For spectators and TV viewers tuning into coverage of F1's US Grand Prix, it's been hard to miss. Turn 1 of the Circuit of the Americas has a distinctly different look to it this year with the addition of a mammoth multi-storey clubhouse. Connected to the main paddock area via a cable car that crosses the track, this weekend the new hospitality structure serves as an extension of F1's swanky Paddock Club. From January 2 it becomes a year-round members-only club, dubbed 'The Circuit', as the venue turns private at the start of next year.
"It isn’t an annual membership in the traditional sense," says Parris Mullins, COTA’s Senior Vice President of Motorsports. It’s much more like a country club. There are annual dues to maintain the facilities and cover staffing, but the initiation fee is a one-time payment that essentially provides a lifetime membership.
"We’ve had more than 50 additional submissions in the past 24 hours, and that was before this race weekend. Before this race weekend, around 600 people had reached out. We’ve had one-to-one conversations with approximately 140 of them, and many have started putting down deposits and signing contracts.
"There will never be more than 300 members. We’re limiting North American membership to 250. The remaining 50 places will be a mix of international and corporate memberships."
A view from COTA's new Turn 1 clubhouse.
Photo by: Filip Cleeren
The new facility isn't just COTA president Bobby Epstein's brainchild alone, though. It fits a calendar-wide push by F1 management for races to significantly ramp up their hospitality offerings. "A lot of our contract renewal was dependent on this as well," Mullins adds. "We needed to improve both the members’ experience and the experience for the Paddock Club guests. F1 has made a big commitment to it. The sport has grown, and certain markets demand these kinds of amenities. They have to keep improving what they offer."
Why COTA is building a second circuit
COTA's decision to go private has some side effects, with the venue now no longer available for track days or for regional driving clubs. But there's a solution on the horizon. On an empty plot of land to the north of the existing F1 track, COTA has crafted advanced plans to build a second, shorter circuit designed for both cars and motorcycles.
"A second track will be built, primarily because we recognise that we’re displacing a number of people and organisations that have been partners of ours since the circuit opened," Mullins explains. "Growing motorsport, particularly in the local area, is very important to us. We’re not going to build another FIA Grade 1 facility because there’s no need for one. Instead, we want to build something that suits the local motorsport community, allows them to continue using a circuit and gives them access at a much lower price point.
"There’s obviously prestige associated with COTA. I know people love being able to say they’ve driven their car on the Grand Prix circuit, and we’re sorry that this won’t always be possible unless they’re members. But we want to give people somewhere they can drive, enjoy motorsport and continue participating at a grassroots level."
While details remain sparse, the circuit's undisclosed layout has already been defined. COTA is also open to the new circuit, built to FIA Grade 3 standards suitable for touring cars, sportscars and entry-level single-seaters, hosting smaller motorsports series. But by not having to cater to F1 cars, Mullins feels there is an opportunity to come up with a track more suited to high-performance sports cars and the people who drive them.
"We want to create something fun with a different personality from the Grand Prix circuit. COTA was built around the requirements of a single major race weekend. I’d like it to have corners we don’t have here. We don’t have a banked corner, for example, so I think the new circuit should have one. It should also have an iconic chicane. We want features that people can enjoy in the kinds of cars they bring to the track. The layout should suit them much better."
When asked about the timelines for the secondary track, Mullins didn't want to commit to a firm date, but there is a sense of urgency not to leave local driving and car clubs without a track for too long.
"We still need to finalise everything and work through the process with the city," he says. "We’re far enough along that we’re comfortable saying we want to get it done sooner rather than later. We don’t want the local motorsport community to go without a facility for too long, but we also need to get the project right."
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
COTA still sees itself as the "people's race" with its enormous spectator numbers of up to 440,000 across the F1 weekend, and by gradually turning the entire venue into one giant theme park the organisers want to lean into F1's changed demographic in the post-Netflix era. Some of that can be taken quite literally, with the rollercoaster rides of the new COTALAND amusement running alongside the circuit's third sector. But the grand prix also continues its tradition of big-name end-of-day concerts, roping in Austin's popular college sports and food culture.
Earning a new F1 deal to 2034 gives COTA the long-term stability to write off those investments, and turn them into ways to make the circuit a year-round source of revenue alongside hosting the likes of F1, MotoGP, WEC and - from 2027 - Formula E. COTALAND fits into that picture, and so does the exclusive members club and the secondary track.
But COTA hasn't forgotten that its core business is to keep the hordes of F1 fans entertained over a weekend. "Formula 1 provides the on-track action. Our job is to complement that between sessions," Mullins acknowledges. The concerts were the first step. What Bobby did with those was really groundbreaking.
"At the end of the day, this is sport, but it’s also entertainment. We want to entertain people."