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We left Dallas and headed south on I-35. Our destination for today is Austin, the State Capitol of Texas. Austin is also the home of the disgraced Tour de France cyclist Lance Armstrong, country music legend Willie Nelson and more importantly, 1993 World 500CC motorcycle champion Kevin Schwantz. Austin boasts the largest Capitol Building in the U.S.A. It was only about 380 km but we did have a destination set on the GPS that is about 30 km out of town.
In one of the comments on our blog from our brother-in-law, Michael Reilly, he asked us if we were going to visit Waco. So Michael, this bit is for you. As Waco was on our way, we detoured through town. Waco was the town where in 1993 there was a seige and 86 people lost their lives in the process. There is no memorial that we could find so we drove around town just for a look. There were many empty buildings and the most interesting thing in town was a Saturday market going on. After a few photos we decided that Waco would not be on our list for a revisit.
Back on I -35 South we followed out route to the Circuit of the Americas - C.O.T.A. This circuit is where the American round of the MotoGP is held and also the American round of Formula One. We drove around to the back of the main grandstand and walked up and were delighted to find that there were race cars zooming around the track. We took advantage of this free visit to the grandstand just opposite the garages before we drove back around and discovered that you could get a tour of the facility.
After paying our $18.50 entry fee (Senior's rate) we set off in a bus that could carry 16 passengers and the driver. Today it was just Greg and I and our guide, Gib Grey. Gib is semi-retired and turned out to be a font of knowledge about C.O.T.A. He has worked part-time at the circuit since before it opened in 2012. Gib told us that there was a concert on in the stage area tonight so there were some areas being prepared for that. There was a lot of activity going on as preparations are in full swing for the Formula 1 race which is on the weekend of 21st and 22nd October. The after race concert this year features Justin Timberlake and Stevie Wonder - last year it was Elton John!
Gib took us around the outside of the track to Turn 3 where we walked up to one of the bridges across the track. Zooming passed below us were Porsches, Lambourgines, Ferraris, McLarins, Audis and a few American muscle cars such as Corvettes and Mustangs. There were also a few Formula 4 race cars in the mix. Apparently we struck a Track Day for some rich boys with their toys. We didn't care that there was no one famous there, we were just happy to see the circuit being used - this unfortunately did mean that we could not drive on the circuit during our tour as they get to do when there is no event on.
We continued the tour stopping at Turn 12 - great view of most of the circuit and where we might choose to sit when we come back for a MotoGP! Our tour continued around to Turn 1 and 2 which is a bit like the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca - the corner is just a bit sharper, but the height of the slope is similar. We wandered around the top level of the main grandstand and had a great view of the garages opposite. Back in the bus, Gib took us around to the Merchandising Shop. Then he took us in to Race Control which was operating today because of the Track Day. Each part of the circuit was displayed on the wall of screens in front of us. After this we went out on to the Podium and had a couple of photos with Daniel Riccardo (well it was a cutout of him). We then walked along behind the garages and could see the cars lined up waiting for their turn on the track.
Almost 2 hours after starting our tour we returned to our car feeling that we had spent our afternoon really well. We headed in to Austin to our hotel for the night and decided that we would definitely come back sometime in the future to watch the MotoGp race.
- comments
Craig and Marg Still didn't get to thrash the Yaris around the track. Wouldn't have looked out of place amongst those supercars. You could have set a record similar to your one at the Nurburgring.
Chrisopher Craig don't you realise Greg is saving up for a mad dash around the Isle of Man next year forget the Yaris Yee the Triumph