anyone know the figures? It looked empty to me on TV
No numbers, but it looked full to me as usual. The emtpy stands are in Indy turn 2 and 3 where they don't sell any tickets. I was curious about the supporting race/stuff: Can anyone who went there please comment on it? Was there any historic F1 cars, any Challenge races, any Porsche Cups? How big was the F1 paddock? Used to be gigantic, last year it was tiny. What about the vendor tents and showcars? How many left? When they started the USGP 5 years ago, basically every major team had a vendor tent and a showcar, there were historic F1 cars on display and racing and the F1 Paddock was many, many tents plus the usual pitlane. Last year all that was gone with a couple of vendor tents remaining, which is one of the reasons I gave up on the USGP this year. Was curious how it was this year.
It looked like the Paddock Stands, above the pits, were pretty empty..... The historic cars were there the first year, which was nice....
Wow. In my company I have heard of four people offered VIP tickets (to Ferrari!) and had to turn them down for time conflicts. Whereas I would give my left hand for one of those...
the attendance was just moved, cause they put seats in turn 6, and another grandstand in turn ten. those were both great moves, and they were filled. as far as historic cars, they had a parade with the drivers around the track in some old indy cars. they raced the porsche cup before f1, and after that they raced the formula bmw. i liked it better when they raced the cup, then the ferrari chalange. and i also thought it was kinda wierd to have the formula bmw after. all in all it was a pretty good race, interesting events during it, i would have loved to see rubens win though.
Definitely needed more support. This was my first time and was disappointed with the number of support races. Would liked to have had challenge cars or the LMP cars race. The races they did have were short 30-40 minute events, The highlight of the event for me was running into Schume, Sato, Briatore, and Bernie at a sushi bar. Didnt see R Dennis, but the other guy in charge(cant think of his name but is likely to be fired) along with other MC/Merc members were also there.
I read the attendance was 125,000 on race day. That is darn good for a European GP, but not so great for Indy with its low tickets. I believe when the race opened in its first year (5 years ago) it was somewhat over 200,000. Ever since attendance has been going down. Good news is though: Next year's GP will be combined with the Ferrari Club of America's national event. Basically one entire week of Ferrari happiness...
The other thing that has gotten smaller every year is the merchandise mall. As usual, the best stuff was found outside of the track. Interesting point: I was talking with one of the vendors who was selling strictly authentic used team gear and he mentioned how he wasn't able to display any tobacco-branded items even though he was across the street. FIA send inspectors around to make sure. Anything with tobacco on it had to be kept in back, out of sight.
I was having to explain that to gf as well, but Lucky Strike and Mild Seven COULD display because they have no other teams in NA market, is that correct???
Every European GP I've ever attended had HUGE crowds (way over 125k in my opinion), and I thought that was typical. Gary
I have been to six different European GPs and they were all hovering around 100k, some less, some more. So 125k would be a good sized GP in Europe.
HI guys, One of the things I noticed was that there was a big empty (ok, sparsely populated) area between the grandstands and Section H (roughly). I could not see this sitting in our seats (H row 2), but watching the replay Sunday night I noticed it. Maybe the two new stands pulled people out of there? Friday was all but deserted but by Saturday afternoon, it was pretty crowded. I wonder how crowded it was for the Pit Stroll on Thursday. There never has been (hardly) any folks sitting on the pit side on the front straight in any year. No historic F1 cars :0( No Challange Cars :0( No Speed Channel Girls :0( I posted a question on another thread about the reason why there is no Challange or Hist. F1 cars as I had heard rumblings that it was all Tony G's fault. I got no takers. Anybody care to comment? Aloha! Jim
Thanks for the update. That's kinda what I thought it would be like. What a shame compared to its first running. I liked the historic F1 cars just as much as the modern ones. The Challenge series kinda cut itself short by its high participation price so I'm not even sure it is run anymore in the US. As far as Indy goes, yup, Tony George (the man who killed single seater open wheel road racing in the US) stopped Ferrari Challenge cars from racing on his holy ground. His argument was, that it was not serious racing because of all the rich "Sunday afternoon gentlemen" drivers doing it. There is a piece of truth in that, but anybody who ever watched these guys go flat out through Indy turn 1 inches away from the concrete in their quarter million Ferrari in the wet, has to bow his head to them. What killed the historic "race" I don't know. Probably money as well. A few years ago, there was a strong push to build a series for historic F1 racing in the US, but that fizzled along with the dot com bubble.
Andreas, I think the head count was close to last year perhaps a little bit less. The Turn 6 and turn 10 stands did make the main grand stands look less full. The only bad part of the new stands is the lack of a TV screen but you are a lot closer to the track than you are in the main stands. Also in the turn 6 area there was 2 holes cut in the fence plus a gap in the fence to shoot photos from. once the word got out about this Photographers hill was less crowded this year
I must be unlucky. I've been to Monaco and Silverstone and the crowds were way over 100k both times. Gary
Silverstone is certainly way beyond the 100k limit. I'd be surprised if they could fit even 100,000 onto the stands in Monaco. However you mention crowds, so that might be right: There are a lot of people watching the race without buying an official ticket. As the Monaco folks say: For the race weekend you either stay or get the hell out of town.
Andreas- Even with the new stands they added this year, I agree that 100,000 fans wouldn't fit at Monaco. As you know though, the balconies of every nearby building are full, as are many hotel and apartment rooftops, restaurant terraces, etc., etc., not to mention the kids up on the Rock, so I'd readily believe that there are more than 100,000 people watching (mostly at great expense) from somewhere in town. Ira
I was there the first year and also thought the Challenge cars offered a great addition... Met Dr. Steve Earle as well as many of the drivers, the wife of one the drivers was seated by me in the stands talking to her husband on the phone! Sarah was her name IIRC, and I met her husband after he ran the race! Great gentlemen, all.... I made my way back into their pit area, and got some great shots! They should bring that feature back, IMO.
To me by sight there were less fans than last year. My friend Greg heard on the track radio that it was the 2nd largest crowd next to the first year. I'll have to find the actual stats somewhere. The Turn 6 and 10 terraces were awesome seats and 100% full, they just need a TV screen to be perfect. I would rather be at the start finish as we were and have a screen. Turn 1 - H and J are still my favorite seats. About the same or just a little less memorabilia than last year. I actually spent less than $30 total. I had money too! Just didn't want to deal with the crowds and I guess I already have plenty of Ferrari stuff. Support races were so so, I would also like to have the Challenge series back. A pro Spec Miata race would be great, but then everyone would see how exciting it is to watch and they would loose all the F1 fans. Cool to see Juan's brother race Formula BMW and American Patrick Long in the Porsche Cup. The pit girls were just awesome! Ruben's girl was just off the scale. Overall just a great weekend, one of my favorites of the year. Great people and great racing. One note is how many less internationals there were this year (specifically Columbians). At first I thought it was the time of year, but it's probably just the high oil prices and cost of plane tickets. Or maybe they realized that Juan is just an *******. It was good to find out he was just DQd and didnt quit on his own, thats what everyone in the stands thought until we heard later.
