Excitement is in the air! Dan has been counting down the months, then the weeks, and now he's counting the days leading up to the big Grand Prix race at the brand new Circuit of the Americas, in Austin. He only has to wait six-and-a-half more days before the first event on November 16. He'll be going by himself on the 16th, but our friend, Robert, and Robert's son and son-in-law will be accompanying him on the 17th and 18th.
Today Dan and I drove down to see how the Circuit is progressing. I was surprised to find how much construction hubbub is on-going, considering how short the time is until 300,000 fans will converge there from around the world.
There wasn't really a good spot from which to take pictures. The public was allowed to enter the parking lot at this particular gate, but we were confined to the lot. I so wanted to get somewhere with some elevation and a view of the track. Only a little patch of track was visible from the parking lot, as seen in this photo, below (left of center, with a red shoulder and a street cleaner spraying water on it).
Speaking of elevation . . . this observation tower is the signature landmark of the track. It's very pretty, with its red "veil." From what I read, the tower is 251 feet tall and gives a 360 degree panorama of the circuit and of downtown Austin. At the base of the tower is a stage.
I took this photo (below) because Dan told me that the grandstand with the "UBS" banner on the back houses "his" seat, on curve 3.
Besides construction workers and landscapers, there were security folks in yellow/orange shirts crawling all over the place. As I was snapping one of these pictures, a yellow-shirted lady hollered at me from across the lot . . . "You can't take photos!" she yelled, waving her arms. Woops . . . too late! I already had.
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