So for anyone planning to go to this just a heads up — I realized today the event was only four months away and thought I’d check out hotels and was surprised to see every downtown Austin hotel for that weekend was sold out and the ones that weren’t in the outlying areas had astronomical prices, more than double what they usually are. I considered myself lucky to get a hotel in the South Austin/Airport/F1 area and don’t even want to tell you what I paid. Then I panicked and thought I better find a flight, and for the flights remaining the cost was also outrageous, and all that was left was predawn or overnight flights. So apparently the F1 Grand Prix is like the freaking Superbowl of racing events so if you haven’t made travel plans yet for this (I have my show tickets so had no choice but to pay whatever I could to travel and stay there) I suggest you do it asap before everything is booked solid.