Austin Set To Host US Grand Prix & Austin City Limits

On the heels of the X-Games taking place in Austin this weekend it would be great time to look ahead to that and other upcoming events in the area. The Circuit of Americas will play host to ESPN’s highly successful action sport event the X Games beginning this Friday. While in Austin the X Games will run events like skateboarding, BMX, Moto X and rally car racing.

As one of the music capitals of America Austin plays host to many festivals like the X-Games Festival and one of their biggest is their famed Austin City Limits festival. To celebrate their 40th year the Austin City Limits Festival television show, ACL will offer two jam-packed weekends of music and art to concertgoers and will see Austin City Limits tickets go for an average of $602 for Weekend One (10/3-10/5)and $457 for Weekend Two (10/10-10/12).

However, despite how great the Austin City Limits festival may be, every October the people in the Austin area are in for a treat when an even bigger event comes to town. In particular racing fans are in for an especially ‘grand’ time when the US Grand Prix comes to the Circuit of the Americas on the final day of the month. There are many races held annually in the United States from the Daytona 500 to Indy 500 to rally car and others, but it only has one Formula 1 racing event within its borders: the US Grand Prix.

On the surface F1 and IndyCar appear very similar as both are single seat, open wheel racing, but the technology that is put into each could not be more different. IndyCar focusing on parity through each racer having a vehicle of similar specifications and technologies while F1 allows teams to design and build their own cars, putting much more technology in each race car and making some car substantially better than others. This year racing aficionados will be thrilled to learn that such prominent racers as Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso and last years champion Sebastian Vettel will all be competing in this years race this Fall.

Furthermore when the race finally does get underway US Grand Prix tickets are presently going for anywhere from $675 for a trackside 3-day grandstand pass to just $169 for a 3-day general admission pass to the Circuit of Americas. When compared to the Indy 500, IndyCar’s biggest event, the US Grand Prix comes in as a significantly less expensive options as tickets for just the day of Indy 500 averaged $162, $7 lower than what a three-day general admission pass would cost you for the US Grand Prix.