This surprised me, there are still tickets available for this years British GP at Silverstone. Jackie Stewart was doing what amounted to an advert on the F1 coverage today.

You can buy tickets at http://www.bgp-f1.com/

Why do you think they are not filling the race ticket numbers? This is the first time i remember this being the case since they started limiting the numbers allowed to attend.

Isn't it obvious John?!!! :(

i have my own thoughts but am interested in what other people think. Whats your thoughts on this Matt?

It would be interesting to see the sales figures since last weekend.

I think most people just don't want to see Him win ;) and then there was the footage of the congestion last year. Despite the fact it's been improved :rolleyes:

My thoughts are John, that F1 is in the most part, extremely boring. I used to love watching F1 and would plan my diary around it where possible. But now, I record the highlights and I fast forward through much of those, often. People want to see racing, on the track, between similar cars. This hardly ever happens anymore! It seems these days as if there is approx. one overtaking manoeuvre per race, and often, it's not even on the track :rolleyes:

I say, give the cars back loads of mechanical grip, big fat slicks and reduce the reliance on downforce, restrict engine power if the nanny organisers want to keep speed down and give the drivers a car that isn't on a knife edge and they would hopefully have the ability to actually attempt to pass people. The move towards increasingly Mickey Mouse tracks also bothers me (Hochenheim and Mangy Cours as two recent examples).

I remember a few years back, at the Hungaroring, they did 10 years of the Hungaroring and showed highlights of the best bits of races there over the decade. There was a lot of Mansell and Senna fighting it out, overtaking each other countless times per race, and often swapped places every other corner, often using the kerbs and the grass if they didn’t have enough track. They didn’t fall off the circuit for taking a bit of grass unlike now where the cars seem to spin if you try and go off line…. :rolleyes:

I think many people still watch F1 in the hope that perhaps, this race, they may see some "racing", like in the "good 'ol days" ;):( Some hope!! :(

Matt.

P.S. I don't think you can blame the domination of Ferrari and Mr.S as reasons for the decline in the interest of the sport as there has always been periods of this type of domination. What is different this time is that there is little racing going on at the same time and often, you can pretty much predict the result of the race by watching the first lap. That never used to be the case....

I agree Matt, I think another factor is that we only usually see the top 3-4 cars even though nothing much is going on. If the producers spent some more time on the back marker battles then at least we'd have some racing to watch.

I'd also like to see refuelling banned, as the teams now rely on this to get them past other cars rather than the racing drivers ability to over take. I completley admire the way a pit crew manage to do so much in 7 seconds but IMHO somethings wrong when the race is decided more on a pit crews ability than the drivers.

Maybe another less obvious factor is the points system. In the 'old' days your points were calculated on your top 9(I think) results, which encouraged you to race and not sit back and accept 3rd place.

(incidentally has anyone gone back and worked out Alain Prosts points total under the 'old new'scheme)

The difficulty with reducing wing sizes is it limits the amount of room sponsors have to stick stuff, and in F1 money rules :(

A small part of me wants to see a 'no holds barred' F1 where anything and everything is allowed(except flying ;) Yes I know it would be more dangerous, but what a way to drive motoring technology forward!


Another stay thought, in the last 5 years what new innovation has F1 bought to motoring. It all seems to be a gradual refinement of what we already had? It seems as though the trickle of technology down from F1 to the road has nearly dried up. I wonder how much of this is due to the very stringent rules that almost seem to ban innovation(fondly remembers the Brabham fan car :( )

guys, you are mainly talking about the TV show IMHO. If you go to a race you rarely get to see overtaking, even if it is happening. There is more of a draw to go see the race in person than simply the racing, i know that sounds daft but thats the way it is.

What i want to know is why the ticket sales are down so much, lots of grandstand seats left. This is the first time ever this has been the case, so why?

Oh well, less queueing for the bogs for me then :D

Perhaps it's just people voting with their feet and showing their distaste for the way things are being run these days? Just guessing. What do you think the reasons are John?

Matt :)

Firstly the ridiculous prices - massive turn off. Matt is right that the racing has got a bit predictable, but the emergence of Williams and Mclaren are at least making life interesting again.

I would go for the atmosphere alone - the same reason you would goto Le Mans.

One thing that does strike you though is the poor state of the facilites. A couple of weeks back, we went to Silverstone for the F1 testing and then went upto Rockingham for the BTCC.

Jackie Stewart can say what he likes about the great new access road etc, the fact is Silverstone is an old airfield, with old facilites and it shows. Compare to a modern racetrack like Rockingham and it is painfully obvious where the problem lies.

Add in that Silverstone is one of the worst tracks to spectate at and I think it is living on borrowed time. It needs major investment - money which I think does just not exist at the moment.

Chris

Matt
your so right.
i`ve been to G.p`s since 1988 (monza)
and been to Germany to watch it and silverstone every year since.
I wasn`t going to go this year because my mate couldn`t afford it (gettin married etc)
But i got itchyyyy feet running up to the G.P
and did something rash, booked for me ,the wife ,and 2 kids
sat general ad,and sund grandstand.
it cost a lot but it`s like a holidday
You`ll never get back those days of racing like senna and mansell
but i`m pleased to say i`ve met them both.
And never forget when Berger & Senna were messin about at the back of the pits in the early 90`s
AHHHHH the good old days.
rich

I won't go cos,

F1 is dull (this comes from someone who spent hours at the weekend stood in the p*ssin rain waiting for a few rally cars!)

Silverstone is crap to get in and out of. Once you're in it's truelly abmismal to spectate at!

I don't have a spare £300 to get in and sit down!

Other than that I'm well up for it:D

I agree with what's already been said, bring back mechanical grip, the wings could be made neutral or a be control part to keep the looks of the car and keep sponsors happy and I'd also ban fuel stops...I don't think it would be that unreasonable to expect a set of tyres to last a race either, that or have two sprints like Superbikes do.

F1 and Salivastone need a kick right up the arse, imho:D:D

Silverstone isn`t crap to get in and out of.
You got to go at the right times and take the right routes..............

Bob
Silverstone is not crap to get in and out of.When did you last go,or have you even been.

I dont agree either that its abysmal to spectate at. At least at Silverstone you can walk the whole cicuit to pick a viewing point.
Outside of Becketts has to be one of the great viewing places for an F1 car anywhere. Not in the grandstand but standing next to the track.Cars are only feet away here.

I always went to see a GP for the sheer spectacle rather than to see overtaking.

Still I suppose its trendy to knock it isnt it. Just ask Bernie.



Where do you get the £300 price tag from. Anyway even if it was then compare this to Premiership football.90 minutes and its all over with no support show either. at least at S/stone theres action all day.


Chip



[Edited by Chip - 10/07/2003 21:17:01]

OK, I've been to Trax 3 times, the RAC rally, WSB practise day, another bike day, the name escapes me, wasn't BSB but similar and every time I've been stuck in horrendous traffic:( The last time I went was for the WSB practise, mid week, terrible, I dread to think what GP weekend is like:eek: Admittedly it may be different now with the new road but even moving your car round the car park seems to be a trauma:rolleyes:

The £300 figure was off the top of my head, it's a figure that stuck in my mind from possibly two years ago, for practise qualifying and race day, with a seat....whatever the figure was it was enough to put me off!:D

Spectating is very subjective, Silverstone for me doesn't compare to Donnington, Oulton or Cadwell...whilst we're slinging mud, have you ever been to anywhere other than Silverstone or your arse?

Finally, I can make my own mind up as to whether or not I like something, I don't like Bernie for one thing so I don't see why I should agree with him or his principles! For the record, you'll be doing chuffin well if you see me at Silvestone ever again!

I've just looked at the website, Beckets, outside, grandstand seat, Saturday only, £85!! The same seat on Sunday, £195!!!! so for the weekend that's £280!!!!!!!!!!:eek:

What do I know though, I'm prolly just making this up cos I've never been to Silverstone or looked at the website:p

Oh and I really don't like football:D

Well viewing from the Grandstand at Thruxton, I reckon we could see 80% of the track. At Rockingham, 99%. Silverstone....well.

Yes there are some great corners, but it is still not enough to justify the prices they are charging. I'm afraid, they are living on their past reputation and whilst I don't always agree with Bernie, I reckon he is not far wrong about Silverstone this time.

The new access road, is good - should have been built 10 years ago. Problem is, as stated before, they need to spend a similar amount of money again on the track and circuit facilities to brig them upto scratch.

Silverstone is going to face increasing competition from the Far East. Malaysia is only the start. There are several new circuits being built, including one in China. Bearing in mind that China represents the last big untapped market for western companies (especially the tobacco companies, who are still the major sponsors of most teams), where do you think they will want to be?

Poor quality circuits will be the first to be dumped (Bernie has already shown how ruthless he can be by dumping Spa, the greatest F1 circuit in the world). On that basis, I don't see how Silverstone will survive unless it makes radical changes. Reputation alone, is not enough.

Chris

Chris

Well I'm going - Pits straight grandstand roughly opposite the Williams / Ferrari pits I reckon from the numbers. I went a few years back when it was pi$$ing it down with rain and MS won in the pits, 1998 I think, and I still enjoyed it. The noise (ear plugs are a must!) and the spectacle of these cars doing speeds round corners that seems to defy the laws of physics make it worth the ticket price. You just don't get that from TV viewing! I think the reason for tickets being available is due to restrictions on numbers being stopped as it was the last couple of years due to the upgrade work being done, although I could be wrong.

What you musn't forget either is that other races take place over the weekend:

There also is:

Formula 3000, Porsche Michelin Supercup, Historic sportscar challenge and Trofeo Vodafone Maserati races. As well as other bits and pieces like exhibits in the centre field.

But hey I guess I am either just an idiot to pay these prices or a bit of a fanatic.... ;)

Jim

It's simple - it's WAY too expensive.
And the number of support races is pitiful compared to the "good old days" - F3, Touring cars, etc.

Spending thirty quid to go to Goodwood yesterday was much better - you get to wander round the paddock - you can virtually touch the F1 cars, and you can see all the other cars with no restrictions. All the drivers are there - whereas could you talk to the drivers as they're queueing to go on the track?

Bob,
Yes I have been to other circuits and Yes I do get off my arse. In fact I have just come back from 3 days at Goodwood. Did YOU go or was it too much of an effort for you.

You say it took ages to get out of car parks at a WSB test day.Think your tellin porkies there my boy. How many people were there? Surely not that many.

At the end of the day if you dont like what silverstone is doing then why dont you get up off your fat arse and go abroad to watch a race.Go to Monaco. Then youll see what expensive is. Oh, and dont drive there either cos youll not be able to park at all.

As for you not going to Silverstone again so what.Dont sauppose for a minute they want whingeing people like you there anyway.

Chip.

Chip,

I would of loved to have gone to Goodwood but I was taking part in a track day. As far as effort goes, I spent last weekend camping out, on Saturday did 12 straight hours of spectating, in the rain on the Jim Clark rally, that included miles of walking about and driving....surprisingly enough we didn't get stuck in traffic once! If the end result is worth it, I'll do it, don't call me lazy!

You're quite right about the WSB, nobody went, I'm just making it all up.

I'm not really fussed about seeing F1 here or abroad, not till they liven it up a bit anyway.

Silverstone should listen to folk like me cos if they don't we won't have a British GP anymore. Read the rest of the thread, it's not just me!

I think you'll agree with have differing opinions here so if you don't mind I'm gonna bow out of this discussion now:)

[Edited by BOB.T - 7/14/2003 3:12:58 PM]

Anyone seen this - Max Mosely giving his two penn'orth about Silverstone. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/3057317.stm)

Dave

I`m gonna be somewhere near you in the stands Jim.
Not gonna have ear plugs though, enjoy the noise......
(my boys will have ear defenders though!)

Have been going since the eighties.

Go for the atmosphere and you won't be disappointed.

If you really want to watch the race, then stay at home and have a snooze in your favourite armchair.

If you get a group of mates together its an excellent weekend.

i'm on my way down there on thursday so maybe see some scoobynetters there;)

simon:D:D:D

Forgot to add, facilities and acces massively improved over the last couple of years.

It was very quiet last year- we vacated our granstand seats and stood on the bank at becketts, which was virtually deserted!

Simon
were going down friday night , staying in the camp site by stow.
We use to go in the frantic camp site opposite the entrance , but i`m gettin old now , prefer a quieter lifestyle.

It was great in the eighties with the turbo`s , now that was loud.
I stood about 10 feet away from them on the straight at monza what a noise.
thats wot got me hooked i think...
Rich

Ticket sales are down I think because the attendees this year will be diehard F1 fans.

There will be no pub glory seekers claiming they like motorsport by buying a UK GP ticket.

As it's such a tedious "task" to view a complete race on tv now the hip cred has gone out of it.

That's my thoughts John and I still have to watch it in the hope it improves.

Well I've just been given a free weekend VIP pit and paddock pass which was a bit of a surprise but a very welcome one so BIG thanks to my mate Richard Gledhill who'll be there working his butt off in the Infineon tent (when he's not escorting me around) ;) :D

I went a couple of years ago (also on a freebie vip pass ;) ) and really enjoyed the atmosphere and the spectacle of seeing F1 cars being driven in anger - it's a lot more impressive than it looks on the telly, just wish they'd reduce the aerodynamics so we got a bit of overtaking back in the sport :(

Sal,

You are such a groupie....;);):p:p:D:D

Matt :)