CoTA sounds like it sucks

[wood 11225]

 

[texasdago 7562]

2 hours ago, wood said:

Yeah, get there early. There should be a way in. I remember this same thing happening for races in the past, including last year's USGP.

Typical COTA fuckupery.

Yup.  Parked at 8:20 and I was far from first so the app/site were both wrong.  Also wandered down to the tunnel by the main grandstand/Ducati Island area from lot T and just kind of strolled on in without anyone checking my ticket.  Of course, they did scan me on the way out and couldn't understand why it was working and I told them, "yeah, no one scanned me going in"  

 

Great morning - only had a few hours but at least got my MotoGP FOMO fixed.

[wood 11225]

Safe but not fixed – COTA gets tentative approval from MotoGP https://the-race.com/motogp/safe-but-not-fixed-cota-gets-tentative-approval-from-motogp/

Quote

 

... But with the underlying soil well known as a common problem factor that in the past has rapidly exacerbated bumps, the Argentine Grand Prix race winner still has his doubts about the project’s longer-term hopes and concerns over the repair work.

Aleix Espargaro: “Regarding the bumps, the track is much better than last year,” he insisted, “but to be new tarmac it’s terrible because new tarmac has to be perfect, not just better.

“It has to be flat, and it’s not. Yes, I’m happy because it’s better, it’s another story from last year, but there are still a lot of bumps and it’s a very difficult track.

“I know that it’s not easy because this track is crazy, it’s up and down, it has right, left, right – many, many corners. It’s very difficult for the tarmac, for the land, to try and make it like new tarmac in Misano or Barcelona or wherever.

“They did a good job, and at least for 2022 it’s fixed, but the future is not super good for this circuit.”

 

 

[utee94 15797]

I always wonder if there would have been a decent site of enough size, out west, where there's nothing but solid limestone 3" below the topsoil.  

The truth is that the land would have been much more expensive and likely cost prohibitive. 

[wood 11225]

2 minutes ago, utee94 said:

I always wonder if there would have been a decent site of enough size, out west, where there's nothing but solid limestone 3" below the topsoil.  

The truth is that the land would have been much more expensive and likely cost prohibitive. 

That was a big part of it. Among other things, it would have also been too far from the airport per FIA regs.

Simply from an aesthetic and racing viewpoint, west of Austin would have been ideal, imho. But then the real world always sticks its nose in and gets its say on things.

Hellmund was very close to securing the Wild Horse tract up on the west side of 130 near 290 when he was introduced to Bobby. Epstein was looking for a way to use his land after the neighbors had stood up to him over his plans to build  a huge housing development right smack in the middle of the flood plain. Wild Horse is very hilly, and had better access. It's a shame. Tavo made just one miscalculation in the whole process - getting involved with Bobby Epstein - and it was a critical one.

[utee94 15797]

I just read on Facebook that COTA is introducing a new infield grandstand at turns 6-8 for the USGP.

I'm assuming that means they'll have additional tickets available, for anyone interested that couldn't get some before.

 

[wood 11225]

Oh wow. TIL COTA still has no contract for MotoGP in 2023.

[utee94 15797]

From COTA's Facebook:

 

 

Quote

The best way to COTA is by shuttle!

 

With newly expanded roads, exclusive lanes for 600 shuttle buses, and an upgraded “Front Gate” dedicated pick-up/drop-off area, travel COTA has never been easier.

Choose from three locations around Austin: Downtown (Waterloo Park), Northeast Austin (Travis County Expo Center) and Southwest Austin (Barton Creek Square Mall).

Secure your seat today: https://bit.ly/3AyZYX7

 

COTA Blvd will be restricted to permitted vehicles and shuttle buses only. Similarly, rideshare (Uber, Lyft, etc) services and taxis will operate out of the Del Valle High School parking lot and can only be accessed by a COTA shuttle (complimentary 3.5-mile ride).

 

The comments are unsurprisingly hostile...

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by utee94

[totallynotabuttpirate 5395]

On 4/12/2022 at 10:04 AM, utee94 said:

I always wonder if there would have been a decent site of enough size, out west, where there's nothing but solid limestone 3" below the topsoil.  

The truth is that the land would have been much more expensive and likely cost prohibitive. 

This is why Westside is Bestside. My foundation hasn't moved even a 1/4" in 10+ years. 

[wood 11225]

51 minutes ago, utee94 said:

From COTA's Facebook:

 

 

 

The comments are unsurprisingly hostile...

 

LOL. What a joke that place has become.

Perfect response here:

Quote

Andrew Miller
Just be sure to hire 600 drivers.

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by wood

[Updawg 2266]

Wow. Amazing how they can make it worse.

[wood 11225]

33 minutes ago, Updawg said:

Wow. Amazing how they can make it worse.

It's the COTA way.

[wood 11225]

I just looked at the USGP schedule. The support series are W Series and Masters Historics ... and apparently the W Series is having money problems and might cancel COTA and Mexico. It's from Telegraph reporter Tom Cary ...

 

Edited October 4, 2022 by wood

[utee94 15797]

Yikes.  Last year they ran F4 which was enjoyable, especially since I'm close friends with a family that has a driver.  But F4 just ran out there two weeks ago in conjunction with a couple other series.

 

 

[Goofyboy 3268]

That turns into a very long and boring day with no support races.

[wood 11225]

2 hours ago, Goofyboy said:

That turns into a very long and boring day with no support races.

Indeed. It's gonna be even worse than the typical COTA lineup.

[elfenix 34221]

On 10/4/2022 at 8:05 AM, utee94 said:

Yikes.  Last year they ran F4 which was enjoyable, especially since I'm close friends with a family that has a driver.  But F4 just ran out there two weeks ago in conjunction with a couple other series.

 

 

https://www.f4uschampionship.com/events/calendar

not sure what was out there but it doesn't look like it was F4 (which is coming to COTA a week after the USGP.  good job, good effort.)

there's about a billion GT3 series out there.  not sure why they can't get one to consistently show up. 

ofc, the main isssue is that F1 doesn't bring its ladder to flyaways.  so local promoters have to do their own thing.  probably not hard for honda or a nation state like singapore. 

[utee94 15797]

5 minutes ago, elfenix said:

https://www.f4uschampionship.com/events/calendar

not sure what was out there but it doesn't look like it was F4 (which is coming to COTA a week after the USGP.  good job, good effort.)

there's about a billion GT3 series out there.  not sure why they can't get one to consistently show up. 

ofc, the main isssue is that F1 doesn't bring its ladder to flyaways.  so local promoters have to do their own thing.  probably not hard for honda or a nation state like singapore. 

It was F4 cars but they were racing a different series, USF Juniors.

 

https://www.usfjuniors.com/schedule

 

[utee94 15797]

Oh and I don't think it was COTA's decision not to have  F4 out there as a support race, it was F4's choice.  They like running in front of bigger crowds, but they just don't get as much track time as they want when they're combined with F1.  Shorter practice times, shorter races.  And I also believe there's some additional expense associated with being a part of the F1 weekend that they don't incur if they run separately, this is what I've heard from my friends who race in the series.  So that's why they elected to run a different weekend out at COTA this year.

 

Edited October 7, 2022 by utee94

[elfenix 34221]

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

Oh and I don't think it was COTA's decision not to have  F4 out there as a support race, it was F4's choice.  They like running in front of bigger crowds, but they just don't get as much track time as they want when they're combined with F1.  Shorter practice times, shorter races.  And I also believe there's some additional expense associated with being a part of the F1 weekend that they don't incur if they run separately, this is what I've heard from my friends who race in the series.  So that's why they elected to run a different weekend out at COTA this year.

 

it's almost hard to imagine that they couldn't get enough time considering how much time that absolutely nothing is going on on-track during an F1 weekend.  and there's things i'd 86 off the schedule as well (whales on flatbeds has to be the worst thing at any sporting event)

[utee94 15797]

2 minutes ago, elfenix said:

it's almost hard to imagine that they couldn't get enough time considering how much time that absolutely nothing is going on on-track during an F1 weekend.  and there's things i'd 86 off the schedule as well (whales on flatbeds has to be the worst thing at any sporting event)

Yeah not sure why it worked out that way, but their practices and qualy and races were all only something like 25 minutes max.  There was plenty of dead time that could have been filled by allowing them longer for those sessions.  And it's not like F1 DISlikes having other series put more rubber on the road...

[wood 11225]

2 hours ago, elfenix said:

https://www.f4uschampionship.com/events/calendar

not sure what was out there but it doesn't look like it was F4 (which is coming to COTA a week after the USGP.  good job, good effort.)

there's about a billion GT3 series out there.  not sure why they can't get one to consistently show up. 

ofc, the main isssue is that F1 doesn't bring its ladder to flyaways.  so local promoters have to do their own thing.  probably not hard for honda or a nation state like singapore. 

Probably not hard for Singapore, but look at Oz. They feature far more racing action every year than any other GP, while getting far less government assistance than COTA gets. $300M so far for COTA. Bottom line at COTA is that Bobby "don't care. Got F1. Don't need much else." He's not gonna spend one dime more than he absolutely has to. We saw that last year when they woefully understaffed the USGP and the Rolling Stones show. With the kind of money they're getting from the State, they can do a hell of a lot better. Bobby just won't.

[wood 11225]

2 hours ago, utee94 said:

Oh and I don't think it was COTA's decision not to have  F4 out there as a support race, it was F4's choice.  They like running in front of bigger crowds, but they just don't get as much track time as they want when they're combined with F1.  Shorter practice times, shorter races.  And I also believe there's some additional expense associated with being a part of the F1 weekend that they don't incur if they run separately, this is what I've heard from my friends who race in the series.  So that's why they elected to run a different weekend out at COTA this year.

 

Re: Track time for F4, there's loads of track time available at COTA this year and every other year, even if the W Series does show up.  COTA and F1 may not allow them to use that available track time, but it's not because there's a shortage of it. On Friday, for example, there are 10.5 hours available from gate opening (8am) til the end of FP2 (630pm). Even counting the W Series which might not come, Masters Historics, Masters Endurance legends (which I had missed before), Pirelli Hot Laps, and F1, they're using just under 5 hours of the 10.5 hours of available track time. So if W doesn't come here, we're left with two Masters series that are basically glorified track days with very few drivers actually pushing somewhat hard (understandably in those cars). 

[wood 11225]

1 hour ago, elfenix said:

it's almost hard to imagine that they couldn't get enough time considering how much time that absolutely nothing is going on on-track during an F1 weekend.  and there's things i'd 86 off the schedule as well (whales on flatbeds has to be the worst thing at any sporting event)

Exactly. There's plenty of track time available for F4 or some other actual racing series.

[wood 11225]

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

Yeah not sure why it worked out that way, but their practices and qualy and races were all only something like 25 minutes max.  There was plenty of dead time that could have been filled by allowing them longer for those sessions.  And it's not like F1 DISlikes having other series put more rubber on the road...

Good point about F1 liking other series out there, esp with similar (the same?) Pirelli tires. So afaik that leaves COTA denying them the track time. Even with all of that available time this year, every non-F1 session is either 25 or 30 minutes long. 

It's just bizarre and stupid.

[wood 11225]

7 minutes ago, wood said:

Re: Track time for F4, there's loads of track time available at COTA this year and every other year, even if the W Series does show up.  COTA and F1 may not allow them to use that available track time, but it's not because there's a shortage of it. On Friday, for example, there are 10.5 hours available from gate opening (8am) til the end of FP2 (630pm). Even counting the W Series which might not come, Masters Historics, Masters Endurance legends (which I had missed before), Pirelli Hot Laps, and F1, they're using just under 5 hours of the 10.5 hours of available track time. So if W doesn't come here, we're left with two Masters series that are basically glorified track days with very few drivers actually pushing somewhat hard (understandably in those cars). 

Correction & too late to edit: Gates open at 9, so that leaves 9.5 hours until 630, not 10.5. Still well more than enough to host another series.

[utee94 15797]

I've heard different stories.  One is that F1 itself tries to limit other series' track time in order to minimize potential crashes that would require track repairs or otherwise cause disruptions to its own product.  That doesn't sound very plausible to me but it's been said.

Otherwise then it's COTA limiting it for... reasons?  I don't know.  Makes no sense to me.

Edited October 7, 2022 by utee94

[wood 11225]

19 minutes ago, utee94 said:

I've heard different stories.  One is that F1 itself tries to limit other series' track time in order to minimize potential crashes that would require track repairs or otherwise cause disruptions to its own product.  That doesn't sound very plausible to me but it's been said.

Otherwise then it's COTA limiting it for... reasons?  I don't know.  Makes no sense to me.

Agreed. Makes no sense. The only thing I can think of is just the money it would cost. Bobby is only ever going to do the absolute barest minimum of what he has to do to keep F1 & MotoGP coming there & collecting that MERP money, to make COTA profiable enough to stay open for all the other bullshit. He only cares about his little soccer club that had to move, and the music, car condos to make money, and the 2nd rate 'Amusement Park' he keeps spouting on about. That's it. And we'll see if those last two ever happen. He's been talking about that shit for 10 years, just like the hotel at T6 that was supposedly all planned but never materialized for some reason.

[elfenix 34221]

56 minutes ago, utee94 said:

I've heard different stories.  One is that F1 itself tries to limit other series' track time in order to minimize potential crashes that would require track repairs or otherwise cause disruptions to its own product.  That doesn't sound very plausible to me but it's been said.

Otherwise then it's COTA limiting it for... reasons?  I don't know.  Makes no sense to me.

wasn't there a porsche event that delayed a practice earlier this year?  maybe an F2 crash as well?

[RiverwalkMiner 247]

I picked up 2 cheap Main Grandstand tickets for Friday practice. Super excited to share the experience with my daughter who is totally into F1 now. Last time was 2016 and she "put with it" just to see Taylor Swift. 

[wood 11225]

So apparently the traffic situation wasn't much better this year, if at all. Saturday we were in College Station (aggy is fucking weird) for my 18 YO's volleyball tournament. We didn't leave CS until like 7PM. Qualifying was over at 6PM, so when we had the opportunity to take the 290 route back home, I opted for 21/71 instead, because we live south. I never thought that there'd be much COTA traffic at 9PM after Qualifying. I shoulda taken 290. We were doing fine until we came to a dead stop about 1/2 mile before Kellam Road. From there, it took us about 1 hour & 20 minutes to get past Ross Rd. That's about a mile. in 80 minutes. 

Got home and found tons of tweets about traffic, no traffic control in parking lots (again), a stampede & people being trampled during the track invasion, not enough water, etc. Apparently someone died on Sunday, too, but I have no idea how, or if it was related to the stampede. One guy said he waited 3 hours just trying to get out of his lot because there was no COTA traffic control. He later said it took him over 5 hours to get back to his hotel. Said he never thought he'd praise Silverstone traffic control, but COTA made that seem like a walk in the park & he'll never return, even though he loved Austin & Texas.

Edited October 24, 2022 by wood

[sidis 9821]

42 minutes ago, wood said:

So apparently the traffic situation wasn't much better this year, if at all. Saturday we were in College Station (aggy is fucking weird) for my 18 YO's volleyball tournament. We didn't leave CS until like 7PM. Qualifying was over at 6PM, so when we had the opportunity to take the 290 route back home, I opted for 21/71 instead, because we live south. I never thought that there'd be much COTA traffic at 9PM after Qualifying. I shoulda taken 290. We were doing fine until we came to a dead stop about 1/2 mile before Kellam Road. From there, it took us about 1 hour & 20 minutes to get past Ross Rd. That's about a mile. in 80 minutes. 

Got home and found tons of tweets about traffic, no traffic control in parking lots (again), a stampede & people being trampled during the track invasion, not enough water, etc. Apparently someone died on Sunday, too, but I have no idea how, or if it was related to the stampede. One guy said he waited 3 hours just trying to get out of his lot because there was no COTA traffic control. He later said it took him over 5 hours to get back to his hotel. Said he never thought he'd praise Silverstone traffic control, but COTA made that seem like a walk in the park & he'll never return, even though he loved Austin & Texas.

honestly, that's what gets me. i haven't been the last two years even though i really enjoy f1.  i had a free entry fall into my lap for the weekend and i just didn't want to deal with that shit.  until they bring the ubercopters back for going and coming, it's going to take getting to hang out with the wags during the race to get me back out there.  a complete and utter clusterfuck.

[wood 11225]

10 minutes ago, sidis said:

honestly, that's what gets me. i haven't been the last two years even though i really enjoy f1.  i had a free entry fall into my lap for the weekend and i just didn't want to deal with that shit.  until they bring the ubercopters back for going and coming, it's going to take getting to hang out with the wags during the race to get me back out there.  a complete and utter clusterfuck.

Absolutely. I'm someone who'd never missed a single session of any significant sereies through 2019. I used to go all over the entire circuit just about every day. I'll go on Friday now because the traffic etc isn't so bad, but even that was a waste of a day this year, with the crappy support series lineup and the FP2 Pirelli tire test being utterly unrepresentative and useless to the fans. While I was there, I was thinking about it. There were things going on in other areas around the track that in the past I would have gone and checked out, but the pedestrian traffic management is so bad that I just didn't want to deal with a long wait in a packed crowd that might stampede, which apparently happened on multiple occasions this weekend. And if I'm just gonna go out there and watch from one or two spots & not go around the palce because it's so fucked up, and if I can't even follow the timing & classifications because the screen's too smal & the sound sucks ass ...  then is there even any point in going at all? 

Apparently that prick Chris Taylor's lot was a shitshow, too, with people stuck in it for over 3 hours Saturday.

Edited October 24, 2022 by wood

[utee94 15797]

I don't drive in and out so I can't comment on that.  I didn't like doing it back in 2015 and took steps to remedy that.  So for me it's a non-issue.  I will say that on Saturday night there were a ton of people that stayed (or came specifically for) Ed Sheeran.  Every bit as many as there were for Taylor Swift 6 years ago, so easily something like 60K-80K, and they would have been leaving COTA around 9.

As far as within the gates, it was nothing like last year, although the crowds were the same or larger.  They had a lot more food/beverage/infrastructure in place.  There was still water in the fill stations as we left on both Saturday after qualy and Sunday after the race.  I didn't check on Friday.  There were also plenty of beverages for purchase, which I note specifically because last year on Sunday they had completely run out of beer, I am told. 

So again, I can't and won't comment on entrance and egress for the parking lots, but within the gates, it was much much better than last year. 

Edited October 24, 2022 by utee94

[wood 11225]

13 minutes ago, utee94 said:

I don't drive in and out so I can't comment on that.  I didn't like doing it back in 2015 and took steps to remedy that.  So for me it's a non-issue.  I will say that on Saturday night there were a ton of people that stayed (or came specifically for) Ed Sheeran.  Every bit as many as there were for Taylor Swift 6 years ago, so easily something like 60K-80K, and they would have been leaving COTA around 9.

As far as within the gates, it was nothing like last year, although the crowds were the same or larger.  They had a lot more food/beverage/infrastructure in place.  There was still water in the fill stations as we left on both Saturday after qualy and Sunday after the race.  I didn't check on Friday.  There were also plenty of beverages for purchase, which I note specifically because last year on Sunday they had completely run out of beer, I am told. 

So again, I can't and won't comment on entrance and egress for the parking lots, but within the gates, it was much much better than last year. 

Those fill stations were fed from ground spigots through garden hoses, so they wouldn't run out. Better than being fed by hydrants as I've seen out there before, I guess. But I do have to wonder about the quality of that water. The problem with them was that there just weren't enough of them and they were too far apart. There were apparently just 9 of them. 

The other big problem inside the gates was that there were apparently multiple stampedes (during the track invasion and before each of the concerts ... more than last year, and worse, too. 

Re: the Sheeran concert, the weird thing was that there were still lots of people headed into COTA rather than away from it..

Edited October 24, 2022 by wood

[sidis 9821]

23 minutes ago, utee94 said:

I don't drive in and out so I can't comment on that.  I didn't like doing it back in 2015 and took steps to remedy that.  So for me it's a non-issue.  I will say that on Saturday night there were a ton of people that stayed (or came specifically for) Ed Sheeran.  Every bit as many as there were for Taylor Swift 6 years ago, so easily something like 60K-80K, and they would have been leaving COTA around 9.

As far as within the gates, it was nothing like last year, although the crowds were the same or larger.  They had a lot more food/beverage/infrastructure in place.  There was still water in the fill stations as we left on both Saturday after qualy and Sunday after the race.  I didn't check on Friday.  There were also plenty of beverages for purchase, which I note specifically because last year on Sunday they had completely run out of beer, I am told. 

So again, I can't and won't comment on entrance and egress for the parking lots, but within the gates, it was much much better than last year. 

are you ubercoptering in and out?

[utee94 15797]

42 minutes ago, sidis said:

are you ubercoptering in and out?

RV camping.

[utee94 15797]

55 minutes ago, wood said:

Those fill stations were fed from ground spigots through garden hoses, so they wouldn't run out. Better than being fed by hydrants as I've seen out there before, I guess. But I do have to wonder about the quality of that water. The problem with them was that there just weren't enough of them and they were too far apart. There were apparently just 9 of them. 

The other big problem inside the gates was that there were apparently multiple stampedes (during the track invasion and before each of the concerts ... more than last year, and worse, too. 

Re: the Sheeran concert, the weird thing was that there were still lots of people headed into COTA rather than away from it..

Didn't see any stampedes but I'm also not the kind of person to put myself in a position to be involved in something that stupid.

[wood 11225]

7 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Didn't see any stampedes but I'm also not the kind of person to put myself in a position to be involved in something that stupid.

Me neither. We could see the one before the Green Day concert from our T9 seats. Scary AF. 

Edited October 24, 2022 by wood

[The Tres Leches 58]

I thought the food/water situation was much improved from last year.  Plenty of water in the water stations.  Had no wait at the BBQ area in the infield on Friday.  Bought a taco from Kasey Studdard at his stand.

On Saturday there were lines at a lot of the concession stands but got food super quick at the new grab and go tent on the soccer field.

I parked in Lot F.  I was home within an hour on Friday and Saturday and I stayed to the end of P2 and Quali.  On Sunday, we hung out for an hour after the race.  Started my car in Lot F at 5:20, turned off Kellam onto 71 about 6:20 and was home in South Austin by 6:45.

 

[Goofyboy 3268]

I thought the food/water situation was much improved from last year.  Plenty of water in the water stations.  Had no wait at the BBQ area in the infield on Friday.  Bought a taco from Kasey Studdard at his stand.
On Saturday there were lines at a lot of the concession stands but got food super quick at the new grab and go tent on the soccer field.
I parked in Lot F.  I was home within an hour on Friday and Saturday and I stayed to the end of P2 and Quali.  On Sunday, we hung out for an hour after the race.  Started my car in Lot F at 5:20, turned off Kellam onto 71 about 6:20 and was home in South Austin by 6:45.
 

I think Lot F is hit and miss every year. Lot T is a shit show. I won’t park there anymore.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

Didn't see any stampedes but I'm also not the kind of person to put myself in a position to be involved in something that stupid.

I did the track invasion a couple of years ago. Grouping up at the gate just before it released was the first time I've ever been in a crowd where there were times I didn't have control over where I was moving and felt the crush of people making it harder to breathe. Thankfully it lasted only a minute before the pressure eased as the gates opened. But holy shit it made me realize what happens when you hear about people being crushed in stampedes. 

[wood 11225]

OBTW ... I admit I wasn't much of a fan of Danica the racer, but I'm quickly becoming a huge fan of Danica v2.0, the commentator. She's doing a great job, and isn't hard to look at, either.

Me likey New Danica.

[wood 11225]

^Shit. My bad. Wrong thread. I'm an idiot too...

[wood 11225]

Residents around COTA upset about traffic and lack of cell service during F1 USGP

https://www.kvue.com/article/sports/motor/formula-1/cota-us-grand-prix-neighbors-issues/269-214d6f48-969f-419b-9b4d-a6d1b7630eb6

 

I've always known about the shitty traffic these people have to get through just to do their normal commutes to and from work, the grocery store, the Doc's office, etc. 20 minute rides can quickly turn into 2 hour and 20 minute slogs, as I found out the other night when a stretch of 71 that would normally take me less than a minute took 80 minutes. But some of the things they're bringing up never occured to me before. The shitty cell service I experienced out there last weekend is something they deal with during every large COTA event. Can't make a call, maybe can't call 911 in an emergency, and even if you do get through, there's a decent chance your fire truck or ambulance will have a delayed response due to the gridlock. 

Edited October 27, 2022 by wood

[utee94 15797]

Shitty cell service happens in downtown Austin at every UT home game as well. Pouring 100Kplus  into a small area, is always going to overload the system.  Probably an argument for keeping your land line and not relying on cell service at your residence.

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by utee94

[McCroskey 1504]

Can’t say I have a ton of technical experience here but aren’t the mobile cell sites pretty common now?

I thought they were almost automatically used these days at events with over 50k-75k+ people…

outside of COTA it’s been a LONG time since I went somewhere and my phone didn’t work.

[utee94 15797]

7 minutes ago, McCroskey said:

Can’t say I have a ton of technical experience here but aren’t the mobile cell sites pretty common now?

I thought they were almost automatically used these days at events with over 50k-75k+ people…

outside of COTA it’s been a LONG time since I went somewhere and my phone didn’t work.

I saw new cell repeaters at the top of the Turn15 grandstands.  And I also didn't experience any inability to send or receive a phone call for the entire 4+ day weekend I was RV camping at COTA.

I can't say the same about the last Longhorn game I attended in person, which was OkState last year.  

Edited October 27, 2022 by utee94

[wood 11225]

7 minutes ago, McCroskey said:

Can’t say I have a ton of technical experience here but aren’t the mobile cell sites pretty common now?

I thought they were almost automatically used these days at events with over 50k-75k+ people…

outside of COTA it’s been a LONG time since I went somewhere and my phone didn’t work.

I'm on Verizon which is generally great, but on Friday, I could only very sporadically access data, make calls, or even text. Pretty much the same as at a UT football game. I've heard they had a couple of mobile sites out there this weekend, but the guys talking about it said they just weren't enough. They were also talking in tech speak that looked like another language to me.

But the phone issues are only a small part of what those people put up with out there  through the year, and when they say anything about it, a chorus of people (not anyone here that I know of) just say "Shut up and move then".

[utee94 15797]

12 minutes ago, wood said:

I'm on Verizon which is generally great, but on Friday, I could only very sporadically access data, make calls, or even text. Pretty much the same as at a UT football game. I've heard they had a couple of mobile sites out there this weekend, but the guys talking about it said they just weren't enough. They were also talking in tech speak that looked like another language to me.

But the phone issues are only a small part of what those people put up with out there  through the year, and when they say anything about it, a chorus of people (not anyone here that I know of) just say "Shut up and move then".

I certainly understand the challenges they face and feel for them, but is it really "throughout the year?"  As we all point out regularly, it's not like they're hosting a lot of bigtime races.  There's no other event out there that draws anywhere close to what F1 draws or puts that kind of strain on the infrastructure, except maybe the Rolling Stones concert, which only happened once.  I guess maybe NASCAR could be big enough to cause some problems, so twice per year on average?

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by utee94