F1 fans - British Gp advice please

[SaintHacker]

My 8 year old lad has developed a bit of an F1 obsession so I'm thinking about taking him to Silverstone this year. I'm wondering though if it would be better to take him up for the qualifying rather than the race itself. Has anyone done the saturday before? How busy does it get, will he be likely to see a bit more of the action or is it just as bad as on race day? Cheers.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

My 8 year old lad has developed a bit of an F1 obsession so I'm thinking about taking him to Silverstone this year. I'm wondering though if it would be better to take him up for the qualifying rather than the race itself. Has anyone done the saturday before? How busy does it get, will he be likely to see a bit more of the action or is it just as bad as on race day? Cheers.

Most definitely a better day on both the Friday and Saturday for practise and qualifying - get to see so much more

The best thing would be to get the park tickets but they normally sell out months in advanced.

We have been there a number of times ( HID aunt and uncle are members of the racing club there ) so we get tickets in their stand but I only go on either the Friday or sat

 

[Rooter]

Paul, look for fri/sat tickets with camping maybe? your lad would love it, its a proper festival atmosphere. Deffo better than race day, much more action on track. plus the best place to watch the actual race, is on the TV these days!

 

[MegaSteve]

The atmosphere on raceday is simply awesome.... Particularly when a Brit is in with a chance of a win... Practice days have become nearly as busy as racedays and these days you don't get to see as much as you used to... Sadly, unless you push the boat out and invest in some grandstand seats you don't get to see an awful lot...

 

[guest100718]

I took my son for his 10th birthday in 2012. What a day out. We did park and ride from Northampton. We did race day only and for me and him I reckon we spent well over 300 quid! If you do go race day then take a couple of fold up chairs. There are plenty of good viewing points all around the track.

 

[SaintHacker]

Paul, look for fri/sat tickets with camping maybe? your lad would love it, its a proper festival atmosphere. Deffo better than race day, much more action on track. plus the best place to watch the actual race, is on the TV these days!

Yeah I did think about that but he's got school so will miss all the friday action and we won't get there till late evening.
Thanks for all the advice chaps, think I'll try and go early saturday morning. Is there usually much happening before the actual qualifying?

 

[cookelad]

Got friends who went regularly to the Spanish GP as it was cheaper to get flights, hotel and tickets for Spain than it was to get tickets to the British!

 

[Hacker Khan]

Get him into a proper sport, a sport where he will be able to see the best in that sport doing their stuff in this country a lot, a sport like gol.... oh hold on, a sport like darts.

 

[guest100718]

Got friends who went regularly to the Spanish GP as it was cheaper to get flights, hotel and tickets for Spain than it was to get tickets to the British!

My friends did hungary last year and that was cheaper than the british GP too!

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Yeah I did think about that but he's got school so will miss all the friday action and we won't get there till late evening.
Thanks for all the advice chaps, think I'll try and go early saturday morning. Is there usually much happening before the actual qualifying?

Yeah they normally have loads of different other cars racing around the track

 

[Rooter]

typical support races will be things like porcsche supercup, some single seat stuff, there will be plenty on track outside of the F1 cars.

 

[Alex1975]

Do it all, enjoy the atmosphere then go home and re watch the race. Dont forget ear plugs, although maybe not so important this year.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Unfortunately all the general tickets for children are sold out so you are looking at stand tickets (£400 quid each )or full adults park tickets ( £200 each )

 

[CliveW]

An alternative would be http://www.silverstoneclassic.com/ later on in the month. A lot more relaxed and cheaper. I take my car down every year as we have a club stand on the infield. There is a great opportunity to watch all types of historic racing, right up to the F1 cars of the 90s. There is also access all areas, including the pits where you can get into the garages to watch the mechanics working on their cars.

 

[Duckster]

Been about 8 or 9 times over the past 20 years and have loved both the qualifying days and race days. Luckily I've only had to pay for one (sisters ex worked security, then my work used to support one of the teams).

If I was to choose out of them, then race day is the one I'd go for. Simply as it's race day! So much better watching them race one another rather then just trying to get some space for a quick lap.

Try to get a good spot (Luffield used to be nice but they don't come flying under Bridge anymore), preferably one in view of a big screen. Oh aye, take some ear plugs it can get damn loud!

 

[SaintHacker]

Unfortunately all the general tickets for children are sold out so you are looking at stand tickets (£400 quid each )or full adults park tickets ( £200 each )

Not according to SIlverstone website. Just bought our tickets for the saturday, but it says there are still plenty of tickets available for the race and the whole weekend.

 

[Old Skier]

Much to HID displeasure I am a massive F1 follower and as has been stated by others, you could get cheaper deals going abroad for a few days however Silverstone weekend does take some beating.
The only advice I will give is, make sure you, and most certainly your son, have some good ear protection although these years machines are pretty tame compared to years gone by.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My mates do Spa every year. Fantastic festival atmosphere apparent, Belgium beer and relatively cheap to get to and watch.