By Susanna Schick, Austin, Tex – Last weekend, Austin’s brand new Circuit of the Americas played host to MotoGP, the top echelon of motorcycle racing. Here’s what it was like to be there.

This is America's international-grade Formula One track, the Circuit of the Americas down in Austin. And here's a '49 Ford taking a lap.

When Austin's Circuit of the Americas was being planned and built, many people wondered how it would be sustainable if it only hosted a Formula One event, some track days, and a handful of other races every year.

At every F1 race, car enthusiasts come out of the woodwork to show off their coolest rides. You end up with all kinds of parking lot car shows and highway parades all weekend long. Nothing was different at this weekend's inaugural U.S. Grand Prix at Austin.

In honor of Formula One's return to the United States, the race's drivers will make their parade lap on steely American chariots glistening in the cool Austin sun. Vettel will take the pole in a 1962 Chevy Corvette with his teammate Mark Webber in a 1971 Buick GS400.

After two-and-a-half years of hype, promotions, construction, legal fights, planning, protests from residents and grandstanding by Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One will at last make its triumphant return to the United States in just one week. For real this time. Seriously! We promise.

The Circuit of the Americas in Austin looks pretty great with its red, white and blue run-off strips and its big first corner hill, but it looks extra awesome with Mario Andretti at the wheel.

Tickets for the United States Grand Prix in Austin went on sale today on Ticketmaster and on the COTA website. They tickets are expensive, but relatively cheap for what you get.

Formula One is making its triumphant return to the Unites States this November, and we know how you can get trackside at the United States Grand Prix without paying a dime. There's just one catch.

Tickets are now on sale for the 2012 U.S. Grand Prix to be held at the rapidly-forming Circuit of the Americas in Austin this November. Sort of. Right now you can get on the wait list to buy the nice tickets.