Want to go to Belgium, help

[Cos]

okay, rage got a question mainly for you because you have experience.

This may be the first/last change I ever get to see schumi drive. So I am actually considering flying out to watch the race. It would have to be belgium because Europe is off sale.

1.) What are the chances of him driving (has it actually been confrimed)

2.) How much am I looking for decent tickets (according to the website Silver 1's at Spa are $440.00)? What are Silver 1's get you compared to golds? What is the kangaroo (TV) thing you were talking about that one time?

3.) How much am I looking for everything else (remember I am a cracker so am not as fancy as you Flights and hotel, what is getting to the track like, I have a feeling it is madness.) I know I can use expedia for hotel and flights but just wondering about 'extra's'

4.) How long are you at the track for? Do you have time to tour around?

[rage2]

Originally posted by Cos
okay, rage got a question mainly for you because you have experience.

This may be the first/last change I ever get to see schumi drive. So I am actually considering flying out to watch the race. It would have to be belgium because Europe is off sale.

Awesome, I was thinking of doing the same thing for Valencia or Spa. I really wanna see Hamilton fight against Schumacher. Pretty fucking epic! Depending if I can sneak a few days off, I might be at one of those 2 races.

Originally posted by Cos
1.) What are the chances of him driving (has it actually been confrimed)

Pretty good. Massa was near death, there's no way he'll make it back into the car a week after Valencia. He's done for the season.

Originally posted by Cos
2.) How much am I looking for decent tickets (according to the website Silver 1's at Spa are $440.00)? What are Silver 1's get you compared to golds? What is the kangaroo (TV) thing you were talking about that one time?

About 425 euro for Gold 7 seats. Probably the best seats for Spa if you want to see passing. If you want to see just pure speed (but no passing), Gold 4 at Eau Rouge for the same price. That's for 3 days. You want the 3 day pass to get in on all the action. The silver ones you're kinda inbetween the action, that's the only problem.

Kangaroo TV is about 60 euros, or $100 for the weekend. I used it mostly for audio commentary in 1 ear, and when the cars weren't around your area, which will be a lot at Spa.

Originally posted by Cos
3.) How much am I looking for everything else (remember I am a cracker so am not as fancy as you Flights and hotel, what is getting to the track like, I have a feeling it is madness.) I know I can use expedia for hotel and flights but just wondering about 'extra's'

First off, I would highly recommend www.gptours.com for accomadations. Prices during F1 weekend in a shitty hotel costs around 260 euros, which is like $400cdn a night. GP Tours has a 3 night package for $1600cdn, which includes hotel, transportation to the track, and all sorts of other stuff to make life easy. Of course you can try to go and find a hostel, but you'll be paying a lot of $ to get to the track. I didn't do gptours (cuz I was staying for a week) and arranged everything on my own. I spent about 300 euros a day in round trip to the track PLUS 260 euros a night on hotels. Everyone there is out to rip you off during F1 weekends. Also, it's hard getting a taxi back on the last day, and I was lost, didn't speak spanish, and just walked for hours on end before I figured out how to get back to the hotel. Definately a shitty experience.

You'll be covered for nearly everything with gptours, except for food. Not a lot of "extras" to worry about.

Originally posted by Cos
4.) How long are you at the track for? Do you have time to tour around?

All day all 3 days. There's lots of racing to see, lots to buy. You're there early in the morning till late in the day. Bring sunscreen if you burn.

Realistically, you can do a F1 weekend at Spa for around $4500 if you spend wisely (flights, accomodations, travel, food, tickets, everything). I blew about $12k in a week ($8k for the 3 F1 days), but that included a LOT of nice restaurants for dinner and lots of drinking at night back in Barcelona haha. If I did gptours for the first 3 nights, I probably would've saved 2 grand.

[Cos]

^^^ cant even really come up with a response except for..... sick.

Thanks, Honestly I dont know how much of the track I will be watching, I think I just want the noise and atmosphere and if Spa is as big as I think it is, I will be pretty lost if I DONT buy a kangaroo. I am just too used to watching it on TV

Got a meeting at 6:00 tomorrow morning so am off to bed now but will check out GP tours tomorrow morning. Will have to for sure sort something out because I had the feeling I would be rapped.

Also I know how you feel about being lost and wandering. After 24 hours on the train I got myself locked in a secure area at Victoria train station in England, and they speak fucking english, so I could only imagine if you dont speak the language.

I will probably post/email you for more info. Thanks

B



edit: fuck it I cant sleep: check this shit out:

* Wed Aug 26th to Fri Aug 28th
* Tour #9027A
* Breakfast daily
* Backstage tour of Nürburgring
* Optional `Ride the Ring`
* Friday track transfer
* Limited Participation
* 2 nights for $975.00

Maybe I will try for Italy too, I cant arrange shit fast enough for Europe and Belgium seems to be filling up quick

[Mibz]

I kinda wish I'd held off a couple months on buying that engagement ring...

I might just take out a loan for this. I'd rather go to a later race where Schumi's gotten some experience and conditioning under his belt.

Italian Beyond meet?

[DJ Lazy]

Holy fucking hardcores!

I'm excited to see schumi battle Hamilton as much as the next guy, but no way I could justify paying that type of money... 12K rage?? even if you woulda saved 2k, that's still crazy for an F1 weekend.

[Mibz]

I told Vicky I wanted to go and she told me she'd leave me. I told her that's perfect because I'd be selling her engagement ring to afford it anyway.

[DJ Lazy]

Originally posted by Mibz
I told Vicky I wanted to go and she told me she'd leave me. I told her that's perfect because I'd be selling her engagement ring to afford it anyway.

... Win-Win?

[vtec4life]

HAHAHAHA thats what a real man says!!

[buh_buh]

You can do it for less than $4500. I went to Hockenheim last year and tacked on a 5 week vacation in Germany and Spain for about $6000 (including buying random shit like clothes and stuff). But I was slumming it (which I actually prefer), so you could probably spend more if you wanted to live more comfortably. If I was there just for the GP weekend, I could've gotten away with spending under $2000 all in. The only differences between the Gold, Silver, Bronze and Steel is just where you want to sit on the track. You don't get any extra amenities unless you're paying for the baller package, which give you access to the paddock all day everyday of the weekend.

I don't think you'd have much time to tour around during the GP weekend if you wanted to see the other events going on. I tried to be at the track as much as I could, so I was basically there fri-sun from 8am-5pm except for sunday when the F1 race is the last thing that happens that day. Hockenheim was also in the middle of nowhere, so commuting took about an hour each way everyday, so take that into account.

I'm sure its the same for all European GPs, but there's also GP2, Formula 3, and Porsche Cup, so if you wanted to, you could easily spend all day at the track for the entire weekend. If you go thursday, you can also meet the drivers in a paddock walk.

As for Kangaroo TV, I wouldn't say its essential if you have a seat facing a screen, which is very likely. There's still track commentary in English (if you can hear it over the cars), and you can still see timing screens, and anything that doesn't happen directly in front of you. But I'd say Kangaroo TV is worth it.

[rage2]

Flights alone are $1400. Impossible to do it for $2k, unless you buy a dirt seat and eat nothing the whole trip haha.

[max_boost]

Originally posted by Mibz
I told Vicky I wanted to go and she told me she'd leave me. I told her that's perfect because I'd be selling her engagement ring to afford it anyway.

Holy shit, fucking classic line right there. Because you are a MAN!

[buh_buh]

you can get a flight to London for $1000+tax, then catch an Easyjet flight for <200 (I flew from Madrid to Cologne for 24 Euros and from Munich to Barcelona for 60 Euros). GP tickets for $500, stay in cheap hotels (or hostel) and eat for $500 easy for 3 days.

[Pacman]

If you want to see Schumi and Hamilton actually battle it out, isn't it better to watch it at home on television?

I've been to the Montreal F1 numerous times and it's not easy to see what's going on with all the Ferrari fanboys standing and clapping every time a red car drives by.

[Hakkola]

Originally posted by buh_buh
you can get a flight to London for $1000+tax, then catch an Easyjet flight for &lt;200 (I flew from Madrid to Cologne for 24 Euros and from Munich to Barcelona for 60 Euros). GP tickets for $500, stay in cheap hotels (or hostel) and eat for $500 easy for 3 days.

You can get cheaper than that. I've bought flights to London then helsinki and back for $700+taxes and back during christmas.

Hell, I just checked round trip to London, found tickets for as low as $650 + tax after a 5 min search.

[buh_buh]

$1000+tax was a conservative guess based on Rage's prediction. So substantially less than $2000 is even possible.

[Trini]

Originally posted by Mibz
I told Vicky I wanted to go and she told me she'd leave me. I told her that's perfect because I'd be selling her engagement ring to afford it anyway.

fucking win

[Cos]

you guys are giving me way to much of a reason to do this.... lol

[buh_buh]

If you have the time and money, why wouldn't you Cos? Though if I were going, I'd rather take a couple more weeks off and travel around the Benelux/Germany area.

[Cos]

Originally posted by buh_buh
If you have the time and money, why wouldn't you Cos? Though if I were going, I'd rather take a couple more weeks off and travel around the Benelux/Germany area.

that is one reason why.... two is because we are looking at buying a house and didnt want to be 'house poor'.... whoops.

I may do it anyways

[Chris Elyea]

So, updates anyone? Anyone going to be the official Beyond.ca reporter at any of the remaining races?