Circuit of the Americas
race track near Austin, Texas, USA
The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification 3.426 mi (5.514 km) motor racing track and facilities located in Austin, Texas, United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand Prix, NASCAR, and the Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas, a round in MotoGP and the FIA World Endurance Championship with the Lone Star Le Mans. It previously hosted the Australian V8 Supercars, the Americas Rallycross Championship, the American Le Mans Series, the Rolex Sports Car Series, the IMSA SportsCar Championship and the IndyCar Classic.
The circuit and Grand Prix were first proposed in the middle of 2010. The circuit was the first in the United States to be purpose-built for Formula One. The layout was conceived by promoter Tavo Hellmund and 1993 Motorcycle World Champion Kevin Schwantz with the assistance of German architect and circuit designer Hermann Tilke, who has also designed the Sepang, Shanghai, Yas Marina, Istanbul, Bahrain, Yeongam, and Buddh circuits, as well as the reprofiling of the Hockenheimring and Fuji Speedway.
History
Construction
In a news conference on July 27, 2010, Tavo Hellmund announced plans to build the track on about 890 acres (3.6 km2) of undeveloped land in southeastern Travis County. The majority of the site had been planned to be developed into a residential subdivision called "Wandering Creek". In the same news conference, Hellmund also revealed that Texas billionaire Red McCombs was the project's largest investor.
The circuit homologation design was submitted to the FIA in Geneva for approval on December 17, 2010.
The public source identifies “Circuit of the Americas” as race track near Austin, Texas, USA. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Circuit, Americas and race.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Circuit of the Americas”, the useful work is to connect “race track near Austin, Texas, USA” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q59626. Authority coordinates are 30.133, -97.641. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010 and 1993.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Circuit of the Americas”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Circuit of the Americas primary sources, Circuit of the Americas archive and Circuit research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Circuit of the Americas”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Circuit of the Americas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.