British GP - M40 park & Ride

[L888DER]

I'm a newbie to the F1 race meeting scene and wondered what time I should aim to get to the GP? I'm taking a mate and we are huge fans, anyone know what time it opens??

[Cheese Mechanic]

The full details should be with your tickets.

I cannot give you the details...as my son has them.

[L888DER]

All my research states 2.00am the park & ride opens with first bus leaving at 4.30am, I just wanted to know a "good time" to aim for.

[williamp]

I have done the P&R to the circuit. You park in Northamptons retail park, and get any bus from there.

Now timing. What is your ticket? If its for a grandstand, then you can arrive wne you want and you'll be guaranteed a seat. If you dont have you will need to find a spot then we got there early- aimed for 6am. The track was busy, but we could find the space we wanted. Put up our chairs, then went to sleep for a bit!

If you are choosing a spot, try to make sure you can see a big screen too. Having the cars in front of you, this and the radio (take radio plus headphones) helps a lot.

Whgatever, its annoying that everyone chooses a spot where they can watch the race sitting down....then the people at the front decide to stand for the race. This means that the poeple behind them have to stand. And the people behind them. And....

[Chrisgr31]

At Le Mans despite having grandstand tickets I found I had to stand. Mainly because the seats in the front row of the gradstand were not high enough to see over the heads of the people standing in front of it without standing up. So those in the front row had to stand. Result everyone had to stand!

[L888DER]

I do have grandstand tickets so should be ok, do u know the frequency of the buses???

[Sir Bagalot]

L888DER said:

I do have grandstand tickets so should be ok, do u know the frequency of the buses???

Buses leave when they're full, and loads of buses are available. When you get near the circuit you will hit traffic and my suggestion would then be if you're not too far away is to ask the driver to let you off and walk. Make sure you know where to pick the bus up for the way back.

[williamp]

Interesting idea. The bus driver wouldnt let us off! He was also very polite- anyone driving on the A46 wanting to push in he let, which made is very frustrating.

You;ve got a grandtsand ticket, so dont worry about times. I would aim to get to Northampton for 8am ish, getting you to the circuit with enough time to walk around, buy some stuff and get sorted. Enjoy it, and dont foeget the suncream/waterproofs, as I have been sunburnt and wet through on the same day before!

Usually the busses will drop you off/pick up from middle-right on this map:

http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/~mark/blog/blog_files/ph...


"coach park 49/P&R drop off/collection"

If you have tickets for (say) Stow, its a long walk from there- give at least 20 mins, more if its busy/you wnat to stop en route and watch the track action.

[Sir Bagalot]

If the bus driver won't let you off then wait for the bus to stop in traffic and simply leave via the emergency exit!!