2012 United States Grand Prix

Imagine that - I sat in Mo Nunns garage on one of Alex's used tires playing poker with two of his mechanics - you can't imagine that happening in F1 can you? :lol:

Not unless you're a major investor. :)

And yes, the CART paddock was always a very welcoming place. I have fond memories of multiple races.
 
Some real motorsports elitists up in here. ;)

I find NASCAR as boring as hell but it's not fair to call it primitive. Yes, the cars are held to fairly basic rule sets and not allowed to experiment outside of the box but there's still loads of innovation that has to go on within the rule sets. Go to a modern NASCAR garage and you'll see what I mean (I'm personal friends with a NASCAR team's crew chief and have used their shop for work on our ChumpCar race car). They are usually unbelievably clean, consist of wind tunnels (Caterham F1 recently took their F1 car to a NASCAR wind tunnel in Charlotte, NC for testing), chassis and engine dynos, dozens of CNC machines and highly paid technicians. They aren't F1 garages but they are still impressive in their own right. Just because the fans and drivers tend to be rednecks doesn't make the sport simple or primitive. :)

(Disclaimer: No, I don't like NASCAR. I respect it but I never watch it. Too boring.)
 
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I had to go 60 minutes outside of Austin to find a reasonable rate, I looked at the place now and they are charging 5 times the rate I booked.

I also didn't think they'd have the track finished and all ready to go. The details were still a bit dodgy when they first came out and said everything was a "go". It's fine, I'll just go next year.
 
There HAS to be someone willing to let you put up at tent at their front lawn for like 3 days if you pay them a hundred bucks, come on... How hard can this be?
Austin is surrounded by farms and I'm sure someone would like to make a buck.
 
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Yeah this hotel-price-thing almost ruined my trip too, although I'm not even going to the race itself. But I managed to find something affordable in San Marcos, which happens to be the place where I will be most of the time anyway :p
 
Yeah this hotel-price-thing almost ruined my trip too, although I'm not even going to the race itself. But I managed to find something affordable in San Marcos, which happens to be the place where I will be most of the time anyway :p

I checked on Hotwire and the price of rooms have dropped bigtime in Austin.. It's very affordable now! I'll be staying in San Antonio. About to leave from Montreal, PQ Canadaland
 
I think it's completely weird they don't just let you camp somewhere near. It'd create such a nice atmosphere and good opportunities to sell as many pattys for barbecuing motoring enthusiasts as you could possibly wish.

There are a few campgrounds nearby, but the weirdest part is that they have to shuttle you in from said campgrounds--i.e. no pedestrian traffic allowed.

In Austin.

One of the most pedestrian-happy places I've ever lived.

Doesn't make any gott dang sense. If I could've parked on a friend's yard out there and walked a little, I would've, but no could do. Sucks.
 
There are a few campgrounds nearby, but the weirdest part is that they have to shuttle you in from said campgrounds--i.e. no pedestrian traffic allowed.

In Austin.

One of the most pedestrian-happy places I've ever lived.

Doesn't make any gott dang sense. If I could've parked on a friend's yard out there and walked a little, I would've, but no could do. Sucks.

Maybe they're worried about the road infrastructure not being able to cope?
 
I will be heading out on Thursday to the track.. I will keep everyone informed of how the event is going. Really concerned about the traffic situation....
 
The Flying Lap
with Peter Windsor
LIVE Wednesday 19:00UK time / 11AM Pacific

from Four Seasons Hotel, Austin

http://smibs.tv/
 
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Maybe they're worried about the road infrastructure not being able to cope?

Bollocks. Plenty of grassy shoulder out there. I ain't a priss--mow it, stick a barrier between us and traffic, and I'll walk through the dadgummed grass.
 
Secretly wishing some mechanical malady will strike the RB8 of Vettel, and Brazil is a winner takes all race.
 
I did not know that Grosjean counts as "mechanical" by now :p
 
This place is SOOOOO packed. It's only Friday and the crowds are virtually unmanageable. The COTA official race merchandise booth had sold out of most of it's shirts by 10:00 AM on Practice day.

So excited to see the cars come out for FP2 shortly!
 
Secretly wishing some mechanical malady will strike the RB8 of Vettel, and Brazil is a winner takes all race.

same, Seb not to finish the race with Alonso winning so that going into Brazil Alonso is 15 points ahead. If Seb could win the championship in Brazil from being 15points behind all credit to him. But really this year (never thought I'd say it) but I want Alonso to win, he's had a dog of a car all year and driven the wheels of it, he deserves to win.
 
I did not know that Grosjean counts as "mechanical" by now :p

If Grosjean manages to take Vettel out of the race, I think Ferrari will send him something really nice provided Alonso scores in this race. :D

same, Seb not to finish the race with Alonso winning so that going into Brazil Alonso is 15 points ahead. If Seb could win the championship in Brazil from being 15points behind all credit to him. But really this year (never thought I'd say it) but I want Alonso to win, he's had a dog of a car all year and driven the wheels of it, he deserves to win.

That's what I'm looking for. After watching the free practice sessions, Senna looks to be on form over Maldonado, the Saubers probably don't suit this track along with Force India. It's still the big 3 teams and let's bring on the qualifying!
 
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