More Rip Off Britain

[Chassis 33]

From http://www.usgpindy.com/schedule/
Friday, June 15 Practice - Tickets $10 per person
Saturday, June 16 Qualifying - Tickets $20 per person
Sunday, June 17 Race Day - Tickets starting at $60 per person

From http://www.silverstone.co.uk/php/rm_britishGP.php
'Fan' ticket for race day £99, giving you free entry on Friday and Saturday, even so general admission is twice as expensive...Because it's Silverstone...


I'll wager food is a fair bit cheaper at circuites on the other side of the pond compared to the UK. How come we always end up paying thru the nose?
Regards
Iain

[Fidgits]

The main reason is popularity.

Have a looked at ticket prices for the Indy 500 or Datona and compare that to the British GP.

[lord summerisle]

yip, some one was asking me about it - found you could have a trip to spa + a 3 day GA ticket to the GP for the cost of just going into silverstone

[Marc W]

I asked the circuit a few years back why they had made the event 3 day tickets only. They replied that all events could only sell 3 day tickets because Bernie had told them to, which was quite cleary rubbish! I've not bothered going since 2003.

[gwood]

Chassis 33 said:

From http://www.usgpindy.com/schedule/
Friday, June 15 Practice - Tickets $10 per person
Saturday, June 16 Qualifying - Tickets $20 per person
Sunday, June 17 Race Day - Tickets starting at $60 per person

From http://www.silverstone.co.uk/php/rm_britishGP.php
'Fan' ticket for race day £99, giving you free entry on Friday and Saturday, even so general admission is twice as expensive...Because it's Silverstone...


I'll wager food is a fair bit cheaper at circuites on the other side of the pond compared to the UK. How come we always end up paying thru the nose?
Regards
Iain

at the begining of the season i looked at price for f1 weekend tours and it was cheaper to goto spain for 8 days than silverstone for 4 days both with half board hotels and travel by coach

Edited by gwood on Sunday 17th June 21:02

[LocoBlade]

To be fair I dont think Silverstone's prices have gone up really, and if you include the Friday / Saturday admission theyve come down because I went nearly 10 years ago and IIRC paid nearly £90 for general admission just for the Sunday.

[egomeister]

LocoBlade said:

To be fair I dont think Silverstone's prices have gone up really, and if you include the Friday / Saturday admission theyve come down because I went nearly 10 years ago and IIRC paid nearly £90 for general admission just for the Sunday.

Last time I paid to go (8 or so years ago) it cost about £175 for Sat/Sun general admission, centre transfer on saturday and a programme so £99 for 3 days seems decent in comparison!!

[andyuk911]

the £99, only gives you access on the outside ring, they could so easily open up the centre a bit more.

Also I would like to pop along on a Friday but not attend race day .. so they loose any money from me...

[LocoBlade]

Yep I didnt realise they no longer sold Friday or Saturday only tickets, bit of a shame as even though every single Sunday ticket comes with 3 day access, you're never going to get more than a fraction of those people coming through the gates on a Friday especially, so its a real waste barring those who are willing to pay for a Friday ticket on that basis.

[rubystone]

I like to think that it's what is necessary for the BRDC to claw back BCE's exorbitant fees, but have no way of knowing that for sure.

£99 isn't too bad - a neighbour paid £137 per ticket to see George Michael the other week...Your £99 Silverstone ticket buys you a Satus Quo concert (or it did last year)

[Marc W]

andyuk911 said:

the £99, only gives you access on the outside ring, they could so easily open up the centre a bit more.

Also I would like to pop along on a Friday but not attend race day .. so they loose any money from me...

Exactly what I'd like to do, its idiotic that we can't.

[Composite Guru]

Chassis 33 said:

From http://www.usgpindy.com/schedule/
Friday, June 15 Practice - Tickets $10 per person
Saturday, June 16 Qualifying - Tickets $20 per person
Sunday, June 17 Race Day - Tickets starting at $60 per person

From http://www.silverstone.co.uk/php/rm_britishGP.php
'Fan' ticket for race day £99, giving you free entry on Friday and Saturday, even so general admission is twice as expensive...Because it's Silverstone...


I'll wager food is a fair bit cheaper at circuites on the other side of the pond compared to the UK. How come we always end up paying thru the nose?
Regards
Iain

That because they have to get the Yanks to go somehow. F1 is not a very well viewed motorsport in the states so the have to make it attractive to them. They prefer to watch cars racing round in circles smashing into each other!!

I've been to Indy with the team (well Jaguar anyhow) and the grandstands are empty (other than the main straight), i was told that they are full up when the 500 is on though.

This is me back in 2002.

Edited by Composite Guru on Monday 18th June 07:28

Edited by Composite Guru on Friday 22 June 13:20

[anonymous-user]

the main grandstand opopsitie the pits was barely 1/2 full no sunday though it was almost full on saturday.

[egomeister]

pablo said:

the main grandstand opopsitie the pits was barely 1/2 full no sunday though it was almost full on saturday.

Does anyone know what kind of attendance Indy got overall on race day? I think it can be a bit deceptive there as the circuit has a capacity of around 400,000 (250k odd in the outer grandstands alone!) I think Silverstone has a capacity or approximately 80-90k....

[LocoBlade]

The fact that there were free seats despite the bargain basement ticket price tells you all you need to know about why its far cheaper over there than here. Supply and demand.

[TripleS]

I can remember when we could go to Silverstone for the British GP, and a ticket costing no more than a fiver would get you in on race day (which used to be a Saturday) and it would admit you to the practice* days on Thursday and Friday.

The same used to apply at the Daily Express Trophy meeting held in April, in which most of the F1 teams participated; and there used to be a full supporting programme of races for F3, saloons, sports cars, GT cars, etc.

In similar vein there also used to be the Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting held around October each year for F1 cars as a wind-down event after the serious (well, such as it was in those days!) F1 business was more or less completed for the season.

• none of this Yankee 'qualifying' business!

It seems odd to me that although everything is now hugely more expensive than it used to be, the degree of enjoyment provided for the paying public has not actually improved, and may even have declined - and I certainly wouldn't want to try and cope with traffic conditions getting into a major event these days. They'd have to pay me to do that!

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[Skyedriver]

Ridiculously expensive just like football and most other sports nowerdays
Watch it on TV: better view, comfy seat, go for a pee without losing your place.....F1 is so tiresome these days anyway can't see a reason to watch it. More excitement at a conker competition...a lot more

[entropy]

Didn't realise it was so cheap, the strong pound not withstanding, looks like a good excuse to visit Indy!

[Dr JonboyG]

Composite Guru said:

Chassis 33 said:

From http://www.usgpindy.com/schedule/
Friday, June 15 Practice - Tickets $10 per person
Saturday, June 16 Qualifying - Tickets $20 per person
Sunday, June 17 Race Day - Tickets starting at $60 per person

From http://www.silverstone.co.uk/php/rm_britishGP.php
'Fan' ticket for race day £99, giving you free entry on Friday and Saturday, even so general admission is twice as expensive...Because it's Silverstone...


I'll wager food is a fair bit cheaper at circuites on the other side of the pond compared to the UK. How come we always end up paying thru the nose?
Regards
Iain

That because they have to get the Yanks to go somehow. F1 is not a very well viewed motorsport in the states so the have to make it attractive to them. They prefer to watch cars racing round in circles smashing into each other!!

I've been to Indy with the team (well Jaguar anyhow) and the grandstands are empty (other than the main straight), i was told that they are full up when the 500 is on though.

This is me back in 2002.

Edited by Composite Guru on Monday 18th June 07:28

It's not really fair to say the stands are empty. I've been to the USGP the last three years, and attendance has always been over 100,000. I'd guess that it was about 150,000 this year. That's a load more than you'd ever get at Silverston, and it's one of the most highly attended races on the calendar. At least it's not like China or Malaysia or Bahrain where the governments have to pay locals to turn up. It's just that the place can hold 300,000 for the oval races.

But the British GP has always been a total rip off. It was cheaper for me to go to Monaco, including flights, back in 2000 than it would have been to have a grandstand seat at Silverstone.

[anonymous-user]

you are not comparing apples with apples though. the f1 in america is not the race in most demand for tickets, that would be the indy 500 whereas in the UK, obviously the british gp is the race that everyone wants to go to. supply and demand, simple as that. the commentator at testing was reminding everyone that the three day GA tickets had all gone and there were only a few grandstand tickets left for race day.