Jump to content

Formula 1 2021

wood

By wood
in Other Sports

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 6.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

McCroskey
McCroskey

Took the plunge today and put a deposit down on a Monaco package for next year. I feel like a little kid. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Levi
Levi

let’s go!!!!!

Huckleberry
Huckleberry

Hope this helps clarify a bit.

Posted Images

wood

wood 11225

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Pit Walk was basically a waste of time. COTA needs to go see how CGV does it.

I did get a chance to chat a little with Pato O'Ward while waiting in line though. Really nice kid. The only other driver I saw the whole time was Bottas, who came out for like 10 seconds. Then the COTA Pit Walk dbags kicked us all out early, just like last year.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Atxracer

Atxracer 797

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, wood said:

Pit Walk was basically a waste of time. COTA needs to go see how CGV does it.

I did get a chance to chat a little with Pato O'Ward while waiting in line though. Really nice kid. The only other driver I saw the whole time was Bottas, who came out for like 10 seconds. Then the COTA Pit Walk dbags kicked us all out early, just like last year.

Agreed. This is the first time I have done it and won’t do it again. 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
wood

wood 11225

Posted
  • Author
Posted
13 minutes ago, Atxracer said:

Agreed. This is the first time I have done it and won’t do it again. 

Don't let it put you off going to pit walks at other tracks. I almost didn't go but I decided I'd give it one more shot. Regret it now. But Pato was cool. I think I'm done with COTA's shitty pit walks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wood

wood 11225

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Just saw that Fred is trying to convince the FIA to award Superlicense points to IndyCar on the same scale as F2. He's also specifically talking up Colton to F1, and singing the praises of IndyCar drivers in general. Sure seems like there's some serious synergy between Alpine and Andretti.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
pops

pops 6983

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, mackavelli said:

Finished the Gulf Livery mod just in time for this weekend!

inCollage_20211016_183531063.jpg

PXL_20211021_195918010.PORTRAIT.jpg

Did you send your own in and have him mod it or just new from scratch?   Turn around time?   He makes some awesome stuff. Always wanted to pick one up. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
XYZ

XYZ 2154

Posted
Posted

Holy shit. First of all, fuck this weather right in the ass. Second of all, what a fucking clown show COTA and the City of Austin are. Elroy Rd under construction, because now is a great time to do that. Gravel, unmarked roads for rideshare, no fucking sidewalks, signage sucks. What an embarrassment.

  • Rage+1 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Updawg

Updawg 2266

Posted
Posted

This kind of shit worried me so just bought shuttle tickets from Barton creek mall for tmr. It say it has dedicated lanes and drops off close. First time I’ve ever tried it. Normally I always just park in a neighborhood lot/yard with great success. Wish me luck. Hope I didn’t screw myself

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dutch

Dutch 4465

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

Bottas taking another engine this week.  Did MB turn those engines up so much they're damaging them every other race?

I’m wondering the same thing, especially since Merc (IIRC) hardly had any reliability issues engine/PU-wise the past three seasons.  Looks like Lewis will need another as well. 

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.mercedes-trying-to-get-on-top-of-engine-problems-as-they-weigh-up-hamilton.72PU254TMPszkbVAIR7Zug.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Man. The crowd was MASSIVE. Seriously, it was close to 2019 race day for a damn practice. If you're headed out there, bring your water, hat, and it's not a bad idea to bring an umbrella. The sun was just brutal and shade is hard to find anywhere to watch the race. Also, the concession prices are atrocious. Think pizza at $12 per slice. 

Found a good spot to watch in Onederland. It's a bit nicer as everywhere else is slammed. There, it's a bit more spread out with some stuff to look at if you have kids. We set up a blanket under the shade of the tent to watch a practice. 

Actually ended up sneaking into the track despite having tickets. Went to the turn 1 gate and the line must have been 300 feet long to enter. So we kept walking toward the main straight. At the tunnel, there was a crosswalk where you cross and you are inside the gates. Just did that and walked right in.

I'm incredibly happy that we are only doing Friday. Three days would be an absolute beating. Can't even imagine what the Sat./Sun. crowds will be like.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, XYZ said:

Holy shit. First of all, fuck this weather right in the ass. Second of all, what a fucking clown show COTA and the City of Austin are. Elroy Rd under construction, because now is a great time to do that. Gravel, unmarked roads for rideshare, no fucking sidewalks, signage sucks. What an embarrassment.

The transportation and parking situation is just awful. So many of the lots are just way too far and no good shuttle service back and forth from the lots to the track. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wood

wood 11225

Posted
  • Author
Posted
5 hours ago, Updawg said:

Watching practice and there are lot more people than a normal Friday for sure

Yep.. Very good crowd for a Friday. 125K? Lol. Nope. Not even close to that. Mayyyybe half that many, which really is great for a Friday. But they're gonna stick to that claim for sure, because why tell the truth? It'll be a good weekend, crowd-wise, though. Glad I only went today.

4 hours ago, Updawg said:

And damn that track is bumpy

Yeah the esses are brutal, and 9-10. Didn't go anywhere else, really.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wood

wood 11225

Posted
  • Author
Posted
6 hours ago, Hozz said:

On the ESPN FP1 coverage they just said 125K fans there today.  That seems like a lot.

Yeah that would be a lot lol, esp since they've never had that many even on a race day. Maybe 50K today in reality. But COTA gonna COTA.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wood

wood 11225

Posted
  • Author
Posted
3 hours ago, XYZ said:

Holy shit. First of all, fuck this weather right in the ass. Second of all, what a fucking clown show COTA and the City of Austin are. Elroy Rd under construction, because now is a great time to do that. Gravel, unmarked roads for rideshare, no fucking sidewalks, signage sucks. What an embarrassment.

Yeah here's a pic of one of their signs I saw out there yesterday. Pretty helpful. I heard they're also routing people to Linden Rd, which is closed, so people then have to turn right onto a road that takes them back to 812. Awesome.  It's a mess, but getting out was pretty easy for me today. Certainly not how it would be if there were actually 125K there, which COTA's never seen.

FCFtVFDUUAModpa?format=jpg&name=large

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
wood

wood 11225

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
37 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

...bring your water, hat, and it's not a bad idea to bring an umbrella. The sun was just brutal and shade is hard to find anywhere to watch the race. Also, the concession prices are atrocious. Think pizza at $12 per slice. 

Found a good spot to watch in Onederland. It's a bit nicer as everywhere else is slammed. There, it's a bit more spread out with some stuff to look at if you have kids. We set up a blanket under the shade of the tent to watch a practice. 

Actually ended up sneaking into the track despite having tickets. Went to the turn 1 gate and the line must have been 300 feet long to enter. So we kept walking toward the main straight. At the tunnel, there was a crosswalk where you cross and you are inside the gates. Just did that and walked right in.

I'm incredibly happy that we are only doing Friday. Three days would be an absolute beating. Can't even imagine what the Sat./Sun. crowds will be like.

Yep, and here's a pro tip for anyone going out the rest of the weekend: they've moved the T9 grandstand back & uphill from the track about 30 feet. That has created some good GA viewing of T9-10 (finally) right in front of the grandstand itself, and a bonus is that it'll be shaded most of the day. That's where my boys and I put our chairs for FP2, and it was great.

And yeah, 3 days (which is what I've done every year til now) would be a beating. Re: sneaking in, we've also been able to do that in the past walking in from lot F, where the footpath crosses the road and the fence breaks.

Edited by wood
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Have zero reason to not believe 125K at all. Everywhere we went until Onederland was packed. I feel like 75K spread over such a large area would feel like there is plenty of space. Grandstands seemed packed, pathways packed, bridges packed. 

Noticed that T6 also seemed to have a good vantage point for GA seating. It was GA seating around turns 3-5, then the grandstand, and then another clump of GA seating that was on a hill. Seemed like you'd be able to see over the fences and also watch them coming down the esses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Also, if any of y'all are too tall, then I suggest taking a 5-year-old to COTA. Had him on my shoulders quite a bit to save his legs (we walked ALOT). I feel like I'm three inches shorter.

Little man was a trooper. It was hot and tiring and he had a great time. Honestly, seeing F1 cars was about the fifth most exciting thing to him on the day. He was very disappointed that we didn't see/couldn't find/didn't have the armadillo races and chicken-shit bingo. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wood

wood 11225

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
58 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Have zero reason to not believe 125K at all. Everywhere we went until Onederland was packed. I feel like 75K spread over such a large area would feel like there is plenty of space. Grandstands seemed packed, pathways packed, bridges packed. 

Noticed that T6 also seemed to have a good vantage point for GA seating. It was GA seating around turns 3-5, then the grandstand, and then another clump of GA seating that was on a hill. Seemed like you'd be able to see over the fences and also watch them coming down the esses.

They've never been able to draw even 120K on a race day, much less 125K - even in 2012 when they had 82K reserved seats that were 99.9% full. This weekend they have just 56K seats, and they were maybe 20% full overall. Turn 1 didn't have more than that. Neither did T12, 4, 9 or 15.  OK, there's 11K people. The GA crowd was very good for a Friday, but it wasn't 114K people. And there were huge areas without a lot of people in them, as there always are. People don't spread out evenly in GA. They go to the best spots and congregate. Even in those crowded areas they take up a LOT more room than they would in grandstands. Past Turn 6, there were no big crowds of people like you see at 1 or the esses. There used to be a decent GA crowd at 18-19, but he replaced that with stands that were had small crowds today, too.

It was a great Friday crowd. But 125K is at least double the real amount.

Edited by wood
Link to comment
Share on other sites
wood

wood 11225

Posted
  • Author
Posted
46 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Have zero reason to not believe 125K at all. Everywhere we went until Onederland was packed. I feel like 75K spread over such a large area would feel like there is plenty of space. Grandstands seemed packed, pathways packed, bridges packed. 

Noticed that T6 also seemed to have a good vantage point for GA seating. It was GA seating around turns 3-5, then the grandstand, and then another clump of GA seating that was on a hill. Seemed like you'd be able to see over the fences and also watch them coming down the esses.

Yeah T5-6 is a great spot. We always spend at least one F1 session there every day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Dunno, seemed like a lot of people. I only have DKR to really compare it to. Obviously at DKR everyone is sitting in much closer confines, but there were enough big crowds around the track and the track is so big, that I really don't balk at 125K.

 

spacer.pngspacer.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wood

wood 11225

Posted
  • Author
Posted
2 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Dunno, seemed like a lot of people. I only have DKR to really compare it to. Obviously at DKR everyone is sitting in much closer confines, but there were enough big crowds around the track and the track is so big, that I really don't balk at 125K.

 

spacer.pngspacer.png

Yeah those stands look more crowded there than they did in person, mostly because one is at an extreme angle, which always makes a grandstand look more crowded, and the other is at an angle and very distant.

Let's put it this way, in 2012, there were more grandstands and bigger grandstands at T1, T4, and T12 than there are now. There were large grandstands then at 3, 5, 6, and 9. There were three large grandstands that held 13k people at T11, where now there are typically a couple thousand people on an F1 Sunday. There were 99.9% full grandstands all around the track that year, replacing GA areas that wouldn't be nearly as densely crowded, and they still only drew 117K.

This was a great GA day for a Friday, but it was pretty typical of or a bit smaller than GA for a Sunday, and the much smaller GS capacity was pretty sparsely occupied compared to any F1 race day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business and Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Subscribe!... Donate!... Advertise... COOKIE MONSTER!

×
×
  • Create New...