MotoGP at COTA

[eg23232]

Had turn 15 seats. Great view. Explored the grounds Friday and Saturday and there are loads of great places to watch. Personally, I'm not a fan of start/finish seats as I think it's the most boring place to watch a race unless you like to watch the grid and parc ferme', otherwise it's just go fast in a straight line.

A few missteps by COTA but I'm going to chalk them up to growing pains. Just minor things such as parking issues (Friday), pedestrian flow, pa volume (more accurately, the lack thereof) and a few others. And I realize it's track prices, but holy crap....$9.50 for a can of beer?? I only had one the whole weekend.

The entire Hayden clan was staying at my hotel. Got a chance to chat with Nicky for a few minutes and get a picture with him.

Had some great food in Austin.

Pics:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201126192343949.1073741827.1443554478&type=1&l=3dc0f01450

 

[oldmantwo]

Had turn 15 seats. Great view. Explored the grounds Friday and Saturday and there are loads of great places to watch. Personally, I'm not a fan of start/finish seats as I think it's the most boring place to watch a race unless you like to watch the grid and parc ferme', otherwise it's just go fast in a straight line.
A few missteps by COTA but I'm going to chalk them up to growing pains. Just minor things such as parking issues (Friday), pedestrian flow, pa volume (more accurately, the lack thereof) and a few others. And I realize it's track prices, but holy crap....$9.50 for a can of beer?? I only had one the whole weekend.

The entire Hayden clan was staying at my hotel. Got a chance to chat with Nicky for a few minutes and get a picture with him.

Had some great food in Austin.

Pics:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201126192343949.1073741827.1443554478&type=1&l=3dc0f01450

 

[oldmantwo]

Had turn 15 seats. Great view. Explored the grounds Friday and Saturday and there are loads of great places to watch. Personally, I'm not a fan of start/finish seats as I think it's the most boring place to watch a race unless you like to watch the grid and parc ferme', otherwise it's just go fast in a straight line.

A few missteps by COTA but I'm going to chalk them up to growing pains. Just minor things such as parking issues (Friday), pedestrian flow, pa volume (more accurately, the lack thereof) and a few others. And I realize it's track prices, but holy crap....$9.50 for a can of beer?? I only had one the whole weekend.

The entire Hayden clan was staying at my hotel. Got a chance to chat with Nicky for a few minutes and get a picture with him.

Had some great food in Austin.

Pics:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201126192343949.1073741827.1443554478&type=1&l=3dc0f01450

Great Pictures. COTA should use them to showcase the event.

 

[CopB8]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing!

There's one picture in town of a river/culvert with a bridge over it and a patio overlooking? Where specifically was that?

 

[BobbyBlue]

Great Pics Eric ! I sat about 1 section left and 10 rows up or so from ya in Turn 15 and it was just awesome to me ! I'll try to load some pics later, but none will touch yours, Thanks for sharing !

I appreciate the different perspectives too....CopB8 seems pretty unimpressed , and you liked it alot , while it was a successful Rainier attempt for me ! I also froze my ass off , but not for long cuz the toll way, 130, has an 85 mph limit and the 60 miles from I-10 to Lockhart went quick Friday morning...there were some parking problems friday due to flooding rains last week and the security guard had never seen a disabled motorcycle plate and actually accused me of making it myself ! I was cold and only 12,000 bikes behind me, but it was resolved by Sunday ,but only after pushing past the stuck up ******** at the Ducati privileged ticket area....drove right past a screaming Italian....told him to go get the sheriff...he did and the guy waved as he drove by....still all smiles though....the food, while edible and vegetarian was expensive and sodium laden and they allowed nothing but 1 bottled water in....they only searched my bag Sunday so i got away with bananas and grapes.....they had these giant margarita/daiquiri bong looking things...$14....i had 2 Saturday....they were gooooooood....people were so friendly and accommodating too for the most part....i do wonder if Mexican Nationals are taught rudeness in school or is it purely cultural....i've lived and was raised in Europe so it aint the Mediterranean flair thing ...i watched several have to be asked to move out of the way in staircases, repeatedly....not many stairs in Mexico maybe...i dunno.......anyway, i stayed Sunday night and rode home Monday morning....no autographs but i did score a real used official race banner and some cool t-shirts....we did witness history though as Marquez is the youngest GP winner ever at 19...19!!!..i got pimples on my butt that old......I cant say " did that, file it "....more like "Whats Next " ? Laguna ? IOM is Everest to me for sure.....I'm glad things are so hard for me sometimes...makes me really appreciate the good easy times and this weekend was ALL good !!!! and this gave me alot of moto-vation maybe next year then.....only a few insects were hurt or killed in the commission of this dream and for this i acknowledge and appreciate their sacrifice.....what a weekend !!!! as the geico pig says : WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !!!!!!!!!

Blessed and Rockin' Yo ,

Bobby

 

[CopB8]

I don't know who's in charge of the staff at COTA but that person needs a RAISE!

Both during the F1 and MotoGP event I was struck at just how friendly and accommodating every staff member I came in contact with. As a resident Texan it gives me a lot of pride that we're representing so well in front of a multi-national audience.

I'd have to say some of my ambivalence may be due to the fact I arrived a bit late the day of the big race and had no time to experiment with different viewing locations. Turn 11 wasn't ideal for motorcycles. During F1 I sat in Turns 1, 5, 6, 9 and 12. 1 & 12 were great and 9 was good. I've chosen 9 for this year's F1 because it was a good balance of view and cost. Maybe had I moved around a bit more at MotoGP I'd have appreciate it more.

Thanks all the rest of you for posting your pics and experiences. I really enjoy your perspective.

 

[NMRoadRunner]

Well got in yesterday afternoon and must say I had a Friiiiickin Blast! Rode about 1884 miles and ate some really good BBQ. Smitty's in Lockhart is some of the best I've had, and I've had alot. Hit some weather both ways, but the race weather was perfect. got to thank Oldmantwo and his riding buddies, they showed us some real Texas hospitality, and the back way into the track. There was zero traffic and it was a really nice ride in every morning. the racing was what it was, the hondas ran well and the yamahas wouldn't brake well enough for them to ride em hard into the corners. Can't really complain about prices, it is MOTOGP. But did sneak in some beer and BBQ to snack on. I will definitly come back next year, and will probably get some reserved seating next time, scouted out some good areas. Will post up some pics as soon as I get unpacked completely, if you're into the Ducati girls and stuff like that.

PS don't complain about riding a couple of hours in the cold. We did everything from 26 degrees the first day to 92 degrees with 40mph wind getting home. It was still a blaaaaast!

 

[oldmantwo]

Well got in yesterday afternoon and must say I had a Friiiiickin Blast! Rode about 1884 miles and ate some really good BBQ. Smitty's in Lockhart is some of the best I've had, and I've had alot. Hit some weather both ways, but the race weather was perfect. got to thank Oldmantwo and his riding buddies, they showed us some real Texas hospitality, and the back way into the track. There was zero traffic and it was a really nice ride in every morning. the racing was what it was, the hondas ran well and the yamahas wouldn't brake well enough for them to ride em hard into the corners. Can't really complain about prices, it is MOTOGP. But did sneak in some beer and BBQ to snack on. I will definitly come back next year, and will probably get some reserved seating next time, scouted out some good areas. Will post up some pics as soon as I get unpacked completely, if you're into the Ducati girls and stuff like that.
Glad to hear you had a safe trip back. What route did you take? I will have to try Smitty's next time I am in Lockhart. It was nice hanging out with you, be safe.

Oldmantwo

PS don't complain about riding a couple of hours in the cold. We did everything from 26 degrees the first day to 92 degrees with 40mph wind getting home. It was still a blaaaaast!

 

[eg23232]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing!
There's one picture in town of a river/culvert with a bridge over it and a patio overlooking? Where specifically was that?

That was right next to my hotel, Hilton Garden Inn. So, 5th to 6th street between Frontage and Sabine.

 

[NMRoadRunner]

I got to say, that Marc Marquez was riding so much faster then the other riders he deserves another Mark in his name. From now on he is "Marky Marc Marquez" The kid took a nice get off in pratice on Saturday and was back on the bike in ten mins, running as fast as before. gonna be a long season for the other riders.

 

[graler]

I got a great deal on the MotoGP this year. I won a drawing for two general admission passes for all three days. Went on Friday and walked the whole place. Friday was cool because you could go into the grandstand and take a seat and watch the bikes roar and I mean roar through. The track runs between the pit paddock and grandstand so you have a reverberation effect that happens. Pretty cool. Saturday I had a good friend and his buddy that I gave the tickets to. It was prom here so Dad duty was calling. Sunday was my day at the races. We watched the Moto3 (those 250cc are fun to watch - lots of racing going on) and Moto2 from 8, 9 and 10. When the MotoGP started we worked our way out to 11. Lots of passing was happening in that kink of a turn. Seeing those guys rip it down the back stretch was pretty cool. There is also a retaining wall to set your butt down on. Rumor has it that there will be several more big screens installed for next year. The information was a bit lacking from the announcer and the MotoGP ipad app was more than I wanted to spend. I am hooked I will do it again next year. I have heard that they treated corner marshalls well. Maybe that is a good gig. The people watching on Sunday was fantastic. There were plenty of fans to appreciate.

Joe from Cedar Park right up the road from COTA.

 

[CopB8]

Does anyone know what the attendance was on Sunday?

 

[NMRoadRunner]

I read that attendence was 131,00 over the three day event and Sundays attendence was around 60,000. I know a bunch of tickets wern't checked on Friday and Saturday. The bikes parked in the infield on Friday and we went through tunnel 2 on Saturday to the VIP road and into the track without going through the main gate so our tickets wern't counted, our gear wasn't checked either. Made it easy to keep yourself supplied with needed refreshments.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Watched the race last night, they announced on the broadcast that the attendance was at 61,000 + a few more, don't remember the exact number.

 

[CopB8]

I think that's pretty decent for MotoGP. I wonder what their expectations were?

 

[NMRoadRunner]

They were ready to sell tickets for 80K. I thought they made it because there were people looking for tickets at the main gate going in Sunday morning.

 

[gixxerjasen]

26,235 for Friday

43,756 for Saturday

61,091 for Sunday.

https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2013/04/21/539850/10029300/en/Circuit-of-The-Americas-tm-draws-131-082-fans-for-Red-Bull-MotoGP-of-The-Americas.html

 

[rmcobb]

We had interior parking as well, which as everyone has said, worked out great. Although on Saturday midday they figured out they weren't catching those folks in the scanning of tickets and checking bags and started doing that midday. We walked back to the bike midday to get more water and put away sweatshirts and they got us as we came back in.....no big deal as there bag checks were pretty lame.

We approached the track from the North and had easy entry and exit until Sunday leaving but even then, it wasn't too bad. We sat T15, Section 1 all the way up to the top which were great seats. Walked the whole track over the course of the 3 days, pretty awesome place. Spent the $25 to go up in the tower, that was worth it as well.

 

[NMRoadRunner]

I spent my tower and t-shirt money on more important things "Beer"

 

[gixxerjasen]

So you drank two of them?