Circuit of The Americas announces attendance record of 269,889 - MotorSportsTalk

AUSTIN, Texas – As the United States Grand Prix comes to a close here shortly, Circuit of The Americas has rebounded from the rain-drenched 2015 USGP weekend in the best way possible: with a new attendance record in its fifth year hosting the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Buoyed in large part by last night’s Taylor Swift concert, but also with near perfect weather in Austin throughout the weekend helping the Saturday and Sunday crowd numbers in particular, track officials have announced a weekend total of 269,889 for the weekend.

This marks a new overall announced weekend attendance record for COTA.

.@circuitamericas has just announced a new overall weekend attendance record of 269,889! #USGP

— F1 on NBC Sports (@F1onNBCSports) October 23, 2016

Well done @circuitamericas!!! pic.twitter.com/oJ8RHtVesX

— Tony DiZinno (@tonydizinno) October 23, 2016

In 2012, the track announced a total of 265,499 overall and 117,429 on Sunday.

In 2013, a year later, the track announced attendance numbers of 113,162 fans in attendance on Sunday to bring that weekend total to 250,324.

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In a continuing effort to help fans keep track of the on track action, SuperMotocross is in the process of developing and implementing leader lights for the unified series.

Currently Supercross (SMX) utilizes stanchions in the infield that are triggered manually by a race official. At least two stanchions are used in each race as a way to draw the eye to the leader, which is especially useful in the tight confines of the stadium series when lapping often begins before the halfway mark in the 22-bike field. This system has been in place for the past two decades.

Later this year, a fully automated system will move to the bike itself to replace the old system. At that point, fans will be able to identify the leader regardless of where he is on track.

The leader lights were tested in the second Anaheim round this year. An example can be seen at the 1:45 mark in the video above on the No. 69 bike.

“What we don’t want to do is move too fast, where it’s confusing to people,” said Mike Muye, senior director of operations for Supercross and SMX in a press release. “We’ve really just focused on the leader at this point with the thought that maybe down the road we’ll introduce others.”

Scheduled to debut with the first SuperMotocross World Championship race at zMax Dragway, located just outside the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 3D carbon fiber-printed LED light will be affixed to each motorcycle. Ten timing loops positioned around the track will trigger the lights of the leader, which will turn green.

SMX’s partner LiveTime Scoring helped develop and implement the system that has been tested in some form or fashion since 2019.

When the leader lights are successfully deployed, SuperMotocross will explore expanding the system to identify the second- and third-place riders. Depending on need and fan acceptance, more positions could be added.

SuperMotocross is exploring future enhancements, including allowing for live fan interaction with the lights and ways to use the lighting system during the race’s opening ceremony.

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