Santa Pod advice please.

[shentodj]

Thinking of going to Santa Pod at Easter and wanted to take advantage of the communal advice from Pistonheads. I'd be taking a wife with a bad back (so walking long distance is a problem), and a 7yr old.

Parking - how far from parking to Grandstand?
How far between drag strip and where they do the monster trucks etc?
Is it worth paying for Hospitality (extra £70quid each)?

Thanks in advance,
Shentodj

[gazza_3]

shentodj said:

Thinking of going to Santa Pod at Easter and wanted to take advantage of the communal advice from Pistonheads. I'd be taking a wife with a bad back (so walking long distance is a problem), and a 7yr old.

Parking - how far from parking to Grandstand?
How far between drag strip and where they do the monster trucks etc?
Is it worth paying for Hospitality (extra £70quid each)?

Thanks in advance,
Shentodj

Last time I went there I got stuck in the pissing mud . I think they have re-done the car park now. The car park is like a second walk from the grandstand. Its not far to the monster trucks. Also, No.

[CarlT]

Don't be under any illusions that Santa Pod has the facilities / amenities that you may find at Silverstone, Brand Hatch etc !

[That Daddy]

CarlT said:

Don't be under any illusions that Santa Pod has the facilities / amenities that you may find at Silverstone, Brand Hatch etc !

Cant be worse than in the early eighties

[Furyous]

If your wife is wheelchair bound, there is now a proper concrete ramp that will bring you up the spectator bank about half strip.
The monster trucks will then be behind you, literally.

VIP gives a very good view of the startline, as you are elevated, but the seating is only plastic chairs.

Ive not noticed any invalid toilets at the pod.

If your wife "only" has a bad back, then I would suggest take your own seats and sit in the spectator bank for free, as the stands are on the opposite side of the track, and a bit of trek.

Be warned, if you want to peruse the pits (absolute necessity in my eyes), you will walk bloody miles, I always get home shagged out after a day at the pod.

Take your own food and drink and plenty of warm clothes and sensible shoes.

That said, it is several million years ahead of how it was in the 80's.

Edited by Furyous on Saturday 14th March 22:21

[Benni]

Hi Dave,
I cannot find the site plan on www.santapod.com ,
but there also is a "family camping" area
which is quieter than the other camping area, especially at night.
It is located farther away from the strip on the Pit Side/Grandstand side,
so if you want to sit/stand/watch from the (free) banking,
you must walk all the way around the back of the starting area.
This can easily amount to one mile, one way.
If you decide to sit on the grandstand plastic seats,
they are 8 pounds daily AFAIK, and bring a cushion for more comfort.
There are also disabled (DIXI) toilets, ask at the entrance where they are.
I wish you good weather and great races,
Benni
P.S.:
If you have ear protectors in your workshop, bring them,
especially for your kid, it may be noisy watching (and also in the pits).

[venom racing]

Morning from the snake pit. If you do manage to make it round to the pits and your wife needs a sit down then pop into Venoms snake pit and we will make sure you get a decent cuppa and as long as were not to busy get your son sitting in the car. I think if your wifes back is bad then a wheel chair may be a good option to make sure you manage to get round to see all the cars. Hope you have a great weekend,
Da Snake.

[kestral]

Furyous said:

If your wife is wheelchair bound, there is now a proper concrete ramp that will bring you up the spectator bank about half strip.
The monster trucks will then be behind you, literally.

VIP gives a very good view of the startline, as you are elevated, but the seating is only plastic chairs.

Ive not noticed any invalid toilets at the pod.

If your wife "only" has a bad back, then I would suggest take your own seats and sit in the spectator bank for free, as the stands are on the opposite side of the track, and a bit of trek.

Be warned, if you want to peruse the pits (absolute necessity in my eyes), you will walk bloody miles, I always get home shagged out after a day at the pod.

Take your own food and drink and plenty of warm clothes and sensible shoes.

That said, it is several million years ahead of how it was in the 80's.

Edited by Furyous on Saturday 14th March 22:21

From the wheelchair ramp(far end of Banking)Pits are approx 600yards.

[shentodj]

Thanks very much for all your help/advice. I'm sure it'll prove very useful.
My wife isn't in a Wheelchair, but currently has a damaged coccyx which restricts her mobility. The advice about cushions for the plastic chair may be particularly apt!

Thanks too to Tony (Snake) for invite to pits. If we spot you, we'll definitely come and say hello. Good luck for the weekend.

Still keen to hear if anyone has used the Hospitality and whether it is worth the money?

Thanks again,
Shentodj (Dave)

[Furyous]

Aerial pic of the Pod

Right, open this linky up.

Imagine a clock face overlaid onto it. The startline is at 12 o clock.

As a pedestrian, you will walk into the pic at around 7 o clock, and the ramp up the bank is at 9 o clock.

To access the pits, which are at 3 o clock and round, you have to walk right round the startline and back down.Which I seem to manage to do 4/5/6 times per day whilst at a major.

If you zoom into the startline, the hospitality suites are right and left of the gantry that crosses the startline.

Apart from an elevated and fairly close view, Im not sure the Vip deal is VFM, but have no experience of it.

Would this be your first visit ?

If so, try and economise initially, if you get hooked, you WILL be back.

A lot.

Trust me.

HTH

Edited by Furyous on Sunday 15th March 15:17

[veryoldfart]

Priority items:-

wellies
money
ear defenders
bog roll
raincoat
sun cream
money
beer
food
sleeping bagsssssss
money
imodium
nurofen (worst place on the planet to have a headache, trust me)

dont blame anyone here if it turns into a 25 year habit like for some of us...

Edited by veryoldfart on Sunday 15th March 15:39

[snakehips]

And the last you went was...

[kestral]

veryoldfart said:

Priority items:-

wellies
money
ear defenders
bog roll
raincoat
sun cream
money
beer
food
sleeping bagsssssss
money
imodium
nurofen (worst place on the planet to have a headache, trust me)

dont blame anyone here if it turns into a 25 year habit like for some of us...

Edited by veryoldfart on Sunday 15th March 15:39

Sun cream? more like Snow shoes if last year is anything to go by.

[tony g]

Shentodj I have been using the hospitality for about 5 years now usually for the FIA events and it is ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT. Sorry to shout but after 20 odd years of going to the pod and walking my legs off and trying to get a view from the ever busier banking and pit areas its a luxury for sure.
If you go VIP as its called you get access to all the days of the meeting so you can have the usual viewing/walking options on the other days, then when you get up to the vip on the final day it will all become clear!

The noise when above the cars from the vip is truly awesome and very very loud as the pipes on the dragsters and funny cars and pro mods are now facing you! Definately take ear defenders esp for the young 'un. When it gets cold or wet you can sit inside the cabin on reasonable seats and still view the action through the window. Theres tea and coffee on all day at no extra cost and lunch in the vip marquee (with some of the drivers/teams in there too) and of course a dvd playing of .... yes you guessed, drag racing!

If you can spend the money to do it you need to experience it but dont blame me if you then decide to keep going vip for the rest of your life lol

Tony

[WJM]

Also given the back problem the VIP ticket includes a seperate car park with a lift to the startline area which vastly reduces the amount of walking. The disabled car park {if you have a sticker} is also near the startline and would make a big difference in the distance walked.

Bill

[veryoldfart]

if the sun comes out at all/ever at SPR the shock can kill, its either sunburn, windburn, hypothermia or die of boredom looking at the van roof (inside) while it rains, never any "average weather" at SPR...

[the mechman]

tony g hows it going mate i didnt know you posted on hereon the drag racing forum .at the end of the day the vip gig is the only way to go for sure, okay it may seem a lot of bread to some folk but if you do the vip startline vip deal you wont want to go to the pod again unless your doing vip! ! without a doubt if you do the vip startline , you wont want to spectate anywhere else on the property again ,i cant relay how good this deal is its a once done you will never ever go to the pod again and not do vip ! like tony g said the header pipes are blastig up at you and you get the best view you could ask for
its awesome fantastic to br honest i cant think of a word to discribe how good the vip startline stand is .
the only minus points i can give for anyone thinking of doing the starline vip is ,if you are not fit or wheel chair bound you are fked for defo the only way up to the startline vip balcony/grandstand is up a very steep stairway like a fire escape ,so you got no chance in a wheel chair or if you were unable to tackle a steep set of stairs im sure the pod are well aware of this problem and i think personaly they need to address this problem as it is bound to stop folk who might have mobility problems taking advantage of the vip deal .
as this is a public forum another problem i think is fair to warn anyone who might be thinking of going for the vip startline deal .
the last two years that i have done the vip deal there have been obviously paying punters or other wise they would not be there ! but there have been a party of what can i say "paying punters" maybe who have been on the startline vip stand and who have got totoaly rat arsed ,swearing , just being toal pricks /well bkexed ,wrecked what ever you want to call it and this has been a real downer to what you want when your spectating especially when you take your missus and kids .
these guys have spoilt our visit on the last two times we went vip and i have no doubt they have spoilt it for other fol kwho have shelled out a lot of money to do this vip deal so what im trying to say is ,if your easily offended dont go vip if you can hack it go for it ,
i hope someone from the pod reads this post and takes note of this problem because if the problem of drunken aholes who dont give a fk about drag racing and who are only doing the vip deal as a freebee/perk or for what ever reason they are there if this carry on the pod is going to loose any folk who are willing to pay the premium for the vip tickets because they know they are going to have to put up with aresholes spoiling the day for eveyone

[veryoldfart]

shentodj said:

Thinking of going to Santa Pod at Easter and wanted to take advantage of the communal advice from Pistonheads. I'd be taking a wife with a bad back (so walking long distance is a problem), and a 7yr old.

Parking - how far from parking to Grandstand?
How far between drag strip and where they do the monster trucks etc?
Is it worth paying for Hospitality (extra £70quid each)?

Thanks in advance,
Shentodj

from the "day parking" to the grandstand is almost 1/2 mile, down the entrance/main road, through the food/beer area, around the rear of the B**n (RIP) and around the staging areas, and through the market stalls...

[veryoldfart]

[Furyous]

Good pic, I couldn't find one to post up.