The Year via the Rearview Mirror

As many of us look back on 2011, what stands out as your favorite memory?

From time to time I take a look at what we were writing about on this site at the same time last year. Imagine my surprise to discover it was the aerial photos of the racetrack site, before any construction had begun. From my window seat on a flight into Austin, I was surprised how many times I had flown over the land before and never really noticed it, but honestly, there wasn't too much to stare at in Elroy from an airplane window. However, just a day after our photo release, first signs of work appeared on site as a construction crew met with Tavo Hellmund for a photo-op and official ground-breaking of the site. It wasn't quite the gold shovel event we were hoping it would be, but naysayers and 'boondoggle' speculators were hushed as Tavo showed the world that construction was underway.

Since this announcment, looking back at 2011 has revealed a truth, it's been a fantastic year, both as fans of motorsports and as a team here at AGP, we have constantly been surprised with each of this year's exciting happenings. From early on in the year, the connection we made with Asif Kapadia facilitated the introduction of SENNA at the SXSW film festival, opening up the life of Ayrton Senna for fans and non-fans of motorsports. From my point of view, it truly changed my life, not only seeing the immense technical and competitive war within the sport, but personalities that extended far beyond the track. It opened up the sport to me in a way that even Kevin couldn't explain, and many we talked with as well, were also just so surprised with the way the movie effected them.

Following the SXSW festival, the formal announcment of Circuit of The Americas at the press conference in April came quicker than expected, with the added bonus of MotoGP and growing evidence of major site construction and heavy equipment at the track. The summer's city council meetings along with the MAKE IT HAPPEN campaign we started, helped drive the community to rally to support COTA and the City of Austin to move forward.

During the one month Formula 1 break, the SENNA movie returned to Austin as the hype for Formula 1 grew and getting a chance to speak with viewers of the film just following their experience at Violet Crown Cinema was a real treat. To add icing on the cake, Red Bull Racing and former F1 driver David Coulthard visited Austin for a commercial shoot which roared throught the streets of downtown and the county roads outside. This was a great chance for many to get their first glimpse at an F1 car in person. It was quite a treat and undoubtibly was a great sucess in opening the eyes (and ears) of many curious Austinites.

The final leg of the season segwayed into a downtown watch party location at SIX Lounge, and started a new venue for fans and non-fans to get together and watch, learn, and relax on a Sunday afternoon. Opening up an additional location was critical in our mind to help expand the reach of motorsport to new fans.

As the one year countdown to the innagural race approached, things began to shake up a bit between Bernie Ecclestone and the officals of COTA. Things finally were ironed out just a few weeks later, and on December 7th, the official placement of the Formula 1 race in Austin was secured, along with a revised contract with the officials of COTA and F1. It was an early holiday treat, but a very welcome one as the fate of Austin's race was surely going to effect the fans in the US.

So where are we today? Looking back at this past year and the magnificent things that have happened, it's hard to not be so anxious for 2012 to begin. Only a few hours away and we'll be counting down the days to the first race at COTA and the return of Formula 1 to the U.S. after several years. It should be no surprise that more and more attention will be paid to what's happening here, likely to cause some headaches, but nontheless, we are proud to welcome everything that will be happening in 2012. It's likely to get 300% more exciting, and we at AGP are ready for 2012! Are you?

December Construction Analysis of Circuit of The Americas

COTA Paddock Building-Nov 1, 2011, source: COTA//Overview

Vertical construction is taking shape at Circuit of The Americas with more and more evidence of progress each day. Recent photos published by COTA give us an inside look at the stages of construction at various portions of the facility such as the retaining walls around the turns and the highly complex paddock building.

For those interested in the technicality of it, we're going to take a closer look at the photos and provide an architectural analysis of the construction in progress. I could rattle on about the different types of A325 steel bolts, or hold a conversation about the Dead and Live loads of the building speaking only in Kips (1Kip = 1000lbs), but that wouldn't likely be all too appealing. Instead, we're going to use photos and illustrations to explain what's happening at Circuit of The Americas.

Retaining walls at COTA-Dec 21, 2011; source: COTA

Example of retaining wall; source: Building Construction Illustrated//Retaining Walls

From photos released as early as October 26th, we can see evidence of retaining wall construction around the track. With a high degree of elevation variability, the track design calls for a substantial amount of retaining walls to assist in the retention of earth and allow for drastic shifts in elevation. Keep in mind that soil can only be modified to 1:4 rate (1 foot rise per 4 feet length) and anything beyond this requires a retaining wall to hold it back.

In these photos from COTA, we can see retaining walls from approximately 8ft to 15ft tall, all constructed with site-cast concrete. Site-casting is the term for concrete structures thatExample of Wall form-work; source: Building Construction Illustrated are constructed on site with wooden or metal forms to shape the concrete. From the illustration of an example retaining wall, we can see that there are two pieces, the footing at the bottom, and a wall which sits on top.  The footings are poured first, and then the wall is poured, both with lots of steel reinforcement to increase strength.  From the photos of the retaining walls, we can see evidence of these different components as workers construct form-work and tie steel reinforcement to prepare for the addition of concrete.

While not the most glamorous of features at COTA, retaining walls are an essential part of the design of the facility. They provide a tool for designers to add elevation shifts and minimize the cost of reshaping the land, and therefore an integral part of the 133ft of elevation change at Circuit of The Americas. 

Drilling foundation piers for paddock building-Oct 13, 2011; Preparing second level form-work-Dec 20, 2011; source: COTA//Paddock BuildingExample of spread footing foundation pier; source: Building Construction Illustrated

The construction of the paddock building is the most visible portion of the facility at this point in time. Positioned just in front of the main straight and playing host to a highly dense set of activities, this is the most complex portion of the facility and likely to the be the most architecturally interesting.

In the first photos released in October, we can see the foundation piers for the paddock being drilled with large machinery. The design of these foundation piers is extremely critical due to the type of soils in this region which are comprised mostly of expansive clays (Houston Black, Ferris-Heiden, and Burleson if you want to get specific). While it's not possible to determine the exact type of pier being used for the paddock building from the photos, the expansive clay would likely work better with spread footings like in the illustration, or even conventional concrete piers drilled to subsurface bedrock 50-80ft below the surface.

Columns for the paddock building-Nov 1, 2011; source: COTAOnce these piers were finished, the site quickly began showing evidence of progress as columns and foundations were poured for the Paddock. The columns, like the retaining walls, are also site-cast, and as you can see in the photo, require a lot of reinforcement and form-work to support the shape and size of the column. Once poured, they can support substantial weight and long spans between columns, allowing the most amount of flexibility for customization and providing each racing team with a large open garage to work within.

 Form-work for second level concrete slab, and concrete column form-work; source: Building Construction Illustrated

//Summary

The construction of the circuit will be quite interesting over the next year.  From an architectural perspective, it's difficult to get a sense of the project because a majority of work this past year focused on ground manipulation and infrastructure.  As the buildings start to take shape and we see vertical construction fully underway, a clearer picture of Circuit of The Americas will come into focus.

The past year in Austin has been one for the record books with some of our lowest precipitation counts in history. While this has wreaked havoc on many industries in the state, construction has continued to progress at the circuit, as evidenced by increasingly visible signs of progress.  While the impact of the delays from the contract negotiations has yet to cause the site crews to go into double or triple shift days, we'll continue to monitor the construction progress and update you as we race towards our 2012 inaugural race.