Off to Spa soon--any tips?

[LittleBigPlanet]

Hi all,

My brother (40s), Dad (early 70s) and I (very late 30s) will be driving to Spa for the F1 (arriving at our hotel in Aachen on Thursday evening). I've collated a list of things to bring, including some items to meet European road laws (warning triangle, UK stickers etc.), but I wondered if anyone wanted to share any hints or tips based on previous trips.

Our itinerary is roughly as follows (in case this helps):
-Thurs--catch Chunnel around 1100, arrive into Calais and drive to Aachen
-Fri--drive to circuit (we have parking) as early as we can (leaving around 0600 local time), drive back to hotel (~45 min journey but I'm waiting to be told that this will take three days with traffic)
-Sat--as above
-Sun--as above, after the race we drive to our hotel at the Nürburgring (about 60 mins usually)
-Mon--day at Nurburgring (tourist drive and ring taxi booked for public session starting 1700 local time), return to hotel (over the road)
-Tues--drive to Chunnel and return home

Specifically I'd welcome any comments on:
-Sites to see on the Monday (at Nurburgring)--I presume that the museum is worth a visit? As noted above, I have a Ring Taxi booked in the late afternoon so need to be back for 1600 local time
-Hints/tips or tricks that might make the other days run smoothly?
-Things to avoid?

Thanks PH!

[LittleBigPlanet]

HardtopManual said:

What tickets do you have?

"Gold 1 and Parking" for the three days

[LittleBigPlanet]

Thanks for the tips, all.

Rough plan is to head out to the museum and then try to trace the old track route until it's time for the Ring Taxi.

If you've anymore hints/tips, do share them here

[LittleBigPlanet]

To round this thread out (it's not often that the OP returns to augment after the fact):
-Eau rouge really has to be seen to be believed, the gradient and speed drivers' carry is unreal
-Spa is hilly and I found walking boots to be a great addition
-Spa can be (very) wet. Not packing waterproof trousers was a missed opportunity
-If one is parking at Spa, accept that it will take at least two hours to get out of the car park (read: field) each day. Professional traffic marshals do apparently not exist in Belgium (still, it gave us some time to grab some food and wait it out)
-Aachen (Germany) is a convenient place to stay--took around 1.5hrs to get to the Yellow car parking
-Be prepared to moan somewhat about the 'coins' system to buy food/drinks--it's a rip off but you just have to suck it up

Nurburgring
-Travelling onto the Nurburgring was a good plan, took roughly 3hrs (with 1.5 hrs of that being getting out of the car park)--the roads to/from Nurberg are great
-The museum (Autowerks) was worth a visit and, given the time of year, we received free grandstand tickets for the Nurburgring GP circuit (there were private sessions by a Lamborghini owners' club, as well as a GT series which was all Pagani--which sounded incredible, like F1 of old)
-Driving the Nordschleife (we used RSR for car rental and taxi lap) was worth every penny--I wish I'd signed up for more than a few laps! While somewhat damp, that helped to temper my right foot and control my (lack of) talent somewhat

I'd certainly go again, not least for another crack at the Nordschleife, despite the race not being the most thrilling.

[LittleBigPlanet]

dotty said:

LittleBigPlanet said:

To round this thread out (it's not often that the OP returns to augment after the fact):
-Eau rouge really has to be seen to be believed, the gradient and speed drivers' carry is unreal
-Spa is hilly and I found walking boots to be a great addition
-Spa can be (very) wet. Not packing waterproof trousers was a missed opportunity
-If one is parking at Spa, accept that it will take at least two hours to get out of the car park (read: field) each day. Professional traffic marshals do apparently not exist in Belgium (still, it gave us some time to grab some food and wait it out)
-Aachen (Germany) is a convenient place to stay--took around 1.5hrs to get to the Yellow car parking
-Be prepared to moan somewhat about the 'coins' system to buy food/drinks--it's a rip off but you just have to suck it up

Nurburgring
-Travelling onto the Nurburgring was a good plan, took roughly 3hrs (with 1.5 hrs of that being getting out of the car park)--the roads to/from Nurberg are great
-The museum (Autowerks) was worth a visit and, given the time of year, we received free grandstand tickets for the Nurburgring GP circuit (there were private sessions by a Lamborghini owners' club, as well as a GT series which was all Pagani--which sounded incredible, like F1 of old)
-Driving the Nordschleife (we used RSR for car rental and taxi lap) was worth every penny--I wish I'd signed up for more than a few laps! While somewhat damp, that helped to temper my right foot and control my (lack of) talent somewhat

I'd certainly go again, not least for another crack at the Nordschleife, despite the race not being the most thrilling.

The yellow car park was a shambles to get out of your right. Two hours ok Friday. We stayed in Maastricht and didn’t get there until 10pm. We managed to “blag” our way in to a vip car park on the Saturday and on the Sunday we dumped the car down a residential street about not too far from the track. The best bit was at the end of the race I took a punt on a back road and avoided all the traffic (route de neuville)

Well played! The car parking situation reminded me of Silverstone about 10 years ago--complete mayhem, no one taking control or with any experience managing such events. In any case, whilst it would have been nice to get back to our hotel a little earlier (the 40 min trip to Aachen took nearly four hours on the Friday evening), we just sat it out and had a rest.

I'd certainly go again (grandstand only, I'd not even consider GA due to the weather uncertainty) but make sure to book VIP parking or something similar, if available. I suspect we booked too late.