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2018 Formula One thread

Prepuce of Doom

By Prepuce of Doom
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utee94

utee94 15835

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Posted (edited)

Getting really pumped for the race next weekend.  To me, it's maybe 80% of the feeling I get for TX-OU and the State Fair each year, but that's saying quite a bit.

Even if this year it's mostly going to be a parade and a coronation...

I don't twitter or instagoogles, but if anyone around here does, have any of the drivers started posting stuff about Austin yet?  I always like it when they start arriving, and eating BBQ, and going to ranches for photo ops, and stuff.  Ricciardio seems to have the most fun with it, not sure he'll be quite so smiley this year but I hope so.

Edited by utee94
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utee94

utee94 15835

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Y'all watch out on your DVR settings this week.  Looks like FP1 and FP2 are going to be on ESPNU, and FP3 and qualy will be on ESPNNews.  The race itself is on ABC.

This is a problem for me, since I don't have ESPNU or ESPNNews.  I'll be at the track all weekend of course, but I always like to come home after the race and re-watch all the sessions on TV, sometimes there are nuances and news you miss when you're there watching it live.

 

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utee94

utee94 15835

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The real fan fest is in the RV lots at the track.  It gets pretty crazy out there.  Last year we were parked near some guys from Houston that had rented a large, very expensive motorhome, and they also had a local Austin rental company deliver several motor scooters out to their campsite.  They had tons of booze and threw a weekend-long party.  At one point on Thursday night, they were riding the scooters around and found an open gate into COTA, and they ended up riding the scooters directly on the track for a while.  Cracked me up, those guys were crazy.

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relapse98

relapse98 634

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On 10/12/2018 at 7:33 AM, utee94 said:

Getting really pumped for the race next weekend.

Same. Finally pinged my vendor to see if they were doing the tailgate on the back straight again... yep. Can't beat free with bbq and drinks flowing. I'll be getting there earlier this year so I can enjoy it a bit more. I'm sure we'll have the usual rush for parking passes and I'm almost positive we'll be in Q, which is fine because that is far away from any traffic.

 

Strangely, I haven't seen COTA say anything about Q, but its on the map and the shuttle stop moved over outside of turn 7 instead of 11.

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wood

wood 11230

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1 hour ago, relapse98 said:

(Hence why i said where the stop was, but you can't buy Q passes online)

Ha! Yeah, my bad. Typical disjointed info output by COTA. I haven't seen anything about Lot Q except right there, as you said. If I do, I'll let you know.

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elfenix

elfenix 34331

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6 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Man I'm not loving the forecast for this weekend. At least it's trending better toward Sunday, but I don't want a repeat of that Friday and Saturday business from... what was it... 2015?  That was miserable.

that hurricane almost killed the event.  still, spending all day drinking in a beer tent wasn't as horrible as it could have been.

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utee94

utee94 15835

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We got into the Velocity Lounge before it reached capacity, and got into the stands to watch P3.  Then we waited around all day to see qualy but they postponed until the next day.  That was a VERY expensive day, since we couldn't ever duck back out to the RV to re-stock our "water bottles."

It was really weird that Saturday morning, they sent out the announcement that P3 wasn't going to happen, and I got the alert on my phone right as we were walking into the main grandstands from Velocity Lounge, and P3 was starting.  We had come in through the gate at Turn3 which was open, but my friends that were trying to get in from the grand plaza said that COTA refused to open the gates because the thunderstorms made it "unsafe."  They replied, "Is it less safe being stuck out here at a gate, than it would be inside with some chance at getting some cover?"  Other friends said something similar happened at the entrance to the main granstands, but they finally convinced the gate attendants to open up and let them in.  What a mess.

Then of course Sunday morning it started clearing up for qualy, and then the race was actually really pleasant.

 

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wood

wood 11230

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1 hour ago, utee94 said:

We got into the Velocity Lounge before it reached capacity, and got into the stands to watch P3.  Then we waited around all day to see qualy but they postponed until the next day.  That was a VERY expensive day, since we couldn't ever duck back out to the RV to re-stock our "water bottles."

It was really weird that Saturday morning, they sent out the announcement that P3 wasn't going to happen, and I got the alert on my phone right as we were walking into the main grandstands from Velocity Lounge, and P3 was starting.  We had come in through the gate at Turn3 which was open, but my friends that were trying to get in from the grand plaza said that COTA refused to open the gates because the thunderstorms made it "unsafe."  They replied, "Is it less safe being stuck out here at a gate, than it would be inside with some chance at getting some cover?"  Other friends said something similar happened at the entrance to the main granstands, but they finally convinced the gate attendants to open up and let them in.  What a mess.

Then of course Sunday morning it started clearing up for qualy, and then the race was actually really pleasant.

Yeah I missed FP3, along with thousands of others, because I believed COTA's dumb asses, tweeting that FP3 was cancelled and the track was closed before FOM ever actually cancelled anything at all. 

Re: COTA's response to storm conditions, it's always been a clusterfuck. The only time I've ever feared for my life because of the weather was when the storm first hit on F1 Friday in 2015 and I was caught out in the open with no shelter nearby. It was fucking nuts. At the WRX event a few weeks ago it started raining and even though they had made a big deal of racing rain or shine, they red flagged everything and then told everyone they had to walk to their cars a mile away for shelter. There was never any lightning or wind. Just some rain. 

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wood

wood 11230

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40 minutes ago, Goofyboy said:

Not surprising though, based on 2015.

Yeah it's happened a few times. Dunno why it never gets fixed.They should be able to pump it out if there's not too much more rain this week, but that's a big if considering the forecast.

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happyfunball

happyfunball 481

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, utee94 said:

Which days are you going?  Any idea where your tickets are?  Are they GA or grandstands?

Hopefully it won't be a total washout, sounds like raceday itself might be pretty good, fingers crossed and Good Lord willing, etc.

Sunday

Id be surprised if GA but it is last minute offer from an advisor 

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utee94

utee94 15835

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1 hour ago, happyfunball said:

Sunday

Id be surprised if GA but it is last minute offer from an advisor 

Anyway, what you do pretty much depends on where your tickets are.  Sunday is slightly more "compressed" than the other days, but I still recommend watching the support races, it's never a bad thing to see cars competing around that track.

If everything goes to schedule, the first race that occurs Sunday morning at 9:15 AM is F3 Americas Series, and then at 10:15 the Formula 4 US race happens.  Then of course the Formula1 race is at 1:10.

On the first 2 days of the weekend I like to move around and watch the various practice and qualifying sessions from all over.  But on Sunday I tend to to get to my seats at Turn15 and just watch the races from there.

 

Schedule is here: http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com/f1/schedule

 

 

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elfenix

elfenix 34331

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Posted (edited)
31 minutes ago, utee94 said:

They'd need to be on both sides, all the way around, at 1' intervals, to make any difference to him.

need some for vettel too

 

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

Downtown shuttle bus info:

 

http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com/f1/tickets/shuttle

 

 

of course the year after i discover just how convenient expo center parking is, they get rid of it. 

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utee94

utee94 15835

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Yeah I'd imagine expo center would have been great.  

All the more reason just to take the RV, park it on Thursday morning, and not leave. ;)

I'll be out there by about 9:00 tomorrow morning.  Definitely taking my heavy duty hiking boots in case of a mudfest.

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wood

wood 11230

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17 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Any news on their progress clearing this out? 

 

No. I was wondering about it, too, since it didn't look like that pump was running in the photo. I'm sure they can clear that, but if we get much more rain, we could see the same problem during the weekend.

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wood

wood 11230

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15 minutes ago, elfenix said:

need some for vettel too

 

of course the year after i discover just how convenient expo center parking is, they get rid of it. 

Yeah and the weird thing is my neighbor who works at the Expo Center says they paid for it again for this year and then never contacted them to set it up. Not a peep.

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utee94

utee94 15835

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1 minute ago, wood said:

No. I was wondering about it, too, since it didn't look like that pump was running in the photo. I'm sure they can clear that, but if we get much more rain, we could see the same problem during the weekend.

Yeah, with the right pump you could clear that much water in a couple of hours.  I just don't trust COTA to have "the right pump."

 

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wood

wood 11230

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8 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Yeah, with the right pump you could clear that much water in a couple of hours.  I just don't trust COTA to have "the right pump."

 

Yeah I was thinking that one little pump doesn't look like 'the right pump', and it sure looks lonely. Remember, this is the same place that wouldn't pay for generators to run most of the tv screens for MotoGP. 

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