never overpaid for a room or a ticket for this race.
Advice for the rich who must book in advance: Its easy, pay$ up. Try to get into 4 seasons...
Low budget?: Book a cheap flight in advance. Reserve cheaply somwhere remote. Check closer places a few weeks out. Or just show up in Austin, and see if there are cancellations. If this ends up being under attended, thell be giving rooms away.
I predict (guess???) 100,000 attendance, that would not be too different than the impact of "SXSW", a music festival/trade show. Hotel prices are not cheap then, but far from outrageous.

EDIT: recent article local press: http://www.statesman...084.html?page=2

Edited by tomspar, 21 February 2012 - 14:45.

[tomspar]

I'm also interested in going to the US GP this year.

Am I right in thinking that the track isn't too far away from the city centre? Is it better to stay there rather than close to the circuit?

I can't find much information regarding travelling to the circuit.

I agree that the hotel prices are ridiculous!

There is absolutely nothing by the track... Downtown center is only 16km though.
There is no established public transit to the track, dont count on the city, race planners, or bus lines much. The "last mile" getting to the track will not be pretty.
On the bright side, the airport is only about 5km, so Bernie's helicopter ride is less than 2 minutes!

[RobertoLarcos]

Thanks for the info Tomspar.

Looks like it's impossible to get reasonably-priced hotels/motels close to the city. I have a couple of contacts in Austin who may be able to sort me out with something. There are quite a few affordable places on the homeaway site, so I'll probably take that option.

Should all else fail, I have booked a bed in a backpackers, just by the lake, as a fall-back option (I'm travelling alone and young enough to get away with it I think!). I'd much rather spend my $$$$ on race tickets and beer than on overpriced hotels.

Can anyone recommend the best areas are for nightlife/drinking etc? Where do you think the F1 fans will end up partying? Thanks!

[kozmo]

Not sure if anybody from the USGP organizers or COTA ever checks these forums but I just want to share that I am pretty much given up on attending.

I couldn't have been more excited when the track and event were announced. I attended all the GP's held at Indianapolis and have been to Montreal twice for the Canadian GP. Being able to once again attend a F1 race in my own country ON A PROPER ROAD COURSE was going to be fantastic.

The reality? Funding issues, infighting between the partners, construction delays and bad mouthing by FOM that makes it all sound like a joke. Even as recently as yesterday:
http://www.statesman...es-2298638.html

Its like the USF1 fiasco all over again.

On top all all that, hoteliers in Austin have decided that it's open season on fans. As soon as the date was confirmed last fall, I called a variety of places and got on waiting lists. So far, I have heard from one place that offered a standard room for $1200 a night and as if that wasn't enough they wanted a five night minimum. Five nights? It is a three day event, WTF? The others have either chosen to not honor their waiting list (sold out to tour companies) or are still waiting to see what the market will bare.

I have attended GP's before, I know that rooms are expensive but I have not experienced this level of gold digging before.

(Yes, I know that I could drive in from surrounding cities but I like to be part of the atmosphere in the host city. Austin is a great town and it would be fun to experience it getting a major taste of international flavor.)

Finally, the tickets. Whats up with them? How can you reasonably plan to attend an event if you don't even know if you can get in? The organizers are spending alot of time trying to sell seat licenses but haven't provided any information at all about what will be available for regular fans. How about some prices/locations/dates? How about information regarding track access, parking and/or public transportation to and from the track? Will camping or RV's be allowed? What will that cost? What services will be available?

All in all it has been to date a huge disappointment and I have little confidence in it getting any better.

At this point I am pretty much given up on the Lone Star State.

NYC in 2013, here I come. Heck they already have pit buildings and suites well underway.

McCombs, Epstein, Helmund: how about getting this stuff figured out so real fans that will be there year after year (not just the first time) can make the trip?

Regards

Edited by kozmo, 12 April 2012 - 17:49.

[tomspar]

Looks like I have a place to stay, and I am going to wait until the last minute to get in. COTA is pissing off the world, and i do not think anyone will show up. There will be lots of comped "vip's", maybe i can get on a list. If not, I predict there will be tickets cheap. Its supply and demand. If they expect 100,000 to attend the GP, there is no way they can get them all to pay the thousands they are now asking.

even Texans are not that rich!

[kozmo]

Went ahead and bought tickets last night. Since they have blocked out main straight and turn 1 for the Premium/Seat License folks, I went with stand 12 as high as I could get, row 25. Should have a decent view of any overtaking at the end of the back straight and 13-15 turns. Fingers crossed it will be high enough to see other parts as well.

Bit of a flyer since so much of the rest of the plans are not finalized but figured, what the heck its only money and there is something to being at the inaugural event.

Hoped to be able to stay in Austin but the hotels are drinking crazy juice looking to soak the European visitors as far as I can tell. Perhaps stuff will open up and prices will come down if they can't move the inventory. If not, I will commute from San Antonio which is only about an hour away.

Aloha.

[Collective]

Went ahead and bought tickets last night. Since they have blocked out main straight and turn 1 for the Premium/Seat License folks, I went with stand 12 as high as I could get, row 25. Should have a decent view of any overtaking at the end of the back straight and 13-15 turns. Fingers crossed it will be high enough to see other parts as well.

Bit of a flyer since so much of the rest of the plans are not finalized but figured, what the heck its only money and there is something to being at the inaugural event.

Hoped to be able to stay in Austin but the hotels are drinking crazy juice looking to soak the European visitors as far as I can tell. Perhaps stuff will open up and prices will come down if they can't move the inventory. If not, I will commute from San Antonio which is only about an hour away.

Aloha.

Check homeaway.com or similar pages. I landed a nice apartment blocks from downtown for around 100 a night.

[f1toy]

i have a cabin reserved for thur-sunday at the state park about 4 miles from the circuit.

it sleeps 8. just need to bring a sleeping bag, and maybe an xtra pad and pillow.

the whole place costs about 200 for the 4-nites, plus a minimal daily park fee.

im willing to share the place, I would like a race pass in return.