We had a chance to see the practice runs for the Innagural Formula 1 race at the brand new Circuit of the Americas track just outside of Austin. There's been a lot of hype around the arrival of Formula 1 here, everything from downtown streets closing down and being transformed into clubs until 2am featuring big headliners like Aerosmith to the predicted mega-traffic headaches. Even so, we figured it would never be more convenient to go to a Formula 1 race, and so we braved the event with our two racecar fans in tow. It took a surprisingly breezy 1 hour door to door trip and we were able to find good enough parking to even walk to the track. The place was huge, and the race cars loud, sounding more like jets at close range. The boys loved it and we donned ear plugs and ear muffs to make it more bearable. There was a nice grassy hill where we watched turns 19 and 20 for a while, and then we walked around to get different angles and see what other parts of the track was like. The announcers mentioned that the cars were going 90 mph around the sharp turns and up to 200mph at the straightaway. It was insane! Here's a short video of the cars in action:
http://blip.tv/pelaezfam/formula1-6458526
It was a lot of walking and the boys lasted for 3 hours, but then lost steam. We took a tram back to the track entrance (which I think Dean enjoyed more than the race cars!) and happened to see some unheard of $1.2 Bugatti sportscar in the parking lot. We kept hearing that Formula 1 would bring a more wealthy, sophisticated crowd to Austin and you could tell there was by all the flashy cars, foreign languages and expensive clothes. I think the sign at a local bar here, Doc's said it best: "This isn't Monoco, it's SoCo." (for S. Congress Ave.)
The next day, we went to Fan Fest, which was a free Downtown celebration for Formula 1 featuring cars, games and a kids zone which the boys enjoyed. Hot wheels races were a real crowd pleaser, entertaining them for a good while.
