Flying Hats, Monkeys and Racing At The Circuit of The Americas

"Torque Affair" (torqueaffair) 11/08/2014 at 15:56 • Filed to: F1

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I woke up on a beautiful Saturday morning and did what I always do every morning - browse through the "cars for sale" section on Craigslist. This particular Saturday was a little different, though - I started looking for tickets to go to the F1 qualifying session at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) but wouldn't have been terribly disappointed if I didn't make it out there.

All of a sudden, I stumbled upon this amazing deal - two tickets and trackside parking for $40!

I would've paid $40 just to park next to the track.

This was too good to pass up - I jumped on this and thus my Saturday ended up being a fun-filled day spent at COTA.

Even though I've been to COTA numerous times, it's always fun to go back. Besides the fact that it was F1 weekend, the track itself is a thing of beauty. Driving up to it, not only can you see the slope of turn 1 from at least a half a mile away, you can also hear the cars driving on the track, which is a very cool thing to experience in itself!

On the way to COTA, especially during F1, you always witness all kinds of amazing cars headed in the same direction.

Here is a beautiful 991 that caught my eye…..drool…oh, how badly I want one.

Once I entered the COTA parking lot, I was surrounded by all these amazing cars that you would typically never find on a dirt lot, let alone on grass. Take for example, this Audi RS7 which braved tons of rocks to find its spot next to an ugly trailer.

Or…these Ferraris that were parked on the grass...

So you can only imagine the kind of cars that were on the other lots close to COTA. I probably could've spent the entire day just wandering around all the parking lots to admire all these beauties.

The Sound

Like many other F1 fans, I was so disappointed in the sound of the V6 turbo-charged engines when I caught this year's first F1 race on TV. Fully expecting to loathe the exhaust note like Patrick George did when I got to the track, I have to say that I was actually pleasantly surprised!

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True, the V6s weren't as loud as the V8s and the high pitched scream down a straightaway that made these cars so awesome to watch in person last year was completely non-existent - but - the V6s did have a low rumble to them that was still throaty and appealing in its own way.

Don't get me wrong - the sound was still nowhere near as good as last year's V8s, but it wasn't terrible either in person. And I actually liked the fact that you didn't need earplugs!

There was a lot going on at the Circuit of the Americas besides just F1 qualifying. There were multiple races, events throughout the day which made COTA feel like an amusement park without rollercoasters. There was enough stuff to do there to keep you busy all day like spending $14 on a corn dog.

Drivers' Autograph session

I suspect that at COTA, the drivers' autograph session wasn't nearly as crowded as it might have been at other venues worldwide. Here in the US, F1 just isn't as popular much like soccer. So it was actually pretty easy to get up close to the drivers and get an autograph.

There was so much stuff flying onto the stage when the drivers finally showed up to sign things. T-shirts, hats, jackets, blankets, underwear...

Of course, I'm joking about the underwear, but people were literally throwing everything they had just to get a signature on them. And once they got a signature they would shove you out of the way to leave.

While witnessing all the crap people were throwing onto the stage I started thinking: "What if a driver gets hurt from something dumb someone throws?" Can you imagine the kind of lawsuit that would result from injuring an F1 driver? How many millions would that be?

Right when I was thinking that the announcer told everyone to stop throwing stuff. Apparently last year someone pitched a racing helmet towards the stage and almost hit someone.

That's crazy! The strength it must have taken to throw a helmet 20 odd feet…

Ricciardo's been my favorite driver this season and so it was cool to see him in person. He had his trademark grin the whole time and talked about how much he loved Austin. Everyone loves it here!

Surprisingly, Vettel was in good spirits and signed a ton of fan paraphernalia despite his bad luck in Austin. He was probably thinking about how his garage would now be full of Ferraris instead of Infinitis.

Vettel seemed overjoyed to sign a few Ferrari hats thrown at him. 2015 should be awesome with Vettel and Ricciardo battling it out.

Porsche Racing

Although I missed the Ferrari race waiting to see the drivers come out on stage, I did catch the Porsche Supercup which was awesome. The drivers were very aggressive and in the 13 laps that they raced, it seemed like there was some sort of accident or incident every other lap. Luckily, none of the Porsches caught on fire.

It probably would've been better to watch the race on TV than in person. That's the thing about coming out to the race track - generally, it's a better viewing experience on TV because you can actually see what's going on in the other parts of the track and hear the commentary. If you're sitting at a turn you just watch cars fly by you in a few seconds and that's it - wait around some more to see them fly by again.

Now, this guy had the best view out of us all.

There must be a way to get around the track easier. At COTA, the track layout is over 3 miles and so it takes forever to get from one part of the track to another. By the time you get to anywhere else on the track, the race is over! That's what I did last year and it completely ruined the race for me.

Is it a totally absurd idea of having a shuttle to haul people back and forth around the track? Maybe a sky train or something like what they have in airports…

Monkey on a dog

Finally, before leaving the track, I had to catch the monkey herding sheep. Whiplash, the monkey, rode his dog like the masterful cowboy that he was and herded sheep. He was leaning down so much that I thought he would literally fall off the dog. But somehow he stayed on. Whiplash was awesome.

No F1 qualifying experience would be complete without watching a monkey on a dog herding sheep.

COTA problems

Now, leaving COTA is a gigantic mess. There are only two-lane roads that lead to COTA so you have two options: go the opposite direction to catch a highway to get back to town, or sit in traffic and inch your way along until you hit an open freeway. Both options are terrible and take equally as long.

After a day full of watching fast cars on a track, you basically have do the last thing you would ever want to do - sit still in traffic for a long long time.

Inspite of that, COTA is still great and if you haven't been, I would highly recommend checking it out if you can. You should come down next year and, who knows, if you're lucky you might get to see Whiplash!

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