Coming Attractions

Circuit of the Americas has a full season of events ahead, starting with the Grand Am series

After the long winter break since the inaugural Formula 1 Grand Prix, racing is back this weekend at Circuit of The Americas with the arrival of the Grand Am series.

For those that thought Formula 1 was cost prohibitive, the Grand Am series is a more affordable opportunity to watch a lot of racing and check out the state of the art facility that is Circuit of The Americas. Tickets are about $60 a person (admission is free for children under the age of 12) for Friday and Saturday and on-site parking is $20 a day. The cars will get going at 8 a.m. and finish around 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Another exciting aspect of Grand Am is the accessibility for the fans. The Circuit’s paddock area behind the team garages will be open throughout the weekend, and there will be pre-race fan walks in the Pit-Lane one hour prior to the scheduled start of each Grand Am race. Car enthusiasts will recognize many of the makes and models racing although modified for racing, they include Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Ferrari and Porsche to name a few.

(Circuit of The Americas has some videos and basic information about Grand Am on its website, which the novice will find very helpful.)

Looking ahead at COTA’s schedule for 2013, Grand Am is just the beginning of an event-filled schedule. COTA will host four more premier motor sports events (ahead of Formula 1), along with quite a few concerts and educational events.

Formula Sun Grand Prix

In June, Formula Sun Grand Prix, which is a solar car race competition among universities, will be held at COTA. This is the first time a FSGP will take place at a Formula 1 facility, reinforcing COTA’s emphasis on sustainability. COTA is the first Formula 1 facility to be a member of the Green Sports Alliance.

MotoGP

MotoGP will be the next event after Grand Am, held April 19through 21. Commonly referred to as the Formula 1 of motorcycles, the official title for this event is the 2013 Red Bull MotoGP of the Americas. It should a well attended event, as this series has three American riders. MotoGP is also very exciting because there are three classes of motorcycles that race, which means lots of on-track action to watch.

Much like the Grand Am, this is a fairly affordable event — three-day general admission passes are $89, and based on my experience at the Formula 1 Grand Prix there are plenty of great places to watch from in the general admission areas. In fact, in many respects it’s better to have a general admission pass, that way you can walk around on Friday and Saturday to figure which vantage point you prefer, and pick the best one for the races on Sunday.

V8 Supercars

MotoGP will be followed by V8 Supercars May 17 through 19. This should be an entertaining style of racing, as it seems to be a hybrid of traditional track racing — like Grand Am — and stock cars — like NASCAR. I imagine we’ll see quite a bit of passing and a few fender benders along the way at this race. Three-day general admission passes are available for $69.

World Endurance Championship

After the hot summer break, racing will resume September 20 through 22 with the World Endurance Championship. Circuit of the Americas has not released much information yet, but these are the same types of cars that compete in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Formula 1 Grand Prix

After the endurance race it will be time for the 2nd Formula 1 Grand Prix from November 16 through 18, which requires little to no introduction. Let the races begin!

Grand Am Aston

unspecified

Vettel Rules F1

Vettel the Great reigns supreme in Brazilian F1 season finale

Sebastian Vettel seems to have his name firmly affixed to the number-one spot in Formula One these days — so it came as no surprise that the 26-year-old German star claimed victory in yesterday’s season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.

The reigning world champion extended his unbeaten run to a record nine races, equaling the 1953 standard of Alberto Ascari.

The Brazilian Grand Prix always presents something of a carnival "end of term" feel to F1 proceedings, sitting at the end of the calendar as it does. This year’s event was more poignant than ever, as the sport bade farewell to Australian Mark Webber, driving in his final race after entering the sport as a young tail-ender in 2002.

Vettel’s domination of the sport has been a continuous theme since August.

Webber progressed from fourth on the start grid to second at the checkered flag but couldn’t quite overturn the deficit to teammate and nemesis Vettel, who drove a measured race to secure his first victory in Brazil since 2010. Fernando Alonso completed the podium trio, while the McLaren teammates Jenson Button and Sergio Perez managed the best result of the year for their team in fourth and sixth places, respectively.

The race got under way in dry conditions, but rain threatened to put in an appearance and mix up proceedings. A light shower did materialize in the final 10 laps or so but never became intense enough to warrant emergency pit stops for wet-weather rubber.

Vettel’s domination of the sport has been a continuous theme since August, when the German took victory in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps; a great many critics and experts alike put the unbridled winning streak down to a change implemented by manufacturer Pirelli in their tires after a series of failures at July’s British Grand Prix.

In the early part of the season, Vettel managed three race wins — but there were also two victories apiece for Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg and a single win for Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton. The alterations — specifically in the construction and durability of the rubber — are credited for the sudden upswing in form that carried Vettel to his fourth title in four seasons.

2014 will provide the world champion and his elite team with their greatest challenge yet, with the V8 era ending in favor of smaller, more economical V6 powerplants. Regulations governing car design are also changing, with Adrian Newey’s 2009 RB5 unable to continue as the basis for the all-conquering cars of 2010-2013 thanks to alterations in the front win, exhaust systems and battery boost packs.

Oh, and there are 21 other men, all hungry to stop him, too.

unspecified