277 replies to this topic

[smr]

The reason ticket sales are down is because of the cost of living crisis and the fact that ticket prices rise year on year by greedy promoters who are out of touch with the general british public. Maybe if the super rich owners of Silverstone lived a day in the life us lot they'd realise that affording £300-500-1000 per ticket to sit in a grandstand on Sunday is beyond the means of most families and people - families who are struggling to pay their gas and electric bills, rents, mortgages, food etc.

I don't go to Silverstone anymore except on a Friday and even that is becoming a joke. Last year when I tried to walk infront of one of the grandstands at Luffield, as you could always do without even thinking about it - a marshall said sorry you can't stand here without an upgraded ticket...... an upgraded Friday ticket, another £30, just to stand in front of a grand stand, something you have been able to do since Silverstone was built ! I couldn't believe it, absolute joke.

Edited by smr, 21 June 2024 - 11:19.

[FirstnameLastname]

Pay more, get less. Inflation AND shrinkflation combined…

Pay us £400 to not be able to properly watch the thing you can normally watch for free at home… and for the privilege or standing in a QUEUE to pay £15 for a tin of warm Coke and some badly cooked chips

[Nathan]

Buy your family a whole summer of up close motorsports fun and support your local grassroots racers.  

[LolaB0860]

Buy your family a whole summer of up close motorsports fun and support your local grassroots racers.

But then you can't catch 5 second glimpse of Charles Leclerc waving his hand from a truck and where's the fun in that

Edited by LolaB0860, 21 June 2024 - 11:44.

[danmills]

The £99 three day general admission ticket, last time I went the full weekend was in 2007, long gone. In the non F1 events we could watch in any grandstand. You can see my German Nico Rosberg flag in the middle of the pit straight during the feature races on motorsport photos 

 

I remember after the F1 race strolling the back of the pitlane and walking through all the feature race garage gazebos. There were all sorts of broken car parts to take as souvenirs, they were cool with it. I remember going home with Formula BMW stamped carbon fibre bits and about 20 aluminium bottles filled with named FIA race fuel and tire scraping samples. Kept them for a decade then used a few drops to start a barbecue once and lost half my eyebrows. Threw the rest away, lethal 

 

Camped at Whittlebury. Met Vettel, Mario Thiessen, Button, Trulli, Kubica, Heikki, Massa, Heidfeld, Liuzzi...

 

Even Ralf Schumacher was seen casually strolling the campsite offering pics and chatting, albeit getting largely ignored lol. I liked Ralf.

Edited by danmills, 21 June 2024 - 15:49.

[Silverstone96]

I went 96-22, with going to f1 races I think there are two lines - the spectacle & the price, when the former continues to dip but the latter continues to rise & they crossover that’s when you know your time is up.

Loyalty means nothing to Silverstone, 10k less fans this year won’t really hurt them but they will regret chasing the DTS crowd and money in a few years time when they get bored and move on and realise that their core fanbase is already long gone.

[SCUDmissile]

London street race in 5 years time will be richly deserved by these greedy lot.

[Beri]

And Stuart Pringle blaming the bad ticket sales on the Red Bull dominance.
Easily said and passing by on a couple of facts like, indeed, prices are intolerable and other circuits do manage a sold out house (Austria, Netherlands and Belgium appear to be on their way for a sold out house) and Silverstone failing to do so even with three (!!) British race winners on the grid.

Edited by Beri, 21 June 2024 - 12:33.

[Clatter]

I went 96-22, with going to f1 races I think there are two lines - the spectacle & the price, when the former continues to dip but the latter continues to rise & they crossover that’s when you know your time is up.

Loyalty means nothing to Silverstone, 10k less fans this year won’t really hurt them but they will regret chasing the DTS crowd and money in a few years time when they get bored and move on and realise that their core fanbase is already long gone.

 

The line was crossed in 2014 for me.

[Clatter]

London street race in 5 years time will be richly deserved by these greedy lot.

 

Apart from the incredibly small chance there will be a London GP, Silverstones current contract runs until 2034.

[Silverstone96]

The line was crossed in 2014 for me.

I completely get that, I carried on because I was still enjoying the sport but the spectacle was never the same after the hybrids came in so I understand how that was the final straw for many.

[Dalton007]

Looking at previous data. 

 

It costs Silverstone around 26 million to host a race.

 

https://racingnews36...023-grands-prix

 

 

Based on 2021 filings:

 

 

Based on its most recent financial filing, Silverstone made £6.9 million in profit in 2021. It is, according to Pringle, consistently showing “black numbers rather than red numbers,” enough to help the track add 9,000 more seats to its grandstands for this year’s race. This is part of the drivers’ club’s commitment to reinvesting the track’s profits.

“The members, the 820 or so racing drivers or former racing drivers,” he said, don’t take money out. “They get no dividend, they get no personal financial benefit. They get two passes a year and some biscuits with their coffee in the clubhouse.”

 

https://www.nytimes....grand-prix.html

 

I don't necessarily buy the "greed" argument. It's a simplification of a complex financial issue.

[krea]

How can Verstappen live with this Shame

[Maustinsj]

I’ve gone on Fridays for a few years and a Saturday a couple of times & watched the prices rise and rise and rise. It was around £50 for an all-grandstand roving ticket in 2013 (perfect for the British summertime!). Today it’s stand in designated areas only and pay north of £150.

I won’t go again.

Edited by Maustinsj, 21 June 2024 - 13:15.

[pdac]

Apart from the incredibly small chance there will be a London GP, Silverstones current contract runs until 2034.

 

I'll stick my neck out and say THERE WILL NEVER EVER EVER BE A LONDON F1 STREET RACE (unless, of course, they use a Ryanair-style definition of London)

Edited by pdac, 21 June 2024 - 13:20.

[LolaB0860]

I'll stick my neck out and say THERE WILL NEVER EVER EVER BE A LONDON F1 STREET RACE (unless, of course, they use a Ryanair-style definition of London)

 

Miami GP isn't in actual Miami, similarly the marketed London GP wouldn't have to be in actual London but just some industrial area they transformed into fake street circuit

[MJB5990]

It's ridiculous but it's even more ridiculous some in the media were trying to blame Max or Red Bull. I'm not a massive fan of either (specifically the combination) but even so - wow. 

[P123]

London street race in 5 years time will be richly deserved by these greedy lot.

 

F1 in a nutshell at present.  A bit too high an opinion of what they are worth, whether that is promoters selling tickets to fans, or FOM and the teams looking for nonsensical bungs in order to admit new entrants.  They need to be careful not to burst the bubble of the Drive to Survive/ Covid hangover boom.

 

It's ridiculous but it's even more ridiculous some in the media were trying to blame Max or Red Bull. I'm not a massive fan of either (specifically the combination) but even so - wow. 

 

'Blame' is laying it on thick, no?  A reason, perhaps.  One of many.   

[P123]

The £99 three day general admission ticket, last time I went was in 2007, long gone. In the non F1 events we could watch in any grandstand. You can see my German Nico Rosberg flag in the middle of the pit straight during the feature races on motorsport photos 

 

 

That's the other side of course.  Back then Silverstone was losing millions, so the pricing wasn't sustainable thanks to most of the proceeds funnelling back to FOM, and in to Bernie's bank accounts, so his daughters could splash that cash...

[Alfisti]

TBH even at prices 10 or 15 years ago I was over going to most events. Massive crowds, long line ups, shitty food, horrible toilets etc etc.....i dunno. I mean I got old fast but even concerts when I was in my early 20's were barely worth the grief and shitty sight lines, the pushing, shoving for a good spot, delaying the main act until midnight or whatever... just can't be arsed. 

 

I'll sit home in front of a 65 inch TV in HD and just watch the dang race. I prefer going to smaller local meets or at most Indycar on Friday on Toronto to get a fix of some Porsche Cup noise and Indycars flying about with a smaller crowd. 

[IrvTheSwerve]

It was quite nice to see all the F1 fans unite on the recent Facebook posts putting the blame on Verstappen's dominance for Silverstone not selling out this year. The prices are ludicrous.

 

I don't even check the prices anymore to even have a sniff of going. I went most years between 2002 and 2017, but not since. The product just isn't worth the price. They can try and roll the turd in as much glitter as they want with sprint races and concerts, but it is nowhere near as exciting to watch now as it was pre-hybrids. Just checked the prices, £149 for a GA ticket at a circuit that is absolutely flat and difficult to watch since they got rid of the excellent GA area that ran between Club and Abbey - no thanks. Taking a family of 4 to sit in a grandstand is likely going to cost around £1300-1500...and that's without travel, hotel and food costs.

 

It is sadly the way that most events are going now. A ticket for 2-3 hours entertainment that costs £150 is absolutely not rare any longer.

[AustinF1]

It was quite nice to see all the F1 fans unite on the recent Facebook posts putting the blame on Verstappen's dominance for Silverstone not selling out this year. The prices are ludicrous.

 

I don't even check the prices anymore to even have a sniff of going. I went most years between 2002 and 2017, but not since. The product just isn't worth the price. They can try and roll the turd in as much glitter as they want with sprint races and concerts, but it is nowhere near as exciting to watch now as it was pre-hybrids. Just checked the prices, £149 for a GA ticket at a circuit that is absolutely flat and difficult to watch since they got rid of the excellent GA area that ran between Club and Abbey - no thanks. Taking a family of 4 to sit in a grandstand is likely going to cost around £1300-1500...and that's without travel, hotel and food costs.

 

It is sadly the way that most events are going now. A ticket for 2-3 hours entertainment that costs £150 is absolutely not rare any longer.

Are those 3-day prices? As we've been talking about in the other thread, that's still way cheaper than the American races (not that I'm saying it's inexpensive or that such pricing is reasonable in any way). COTA is the least expensive of those, and GA here is $389 + fees/taxes bringing it to about $470. For a family of 4 to sit in GA here, it will cost $1900. About the same as the GS price you mentioned above ...  and then you have to add the $450 a parking pass will cost.

[Ivanhoe]

'Blame' is laying it on thick, no?  A reason, perhaps.  One of many.   

Autosport headline: BRITISH GP STILL CHASING SELL-OUT AS RED BULL F1 DOMINANCE TAKES ITS TOLL

[mclara]

Payed 400 euros for a group match in European championship this week, Thats 90 minute of entertainment plus a little bit of extra.

Dont see the issue for the same price for a full weekend of entertainment. Plus there is always GA tickets

[pdac]

Miami GP isn't in actual Miami, similarly the marketed London GP wouldn't have to be in actual London but just some industrial area they transformed into fake street circuit

 

Yes, but I can't even think of where in London they might find a suitable space. I know they did FE by the Excel, but I can't see F1 working very well there.

[P123]

Autosport headline: BRITISH GP STILL CHASING SELL-OUT AS RED BULL F1 DOMINANCE TAKES ITS TOLL

 

The assumption was that blame was being put on a driver.  That's assigning dominance of one team being behind a reduction in interest.  Aside from being slightly click-baity, I wouldn't represent that as 'blame', as if somebody has done something wrong...! 

[Gareth]

There was a massive step up in pricing this year. My ticket price jumped c. 50% in cost. So I'm not surprised they're struggling to sell out.

 

I'm hoping Lando manages a decent result or two in the next couple of races. The prospect of him winning his own GP may help shift the final tickets.

[kumo7]

I say blame Liberty for making Silverstone do what it is doing.

[IrvTheSwerve]

Are those 3-day prices? As we've been talking about in the other thread, that's still way cheaper than the American races (not that I'm saying it's inexpensive or that such pricing is reasonable in any way). COTA is the least expensive of those, and GA here is $389 + fees/taxes bringing it to about $470. For a family of 4 to sit in GA here, it will cost $1900. About the same as the GS price you mentioned above ...  and then you have to add the $450 a parking pass will cost.

The £149 was for Friday GA only.

[krea]

The assumption was that blame was being put on a driver.  That's assigning dominance of one team being behind a reduction in interest.  Aside from being slightly click-baity, I wouldn't represent that as 'blame', as if somebody has done something wrong...! 

 

Enough for journalists to ask Verstappen about those claims and make him comment. 

[BRG]

Last time I paid to go to the British GP, I didn't decide to go until the Sunday morning of the race, so I got up,  drove to Brands Hatch, paid £5 at the gate, watched the racing and  drove home.  Surely things haven't changed so much since 1986?

 

The lovely legacy of Bernie Ecclestone's greed - suck it up.

[JeanAlesi27]

I say blame Liberty for making Silverstone do what it is doing.

 

  Explain this one...  what are you talking about?

[danmills]

I went for raceday only back in 2016. Got an early morning helicopter, lots of coffee and alcohol before 9am and I'm sat at Battersea helipad looking at Bernie stood in front of me. Surreal.

 

We landed just before Lewis, paps thought our chopper was him, that was amusing to see them sprint over.

 

Silverstone is a completely different experience from the inner trackside when you have a bit more money.

 

I was also there for Mansellmania in 92 and Damon's win in 94. The noise of those cars and the crowd spirit was unrivalled back then. Now you can talk and still hear as the cars drive past. For that reason I don't think I'll ever attend another race, the magic has gone in that department, there's no 'woahhhh'. When Alonso drove his Renault again, even Lewis' face dropped in sheer delight when he was interviewed. Says it all.

 

Spa 95 was magnificent just to be there in the rain, in the forest with all the Schummi campervans. I think it really was the festival atmosphere and simply the noise that made it.

 

It's just very... commercial and clinical now. Even the flags are militant mass designed. Where are the marker pen poster paint jobbys gone?

 

Maybe I'm just getting old.

[danmills]

Not fibbing... pics to follow...

 

 

Edited by danmills, 21 June 2024 - 16:19.

[AustinF1]

The £149 was for Friday GA only.

Oof. Ouch. Wow.

 

How much is 3-day GA?

[IrvTheSwerve]

3 day GA is £350, which is about 440 dollars…

[AustinF1]

3 day GA is £350, which is about 440 dollars…

Gotcha. So in the same ballpark as the ridiculous US prices. 

 

IMHO it won't last. As I've said in the other thread, imho the F1 bubble is weakening, and that along with other economic forces will correct some of this craziness.

Edited by AustinF1, 21 June 2024 - 16:58.

[FirstnameLastname]

Not fibbing... pics to follow...

In those days you could buy a helicopter for £100 and a landing slot was about 50p

And wagon wheels were as big as a dinner plate.

[Brawn BGP 001]

Sunday only GA is £309

[Dalton007]

I say blame Liberty for making Silverstone do what it is doing.

 

They are reportedly paying 26 million to Liberty to host a race.

 

I don't know how much SIlverstone would make from the race weekend, costs, revenue, profits.

[kumo7]

They are reportedly paying 26 million to Liberty to host a race.

 

I don't know how much SIlverstone would make from the race weekend, costs, revenue, profits.

 

There you go.

[Grippy]

<snip>

 

It's just very... commercial and clinical now. Even the flags are militant mass designed. Where are the marker pen poster paint jobbys gone?

 

Maybe I'm just getting old.

Nowadays we can buy anything on the internet, back then it was buy whatever was in a local shop or;

see an ad in a magazine - send S.A.E. for a catalogue - send cheque/postal order to buy item from catalogue - wait for postman (with no order tracking) or;

make your own    

Growing up in a village with non-driving parents I got a lot of catalogues.........

[Alfisti]

The circuits are idiots, they should all have a coffee and decide, you know what, it costs money to host a race so how about we pay...i dunno ... nothing? F1 needs them more than they need F1, they should tell them to go suck a bag of ...... dips. 

[FirstnameLastname]

Hamilton’s first win in 3 years is gonna be a sweet reward for all those fans

[mstar]

I hope everyone agrees this should be a wake-up call for the promoter that enough is enough, we cant afford the silly prices to go to silverstone.  Its extortionate and i get that F1 have a lot to do with it but how do you expect fans to afford these constant high prices.

[FirstnameLastname]

Just read in the other thread that it costs the circuit £4million to have the sprint race…. So silverstone gotta fork out for that. And Stormzy won’t come cheap… kings of Leon too.

All this added on stuff/crap is obviously eventually charged to the fans.

[P123]

Enough for journalists to ask Verstappen about those claims and make him comment. 

 

Sounds like a proper grilling.

[P123]

Just read in the other thread that it costs the circuit £4million to have the sprint race…. So silverstone gotta fork out for that. And Stormzy won’t come cheap… kings of Leon too.

All this added on stuff/crap is obviously eventually charged to the fans.

 

I vaguely recall some, or one track at least, mention that the sprints weren't worth the money.  25 minutes of 'entertainment'.  

[FirstnameLastname]

At the expense of 2 FP sessions

[Clatter]

I'll stick my neck out and say THERE WILL NEVER EVER EVER BE A LONDON F1 STREET RACE (unless, of course, they use a Ryanair-style definition of London)

I agree, but didn't want to say never as stranger things have happened.