Back in the summertime, I decided to pick up tickets for the US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas and then see what transpired with the season. Maybe I would go, or maybe I’d put the tickets up on Ebay and just stay home and watch. Well, with this season so close and with the idea to fly in and out of as well as stay in San Antonio – all much less expensive than Austin – and commute to the race, I’ve decided that Texas, here I come. Having a business trip to San Antonio recently, which was productive as well as enjoyable also added momentum along with the fact that Texas just opened an 85 MPH toll road between San Antonio and Austin. I’ll post here throughout the weekend to let you know how my San Antonio decision worked out. I figure we’ll spend some evenings in downtown Austin, and some at the San Antonio Riverwalk.
US Grand Prix – The Prelude
This season has been something else with seven different winners in the first seven races. Ferrari, namely Fernando Alonso, was punching well above his weight in the first third of the season. He was also the first double winner in race eight at Valencia. Seeing Fernando at the top of the podium in his home country to take the lead in the season points standings once again was surely something special, but did it foretell the rest of the season? Well that lead was to hold until the sixteenth race, Korea, when he lost it to Sebastian Vettel, who won his third consecutive race. Vettel took India to make it four in a row before Kimi Raikkonen won at Abu Dhabi to make it eight different winners this season. So now onto the US Grand Prix in Austin with Vettel bringing a ten point advantage over Alonso.
US Grand Prix – The Game
To get a better sense of what I’d see at the US Grand Prix – the Circuit of the Americas, how my seats should work out, where the passing zones are likely to be – plus to have some diversionary fun, I picked up F1: 2012 for my Xbox 360. Based on what you can tell on a game, I’d say WOW! I think we are in for quite an interesting race. It doesn’t seem to be a typical Tilke track, meaning that there do seem to be alternative lines through some corners, and overtaking should NOT be limited to use of DRS. I sure hope reality turns out that way. As a game player, one of the interesting impressions is that the S turns remind me of Suzuka, and the radii seem to tighten noticeably. I guess we’ll see how my very amateur game experience compares to reality.
US Grand Prix – The Week
Flights, car, and hotel rented, tickets in hand, schedule sorted – I’m ready to head to Austin via San Antonio on Thursday. Looks like the weather will be very SoCal like – highs in the low 70s and lows in high 50s. Just right. Not much going on in the media runup to the event just yet. Just the notification by FIA spicy language will not be tolerated. Come on, we’re headed to Texas, with lots of spice!
That’s all for now. I’ll be posting about the US Grand Prix here and on Twitter throughout the weekend, so stay tuned…