I found out that it is 215.1 miles from my garage to what appears to be the main entrance (3-3.5 hours away) which is spitting distance in Texas distance terms.
There are literally hundreds of people working on the track and the elevation change headed up the front straight is AWESOME!
The track appears to have the base grade to it with much work done to pack the surface. There was no paving that I could see, but I saw multiple vehicles heading up and down the hills with no apparent dust.
The center area which will be the stands and pavilion areas have some concrete and low walls with lots of rebar towers in place for some pours.
This area is the important part of the track in that this are will be used for all kinds of displays, music venues, conventions, etc., etc. The track is designed to be used year round.
The toll bypass around Austin works well. You will exit at FM 812 and thankfully that's one of the few exits that doesn't have a toll booth to slow traffic up, but at the moment there is only a 2 lane blacktop road servicing the track itself. You will get some stunning views of the track from the toll road as it curves around the track and you can see it from 2 different directions.
I don't understand the fuss over noise pollution and making sure the quality of the track itself because this is one of the worst areas I've seen in the state. A Sandford and Sons junkyard would be an improvement to the area.
Other than 1 gas station right across from the entrance and a taco shack there is no kind of services in the area yet. You have to travel 10-15 minutes, but once you get there you have your choice of just about anything you can want. I am sure there will be plenty of facilities inside the track itself.
Across the street from the track itself are Deliverance wannabes. I saw a guy "working" in his junkyard cum front yard and he made me roll up the windows and lock the doors. There is no where to go but up for this whole area.
I'm getting excited.
Do you haz any skillz I can exploit?
calteg
Reader
12/29/11 10:46 p.m.
Just went and saw it earlier this week. Fortunately I'm less than an hour away. I thought moving from L.A. to Austin would deprive me of local racetracks...I'll be much closer to F1 and MotoGP than I ever was! Wonder how much track fee's will be....
Probably a lot.
As I was looking at the track I was thinking, I'll be running on that track one day soon.
Not only will they be having races there from just about every venue around, they also plan on several schools, club days, HPDE as well as NASA and SCCA. It will be used a lot, but since it's a high dollar track I expect fees to be high dollar as well.
JoeyM
SuperDork
12/30/11 12:26 a.m.
carguy123 wrote:
Do you haz any skillz I can exploit?
Do hotlinking skills count?
carguy123 wrote:
Probably a lot.
As I was looking at the track I was thinking, I'll be running on that track one day soon.
Not only will they be having races there from just about every venue around, they also plan on several schools, club days, HPDE as well as NASA and SCCA. It will be used a lot, but since it's a high dollar track I expect fees to be high dollar as well.
i'm just curious how long it will take before they let Chumpcar run there.
My mom lives in Pflugerville, I'm 125 miles (2 hrs) from her house and she's about 30 mins from the track. It shall be awesome. I live in Brownwood, so I'm about 2 hrs from Cresson/Motorsport Ranch. There's also Driveway Austin down off 183 near the Airport which is an awesome track.
1,945 mi, 1 day 9 hours (according to Google maps). Road trip!
wbjones
SuperDork
12/30/11 2:27 p.m.
1,161 mi, 18 hours 43 mins away ... a little bit farther than I want to drive the track car 
Took me just about 3 hours to get down there, but after the bowl game and a couple of wrecks it too me over 5 hours to get home. That might be more indicative of an after F1 crowd.
I'm betting most people will fly in, but I figure just about all the Texians and maybe a couple of neighboring states will be driving.
