COTA info

I am going to be taking my two boys and my Dad to COTA next month for the TUDOR/WEC race and would like tips or tricks anyone has about the track.

Is it worth the extra $10 to get the Multi-Turn ticket over the General Admin ticket, where to park,stuff like that.

Thanks

Stop over in turn 6/7 I should be working that corner complex all weekend as one of the corner marshalls. I'll be the only one not a member of AARP.

For the Grandstands vs GA. It really depends how much you want to have to carry vs how much you are willing to sit on the ground. For WEC, There is a lot of GA room in Turn 1 and there are a few good spots up the esses in the front sector. The back sector at around turn 9 gives you a good view of 7-11.

The main grand stands suck honestly. The sound just echos back and forth and you need ear plugs in the whole time. To top it off, you really don't see much action. Turn 15 is the best stands on the track and Turn 1 is fun for a bit too watching them climb the hill.

I think they are only going to have lot T and H open except for VIP and workers. H is on the Turn 15 side and T is on the Turn 1 side. Traffic in and out is not bad so just plan it to what you want side of the track you want to start at.

Bring at least one bottle of water with you and you can fill it all over the track at either one of the stations or the different water fountains. Also, take advantage of the open paddocks. The teams are really approachable. Especially the Tudor guys. It's a great group they have and like the corvette team always is really good about doing special things for kids like they were letting them sit in a backup car one year and taking them into the back. So many fun things.

There is not a lot of shade out there either so plan on a little time up at the main grandstand area to get out of the sun. Oh and check the weather. This event seems to attract rain for some reason. The last 2 years.

Holler with any questions. It's my home track and I work all the events out there.

Mike

They just posted the official schedule and event map on the COTA website today too:

http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com/lslm/schedule

http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com/lslm/maps

In reply to bmw88rider:

Thanks for the insite. We have been going to Mid Ohio with my oldest son for almost 10 years so the normal racetrack stuff we have down. The way that the teams interact with the fans is one of my favorite things about sports car racing. Back before the ALMS/GRAND AM merger my oldest got so sit in one of the Flying Lizard cars and in the Risi car, great people.

Good stuff on where to sit and watch, that is always the hardest part at a new track so thank you very much for that. We will stop by and say Hi, it should be a fun trip.

In reply to bmw88rider:

I spent a good bit of time looking at that yesterday, trying to figure out when we should leave from home so as to not miss any of the good stuff.

Cool. Tudor does a little better job than WEC for fan access in my opinion. I think the WEC teams are getting better at least thanks to the COTA events.

Saturday is a long day at the track either way. They may have the turn 12 grandstands open to sit in. You may check over there too. The one bad thing about the back half of the track is they usually do not have the TV's turned on out there for this race. So if you come out to 6-9 area, you will not have a TV to see the other events around the circuit. You can get a sense for turn 7 area if you look at the you-tube videos. There is a camera usually setup right across from there for the corner 5-8 TV coverage.

I love turn 6-7 at night with the WEC cars. They will come down the through the Esses and you see the lights just dance back and forth as they come to you. Then the corner station for turn 6 is less than a car length away from the curbing. The Hybrids are on regen at that point setting up for turn 7 so they are ghostly silent and all you hear is the sound of the tires on the curbing as they rip by at over 100 MPH.

If you can't tell, this is my most favorite COTA event of the year and I've been to every one they held there.

The Continental Tire race on Friday is a blast too. Some pretty hungry young racers for the most part there. I was working turn 20A (Beginning of the front stretch) there last year and it was pretty cool as well.