Canadian Grand Prix 2008

bought mine. can't wait, will drive up from NYC

 

F1 = greed. Those better be good seats for that price. This is one of many reasons we find sports cars more appealing. We get to see real racing with Ferraris, full track access, covered grandstand across from the pits, paddock acccess, driver autograph sessions, fantastic support races (European Ferrari Challenge - both divisions) and 24 hours of racing at Spa for 60€ per person for the weekend. LMS (four classes running at same time - LMP1, LMP2, GT1 & GT2) race at Monza is similar in all ways to FIA-GT at Spa but we get the "Discovery Package" for $150€ per person for the weekend and get VIP parking, gourmet lunch both days, Classic endurance races, Formula Renault, and others. Perhaps it's time to consider the other side of racing???

Carol

 

A season pass to Mid-Ohio is $235. Includes pit access and infield parking.

 

F1 is not the only greedy group, my season tickets to the losing Miami Dolphins is $5000/seat for seven games ($700+/game). Thankfully I sell them to a diehard fan every year.

 

OT but there will never be a Dolphin team as great as the Grease, Csonka, Warfield day's.

 

You get what you pay for.

The top of motorsports costs top dollars. As simple as that.

If I want to save $$$ I can watch go kart races at our local track for free.

 

Wow Andreas look at your post count just in time for xmas..20k...

 

Congrats Andreas !!!!!

Damn, I was late in contacting them and now section 7 and 6 (singles only) in Stand 12 are gone as are 1,2,3 in 11. Senna is the best imho ...25 seconds of viewing time plus the start/finish ...

 

Got mine Friday afternoon at 4:35 level 1 section 1 Row H Not bad who else will be there!

 

Looking at Stands 33 and 34,,how are they? Also does anyone know what hotel the Ferrari team stays at? What are some of the hotels the F-chatters stay at?

First time Canadian GP attendee so please forgive my numerous ????. Thanks!

 

Ferrari stays at the St. james.

 

I have ordered tickets. Myself and at least one other F-chattter will be driving our Ferrari up from Detroit.
Have not mede room rservations yet. Where is everyone else staying?

The Canadian brothers had made some recomendations:

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=175182

 

A giant bunch of us from New England are heading up together. Sitting in Grandstand 34, in the hairpin, staying at a hotel together too. May have a couple of ticket/hotel packages left, PM me if interested...

vty,

--Dennis

 

our gang is back in Grandstand 12, section 6 again this year. Will be drving up with the 355 from MA. Staying at the Hilton again for the same price as last year.

Theo

 

I stay at the Hotel Place dArmes, same as Redbull (they have the prettest girls!).

 

how much per night?

 

Intercontinental is next door. Small gym, nice bar. Nice spot located close to Metro in Old Montreal.

 

next training period F1 in Valencia Spain circuit, around 10/15€...

not the same value, not the same spectacle, but it s for all day.

 

We don't have Bernie to blame for that - I think the current administration should take a little blame. Six years ago you got $1.32 Canadian for one US dollar.

 

didn't call the hotels, but online there seems to be no rooms for the st james or intercontinental.

 

I would agree with you except it's not a particularly level playing field. I bought tickets for Monza. I was going to go to the start/finish line but it was 850 euro PER ticket - almost $1,000. Now, Bernie keeps raising his prices to the track. As long as he can get that money from someone else (like a country who will subsidize it - i.e. Turkey, China, Bahrain, India and many others) then he will keep taking more and more - as much as he can. The problem however is that many of the "traditional" races like Monza, Spa, Germany and others must come up with somewhat equal funds and since the governments aren't subsidizing the races, they need to find that money somewhere else. That means obscene ticket prices. And that means many of the "real" fans who support F1 year after year can't afford to go because people in China and Bahrain, for whom F1 is a curiosity, will go instead.

From a completely capitalist standpoint there's nothing wrong with this. From the standpoint of a real fan who wants to see the race, it really sucks.

 

Hecklestone has repeatedly warned that the historic venue Silverstone is in danger of losing the British Grand Prix.

Like you say Mike as long as there are other country's prepared to pay for F1, he will use it to bargin with, Historic value means nothing to him Cash/Dollars is the only speak Bernie know's and he is a master at that ,for good or bad debateable it's us that pay through the bloody nose though.

 

As with the US GP.

 

Spot on.

But tuttebenne is right too:

Without starting a political debate it was/is Bush's official plan to lower the value of the dollar so the country can export more. He managed and it helps the economy, downside is, that travel abroad for us has become insanely expensive.

True, but that's not so much because of economics, but because he deals with a stubborn BRDC which is very reluctant to bring the track up to modern specs. Instead of building bigger and better grandstands for the true fans, they built themselves a pompous club house. Only recently - thanks to Bernie's pressure - have they started to improve the infrastructure of the track as well.

Not quite true: Ecclestone has said it and it probably is written down somewhere in one of his FOM contracts, that the nucleus of the classic GPs can not be touched: The numbers fluctuate slightly but around 5 historic GPs is what is defined as a permanent cornerstone of F1 so the series does not loose its roots. Just as F1 couldn't exist without Ferrari, the race calendar must have Monaco, Monza, a British, a French and a German GP. Bernie is in it for the money, but he is smart enough to realize that e.g. a solely Asia based F1 series wouldn't attract European fans and companies anymore.

PS: I'm not sure the US fans fully understand what they lost when the GP went away: Those USGP prices were absolute bargains compared to what fans have to pay elsewhere. I kept one of those "Admit one" ticket stubs for a practice day. It was something like ten bucks. You pay more at Monza just to park your car. If the GP ever returns I'd be willing to pay Euro prices for my seats. It would still be lots cheaper as I can travel by car instead of plane and pay for everything in my own currency.