So here's my problem. Going to Malaysian grand prix but not sure which seats are best. I'm not sure whether to spend my money oh a a half decent grandstand seat or buy a cheap hills stand ticket and rent a kangaroo tv set. Has anyone here used the set, and is it worth it at 75 euros for the weekend. If i don't get the kangaroo I can afford a better seat, but I've checked out the circuit before at a motogp race and grandstand seats weren't that brilliant. Any advice?

i can only speak for myself, but a KangarooTV device comes in handy! Even though i had very good seat in spa (eau rouge) I enjoyed the device!

Yep, Kangaroo is great.

As far as the seats go, I'd pick the seats that allows you too see the most track. I've had grandstand seats opposite the start at Silverstone, and as exciting as the start is, it's over in seconds and then they are god awful place to watch the rest race.

I've never hired the Kangaroo TV myself, but have had a look at them in use. IMHO they are not worth the extra cost.

Kangaroo TV is a must for race weekends! The amount of information and different radio feeds is worth it alone. My advice would be to go halves with someone and share the headphones, it'll be a darn sight cheaper!

Just make sure that you don't just stick to watching the action on the screen as you might as well stay at home and watch it on the TV!

Thanks for the replies, so had a look at a hillstand seat at the fast chicane, turn 5/6. From there i have a Giant tv and a view of the cars through turns 5/6 plus a nice view of the backstraight and final corner. Most of the grandstands seats only have a view of one corner, and the seats on the main staight are rubbish, because you have a very limited view.

Thanks again guys, much appreciated.

Oh and just for clarification two people can share one Kangaroo set right?

Yep, they only have one headphone socket though, so take a spare pair of earphones and two into one socket adaptor e.g.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=34198

I hired one last year and thought it was great. Even though we had a big screen in front of us it still came in very useful.
It gives you a choice of commentaries to listen to (we were in Valencia and were able to listen to BBC radio 5 live, great! ), you
can have all the live timing on the screen, follow on-board cameras, tell it to give you updates about your favourite driver and much more.

Definitely hiring one again this year.

Okay, thanks for the info, so thats a yes for the Kangaroo set then.

Cheers guys.

My sister and I had one at the French GP in 2008-worth the price, for sure. They sell extra earphones at the kisok where you pick up the unit.
We had timing and scoring tuned in on our unit-we drew the line at watching video of the race while the cars were there running right in front of us! English broadcast was BBC radio coverage of the race.
You could see on the timing as battles started to shape up on the track.
Also good for letting you know about penalties.
A great help to the race experience.

Reserve in advance and you do save a bit of money than just getting it at the track. It's well worth it and can't imagine doing a GP without one. Have fun!

I've been to every Malaysian G.P, sat in every grandstand. Buy tickets to the Tower, it's a very unique experience to a Grand Prix.

Handy indeed.





Happy race viewing
Jp

When we were at Belgium in '07 the Kangaroo device we had could pick up a signal nearly a mile outside the circuit, which was quite handy when sinking a few pints in the pub!

Oh and for anyone looking to hire a set in the future: reserve it online before you go. Save yourself a few pennies in the process.

Yep. get one.
just cranky not available for melbourne this year.
but at least in melb. you have a radio channel to listen too.
that's if there's a few of us dinosaurs with am/fm transistor radios.

Damn! How did you come about this info? I've been worried this might happen and have been desperately hoping that the booth would just be in the same place it was last year when i arrive on Thursday.

i just emailed them and asked them.
it was something to do with the track hierachy i think. which is strange as i know they were all booked out last year in melb. i know that they have to work out whether it is viable enough money wise, and sometimes it's not. e.g. we had one at Mt. Fuji last year, and they were all booked out there too, but the next week in China, they only had them available in the Paddock as they said that there wasn't enough call for them to be out with the normal punters, i.e. that the chinese locals wouldn't hire them.
we've asked about buying one too, but they won't sell them either.
so even though they sell out in Melb., maybe it's the whole cost of getting them into the country and then setting up a tent and staff (maybe the GP corp in melb charges them to much too) is just all too prohibitive.
anyway, that's just my opinion
Kathe

Thanks for the info kathe.

i just checked their website and it seems the bad news is official. They've got their kiosk locations published for the first 5 races, and unfortunately they are taking corporate orders only for the AGP.

And to think i was almost going to go General Admission this year and rely on KTV to keep me in the loop (i did this last year for financial reasons and it was one of the best years i had at the AGP). Thank goodness i got the grand stand ticket and the superscreen view that comes with it!

if you really like Kanga TV, then go and buy and fm radio then and you can still tune into the ontrack commentary.
often they have them at the track as a fund raiser for a charity, but the quality is a bit dodgy. better off going to DSE or Tandy and buying a $40.00. it at least you've got the commentary to go with the screens.

Kangaroo is a nice addition to the race experience. After tickets, lodging and airfare the additional small expense of renting a roo is, in my view, easily justified.

I may have jinxed myself. Since posting the above I rented a roo in Monaco and was very disappointed by the lack of service from on-site staff in my attempts to resolve a problem with the unit. I expressed my concern via their post-race survey, but they’ve not the courtesy of responding. I think I’ll pass on future use.

I am going to Silverstone this year and am thinking about Kangaroo BUT I know someone who had one last year and he said that it he only got about 15 minutes watchable reception during the race. Is this because it was chucking down or because he was in a bad area ( he was sat at Farm)? His is the only testimony I am going by, yet everyone here seems not to have had that problem.

I'm quite loathed, however, to shell out over 60 quid for something that migh/might not work.

Any thoughts would be welcomed and appreciated!

Sounds like he may have had a duff unit - I never had a problem at Silverstone last year, and I walked around the track several times using it during Friday practice.

like i keep saying. I have booked mine now, and got it cheapo cheapo with a promo code. It was silgp09 and i got it for £60 instead of £75. yay.

see you all at silverstone.

If it doesn't work, you take it back and get a replacement or full refund. Simples?

Mine worked fine last year, even as it tipped it down with rain and there was a pool of water laying on top of the unit. Couldn't see a damn thing mind you!

That's made my mind up for me..will get one booked....cheers for the advice!!!

Never had any problems at Silverstone with a kangaroo - I wrote a review on them a couple of years back - can be found here:-

http://www.f1network.net/main/s111/st118173.htm

Sitting behind somebody who has one works quite well

That irritated the hell out of me last year. Sat at Copse and I seemed to be the only one with the unit and instantly became the central point for all updates during the race.

Get your own effing unit you bunch of skin-flints!

I've rented them in the past, however at Monaco this year I was very disappointed by the lack of service from on-site staff in my attempts to resolve a problem with the unit. Replacement or refund were not options. I expressed my concern via their post-race survey, but they’ve not the courtesy of responding. I think I’ll pass on future use.