Austin F1
 

I'm thinking about going to the F1 race in Oct. I would be flying to Phoenix, Az
to pick up a car that I bought and driving back to Georgia. Can anyone give me any
advise (sunday race only).

Yes! Be VERY patient when you leave after the race. Put food, drinks, and snacks in the car...take a Zanax and use the restroom right before you leave.

We rented a house in Austin for the weekend last year. It was 18 miles from COTA. It took us over three hours to go that 18 miles. Two hours to go the first 5 miles!!!

Also, book a room at least an hour out of Austin. Most hotels in town will already be booked by now, and even the Holiday Inn in Austin if $350 per night for the weekend of the race.

Oh, and General Admission tickets are all you need. COTA a great places to set up on the grass. No reason to spend the extra money on grandstand seats.

The "leave process" after any large event is always a pain. I leave 15 minutes before the race is over and don't have to deal with it. "Back in the day" we'd sleep over and party Sunday nights at the Glen. No camping for me anymore.

I agree the "leave process" is bad after any Formula 1 even...But I've also been to Spa, Monza, and Monaco, and COTA was BY FAR the worst track egress I've ever experienced.

The British GP has live music(and class acts at that) after the event in the hope of staggering the crowd departing. It works.

Last year was not usual. We're usually out of the area in 15 minutes.

It does not help that they have a big name concert after the race because 95% of the race fans are leaving and a bunch of concert fans are coming in.

Thanks for the information. I had planned to stay about an hour from Austin.
Now to figure out the logistics for the rest of the trip! Anyone know anything Rt 66 between Flagstaff
and ????

You do not want to enter and leave the track on the west side. The best entry/exit would be the southeast, Hwy 21, to FM 812. I bet you could get a pretty good deal on a hotel in La Grange. It's about 65 miles southeast on Texas 71 and not far from IH10.

We really need to have a proper Pelican meeting time(s) and location this year.

I'll be in turn 12 grandstands as usual.

yes

We have ride shares, just not Uber and Lyft. If you go south and west from the track to get to downtown, you might be able to pull it off.

If it were me, I'd walk south on Burklund Farms Rd to Moore Rd, and get picked up there by a cab or ride share. But, make damned sure the driver knows to not drive north on 183 or the toll road, instead, head west to 35.

Maybe you can skip going downtown after the race? Maybe the hotel has a service to get your bags to the airport?

All these posts and nobody asked what car he's bringing back?

Might check flights out of SAT, it's only 80 miles down the road.

Agreed with above, don't go downtown and you can easily get to the airport directly from the track. I don't think there is any change in hell that you can go downtown after the race with your current schedule.

Except for the first year when I took the shuttle and last year in the mud fest, I've gotten out of the track pretty fast. I think it may be doable to get downtown and back to the airport in 3 hours.

Taking the whole family this year we fly out tonight, doing the AIRBNB thing found a great duplex not far from the airport our flight leaves at 8:30pm on Sunday...crossing my fingers that it all goes well.

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The weather just turned perfect. First beautiful weekend for the event, and best so far this year for the locals.

Have fun!

Sounds like the shuttle was a good call. I wish I'd had down that. I'm glad you had a good time.

I took the shuttle the first year and have driven ever since. Except for the monsoon last year, driving into and out of the track has been a non-issue. We left after the cool down lap and about 30 minutes later were on highway 71 heading back to Houston. By 7pm I was home and watching the race again on TV.

Attendance was really high this year. I wonder how much Taylor Swift had to do with it. Around 3pm on Saturday the fan base took a large turn toward teen and pre-teen girls.

The family and I had a great time in Austin, we flew in Wed night then Thursday morning had a campus visit at University of Texas Austin for my daughter nice campus really big but she liked it which surprised me then we hung out the rest of the day on Congress Street really cool area. Ate at Iron Works BBQ...good food but lousy service won't go back.
Friday morning we got in line at Franklins BBQ because we had to try it....4hrs later and it was definitely worth the wait. The people in line with you are cool the weather was great, Franklins has chairs you can use while you wait the staff comes out and updates you all the time the whole vibe of the place was awesome, the food was amazing best BBQ I've ever had. Then to the track for F1 and Porsche Cup practice and dinner Friday with in laws from Waco.
Sat and Sunday were all track days, COTA is a great venue well organized and clean we drove and parked at a "lot" directly across the track so getting in and out was not an issue as we went opposite all the traffic and followed the side roads we were out of the area in under 30 minutes.
Talking to the wife about what race to go to next year..maybe Monaco she also likes the idea of France for The 24hrs of Le Mans, but if my daughter is in Austin for school next year we will be back for sure.
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