British GP a bit rich for your blood? No worries, get it on finance!

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by bella

i don't think you've met a logistical nightmare unless you've tried to find a parking space for some of the venues. spa in particular

I'm talking package trips by coach. Train does the business with Monte Carlo. I take onboard it's not rock bottom prices. But you can engage with the action without a grandstand. There's good value there.

[bella]

you can do monaco by train (i have done every year for er, 8 years now, just done my 10th visit. cannes to monaco is up to about €18 return) but to get anywhere near a decent general admission viewing spot you have to be there on the first train. or the last the previous night and spend the night looking busy. the local constabularly don't tolerate overnight stays under the stars. otherwise most of the clear views of the track have dibs on them on wednesday by the latest. but in terms of actual cost to get in i don't disagree, monaco is pretty tidy especially with free entry on thursday and friday.

there's plenty of caveats to coach trips though - they tend to leave any circuit on the sunday evening pretty early, so if you wanted to walk the track after spa for example you'd be out of luck. and the journey time is pretty ridiculous.

personally i always self organise and hire a car or drive myself. then you always have a bed of some sort for the night if you draw a blank on hotels or campsites.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by bella

you can do monaco by train (i have done every year for er, 8 years now, just done my 10th visit. cannes to monaco is up to about €18 return) but to get anywhere near a decent general admission viewing spot you have to be there on the first train. or the last the previous night and spend the night looking busy. the local constabularly don't tolerate overnight stays under the stars. otherwise most of the clear views of the track have dibs on them on wednesday by the latest. but in terms of actual cost to get in i don't disagree, monaco is pretty tidy especially with free entry on thursday and friday.

there's plenty of caveats to coach trips though - they tend to leave any circuit on the sunday evening pretty early, so if you wanted to walk the track after spa for example you'd be out of luck. and the journey time is pretty ridiculous.

personally i always self organise and hire a car or drive myself. then you always have a bed of some sort for the night if you draw a blank on hotels or campsites.

I flew in by Nice, cheap accom in Nice but clean nevertheless, pointed in the direction of the station early on and arrived having got a good perch with a good view. I had a grandstand for the race itself. All quite good value and I'm by no measure wealthy.

Spa, similar terms but instead of a train, you got your coach from Brussels. After an hour or two up the big road and a slow queue in the back roads but there as right as rain nevertheless, . No grandstand but still very engaged and close up to the action at various spots.

[Graham Goodwin]

Ref sold out Silverstone - As a point of interest here has anyone failed to buy a ticket for the GP when they wanted one in the last decade? I ask this because for every other meeting Silverstone's crowd figures are always somewhat....optimistic!

[bauble]

You could not pay me to go and watch a football match, but I see that tickets to a match between Liverpool and Real Madrid (presumably a Spanish team?)
cost FROM £350.56. All for 90 minutes of play.

You can go to any number of events at Silverstone for £10 and get a full days entertainment, and £175 for three days does not sound excessive to me, when you are talking about the pinnacle of the sport.
Comparing Silverstone prices with those of other countries is not like-with-like as most if not all are subsidised by local or national government.

As many have pointed out the choice is your own, nobody is forced to go.

Why am I defending the circuit? Probably because I have been attending races there since 1952, and have many great memories of the place, why I can remember having to pay 7/6d to get in with my bike, and I only earned £3 per week.

Bauble (Self-acknowledged; Silly Old Fool)

[bella]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

I flew in by Nice, cheap accom in Nice but clean nevertheless, pointed in the direction of the station early on and arrived having got a good perch with a good view. I had a grandstand for the race itself. All quite good value and I'm by no measure wealthy.

which year was that? any of the decent stands on race day are pretty excruciatingly expensive, definitely more so than silverstone (disclaimer: from memory and looking at '15 silverstone prices). they struggled to fill them this year. they've been gradually removing stands over the years too, and the number of people buying general admission has definitely gone up recently.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by bella

which year was that? any of the decent stands on race day are pretty excruciatingly expensive, definitely more so than silverstone (disclaimer: from memory and looking at '15 silverstone prices). they struggled to fill them this year. they've been gradually removing stands over the years too, and the number of people buying general admission has definitely gone up recently.

Grandstand is strikingly disproportionately expensive compared to the others costs of the trip. I enjoyed qualifying without it and my friends who I travelled with but declined a grandstand seat for the race, still enjoyed the race too.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by bauble

You could not pay me to go and watch a football match, but I see that tickets to a match between Liverpool and Real Madrid (presumably a Spanish team?)
cost FROM £350.56. All for 90 minutes of play.

You can go to any number of events at Silverstone for £10 and get a full days entertainment, and £175 for three days does not sound excessive to me, when you are talking about the pinnacle of the sport.
Comparing Silverstone prices with those of other countries is not like-with-like as most if not all are subsidised by local or national government.

As many have pointed out the choice is your own, nobody is forced to go.

Why am I defending the circuit? Probably because I have been attending races there since 1952, and have many great memories of the place, why I can remember having to pay 7/6d to get in with my bike, and I only earned £3 per week.

Bauble (Self-acknowledged; Silly Old Fool)

Perfectly reasonable. I too have been to Silverstone many many times - many more times for clubbies, through F3 to top sports cars and yes, a few GPs. But I still add 'allegedly' to the 'pinnacle' phrase......

[Peat]

As a viewing experience, Silverstone is just so poor now. You need binoculars. They have moved the fans so far away from the action. Bridge corner used to be mind-blowing, alas, GONE.

It's my 2nd nearest circuit, so I do end up going from time to time (WEC, will try and get to Walter Hayes too) but it's not something I really look forward to anymore.

[Tucky]

One of my biggest gripes about the British GP at Silverstone is the complete lack of driver access compared to other GP's. I was at the silverstone from wednesday through to sunday this year and the only driver I caught a glimpse of was Hamilton, and even then he was doing an interview for Sky, signed a handful of items and then was whisked away in a car as fast as possible.

[JurekB]

Originally Posted by bauble

For those of us who enjoy going to Silverstone for Club Meetings, and other National and International events, the income provided by the Grand Prix helps maintain the viability of the circuit over a full season. One can not view the GP as a single event, it is part of the complex job of keeping the venue open all year round, so that we can have a British Grand Prix every year.
I believe that virtually the only revenue the Circuit gets from hosting the race is ticket sales, everything else is Bernies.

I see it the other way that all the other events are subsidising the GP. A Sunday ticket for British GT at Silverstone was £25 which is pretty much the cost of a weekend ticket at Oulton, Donington etc. The WEC event also seems to have spiralled in cost in recent years.

Your last sentence is true and don't forget those ticket sales also have to pay Bernies fee which is what, about £17million or something in that area?

[Rodger Davies]

Agree with Jurek, I see it as other events subsidising the Grand Prix. I know BES (FIA GT) pays for the circuit, for example.

And I'm not surprised the prices for the GP are going up and up because I'm sure fewer and fewer people are going to other events because of how much they've ruined the viewing experience with the changes to the track.

I used to go to ILMC/LMS, FIA GT, British GT, the Classic, but I go once a year at most now: it's expensive and unenjoyable (off limit pit/paddock, closed stands, no Abbey/Bridge complex) and I can go to Spa or Nurburgring for the same price.

Two years ago I made a point of doing the Nurburgring 24, including flights, tickets, car hire, fuel, food and camping (which I didn't actually need in retrospect!), for the same cost as a GP weekend ticket.

F1 will eat itself, I just hope it doesn't take too much other motorsport with it.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by JurekB

I see it the other way that all the other events are subsidising the GP. A Sunday ticket for British GT at Silverstone was £25 which is pretty much the cost of a weekend ticket at Oulton, Donington etc. The WEC event also seems to have spiralled in cost in recent years.

Your last sentence is true and don't forget those ticket sales also have to pay Bernies fee which is what, about £17million or something in that area?

The WEC event is higher priced than some, I think its £30 or £35. One event that I still think is outrageous is the cost of the Silverstone Classic. I think in 2012 it was something like £65 entry. I believe this year it might have been slightly cheaper (I can't recall but I think it was around £50) however its still a lot of money for what is essentially a historic festival. Oulton Park Gold Cup for example cost me £5 entry for the Saturday qualifying.

[Rodger Davies]

Yeah, that's another event that has lost me, although the prices aren't even close to Goodwood's.

Spa Six Hours a couple of weeks back was €30 access all areas for the weekend.