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once-and-future-loser · 2 months ago

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My Fandom Informed Experience Attending the 2024 USGP in Austin TX

Hey! I just wanted to share my favorite experience at the 2024 USGP in Austin TX. My goal is to provide some tips and general information from a fandom perspective to those thinking about attending in the future! I've been to many comic cons, two Supernatural conventions, plenty of Ren faires, tons of baseball, soccer, hockey, basketball, football games as well as a number of horse races and concerts. So that's my background. Read if you want!

Thursday

So we flew into TX on the Thursday before. The airport and rental cars were a nightmare. Be sure to book ahead and separately (don't book the car through the airline) and confirm as much as you can by phone. (I'm a paranoid anxious traveler, but also with the UT vs. Georgia game the same weekend the greater Austin are probably increased in size by 400,000-500,000 people that weekend so…)

Anyway, we got to our Airbnb in a Northern suburban area and then took a train downtown (the returning train is at like 8 so might not be a good option for you, but I have a weird train thing). There was amazing BBQ and the downtown is decent, no Chicago or Nashville, but pretty cool. There were some pop-up F1 events (that we missed because my dad wanted to see the bats fly out of the bridge (they didn't come out that night)) that you should totally look into and try to go to. We checked out the music scene and bars and then called it a night. Not a lot of night life happens downtown till later, so wouldn't really recommend that kinda stuff, but if that's your thing definitely check it out!

Friday

Let's get into the good stuff. We bought our general admission and Lot R parking pass ahead of time. I highly recommend this, but it's a pretty long walk so be prepared for that reoccurring theme for the whole weekend. We got to the circuit around 8ish, took about 15-20 minutes to get parked and were inside the gates by around 9. When we got in there were a ton of experiences and stores and whatnot. I went straight to the fan stage because none of the driver interviews were advertised online. There was a schedule on the screens there. So it's very important to get there when the gates open to see the schedule and secure a spot to watch.

We then walked around to all the GA viewing spots just for fun. Early in the day Friday is the only time you'll be able to do this without waiting in significant lines to cross bridges or service roads. We watched FP from the area between T2 and T3 then SQ from T19. Great spots and some interesting people to meet. Merch is hella expensive, but ya gotta get something at the track just because. COTA Merch is much more reasonable than the F1 stuff. I also got a branded personalized cowboy hat with my initials and the shape of the circuit which was pretty cool!

We didn't stick around for Sting because we wanted to go to Academy Sports and Outdoors to buy some $6 fold up chairs. You need these for GA. Believe me. Sitting on the ground on dried up dusty Texas drought stricken grass sucked.

Saturday

We managed to sneak water into the track and some snacks as well which helped a lot because food was expensive. $20 a meal per person and $16 for a beer roughly. We also got the race radios from Amex with my card, although they seemed to give them to anyone really.

I insisted we get there as the gates were opening which is good because it got us front seats for the driver interviews. They were really cool but only about 10mins per team and then Hass and RBR shared a slot.

I knew going into it that I would not meet any important people and would not get much exposure to the drivers. So that realistic expectation was very helpful. It's a sporting event for hundreds of thousands of spectators after all and I'm a simple musician and office worker so I couldn't afford anything like paddock club passes. GA was under $500 which I thought provided A LOT of value. Money well spent. That being said, seeing the drivers IRL was still really really cool and fulfilling in a reasonably healthy way. Would a picture or handshake been cool like when I met Jared, and Jensen in Nashville at a SPN con? Yes. But that's NOT what kind of event this is, which I knew going into it. All that to say, if you want to go to meet a driver and engage in that kind of fan event, it's likely not realistic. But I love the sport as well so the race was my real reason for attending and talking with other fans was cool. I wouldn't bring up RPF if I was you…. But I could tell the amount of lore I knew about the drivers and their interconnected careers did raise some suspicion amongst those I talked to. But I'm paranoid. Mostly people (my dad mostly lol) were impressed with how much I knew about the actual racing.

Anyway. We watched the sprint and qualy in the shade in front of the T10 grandstands which was perfect to then get into the entrance for Eminem after (my dad wanted to see him, I couldn't have cared less). Then we left before he was done and beat all the traffic.

Sunday

We got to parking lots when they were supposed to open (note that they changed the traffic pattern that day so keep your wits about you. There's not much signage to help on Elroy Rd.) and they were already open and starting to fill. We wanted to sit at turn one which took us close to an hour to walk there. There's always a line to cross the track on the bridges. There's a tram but we never used it. That day they were randomly checking bags, but they didn't look in my backpack so not an issue for me and my food and water.

By the time we made it to Turn one it was already packed but we managed to get a decent spot. This was 8:30am.

The good News is there are a ton of other races going on during the day so you don't get too bored waiting seven hours for the actual race. Plus there's the drivers parade and the delight of getting to shout “boos” and curses at the rich fuckers getting hot laps and special track tours on semi trailers. So definitely worth getting there early.

Speaking of "boos", the only real ones I heard were for the rich people and the governor of Texas (for obvious reasons) there was some booing of Max, but not too much.

We also chatted with the people around us. Lots of Checo fans and the guy in front of me was a Max fan but was “tired of him winning all the time” and was wearing a Norris jersey. So. Hot take. Interesting people. But really fun to talk with. People get possessive of their spot so get to know those around you to secure yours and gain goodwill.

It's hot and sunny. Bring sunscreen.

The national anthem and fighter jet flyover is cool and had me feeling patriotic.

Then the race which was a religious experience to see in person. Seeing the pit stops even from afar and seeing the tires strategy. Watching the overtakes and shouting and cheer with other fans was just indescribable.

After Charles won we quickly made our way to get into the long line to watch the podium ceremony from the track. This is very cramped so he prepared.

The podium celebration was amazing and I took a few rocks from the gravel trap and rubber pebbles from the tires home as a souvenir. Probably not supposed to, but hey.

We saw all the cars being inspected in parc ferme which was cool and then walked around the track to exit at T19.

Traffic getting out was hell, but my dad wanted air conditioning, which was in the car. So…. I'd recommend doing something during that time like going up in the tower or doing other experiences or just hanging out. Let the traffic die down.

We flew out the next morning. TSA was packed and took some time so I advise getting there at least 3 hours early or more. I have precheck and it was still an ordeal.

So all around a fantastic weekend that I will cherish forever. My dad was even tolerable if not even enjoyable to be around, so the whole thing about fathers and their gay sons and Motorsports brings people together. Blah blah blah.

Anyway, if you have any questions feel free to drop an ask or send a DM. I plan on pretty much leaving Tumblr after this post, but I'll leave my email notifications on and I'll hopefully get back to you. If you want to see some pictures I took, search the tag OFL goes to Austin.

Hope this was informative!!

#f1 #max verstappen #carlos sainz #mv1 #daniel ricciardo #charles leclerc #cs55 #ofl goes to austin #travel #us gp 2024 #2024 us gp #scuderia ferrari #cota #circuit of the americas #formula 1 #red bull racing #mclaren #lando norris #oscar piastri

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