Rockingham - Cart 2001

[Carrie]

I received details from Rockingham today of their tickets for the Cart race next September.
It's got to be said, I wasn't expecting tickets to be so expensive, so I think I'll be giving this one a miss. Shame, it was something I was looking forward to seeing
Has anyone else changed their mind once they've seen the ticket prices?

[Carrie]

In case people haven't already got the ticket details posted through to them. The prices are here:
Thursday £25
Friday £40 - 75
Saturday £80 - 150
Friday Centre Transfer (pits are in centre) £15
Saturday Centre Transfer £20. On both days centre transfer is limited to the first 10,000 to book tickets.
3 day ticket is £130, it doesn't say if this includes centre transfer, I presume it doesn't.

[jvilleneuve2000]

I wasnt expecting the tickets to be this much, but as we are English we have to get over charged on everything. It isnt to bad if you are a member as you get free tickets for thursday and 10% of the other days. Does anyone know which grandstands the reserved members seats are in?

[Carrie]

Free tickets for Thursday for members. Does that really add up to anything? The cheapest option you can go for if buying tickets for Friday and Saturday only is £120 minus your 10% gives you £108. You can buy a 3 day ticket for £130 take away your discount and you've got £117. So, the free Thursday ticket saves you £9 - hardly worth mentioning if you ask me!

AND they don't even take credit cards yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Carrie]

I also think they'd have been better sending out ticket details with general letters 'Dear Race Fan' or whatever. I object to getting a letter which starts 'Dear insert appropriate surname here'

[TimD]

Sounds like someone in their marketing department needs a good thumping - both for the heading on the letter and the prices they've settled on. Let's face it, if CART was a real dead cert to be popular here, one of the mainstream TV channels would have had the guts to pick it up by now.

It's by no means certain that it will be a success - although I hope to goodness it is.

And I'm afraid that at those prices, the weekend directly after the Goodwood Revival meet, I think I may be watching it on Channel 5. I can't justify that sort of outlay for a single race.

But there's always the new Coys Historic fesival on the May bank holiday to check out just how good Rockingham is as a venue before making a final decision. I'm certainly going to that. Any takers?

Oh, and a word to the wise. I was snooping around the area a few days ago on a house-hunting mission, and there's one of those beastly forward-facing speed cameras on the way into Rockingham village. I've got to wait for six weeks to find out if it zapped me, because I'm not 100% certain I was able to scrub all the speed off in time - but as they work on infrared, there's no flash to let you know if you've been clobbered.

When in the area next year, don't you get photographed.

[Carrie]

Hope you haven't been caught Tim. One of those forward facing cameras scared the hell out of me on the A14 going to Snetterton one year!

Has anyone actually rushed out and bought their tickets yet?
I'm just so annoyed it's turned out to be so expensive because I was really looking forward to going to this one

[Craig]

Well i'll definately be there

I think that anyone who misses this one, but manages to do the GP will wish they had spent their money more sensibly come seasons end

Can't wait!

[Speed Demon]

Assuming work committments don't get in the way etc, I'll be there. And that's from someone who has boycotted Silverstone GP because of ticket prices!

On a value for money scale of things, Rockingham still ought to be much better than the GP and you should be able to see just about all the action. Not to mention plenty of overtaking!

Better not bloody rain though...

[Liz]

I'm not paying $300 to see an oval CART race, even if it was in Monte Carlo. (Tim, I will see you at Goodwood.) I am going to write those dimwits at Rockingham and tell them that their prices are outrageous. We get a three day package with a paddock pass in Toronto for $130 Canadian. I could go twice and have money left over to buy Penske gear IF THERE WAS ANY PENSKE GEAR TO BUY ...

I am not going to Rockingham at that price. Harrumph.

If you want to register your outrage, here's their email address:

marketing@rockingham.co.uk

Flood them with emails and let's see if we can make them back down.

[Edited by Liz on 28th November 2000]

[Marshal]

I was planning on breaking the habit of a lifetime and paying to go to a race meeting, but I don't think I will be now. That's far too much.

See you all at Goodwood.

[Liz]

I have written to the people at Rockingham to tell them on behalf of myself and my company, in a stiff and professional fashion, that their prices are outrageous and that I am not the only one who thinks so.

This evening I got the following response:

"Dear Mrs Shaw

I am sorry that you feel disappointed by the announcement of ticket prices
for the Rockingham 500.

The directors of Rockingham would lie to write to you personally to explain
Rockingham's pricing policy and the contributory elements to it.

If you would be kind enough to forward your address details then this can be
forwarded by post.

Yours sincerely
Christopher Sharp
Rockingham Motor Speedway"


To this, I replied with my address and that not only I, but the 5,000-some readers of the motorsport newsletter I edit (I haven't named it as yet), will look forward to hearing what they have to say - that we all find the prices outrageous and most of us have decided not to attend the race as a result - and that this is significant as we are all people woh regularly attend races at every level from Formula One to club racing (therefore, I left them to conclude, capable of recognizing an outrage when we meet up with it.)

If anyone else feels constrained to write to the email address given above, I'd suggest you repeat this general theme: I attend races and have done so for many years, I intended to attend and looked forward to attending Rockingham, but that those prices made it impossible, and perhaps suggest that they rethink their position.

I really think we can beat them down if we all get on them about it. At the least we may get some freebies and some groveling! So please do go over there and make your voice heard. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, be professional.

Bulletins to follow.

[bella]

i'm going for the full 3 days, i think. not sure whether to camp yet, cause i live really close to the track.
it's far too expensive, but there you go.
such is motorsport in england.

[RickP:Clio51]

Like Marshal, it breaks my heart to pay to see racing. And I agree with the sentiment that this is pretty damn expensive.
I think the "rain" point is worth repeating. The chances of seeing any racing have got to be in the high zeros. We are talking September in Northern England where the phrase "It only rained twice last week, first for 3 days and then for 4" was coined.
How many of those going are planning to book their hotel room for the Sunday night as well, or are we planning another damp night under canvas if the "fair weather racers" don't won't to come out to play?
RickP"doing it whatever the weather in the"clio33

[Peter Mallett]

Rick,

You really should study your geography.

Rockinham is definitely not northern England.

However your point about rain is valid.

[RickP:Clio51]

Not northern England????????????
You're talking to the boy who takes his passport if he is passing the "There Be Dragons" sign at the exit of the Watford Gap services!!!!
Still going to rain.
Rick

[Minardi fan]

Well there goes THAT idea.

I'm saving the pennies for Magny-Cours and Monza so it's bye-bye to any ideas about Rockingham.

Never mind.

(And yes I'm planning on writing an email to those money-grabbing dimwits...)

[Liz]

Today's Cartoon Update:

Last night I got another e-mail from Mr. Sharp, who apparently is quite upset that (1) I am the editor of a newsletter (so far unnamed in case Craig doesn't want to get into the middle of this), "I thought you were writing as a concerned private citizen" he sniffed; and (2) that I printed his letter on a thread over at Seventh Gear.

I pointed out to him that (1) concerned private citizens can sometimes publish newsletters, and that I hadn't told him I have a large picture of Gilles Villeneuve in my dining room either, as I thought both were immaterial to the point which was that their prices are outrageous; and (2) anybody should know that once they have sent a letter, absent any "personal and confidential" warnings to the contrary, they have no control over where it ends up. Especially if they sent it on the internet. His concern, of course, is that everyone would find out what Marshall found out - that this nice letter I got is mere airy persiflage, that is, it's "the bedbug letter."

Could somebody tell me what the ALMS charged for their race at Silverstone last year? That was their first year and it was quite reasonable, as I recall.

Also, if anyone has been to a CART race in the USA or Australia or anywhere else, could you please tell me what you paid for your tickets for all three days? I want to get a pricing structure for CART to prove to this dimwatt that their prices are indeed out of line for an established series with an established price structure.

As Bugs Bunny said once, "OF COURSE YOU KNOW, THIS MEANS WAR!!!!!!!!!!"

And let them eat cake. Or $300 grandstand tickets.

[Carrie]

ALMS - that had to be the bargain of the year. It cost £10

[Liz]

Just about the same as it costs here. I thought so.

[Peter Mallett]

Yeah, but that was on the back of an FIA GT weekend don't forget.

[josvandeperre]

Indy 500 seats are all sold but Daytona 500 which is Nascar's main event (more-or-less) is $ 175 for two days with a long race on day one too - Roger Penske is not selling CART tickets on line so there's no immediate data there - does the German track have a site ?

[josvandeperre]

http://www.eurospeedway.de says the cheapest ticket is 50 DM which is about £ 15 and seats range from £ 40 to 150

[Liz]

Tonight I got the prices for the race in Montery, Mexico, which is also a brand new venue and a flyaway. I converted those and the Rockingham prices into Canadian Dollars for comparison and this is what I got:

Montery: Three day general admission with open seating grandstands: $100.50 (for THREE DAYS, you note.)

Three day reserved grandstand seating: $123.70
Three day reserved grandstand seating with paddock pass: $135.

There are also grandstand seats at 3 days for $139, and a package of 3 day reserved grandstand seats with paddock pass at Pit Row for $240.00.

For real high rollers you can add a three day pit pass for $210 or a four day Pit Lane Club ticket with everything you can name: Grandstand, Pit, Paddock and Garage access, superior dining, coplimentary goodies and VIP parking and golf cart shuttle, for $1,550.

Now to Rockingham:

Practice Day only: $56.00.
Qualifying Day only: $90.00
Race tickets: Race day only: from $168.35 to $223.00, with limited premier seating for $334.00.

The press release from Rockingham that I got makes no mention of paddock or pit passes at any price, and no VIP packages, and it does not mention parking

So for a three day ticket including Practice Day, Qualifying Day and Race Day at the lowest prices available, I would pay $304.00, with no pit or paddock passes at all. For $64 less than that price I could get from Montery a package of 3 day reserved grandstand seats with paddock pass at Pit Row for $240.00, which gives me virtually top of the line privileges.

In Toronto this same 3 day, $240.00 Montery package costs me $165.00.

So comparing three races, apples to apples, this is what I get:

Rockingham: $304.00 Canadian
Montery: $123.70 Canadian
Toronto: $130.00 Canadian

If you can give me comparisons similar to this I'd be grateful.

[Edited by Liz on 2nd December 2000]

[Liz]

German prices work out thus, as near as I can figure it (they could have made the print bigger)

Same criteria - lowest available price for three days of grandstand tickets at the German 500: $143.62

There's a weekend ticket for $40-$81 but I am not sure if that includes a seat or not.