This entry covers September 1, the day upon which we arrived in Austin, TX.
Our first stop was the Circuit of the Americas, south east of the city, close to the airport. I had hoped to get some time on the track, but the Gods of Timing and Logistics were not on my side. Thankfully, Bill from Chin Track Days was there to help me get a taste of this amazing circuit, constructed explicitly to host the United States Grand Prix, when F1 comes to Austin.
First, we did two parade laps during the lunch break, one out lap and one in lap.
Even at these pedestrians speeds, in a car full of luggage and a cooler, I was having a blast. We tried to record our conversation from inside the car, but had some technical glitches and captured nothing. However, you can rest assured that I was super excited. As you can imagine, I started thinking about the logistics of getting Ginger to this track at some point. It’s closer than Laguna and I think it would be more fun.
After that, I jumped into the passenger seat of an MSM (that’s Mazdaspeed Miata) owned and driven by one of Chin’s instructors, David. It turns out that David is a Canadian, too, but he now lives in Houston with his wife, who was tracking her Z car. Watch for her overtaking us on the main straight.
David did some great laps, constantly managing the ever-present traffic of more powerful cars, of which there were many that day. I’ve never been a passenger in an MSM driven this hard so this was a real treat. Thanks David!
From there, we explored the facility (it’s yuge!) a bit and tried to get some photos of the car on the track. The sun was blasting, the air was stupid hot, and unlike our recent stops, there’s humidity in Austin, so there aren’t as many photos as from Laguna. Sorry.
Visiting COTA was a highlight for me! It was pretty cool to walk through the same paddock and garages that the F1 teams use, stand where the lightning quick pit stops happen, and drive the same track that greats like Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have driven. Driving through T17 and T18, I couldn’t help but think about the “Verstopper” and Nico Rosberg’s mistake in 2015. All around, it was AMAZING.
Beaten by the heat, we left the track for central Austin and our planned tour, which would take place on electric mini-bikes with yourbikergang.com.
The tour was a fun way to get a sample of the City. Our tour guide, Justin, was super chill and did a great job of getting us through traffic and showing us the sights.
This is a new condo. Looks like Jenga. Penthouse cost? Over $14M. 
Public art depicting a caterpillar. 
More catperpillar. 
The Skyline. 
Turtles in Lady Bird Lake. 
These large rodents are aquatic and can get quite large. This is a baby. 
This building is styled to look like an armadillo. 
Armadillo’s tail 
Willie 
This building looks like an owl, we’re told. 
This is part of another art installation. 
Part of the same installation, these speakers broadcast sounds from approx 16 microphones located along this street, many blocks away. 
One of Austin’s many murals.
We were definitely cooked at this point, so we went to our AirBNB and grabbed showers before heading out for a yummy Italian dinner.
That was it! We’ll catch you up on today later, but be advised that we are now headed towards home!