MikeQuig

6 of us from Colorado chose the bicycle shuttle option and were very pleased. We parked free and rode a short distance to Richard Moya park where our bikes
were corralled and attended. We then boarded a shuttle (never more than a 15 min. wait) and were dropped off (after a 10-15 min. ride over) right at the front gate. That is until Sunday when they dropped us at the Taxi access which gave us a 3/4 mile walk. At least we got out of there within 10 minutes of arriving back at the pickup area. 10 minutes later we were on our bikes and gone. Not bad.

That said I'm always looking to game the system for next year. The downtown shuttle sounded like a disaster and maybe things were a bit better at the Expo Center. Let's hear how your experience played out. How'd those parking passes work out? Airport shuttle?

Mike Quigley
Specbox #23
Denver

Derek@TRG

I cant speak of spectator access, but i can say that getting to the circuit on sunday was much easier than we expected. It was also 6am, but there was a fair amount of spectators already filing in.

Horus2000

We were at the expo center parking shuttle. I was pleasantly surprised that everything was so easy. The exception being the relatively long walk to the bus which couldn't really be avoided and then to the track itself. But, overall, it was very smooth and highly coordinated. I would have no problem choosing the same option again. They obviously went to a lot of effort to train the COTA staff, as well. They were incredibly friendly and welcoming...even the bus drivers were great.

Drew_K

I bought one of the $200 on site parking passes, lot F specifically because it was on the same side of the track as our seats. I went every day, Friday - Sunday, and never experienced much traffic on the way in. On the way out, Friday was light, Saturday was a little heavy at the end of the day, maybe 10 minutes longer to leave. On Sunday, we left right after the race and it took around 30 minutes to get back to the main freeway. Not bad at all considering the number of people.

Overall, I thought they did a good job with traffic management. A few 'needs improvement' are (1) they need more food vendors. We often had to wait 30+ minutes to get food (2) more portapotties and spread them around more. They seemed to have them all bunched together in not convenient locations. Minor gripes because the event was great overall, particularly for its inaugural year.

samluke

We used the downtown shuttle on Friday. Complete disaster.

Traffic around the city was aweful. No signage for where to go. or where to park. No reserved parking areas, it was a free for all. We stood in-line for 45 minutes before getting on the coach. The coach ride was the best part. Just when we thought it was over we had to walk what seemed like a mile once we got dropped off. Leaving the circuit on Friday was just as bad. Hotel to track entrance was 2hrs, same on the way out.

We managed to get a parking pass for Saturday and Sunday.

The shuttle seemed like a great idea before we went as a way to beat the traffic. Never again will I do that.

On a good side, great track, fairly easy to get around. Concessions seemed to be light so long lines. Bridge over the track was a bottleneck

MikeQuig

Richard, Sorry our paths didn't cross. Ran into many Texas racers for sure.
The concessions, especially the big grill setup: Wait to purchase food then get back in line to pickup same, oh you want condiments? get back in yet another line.
The food trucks were great, they should have brought the whole bunch out from town.

They'll get it right or at least better next time. I'm not unhappy at all with the overall experience. We're glad we went and can't wait until we get the PCA race
scheduled.

Mike Quigley
Specbox #23
Denver

consolidated

Recommendations for next year: get a parking pass, door to seat and back in 30-45 minutes each day. Then tailgate, we brought chairs, food and drink one day, should have done it everyday...avoid the food lines and price gouging.

Nice to meet you Mike, I was with Gladwill's group.

zedcat

Had tickets for T12 stand and lot H parking pass (HCRPCA arrangement) and found that very convenient. Lot H is a short walk from T12 stands and near the circuit entrance on Kellam. We arrived early- 07:00 on Sat and Sun and virtually no traffic. Left on Sunday at race end - didn't stay for podium/ interviews- and we were among the first out of circuit then to 21/71 and back to Houston. The view from stands at 12 seemed good. Great view of 12 with braking/ overtaking at end of straight through 15. A few kinks for the organizers to work out as others noted, but in all we had a great weekend.

Dennis K

We took the shuttle from the Travis County Expo on Friday. Going to the track wasn't too bad but the return in the evening was a little slow. It was about a 45 minute wait in line for the bus.

Figuring that it would be worse on Sat & Sun, we looked up parking options on Craigslist on Friday night. We ended up parking on one of the private properties close to the entrance of the track on Elroy Rd. It was $30/day and the walking distance was equivalent to the shuttle drop-off point at the track. The traffic into & out of that lot was minimal and we were on the highway w/in minutes. There was no sidewalk on that road so less adventurous people might have found it difficult/dangerous.

The line for the downtown bus was shorter than the Expo bus on Friday. Your use of the bike shuttle sounds like the best option if they dropped you at the front gate on 2 of the 3 days.

I didn't hear too many vociferous complaints about the shuttles on Sat & Sun so maybe they had things running more smoothly by then. For a first time event, it seemed like it went pretty well. I was prepared for a cluster**** having experienced the traffic & shuttle systems at Laguna Seca for MotoGP in 2005 and 2006. It took 2-3 hours to enter & exit the track.

samluke

Mike,

Likewise shame we didn't cross paths. I was with Brian StDennis and his wife. we bumped into Buckley and Henderson. I'll definitely try and be there if there is a PCA race next year. Its a track that will reward HP in my opinion. Some twisties and the grand plaza section which would be fun in any car. I wouldn't want to do the rest of the track in a miata, it would take forever!

We plan to be back for F1 next year.

great thatt Lewis Hamilton won, go ttthe Brits!!

dizzyj

Drove straight to lot l at 10am on sun. Watched the races. Tailgated for a couple hours, then drove straight out. Thought it all ran great. Didn't even get any flak for walking in drinking a beer.

himself

We parked in Lot N on Friday and had easy to gates at turn 6. It was free for anyone on Friday, but on Saturday you had to have a parking pass. So we just parked at the first house right before the entrance to N. We had to walk a little way to the gate, but it was soooo much faster than the shuttle - we saw very long lines at lot N. And driving to/from the track was a breeze coming from south of the track. There was no line to our parking spot any of the 3 days - and both Saturday / Sunday we got there after 10:00 AM. Leaving the track was just as easy driving. They had the police directing traffic pretty efficiently.

-td

savowood

Friday and Saturday getting to the track were excellent. Sunday, the bus driver got lost. Really, he got lost on the way to the track. We went in the wrong entrance, got dropped off at the wrong place, and then I think the driver got fired.

The ride back to the Expo all three days was excellent. We didn't wait to board a bus at all the entire weekend. It was very well run.

However, next year, I'll get a parking pass. The time it took to get to and from could have been dropped quite a bit had I just driven from my house directly to the track. I could have probably dropped from 90 minutes to about 45. It's only 25 on a regular day. Gotta love the 80 mph speed limit.

uscarrera

We flew over from Fl on Thursday morning. Friday was at track nice and early hit some traffic from hotel out on 71 west of track I think it was the combination of race fans and local traffic as it was much smoother on Sat and Sun drove right in to our parking in section M. Overall I think track did a great job with a few exceptions, the track tram system was a mess on Friday those little tugs with the open cars behind could not do the job, we were on them when they ran out of gas twice! Sat they added some buses but had no where the capacity needed for the crowd, Sunday more buses and that seemed to help a bunch. The food vendors were way to limited in number for the crowds, long waits and some ran out early each day. On Sat morning it was in the high 30s when we got to track in the early AM walked half way around track and could not fins a cup of coffee for sale, that is un-American
All in all we found the experience much better than expected, was ready for a cluster but small tweaks are all that we feel is needed. I gotta say the people in Texas were great, friendly, helpful and very supportive. Down town Austin at night was a blast we had a great meal and bought shirts and hats at a greatly reduced price compared to track and with a 10th of the wait lines.
The Salt Lick bar-b-q Sat night was great and Vic Elford was a pleasure to see and hear.
Would do it again in a heartbeat.
Rich

uscarrera

By the way our seats were in Section 5, here is our view.
Rich