Rate your GP experiences

I would disagree on Monaco... you can see almost nothing but the part of the track right in front of you... unless you are up in a building... but really only unless you are on a low floor clsoe to the track is it any good. The night life is great, partys etc... but for a race not so much...

Monza - great - atmosphere etc... its Italy!

Sliverstone - great - traffic an issue

Paul Ricard was great - Magny Cours not so great - in middle of now where...

Spa is great! same as Monza - a bit of a walk go move around the track...

Montreal is good as well...

Suzuka good, but again hard to get around the track.

 

Well, I've only attended races in North America, so I'll rate the tracks I've been to thusly:

1. Watkins Glen
2. Montreal
3. Detroit
4. Long Beach

Frankly, I didn't really care for either street circuit, but at least Detroit had a couple of spots where you could see whole cars without being in either a grandstand or a building, which was the case with Long Beach, at least in 1979-80.

The only other existing tracks that I'd really like to attend a race at are Spa and Monza, though I'd add Brands Hatch if the British GP ever went back there. (I have visited both Silverstone and Brands Hatch and much prefer the latter.) I also like Suzuka's layout.

Monaco? The only reason would be to say that I've been there.....

 

Hockenheim, like most of Germany, was very orderly. Easy to get around, parking wasn't terribly far from the track. Sat in the Merc Benz grandstands which offers many different viewing angles though don't sit too high, the sounds is so intense as it bounces off the overhead ceiling. Food was good with good prices. Frequent transportation to that area from the the main area. Not alot of passing opps with the exception of the kink which wasn't clearly visible from the Merc Benz grandstands. Grandstands faces east, which offers plenty of shade.

 

Hell yeah! I more or less grew up at Brands - Did you see the long circuit in use?

Fantastic natural bowl - The Red Arrows did their thing there one year, and folk in the high grandstands swear they were looking *down* at the planes......

Plus, we used to get in "thru the country" and not have to pay

Silverstone is a friggin' airfield!

But for UK tracks (not F1) - Crystal Palace was *awesome* [First saw Ronnie in F2 there]
Thruxton - Another airfield, but this time on top of a moor (think Stonehenge) - Man that place can be *cold*, and the wind *never* stops.

There's many more, but I'd need to think.....

Cheers,
Ian


Cheers,
Ian

 

I got there late in the afternoon, just after some sort of motorcycle race had been held. I just walked over and sat in the front-straight grandstand for awhile, as I had done a few days earlier at Silverstone. This was in 1990, BTW.

Of the other British tracks that I've seen footage of, Goodwood seems worth a trip, at least for the Revival meeting.

 

No doubt! I'd love to do that one.

It was a pretty good test track when I was involved - My man Andrea De Cesaris wrote of his first (of many!) F3 car there

Sorry for the hijack btw!

 

Have you been lately? While there may have been some small nugget of truth to this when I first started going 20 years ago, it's certainly not the case now- if you sit in a high row of a low K grandstand you can not only see from the exit of the tunnel all the way to the swimming pool, you get a good view of the giant screen showing other parts of the track, and if you like you can rent a Kangaroo TV too.
Besides, where else do you have a shot at seeing the drivers around town? Maybe not to the extent you could in the old days, but still . . .

 

Did you know that the German map publisher Berndtson & Berndtson published maps of Hockenheim and both the old and new Nurburgring circuits? They're quite interesting and worth getting. (I wish they'd have done some of the other European circuits, like Spa and Monza.)

http://www.amazon.com/Laminated-Hockenheimring-Map-Berndtson-Borch/dp/3866090862

 

Nice to hear that. I'll be at Montreal this year, my first F1 race.

huh? why would armed guards be necessary for sunglass salesmen?

 

I was referring to bernie's comment that button's attackers were just guys trying to sell him sunglasses.

 

Went to the 2000 GP at Indy and still have my ticket stub, pass, and program. Also still have the printed out grid and plastic cover.

Was very fortunate and got good seats, Saturday was able to roam all over the place and film from different spots. Still have several tapes. Would probably be cool to view them again.

Rained a lot over the weekend.

Schumi found the line quicker than anyone else... dominant performance all weekend from start to finish, the only hickup was when he spun towards the end of the race, but he had such a lead that he still finished in 1st by a healthy margin. Remember DC jumped the start and poor Mika's engine blew...

It was the first GP in Indy and the atmosphere was absolutely electric... I'm very glad I had the chance to experience that...

Frank

 

1. Montreal
2. Barcelona

Sorry, I've only been to 3 races, two in Montreal. I have to say Montreal really embraces the race. It's a 3 day party!

 

I have been to three at Suzuka and the inaugural Indianapolis GP in 2000. I enjoyed Indy, but Suzuka is just great in every way. It is true that because Suzuka has no infield access for the general public, it can take a while to get from one area of the track to another to another, but I think mentioning that is a bit like pointing out the mole on Cindy Crawford's face.

 

1) Spa. BEAUTIFUL part of a beautiful country. The best track on the F1 calendar by far. Easy to get in and out of the track. You can see a lot from your seats. We stayed about a 30 minute drive from the track in Tongeren and hardly anyone knew the race was even in town, which was nice because it wasn't a total tourist trap.

2) Montral. Very nice track, very easy to get into/out-of. I have a relative who lives in downtown Montreal, about 1/4 mile from the Metro. Drive to her house, park for free, take the Metro in. About 1 hour from when we left our hotel to when we arrived at the track. Almost as easy to get in-out as Spa.

3) Monza. Track is nice, but the logistics aren't very good. We figured it out by the last day - drive to the off-track parking and take the shuttle bus into the track. Track itself was behind the two above, but Milan and Italy in general is pretty cool, not nearly as nice as Belgium though, but more interesting as a tourist destination than Montreal, especially for an American where Canada us like USA-lite.


I haven't decided which race to do this year, it depends if the girlfriend wants to go. If she does, I am pushing hard for India or Japan, because I want to go to those places. She'll probably want Monaco, Spain or Abu Dhabi - blech. If it's just me and my brother, we will probably do Silverstone or Germany, and I was thinking of taking him to the Korean GP for his b-day.

I'm especially interested who went to Korea this year and how they rate it.

 

Damn...I've only been to one. 2004's version was the best for me. In the future, i will definitely make it a point to follow the F1 circus around

 

I have only been to Indy for 2 races. '05 & '06. I am not much for partying, so I liked it there. But I am glad it's not there. To Flat.

I can say that I went through Monaco 2 weeks before and 3 days after the race in '03. WOW! That place is awesome! Someday I will actually get there for the race.

 

Of course Bernie's attackers just wanted to know what time it was. I really liked Turkey with the experience of Istanbul counting as part of the package. If you mean just around the immediate track, it loses lots of points, but the last turn is just a great place to watch a race.

 

LOL! Would have been a great press release from Button!!

 

monaco is the undisputed number 1.

thereafter, i really enjoyed spa.
kuala lumpur is fun but hot.
hockenheim very boring.
nurburging (old circuit was great but took so long for the cars to get round you lost track of who was where...
nurburgring, new circuit, boring.
silverstone lots of fun, luffield complex for me.
brands, too small.
barcelona, dull, but well run.
monza fantastic atmosphere for tifosi !

 

7 out of 10: Been 3 times.

Nearly everything I could ask for, walk round the whole track, easy in and out shuttle bus sunshine included, great atmosphere night time or day, Las Ramblas, including entertainments ect, hotels ok, not to expensive overall not bad.

Just a great place to hang out.

Down side: Track not the best for overtaking, keep your hand on your wallet knocking around the city.