iRacing – Circuit of the Americas Laser Scanned.

iRacing announced that the laser scanning team was very busy today scanning the Circuit of the Americas.They accompanied the announcement with a picture of the Laser Scanner in action.

Circuit of the Americas often abbreviated as COTA is a 3.427-mile (5.515 km) motor racing circuit near Austin, Texas. It hosted the Formula One United States Grand Prix on November 18, 2012, the penultimate round of the 2012 season. The circuit will also host the Texas Motorcycle Grand Prix, a round of the Road Racing World Championship—commonly known as MotoGP—in addition to the Australian V8 Supercars series, the FIA World Endurance Championship, the American Le Mans Series, and the Rolex Sports Car Series, all of which will make their debuts at the circuit in 2013.

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 ChampionKevin 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. The Grand Plaza, Observation Structure, Tower Amphitheater, and Main Grandstand were designed by Austin-based architectural firm Miró Rivera Architects.

Spectator capacity was estimated to be 100,000 utilizing permanent and temporary seating facilities but a crowd of 117,429 watched the Formula One race in November 2012.