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First GP, Spa '15 questions


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#1 kevins

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Posted 22 March 2015 - 16:35

Hi I'm looking to go to Spa this year from Dublin and it will be my first GP so have some newbie questions that I did not see answered here.

 

Firstly I guess we will be flying Ryanair, I see they go to Brussels Charleroi and Brussels Zaventem - which one is best/nearest?

 

I'm thinking if possible I'd rather avoid hiring a car and the hassle of parking. How would one get to the track from the airport, would there be transport laid on for the GP weekend (Fri to Sun) or just regular public transport timetables? How far it it etc and are there trains and so on?

 

Where to stay on a budget, yet still have a room for my girlfriend and I, so no camping?

 

Hopefully this is a silly question, but with a GA ticket I assume that means you can get to choose where to watch from and we can go to different corners as we wish, i.e, watch FP1 at x place and FP2 at y, and so on? Is there any extras over the GA ticket price I should know of?

 

Any other advice would be welcome!

 

TIA, Kevin


Edited by kevins, 22 March 2015 - 16:37.


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#2 Oviedo

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Posted 22 March 2015 - 21:32

Hello,
Unfortunately i do not know what it is about of flying near of Spa.
with a GA Ticket you can go to Different places around the circuit, but you should remember that it Will Rain at Spa.
the Circuit is not Located near a big City so on my visits i did not see any train stations.
Best regards
Oviedo

#3 kevins

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Posted 24 March 2015 - 07:37

Hi, thanks. After looking at the map a bit more I think that we may actually get a car.

 

Any suggestions on where to stay?



#4 Oviedo

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Posted 24 March 2015 - 10:25

Hi,

unfortunately i have never booked any hotel there,

but members of other forums suggest that a hotel in Aachen would be ok because it is about 50-60 km to go by car.

Maybe you could also find some hotels in the little village Spa which is about 10 km distance to the circuit. But if there are still some free, they will probably be expensive.

Oviedo



#5 TimRTC

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Posted 24 March 2015 - 20:21

Camping is the only realistic option if you want to be anywhere near the circuit. Not the cheapest option, but consider a tour company - we went with https://www.selectmotorracing.com/ - they pick up at Brussels airport (sorry, not sure which one), take you to the circuit each day and include a fair little hotel plus they will sort out the tickets for you. If you add all the costs together, it is not much more than booking independently and I'm glad I didn't have to drive in the busy traffic and narrow roads out of the track.

 

GA tickets let you view the race from anywhere that isn't a grandstand, but do note that the best spots fill up quickly particularly on race day. Find a spot and stick there for the day on race day. If you can, take some folding chairs - we did and it makes it easier to keep 'your space'.

 

Take waterproof trousers - you may well get wet, this is us in 2012:

 

15286199000_f944fff754_c.jpg

Spectators sheltering from the incessant rain by Tim R-T-C, on Flickr

 

15472894665_488298e0cc_c.jpg

Russian driver Vitaly Petrov in the CT01 by Tim R-T-C, on Flickr

 

On the plus side, it is an iconic circuit and going there in the wet is part of the fun. The international atmosphere is great - fans from across Europe coming together, supporting different drivers but all just watching and enjoying the race.



#6 kevins

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Posted 25 March 2015 - 09:01

Thanks guys.

 

Oviedo, I'll check out Aachen and have also seen Maastricht mentioned elsewhere.

 

Tim, can you use Select if flying from Dublin?



#7 TimRTC

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Posted 25 March 2015 - 18:45

Thanks guys.

 

Oviedo, I'll check out Aachen and have also seen Maastricht mentioned elsewhere.

 

Tim, can you use Select if flying from Dublin?

 

I look the coach from London but we stopped at the airport in Brussels to pick some people up, really it would just be a timing thing - if your flight arrives at time not too long before the organised pick-up, then you should be okay. Obviously you might end up waiting around for hours if the only flight you can get is a very early one.

 

E-mail Kevin who runs it, I'm sure he will be happy to help.

 

 

The one thing I will add is that the Select tours are catering for the F1 fans, so you will get to the circuit in time for these sessions, but we had to leave before the GP3 race on Saturday evening for example and missed the morning GP3 race on Sunday as obviously these would mean early/late starts and there are coach fulls of people to consider.

 

Spa is one of the popular ones for organised tours, but I'm not sure if any of the tour companies offer full days at the track.


Edited by TimRTC, 25 March 2015 - 18:49.


#8 Guest_Mick61_*

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Posted 11 April 2015 - 23:29

I've been to Spa twice 2010 and 2103. Firstly as TimRTC says its going to rain and rain and then rain some more. If its not raining its not Spa. Secondly again as TimRTC says there is nothing around Spa other than hills and fields. We camped both times. I did look to try to book a B&B or a hotel local but for one there aren't many and secondly for the GP weekend the price is ridiculous so for me its a choice of camping or being bussed in from miles away and thats to me wouldn't be fun. My advice would be forget flying drive over and take a tent you'll have a great time. You don't even need to take food if you camp in Francorchamps, there are plenty of places to get food a drink all you need is a tent.

 

Have fun.



#9 gerry nassar

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Posted 14 April 2015 - 04:43

I went in 2005 and stayed at a Formule One Hotel in Liege.  It was cheap and decent and only a 20-30 minute easy drive to the circuit.

 

I'd recommend staying in Liege.



#10 Kristian

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Posted 04 August 2015 - 11:20

Hi guys, 

 

I'm off to Spa for the first time this year with a bunch of friends. Here's a few questions....

 

- We are staying in Malmedy - are there any shuttle buses to the circuit? Or do we need to arrange our own transport? 

- After the race we are staying in Liege, again is there any transport to there or do we need taxis? 

- Where is the best spot for GA to watch the race? (I need a screen, otherwise not fussy). 

- Any other tips? 



#11 Buttoneer

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 08:19

Take an umbrella.

#12 jcbc3

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 09:05

Do NOT take an umbrella.

It will only annoy the surrounding spectators that you are poking their eyes out and limiting their views. Do as the Germans:

069005240-p1.jpg

#13 Guest_Mick61_*

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 09:09

Agree with jcbc3 DON'T take an umbrella. They should be banned from race tracks. They irritate everybody, blocking views. Get some waterproof gear and you'll be fine.



#14 Nonesuch

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 10:52

- Where is the best spot for GA to watch the race? (I need a screen, otherwise not fussy). 

 

I don't know where they put up the screens for the F1 race (Pouhon and Kemmel are probably guaranteed), but as far as GA is concerned you might want to consider taking a hike around the track during one of the practise sessions. You can walk all the way around from Eau Rouge, past Les Combes (not the ideal place as the path doesn't stay level with the track), underneath the track to the inside of Rivage (an excellent location due to its low fencing), then around Pouhon (another great place because the path is much higher than the track) and Fagnes, underneath the track again up the hillside for a great walk along the inside of Blanchimont up to the Bus-stop. The only places where you'll lose sight of the track are at the two straights between the Bus-stop and Eau Rouge because of the large permanent stands there. Perhaps the large F1 crowd makes it less feasible, but you can usually make a short detour at the bottom of Eau Rouge to get close to the marshal post there and really see the cars flying up the hill (there are also a few large clearings there which make for decent vantage points during other races, but which are probably occupied by the temporary stands during a GP weekend)


Edited by Nonesuch, 06 August 2015 - 10:54.


#15 Kristian

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 14:52

Agree with jcbc3 DON'T take an umbrella. They should be banned from race tracks. They irritate everybody, blocking views. Get some waterproof gear and you'll be fine.

 

Oh man I agree with this. I think umbrellas should be banned in society, full stop, to be honest. The streets of London are too small for throngs of people with bloody umbrellas who don't know how to use them. 



#16 Kristian

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 14:54

I don't know where they put up the screens for the F1 race (Pouhon and Kemmel are probably guaranteed), but as far as GA is concerned you might want to consider taking a hike around the track during one of the practise sessions. You can walk all the way around from Eau Rouge, past Les Combes (not the ideal place as the path doesn't stay level with the track), underneath the track to the inside of Rivage (an excellent location due to its low fencing), then around Pouhon (another great place because the path is much higher than the track) and Fagnes, underneath the track again up the hillside for a great walk along the inside of Blanchimont up to the Bus-stop. The only places where you'll lose sight of the track are at the two straights between the Bus-stop and Eau Rouge because of the large permanent stands there. Perhaps the large F1 crowd makes it less feasible, but you can usually make a short detour at the bottom of Eau Rouge to get close to the marshal post there and really see the cars flying up the hill (there are also a few large clearings there which make for decent vantage points during other races, but which are probably occupied by the temporary stands during a GP weekend)

 

Thanks for the reply mate! I usually do a good recce on the Friday when I do races on my own, but I'm with 15 people this time (none of whom have been to a race before...) so I am trying to think of more efficient ways. Maybe I'll lead a scouting party of those who do want to walk on the Friday. 



#17 Amin

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Posted 12 August 2015 - 10:04

Don't use them during the sessions, but definitely take an umbrella. We got caught in a horrendous rain/hail storm at pouhon last year just before qualifying and the umbrellas really saved our bags and chairs from getting soaked. Anyway, if the weather is bad enough for an umbrella, they'll be no cars on track.  :p



#18 kevins

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Posted 15 August 2015 - 11:03

Hi, sorry for starting this thread and then going AWOL, been so busy with work.  So here is what we are doing in case it helps someone for next year. I'll report back on how it went.

We are flying Aer Lingus (from Dublin) instead of Ryanair - We are getting into Brussels International Zaventem (BRU) on Thursday morning and flying back Thusday evening. Just a heads up - there is another airport in Brussels called Charleroi, on some flight booking sites and car hire sites they use a mixture of  Zaventem /Charleroi or BRU/ (Charleroi code - forgot what it is) so if booking a car separately from your flight be sure to get the correct airport! Anyway, Aer Lingus was a bit more expensive but not by a huge amount.

Finding a hotel was difficult, in hindsight we should have done it earlier. We got an apartment for 3 nights in the Netherlands just between Maastricht and Aachen - 115km/1hr 17min from airport and 67km/47 min to the track (all according to Google maps) . It was E255 for three nights. We will go back to Brussels on sunday night and stay two nights, was much easier to find a hotel.

We got  3 day GA tickets from f1.com and pick them up Thusday morning. Does this allow you into the autograph sessions and if so where and when are they on?

What is parking like? Any best/worse place to park?

Thanks!

 



#19 Clarkus79

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Posted 17 August 2015 - 05:46

This is my first venture to Spa having been to Silverstone and Monza.

I'm heading to Brussels on the Saturday, and will be training it....getting the first train around 6am to Verviers Central.
The bus routes 294 and 395 go to the circuit.

Does anyone know what the bus service is like getting back to Verviers or Spa train Station?
Thanks in advance!