COTA chairman plans 75-foot cowboy hat attraction in Austin
COTA chairman Bobby Epstein aims to create a new Guinness World Record by building a 75-foot fiberglass cowboy hat in the Lone Star Land fan area. The Western-themed structure will house a bar and serves as a new landmark for the Austin circuit during the upcoming race weekend.
A 75-foot tourist landmark
COTA chairman Bobby Epstein wants to turn the Austin circuit into a tourist destination with a Guinness World Record attraction. The 75-foot long cowboy hat is made of fibreglass and will house a Western-themed bar in the Lone Star Land fan area. The builders are rushing to finish the structure, though the hat is sturdy. This hat is much larger than the cowboy hat the city of Garland claimed was the largest in Texas last year. Bobby Epstein, the COTA chairman, decided that the Austin circuit should have a tourist landmark with a Guinness World Record, so he proposed building a 75-foot long cowboy hat instead of a regular tent.
The Lone Star Land is one of the circuit’s main spectator areas where the hat will be a distinctive attraction. The structure is more than twice the height of the 10.74-metre cowboy boot sculpture located in San Antonio. Instead of just covering a head, the structure will cover an entire bar. A Guinness World Records official will arrive on media day, Thursday, 22 October, to inspect the construction. Because there is currently no specific Guinness category for the world’s largest cowboy hat, the Austin installation could establish a new record. The city of Garland claimed a record for a 20ft x 6ft cowboy hat last year. Epstein expects the hat to become a fixture for all future years and says the structure will be "very noticeable" on the campus.
Race weekend schedule and details
The race weekend begins with two free practice sessions on Friday, 23 October. These sessions occur at 18:30 BST and 22:00 BST for those watching in the United Kingdom. For viewers in Central Europe, the sessions start at 19:30 CEST and 23:00 CEST. Saturday, 24 October, features the third practice session at 18:30 BST and qualifying at 22:00 BST, which translates to 23:00 CEST for European fans. Drivers and teams use these sessions to work on car setups before the competitive action begins. This provides the final opportunity for engineers to refine the cars.
The Friday schedule includes FP1 at 18:30 BST (19:30 CEST) and FP2 at 22:00 BST (23:00 CEST). Saturday, 24 October, features the third practice session at 18:30 BST (19:30 CEST) and qualifying at 22:00 BST (23:00 CEST). The United States Grand Prix takes place on Sunday, 25 October, starting at 20:00 GMT (21:00 CET). During the Friday and Saturday sessions, viewers will use British Summer Time (BST) and Central European Summer Time (CEST). The race itself will follow Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and Central European Time (CET). Because clocks in the United Kingdom and Central Europe move back one hour overnight, the time difference with Austin shifts. This change is something European viewers must account for. The Sunday race start time follows standard time rather than the summer time used for the previous two days.
