Hungary or Spa for first timer

[paulwoof]

Finally looking at going to an F1 race, even if the on track action has been abit lame this season.

Looking at hungary or Spa. Will most likely be general admission looking at even the cheapest grand stand prices, Id rather find a nice grass hill to sit on.

I know SPA is popular for many people to travel to and would plan on driving, but thinking 3 day camping, The long trek around the circuit and unpredictable weather may be a bit much, And GA spots although good, It seems one of those, You have to be there very early to get your spot.

Seen people recommend Hungary a few times. The benefit of staying in Budapest and having an actual bed and travelling to the track each day would appear more manageable although GA spots a bit more restrictive and cant get round the full circuit.

anyone any suggestions/preferences.

[exelero]

Hungary if it was me. Much cheaper tickets and just cheaper in general, plus you get to visit Budapest as well which is a beautiful city. Careful with the taxi drivers though, they want to charge you extra so agree on the fee BEFORE the trip.

[chunder27]

Hungary I would imagine is much, much cheaper, less tossers in apparel looking to be seen on telly and importantly, less Dutch who will invade Belgium for the day, if you are short, be warned, they are not and can get fairly rowdy at times.

But in all honesty you could probably do Brno MotoGP far cheaper and enjoy it more, or Nurb 24 hours and enjoy it even more for less money, Hungary is often very hot too.

Your choice obviously.

[HardtopManual]

Spa 2010 was my first live GP. We camped. Our car was broken into and my camera stolen. It pissed it down for four days solid. I broke up with my then GF.

Still loved it.

[Mr Pointy]

Spa. Hungary is incredibly hot & often not a particularly good race. There are a couple of threads on here about camping or renting a motorhome close to the site.

[anonymous-user]

Hungary. Nicer environs, easier to get to, from and round circuit, cheaper and, even if race isn’t particularly exciting (of which there a good chance at any circuit), they look quick on the narrow track.

And, as said, much better weather probabilities.

[paulyv]

Spa was my first foreign GP in 2012, and Hungary my most recent last year. Both are excellent days out and undoubtedly Spa is the better track overall.

I recommend Hungary however - there will be less walking, more comfort, possibly less cash spent depending on how you do it. You will also get to see more of the race as it is a much smaller track. You may not get to see so much overtaking but first corner last year was excellent.

[Byker28i]

Spa, awesome. Don't camp, stay in a nice hotel and drive in.

[paulwoof]

looking at organizing hungary.

Does anyone have any experience on getting from the race track to the airport after the race? I understand there are official taxis.

Only flight back on the sunday is at 21:05, Race finish will be around 17:00 at the latest. Will it be feasable to get from the race track to the airport, Expecting length que times for taxis.

The other options is to walk 30ish minutes to the train station, Train back to city centre, Then either further train to airport or taxi from city centre.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Spa. History.

[Vaud]

My first GP was the British, which I found very disappointing.

Then I went to Monza... which I can highly recommend. You can stay in the Italian lakes, take the fast train into Milan and shuttle to the track. The peace of the lakes after the heat of the race is a great way to spend a weekend.

I have heard great things about the Hungarian event - stay in Budapest (great city) and book a cab each way.

(I know this doesn't directly answer the question posed)

[anonymous-user]

paulwoof said:

looking at organizing hungary.

Does anyone have any experience on getting from the race track to the airport after the race? I understand there are official taxis.

Only flight back on the sunday is at 21:05, Race finish will be around 17:00 at the latest. Will it be feasable to get from the race track to the airport, Expecting length que times for taxis.

The other options is to walk 30ish minutes to the train station, Train back to city centre, Then either further train to airport or taxi from city centre.

You should make it in time, the airport as I’m sure you’re aware is south of the circuit but getting a taxi to take you there, and not central Pest after the race might be a bit trickier. Your only option is taxi though. Leaving the circuit isn’t that hard but most travel terminals are in the same area, metro, shuttle bus etc, so pretty much everyone is going in the same direction. The other options will be take too long... Budget 200 Euro’s for the taxi to the airport.

If you can, stay Sunday night, summer evenings in the bars around Andrassy Ut are nice!

[Stedman]

HardtopManual said:

Spa 2010 was my first live GP. We camped. Our car was broken into and my camera stolen. It pissed it down for four days solid. I broke up with my then GF.

Still loved it.

Ace

[schmalex]

I would strongly recommend Abu Dhabi as an alternative. There’s something really cool about watching the race as the sun sets and you are much, much closer to the cars than many other circuits.

After about a dozen laps it all gets a bit mixed up live, so the whole thing becomes pretty tricky to follow unless you are opposite a big screen (of which there are many at AD)

[Norfolkit]

If you go to Hungary you won't have to slum it in GA, we went in 2015 and sat in the Bronze 1 grandstand, it was really cheap (by F1 standards), we paid around £70 for a 3 day ticket, can't see this years price as presumably sold out but they were around £80 if I remember correctly, great view over the chicane at the back of the circuit, lots of on track action going on there too. Don't believe what some people say about it being a boring track, the year we went was a fantastic race, the food at the track is really good and cheap too.

Much as I love Spa another thing to consider is that Hungary is 70 laps, Spa is 44, you get to see a lot more of the cars in Hungary.

[Norfolkit]

paulwoof said:

looking at organizing hungary.

Does anyone have any experience on getting from the race track to the airport after the race? I understand there are official taxis.

Only flight back on the sunday is at 21:05, Race finish will be around 17:00 at the latest. Will it be feasable to get from the race track to the airport, Expecting length que times for taxis.

The other options is to walk 30ish minutes to the train station, Train back to city centre, Then either further train to airport or taxi from city centre.

I would say taxi at the track is a no no, massive queues at the "taxi rank", train will be a much better bet but those straight after the race will be packed, I'd say 21.05 is pushing it a lot, 21.05 may be take off time but when does check in close? Make life easy stay overnight share a few beers with the very drunk but very friendly Danish fans (there'll be plenty to choose from) in one of the bars between the track and the station, have a nice evening out in Budapest and fly home on Monday.

[130R]

paulwoof said:

The benefit of staying in Budapest and having an actual bed

This

I loved going to the Hungary GP for this reason. Budapest has great night life.

[iRUSS3LL]

I'm heading over for the Hungary GP at the end of July. I'm driving over and stopping off at a few places on the way. I did the same last year.

Is anyone else driving over?