| The racing at the inaugural F1 United States Grand Prix in Texas was fantastic, but in between the action we set out to try and get our fingers on the pulse of what the fans thought about the venue and how excited they were about Formula 1. (We already took stock of what the cops, EMTs, and soldiers on hand at the track thought about the races.) At the Circuit of the Americas, there were people from all walks of life: foreign, domestic, hard-core F1 fans, and newcomers. We pestered as many people as we could about their experiences, and most were happy to chat. Not to sound too protectionist, but we were most interested in gathering what the Americans we came across had to say about the races. That's because they represent a nation which, generally, is still relatively cool toward F1, and the U.S. Grand Prix is being hyped as the sport's potential breach into our market (again). Plus, most of the foreign attendees were avid F1 fans—the Americans were a more diverse bunch in terms of their levels of exposure to F1. For example, a group of recent University of Texas graduates consisted of one learned F1 fan and several dudes who described themselves as motorsports fans, but not hard-core F1 guys. All were in agreement that they were now more interested in F1 than they were before, mostly because seeing the cars in person was so much more intense than watching them on TV. It also was clear that they viewed the race as good both business-wise and image-wise for the city of Austin. A couple from Washington told us that they had attended some of the F1 races held at Indy a few years ago, and felt that the event at Circuit of the Americas was thoroughly blowing that less-than-successful run of races out of the water. They hope to return to Austin for next year's race, and reiterated the idea that watching the race in person is much more engaging than on TV. A local sheriff we spoke with said the same thing: "The cars look like they're moving so slow on TV, but they're really fast and much louder than I expected." All were in agreement over how seamlessly the track's staff kept lines moving and the free shuttles to parking humming; everyone, including your humble author, was struck by how nice the COTA staff was, as well. The international attendees noted the same level of polish in the execution of this weekend's race. Two gentlemen from Toronto, Jim and Renzo, said they'd been to several F1 races at Monza and Montreal, but that Austin was just as good. Neither men were die-hard F1 fans, but both enjoyed the "atmosphere and fast cars" that come along with any F1 race. Likewise, two British expatriates—one currently lives in Houston, the other in France—also had been to a few F1 races previously, and both were enjoying themselves and their $8 beers. A large group from Mexico posed for a photo for us, but given this author's poor Spanish skills, we were only able to ascertain a thumbs up regarding the new track. So what's the verdict? We'd have to say that the first F1 race in the U.S. in a few years couldn't have gone much better, and that everyone we spoke with felt the same way. One thing's for sure, if F1 has any chance of truly taking off here in the States, the organization is going to have to find a way to plant more butts in seats at races, because everyone agreed that seeing and hearing the cars in person was a blast. Read full story »  from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com | |||
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