My Austin 400 Experience

"DannyCatSteve" (dannycatsteve) 08/16/2013 at 16:55 • Filed to: COTA V8

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Once, I went to the V8 Supercars event at Circuit of the Americas.

Even though I lived in Austin, this would be my first trip to COTA, since Formula One tickets are so expensive and I don't really follow MotoGP or care for Grand-Am. The V8SC tickets were a reasonable price, and the V8's are one of my favorite racing series so I jumped on the opportunity and also convinced my friend Nathaniel to go with me.

We arrived at COTA with just a few minutes left in the first practice session and began the long walk from the parking area to the gates. As we got closer I could hear the amazing backfire sound that V8 Supercars produce and became ecstatic. After about 10 minutes of walking we reached the entrance and got in with no dramas.

We entered the Grand Plaza and to the left was a Cadillac tent with an iRacing set-up and one of their Pirelli World Challenge CTS-V's on display, which we stopped to admire for a minute before moving on. COTA was the first track I had been to, so with each step I took I became more and more amazed. We walked through the GT3 Cup paddock, and eventually wandered into the PWC area. The accessability was great.; we were able to get very close to the cars, even as the teams were working on them and have a look inside. There was a one-man team who ran a Mini, which is both the strangest and coolest thing ever.

At this time, Nathaniel and I hadn't realized that the V8 paddock was open to everyone and thought that we were cool by sneaking in. This was when I saw Brad Jones for the first of three times. He was in a rush somewhere and ran off before I had the chance to approach him. Continuing moving along the garages, we overheard a conversation between a few members from different teams.

Team Member #1: "Austin has a lot of nice women."

Team Member #2: "Yeah, lots of skanks."

We laughed.

At the end of the paddock, Maro Engel left his Erebus Motorsport garage to throw something away. He looked up at us and then quickly looked away. I wanted to say something, but had no idea what.

The second V8 practice began and we settled for turn one and near the starting line as our first viewing points. This was when it began heating up and I didn't have any sunscreen on. You can already tell this would end badly.

Once free practice 2 concluded, we went back to the Grand Plaza to get in line for iRacing. We accidentally cut in front of half the people, without signing in or getting a t-shirt. Nathaniel made it furthest into the lap at Lime Rock without spinning or crashing. I elected not to give Lime Rock in a CTS-V a shot because I would just make a massive fool of myself. The merchandise tent was our next stop, which was disappointing to say the least.. It was mostly Austin 400 shirts and caps, with the only team merchandise being from Red Bull Racing Australia and Nissan (surprisingly, they had Norton things as well as Jack Daniels).

After being unamused by anything in the store, we went to the brige near the quad apex set of corners to watch PWC GT & GTS practice. An area between turns 15 and 16 acted as our vantage point for V8 free practice 3. I took many bad pictures here. We decided to head home before FP4 to avoid any traffic.

Nathaniel told me: "You are so red."

How red was I? I wouldn't know until I got home, and boy, was I red. I sure was.

Saturday, we arrived just before V8 qualifying and watched Fabian Coulthard and Jamie Whincup take pole for races 13 and 14. Unfortanately my camera died early in the morning so I wasn't able to take many pictures of qualifying, the pitwalk, or the races.

There was a big crowd in front of the gates to the pit lane, but we were able to move our way to the front. The Erebus Motorsport E63's were closest to pit exit, followed by Red Bull Racing Australia, Brad Jones Racing, and then Ford Performance Racing. Most people went immediately for the Triple Eight (RBRA) garages, but since I am an FPR fan, we spent little time near that end. I saw David Reylonds, and Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom debriefing with their engineers, as well as Brad Jones - eating lunch with a few of his team members. Soon, however, many of the people who started at the Red Bull garages started to trickle down to other teams. We admired the other teams, near the entrance to pit lane, but since my camera died nad we couldn't go into the garages, there was no reason to stay for long.

The first Pirelli World Challenge GT/GTS race was up next, and we moved back to the start line and turn one, where we would remain for the rest of the day. Johnny O'Connell dominated GT, ahead of James Sefronas' Audi R8, and Cadillac teammate Andy Pilgrim. Lawson Aschenbach won GTS from pole in his Camaro, with teammate Andy Lee second in class, and Jack Bladwin's Porsche Cayman round up the podium.

It was a two hour wait for race 13 of the 2013 V8 Supercars Championship, and luckily, Nathaniel brought sunscreen so my already bad sunburn did not worsen.

Race 13 got underway, and from turn one we watched all 28 cars power up the hill. Jamie Whincup took the lead immediately from Fabian Coulthard, who made a poor start and further back in the pack Scott McLaughlin spun due to contact, which resulted in broken steering. Maro Engel went off in the esses, triggering a short safety car period. Chaos erupted on the restart, with a battle between Fabian Coulthard and Craig Lowndes for second position, as Tim Slade was turned around in the rear end of the field. Mark Winterbottom battled with Rick Kelly, escorting him off the road in turn one, causing the stewards to show him the bad sportsmanship flag.

Craig Lowndes overtook Fabian Coulthard with a daring move in the stadium - which would also result in a bad sportsmanship flag and a battle between Coulthard and Jonathon Webb for third. Pit stops began with Jamie Whincup's crew put together a lightning quick stop, garnereing the applause of the crowd. Five cars chose to stay out longer, most notably Craig Lowndes. Lowndes made his stop five laps after Whincup, coming out not far behind his Red Bull teammate. It looked as though he would challenge him for the victory, but it would be to no avail and Jamie Whincup won race 13, from Craig Lowndes and Fabian Coulthard.

Race 14 started the same way as race 13 ended. Shane Van Gisbergen and Fabian Coulthard both made bad starts, allowing the two Red Bull Racing Commordores to skip away and run side-by-side through the esses before Lowndes yielded to Whincup. There were some good dices in the mid-pack and rear end of the field, but at the front it was fairly straight forward. Whincup and Lowndes made it another 1-2 for Triple Eight Race Engineering, as Fabian Coulthard held off a big charge from Tekno Autosport teammates Van Gisbergen and Webb for third, making the race 14 podium a duplicate of the first COTA race.

Sunday, we arrived much earlier for the driver autograph session. We mistakenly cut in line at the FPR table, but nobody seemed to notice or care. Jason Bright was the first driver out, and the other quickly followed suit. I shook Frosty's hand and asked him how he was doing ( I didn't know what else to say). Nathaniel had a great idea to have the drivers sign their favorite section of the track (he's an innovator, that one). I told David Reynolds I enjoyeed the picture of him in the dress, to which he responded, "Haha", followed by something inaudible. Asking Shane Van Gisbergen if he would do some good burnouts if he won that day also made him laugh a bit, followed up with a "hopefully." At the end of thiry minutes, I had gotten 21 of the 28 drivers autographs on one Austin 400 picture, with the exceptions being both Triple Eight drivers, the HRT teammates, and none of the three Erebus Motorsport runners.

There was a garage with only the show car that James Courtney had taken around COTA a few weeks earlier and Dunlop tires in it, which anyone could walk into. I was sure Mark Larkham's infamous whiteboard would be in there, but it wasn't! Where it was that weekend is still a mystery to me.

V8 Qualifying was shortly thereafter, which we watched from the esses, before heading back to the paddock. The GT/GTS cars were in parc ferme before their second race, and a few of the drivers were by their cars talking with fans. Nathaniel had a short conversation with Jim Taggart, the driver of a Lotus Exiege, but the drivers with the two most popular drivers were Alec Udell, a 17-year-old local driver who drove a Ford Mustang in GTS, and four-time Le Mans class winner Johnny O'Connell. O'Connell asked his wife if she had sunscreen. She said yes.

Before the Pirelli World Challenge race started, we went to the Grand Plaza where there was supposed to be MotoX (or whatever it's called) riders doing tricks. Instead, they spent twenty minutes signing autographs and then left.

We sat at turn 19 for the second GT/GTS race, which would prove to be the most entertaining race of the entire weekend. Johnny O'Connell fell out early, leaving Andy Pilgrim, James Sefronas, and Randy Pobst to have a gret fight for the podium spots, while other entertaining battles played out through the top ten. In GTS, Andy Lee's Camaro won with the Kia Optima of Mark Wilkins in second, and Jack Baldwin once again finishing third. Sefronas won GT, while Pilgrim held off Pobst in the KPax Racing Volvo for second.

Neither of us brought sunscreen on this day, making things painful for me. There was some cloud cover on Sunday, but it only helped temporarily. The esses was our final spot to watch races from.

Race 15 was the most entertaining V8 Supercar race of the weekend. Mark Winterbottom made a great start from fourth that got him into second after a quick fight with Fabian Coulthard. On lap 4, Frosty passed Whincup for the lead - much to our delight. Coulthard followed right behind and Lowndes passed his teammate a lap later, as Coulthard began hounding Winterbottom for the top step.

I was excited at the possibility of seeing my favorite driver and team win in person, but FPR did FPR things during Frosty's stop. A cross-threaded wheel nut dropped Frosty to seventh in the running order. A safety car for debris bunched the field back up, but he was unable to make any progress. Shane Van Gisbergen charged up to 5th, but no car could challenge Fabian Coulthard, who won ahead of Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup.

Mark Winterbottom and Craig Lowndes would start mid-pack and have to try to fight their way up front for race 16. Coulthard and Whincup had a good scrap for first on lap 2, the number 1 car prevailing and being unchallenged for the rest of the race. Will Davison made contact with Scott McLaughlin, ending both of their races and producing a safety car.

The safety car pulled in, allowing Van Gisbergen to haunt Tander for third, and for Rick Kelly and Mark Winterbottom to continue fighting. Good strategy from Red Bull gave Lowndes an advantage to jump Winterbottom for 5th. SVG finally made it past Tander a few laps after pitting, becoming the fourth different podium finisher of the weekend. Whincup won the fourth and final race of the weekend, with Coulthard second again. Whincup's spectacular weekend gave him the first every Austin 400 round victory.

So, there's my Austin 400 story (three months after it happened). I left tired, with the worst sunburn ever, but created great memories that will stick with me forever.

Here are the links to my bad pictures and videos:

http://imgur.com/a/Eo9Ig#0

pdthedeuce > DannyCatSteve 08/16/2013 at 17:01

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how would you rate cota as a venue in general ?

Chairman Kaga > DannyCatSteve 08/16/2013 at 17:01

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Crazy. I got basically the same photo.

DannyCatSteve > pdthedeuce 08/16/2013 at 17:05

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Pretty good. Nicely maintained, lots of things to do. There are no permanent bathrooms, but I didn't mind. My only problems were the price of the food and the bad merchandise selection.

More Power!!and also some brakes. > Chairman Kaga 08/16/2013 at 17:07

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I too have a damn near identical picture.

pdthedeuce > DannyCatSteve 08/16/2013 at 17:08

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cool...i'm in southeast texas and hope to make it over there for an event sometime. it looks gorgeous.

Chairman Kaga > More Power!!and also some brakes. 08/16/2013 at 17:17

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So to the list of cars that are hard to work on, we can add race-prepped Audi R8 V10 (especially the front suspension).