We're nearly there, race weekend is just a day away and the forecasts are really trying to throw a spanner in the works for Colin Edwards, the Texas Tornado, penultimate race on home soil, truly one of the nicest people off track, and brilliant on it, it'll be strange to not see his name on the entry list next season. Having met Colin a few trimes at the Brands Hatch Riders for Health charity ball during his World Superbike years and had the pleasure of seeing some classic races, it's great to see he's retiring on good form and in good health.
Original photo by Diederick79 Assen 2009 cc-by-sa-2.0 The Circuit of The Americas (CoTA) hosts MotoGP and on Monday they were hit by a violent storm that wrecked the temporary paddocks and some spectator facilities, but they are all back in place now. The practice sessions today should pass without any issues weather wise, with patchy cloud, temperatures close to 30c and a southerly breeze, occasionally gusting to around 25mph.
Saturday and the cloud will be thicker and more stubborn, with a slight chance of a drop or two of rain during the day, but most likely it'll remain dry with some glimpses of the sun and a degree or two cooler than today. There is a chance of an overnight storm, which I'd normally say could have an impact on track conditions for Sunday, but with what is potentially brewing, there are more pressing concerns.
Photocredit: Me, on the 2013 storm chase in Texas
Race day and things start to develop quite quickly through the morning as the ingredients fall into place for strong thunderstorms to arrive after lunch time - and these aren't your typical British storms either. Isolated strong storms, and supercells are possible (that's a supercell pictured above) - and if one arrives over the track, it could be the end of any racing as large hail (think golf balls and bigger), damaging straight line winds, torrential rain and even a tornado is possible (not so likely for Austin, but there is a real risk further east and north). The one saving grace is that these storms can be very localised, meaning 20 miles up the road will get an absolute hammering, while we all wonder what the fuss was about - but with the potential for severe storms in place I'd not want to be in Dorna or CoTA's shoes in making a decision about how to plan for this.
