COTA (Circuit of the Americas)
In my senior year of college, my roommate hosted a “Drive to Survive” watch party at our apartment. Even though I am not a car person, I suddenly found myself binge-watching the entire show during spring break, and I started watching live races during that season rooting for the Scuderia Ferrari.
Photo by @tengerphoto
By the end of the 2022 season, I began exploring the idea of attending a race for the following season. I knew attending a race was not cheap, especially in the US, but it was my dream to see two of my favorite drivers racing for Ferrari. So I set out to come up with the most budget-friendly yet comfortable plan to make my dream a reality.
Trip Detail
There are three grand prix (GP) in the US: Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas. Both Vegas and Miami were newly introduced, which meant that in addition to the high prices amped up by the demand, the logistics required to attend the races were also less established and predictable. So Austin GP quickly emerged as the obvious choice because of its history and the relatively lower prices. As a bonus, Austin’s traditional circuit, in my opinion, offers better racing.
After a bit of research, I was taken aback by how expensive the weekend trip would be, even in Austin. Round-trip flights from San Francisco to Austin were around $900 (though as the race date approached, prices dropped significantly). The hotel rates were even more absurd, especially in downtown Austin. A standard room was around $1000 a night! Airbnbs were also expensive, and most of them were located outside of downtown, which required extra transportation costs.
I almost gave up my F1 dream until I remembered to check the points rate for the Hyatt hotels.
Hotel
Up to this point, I’ve been mainly accumulating Chase points and occasionally redeeming them for Hyatt hotels on my trips. To my surprise, Tommie Austin had standard room availability redeemable at 15k points/night (equivalent to $150). For people who love chasing high cents-per-point (cpp) when doing points redemption, the cpp was a whopping 9.6 at the time of booking (for reference: credit cards usually let you redeem points for statement credits at 1 cent per point). This was an incredible deal not only because of the high cpp value, but also because Tommie’s convenient downtown location meant that we could save significant transportation costs by taking the COTA shuttle from downtown to the circuit.
Without hesitation, I transferred 45k Chase Ultimate Reward (UR) points to my Hyatt account, and booked it right away. I invited one of my good friends who is a car enthusiast and photographer (insta: @tengerphoto) to join me on our first Formula 1 GP experience.
When we booked our hotel, the cheapest rate for a room in downtown Austin was about $1000. The cash rate dropped slightly to around $900/night, weeks before the race.
Flight
Since we both had work and school, we decided to skip Friday qualifying and flew in on Friday evening. And to avoid the post-race airport crowd on Sunday, we extended our stay until Monday. The extra day also allowed us to explore the city a bit. Originally, we had booked a round-trip flight from San Francisco to Dallas for $495 and planned to rent a cheap car to drive to Austin. Although that probably would’ve been tiring, it was much more reasonable compared to the $900+ round-trip ticket to Austin. Fortunately, about two months before the race, Southwest released much cheaper tickets from San Jose to Austin. So we ended up canceling our original flight (returned as future flight credits) and booked new flights for ~$435.
- Dates: 10/20 (Friday evening) – 10/23 (Monday evening)
- Flights: SJC <-> AUS
Expense Breakdown
This cost breakdown section will typically include flights and hotels since they are the biggest expense categories that we can optimize with points. However, because the trip was primarily for the GP event, I’ve also included event-related costs.
| Expense Items | Estimated Cost | Actual Cost |
| Flights (RT SJC – AUS) | $400 – $900 | $433.97 |
| Hotel (Austin Tommie) | $900 – $1500 | 45k UR pts -> Hyatt pts |
| COTA general admission pass | $350 – $600 | $480.6 |
| Transportation | $100 – $500 | $104.32 |
| Total | $1750 – $3500 | $1018.89 + 45k UR pts |
The high end of estimates are real prices gathered at the time of booking, and the low end of prices was taken on days/weeks before the race. The main reason for the drop in prices was because of Red Bull’s historical dominating season. Therefore, it was virtually impossible to get the timing right to achieve the lowest estimated cost. Using the midpoint of the estimated cost, the actual cost was about 65% OFF of what we would have spent per person.
Expense Analysis
Let’s first talk about what was overvalued. Since this was my first ever F1 GP experience, I began the planning process early. I booked the GA pass for COTA right when it came out. The demand for the tickets at the time was very high. However, as the season progressed, it became clear that Redbull might just win every race this year. Prices started to fall, and people were able to get cheaper GA 3-day passes at Costco for $350, excluding tax. In the future, I think it makes more sense to book Grandstand seats ASAP, but if you are planning to get a GA pass and have the flexibility (not recommended if it is your first GP), it might be much cheaper to get it closer to the event, unless you get 2021 Lewis vs Max again.
While I got a great flight deal via Southwest, the hotel was definitely the prime example of deep-value redemption. What I mean by deep value redemption is not just about saving money by using points or chasing high cents-per-point. It’s about spending less but also getting more through the intangibles. Austin Tommie is perfectly located between 5th and 6th Street, where everything is happening. It’s also within walking distance of cafes, restaurants, bars, and most importantly, the shuttle stop.
The shuttle pass only cost $100 per person for the two days we were there. It runs very consistently with dedicated lanes at the circuit. With a parking pass at COTA costing $300+ for the weekend and 2-hour traffic just to get out of the COTA parking lot, the shuttle was simply the best option to commute to the circuit.
Conclusion
Despite not getting the best deal on the GA pass, I was extremely satisfied with the cost of my first-ever Formula 1 experience. Here are some final takeaways:
- Be Flexible with Flights – Booking refundable flights to stay flexible is ideal, but I find it unnecessary. Most airlines now refund in the form of flight credits with an expiration date of usually one year. And Southwest credits actually don’t expire!
- Transfer Chase UR Points to Hyatt – Hyatt is one of the best transfer partners on Chase because Hyatt points rates are not dynamically priced, meaning they are always fixed based on the category level (1-8).
- Take the Shuttle – The COTA shuttle is the best money-saving hack, as the logistics have been improving greatly. Uber/Lyft and most parking passes require an extra walk to get to the gate, whereas the shuttle drops you right at the gate. The shuttles also get their own dedicated lane.
- Know the Ticket Rules – F1 is NOT the official seller of the GP tickets. Each circuit is in charge of ticket sales, and usually, that is the cheapest place to buy. However, most circuits will sell tickets a year in advance, so be sure to look into getting a ticket as soon as you know you want to attend a race. On the other hand, if you happen to be around when a GP takes place, there are usually some good last-minute deals on resale platforms such as StubHub.
Thanks for reading this far into my first post on this blog. I hope our philosophy of deep value traveling is clear: spending less, but, at the same time, unlocking amazing value with a bit of planning, flexibility, and credit card points. We want to show you how realistic it is to earn points and use them to go on amazing trips and create unforgettable memories.
By the way, did I mention that I’m a Tifosi?! The temple of speed awaits!