20 replies to this topic

[Louis Mr. F1]

Hi all
I'll be visiting London & Oxford in August, I'd like to see if there are any F1 shops to visit, whether it be for selling F1 books or models.

Also, how far away is Woking or Didcot from London, what's the chance of visiting the McLaren / Williams headquarter? I doubt there's any real chance of it, especailly that I'm not a member of their Support Club, but just want to see if anyone knows there's something possible.

Also - the Donington Park museum, is it open to public and is it very far from London?

thanks in advance.
Louis

p.s. I'll be staying in the Trafalgar Square.

[midgrid]

There's a good shop called Alex Reade Motorsport which is in London, at 78 Regent Street.

[Mandzipop]

There is a big Ferrari store in London. I dont know about any others in London. There is an F1 shop in Sheffield but that is a bit of a trek from London. A good 3 hours or so from London. However you would pass Donnington as they aren't too far apart. I mean Donnington and Meadowhall (Sheffield) which is the only F1 shop I know of. Its pretty decent. How are you travelling around? Car or train?

Edited by Mandzipop, 12 April 2010 - 18:17.

[Crafty]

Woking 20 mins on the train (from Waterloo), Oxford is probably about an hour. But IIRC both McLaren and Williams are some distance from train stations ?

Donnigton - not sure if the collection is currently open or not. Its a fair way from London, but you can probably do it by train.

Whilst in London this place might be worth a visit for books (found on google search) http://www.motorbooks.co.uk/index.asp

[BullHead]

With regards to visiting teams HQs; if you just turn up and knock on their door, I have found the security / reception people normally let you walk in and look at their foyer, where they keep their display cars and engines. Don't expect anything else though....

[Louis Mr. F1]

I'll just be commuting by public transportations

[Louis Mr. F1]

With regards to visiting teams HQs; if you just turn up and knock on their door, I have found the security / reception people normally let you walk in and look at their foyer, where they keep their display cars and engines. Don't expect anything else though....

Good to know, at least it's possible to get into the front foyer.
I'll need to figure out how to get there via public transportations.

I reckon I can spare 1 day (with my wife's permission) to visit various F1 establishments in the area, so want to plan ahead and utilize the opportunity.

Edited by Louis Mr. F1, 12 April 2010 - 18:26.

[newbie]

if you come to Milton Keynes (via Milton Keynes Central or Bow Brickhill stations) then you can visit Red Bull Racing and have a look at the trophies and an RB2 hanging off the wall. MKC train station is 35 minutes from london euston. alex reade motorsport on Regents Street is now 'Pole Position' but it is the same shop. The Ferrari store on Regents Street is also worth a look.

[Mandzipop]

Good to know, at least it's possible to get into the front foyer.
I'll need to figure out how to get there via public transportations.

I reckon I can spare 1 day (with my wife's permission) to visit various F1 establishments in the area, so want to plan ahead and utilize the opportunity.

You'll need more than 1 day if its by public transport. You'll also need a lot of money. Trains are expensive. With the places in London you are fine to get a tube ticket because that is fairly reasonable. For Donnington you'd need to get the train from St Pancras to Derby (approx 1h 45 mins), its the Edinburgh train. Dont know how you'd get there after that though.

[Number62]

Good to know, at least it's possible to get into the front foyer.
I'll need to figure out how to get there via public transportations.

I reckon I can spare 1 day (with my wife's permission) to visit various F1 establishments in the area, so want to plan ahead and utilize the opportunity.

http://www.stmartinsmodelcars.co.uk/ is maybe the best model shop in London

If your going down to woking to try and get into MTC you may want to go to Brooklands as well (instead) http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/ .

Last time I stopped outside MTC ( I live very close) they tried to move me on even though I was just sitting outside on my motorbike having a smoke, not trying to get in.

Mercedes world is right next door to MTC and may have some F1 stuff on display - http://www2.mercedes...Benz_World.html

Enjoy the trip

[FonzCam]

http://www.stmartinsmodelcars.co.uk/ is maybe the best model shop in London

If your going down to woking to try and get into MTC you may want to go to Brooklands as well (instead) http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/ .

Last time I stopped outside MTC ( I live very close) they tried to move me on even though I was just sitting outside on my motorbike having a smoke, not trying to get in.

Mercedes world is right next door to MTC and may have some F1 stuff on display - http://www2.mercedes...Benz_World.html

Enjoy the trip

F1 factories from London would be a lot of travel without much of a payoff.
Brooklands & Mercedes World would be by far the best day out as it's only 40mins by train from London Waterloo to Weybridge or Byfleet & New Haw, from either station it's only a 30-40 minute walk or 10 minute taxi ride.

You get an historic race track, museum with cars, bikes and planes then there's another Mercedes specific museum and if you want you can go on a Mercedes driving experience and bomb around their test track in an AMG Merc.

[Disgrace]

There is a big Ferrari store in London. I dont know about any others in London.

Yep, massive Ferrari store down Regent Street. Get off at Oxford Circus underground stop, walk down Regent Street from there and it's on the right somewhere. Well worth visiting.

[showtime]

Yep, massive Ferrari store down Regent Street. Get off at Oxford Circus underground stop, walk down Regent Street from there and it's on the right somewhere. Well worth visiting.

Not far from this (I barely remember so I can't be more specific but it could be in Regent Street too) there's a f1 clothing shop (mostly McLaren things).

[BullHead]

Actually it's a shame there doesn't seem to be many shops about any more. I've seen 3 disappear over the years, and now I don't know where to go for one. And I'm talking about the sort of shop that would stock F1 car parts and such memorabilia, as well as clothes books and models... I used to go to York, Chester, and we had one here in Cumbria once too.

Edited by BullHead, 12 April 2010 - 20:13.

[Absulute]

There's a shop that sells various F1 merchandise in the Westfields shopping centre. Can't remember what it's called though...

[Mandzipop]

Actually it's a shame there doesn't seem to be many shops about any more. I've seen 3 disappear over the years, and now I don't know where to go for one. And I'm talking about the sort of shop that would stock F1 car parts and such memorabilia, as well as clothes books and models... I used to go to York, Chester, and we had one here in Cumbria once too.

The one in Meadowhall does. They used to do tyres, didn't look on Saturday whilst I was there, I was looking for a Ferrari top. Oddly they still have lots of Super Aguri stuff.

They used to be able to order things for you but not sure now. I haven't asked them for a while, but they've ordered stuff for me before.

[Louis Mr. F1]

Hello
I'm all set to come to London next weekend, I've a couple more questions:

Does BBC rebroadcast their F1 TV coverage? since the Hungarian race will be between 12 - 3pm local time, I'll be out sightseeing at the time, I wonder if BBC would rebroadcast the race in the evening?

How can I get to Milton Keynes? (via Milton Keynes Central or Bow Brickhill stations), I mean which line I should take if I'll be staying in the Trafalgar Square area? I cannot find these two stations on my London subway map .....

---------------------------------
I'll be going to the Donington Park museum early in the morning and hopefully to the Red Bull headquarter too, if I can fit this into 1 day.
thank you

[TheArmchairCritic]

Hello
I'm all set to come to London next weekend, I've a couple more questions:

Does BBC rebroadcast their F1 TV coverage? since the Hungarian race will be between 12 - 3pm local time, I'll be out sightseeing at the time, I wonder if BBC would rebroadcast the race in the evening?

How can I get to Milton Keynes? (via Milton Keynes Central or Bow Brickhill stations), I mean which line I should take if I'll be staying in the Trafalgar Square area? I cannot find these two stations on my London subway map .....

---------------------------------
I'll be going to the Donington Park museum early in the morning and hopefully to the Red Bull headquarter too, if I can fit this into 1 day.
thank you

Yup BBC iPlayer, usually online few hours after the race.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

Edited by TheArmchairCritic, 25 July 2010 - 17:22.

[Disgrace]

Since you'll be in the UK, you can watch the race again on the BBC iPlayer on the website.

[KavB]

They also provide highlights and replay the entire race on BBC3. At least I think they do.

[Umbrella_Girl]

For Red Bull, go from London St Pancras to Bedford, then train from Bedford to Bow Brickhill and RBR's facility is 5 minutes walk. Go to the building on the left hand side of the road though, not the right, for their reception. That's probably as far as you'll get though, but you'll see one of their cars hanging up on the wall - a long way to go just for probably 2 minutes in reception.

I *think* the nearest rail station for Williams is Didcot, so you'd need to get a taxi from there to Grove. Probably all academic though as the security gatehouse is a few hundred yards from the main reception and I can't imagine them letting you just walk in for a look around. They have the Williams Collection within their conference centre but it's not available for walk-in viewing like a normal museum - tours are only available on specific days: http://www.williamsf...nd-events/tours

Similarly I can't imagine McLaren letting anyone even remotely close to MTC.

The Donington Collection is well worth a visit but it's a long way out of the way - and a very long way from London!; you could get a train to Nottingham or Derby then airport bus to East Midlands Airport, then cab or walk to Donington.

As several people have already suggested, you'd be much better off going to the Mercedes Benz place/Brooklands museum in Weybridge - much closer to London and designed with visitors in mind, which F1 factories are not.