Impressions? If you saw it live, in person, what was the attendance fee?
After the fiaso in the first practice session where a water valve cover got sucked out of the ground and damaged 2 cars, it turned into a great race with losts of passing
Tickets were selling for a couple thousand early on. Rooms around the track were very pricey, I read. The last US F1 race I attended was Austin in 2017 or so. $550 a seat for the weekend for front straight seats. Prices for Miami went for $1800 the first year and F1 tickets have just gone up from there. You book rooms 45 minutes or more away or pay $500 and up per night.
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The practice sessions were about $200/ea for the grandstands, might have been offered for less closer to the race. They’re already taking reservations for next year’s race.
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I would rather watch Indycar oval races or almost anything on an oval, esp dirt tracks. I would prefer to see winged cars banned so they can’t drive on dirt like they are on pavement. The sight of a dirt sprint car coming around the corner in complete opposite lock is a beautiful thing.
F1 and even Indycar on street or road courses have become too fast to permit passing without gimmicks like push yo pass or the downforce reduction in F1 for the same reason.
I too miss dirt track racing. Midgets, modified, etc. We had a 1/2 mile dirt oval near us in the 60s great fun watching the cars turn right to go left!
Four Miles from my home, we still have all of that… The 2023 season just wrapped up,
Oh HECK yeah! I had seen dirt oval racing on TV and eh, it was OK to watch. And then I went in person to Eldora Speedway in western Ohio. It was an entirely different experience. You really can’t experience the different styles and lines from TV but you can in person. I highly recommend at least one trip to a dirt oval.
I’ve attended NASCAR and Indycar oval races (NASCAR and Indycar at Michigan, Indycar at the Indy 500). Not my favorite style of tracks. I prefer natural terrain road courses like Watkins Glen, Road Atlanta, Road America, Mid-Ohio and similar. Sports cars, Indycars and F1 cars.
Street courses are a mixed bag. Some are good (Indycar at Long Beach, St. Pete, NASCAR in Chicago) some are awful (Indycar Nashville and Detroit) I’ve been to Indycar at St. Petersburg 3 times and enjoyed it.
I attended every F1 race at the Indy Speedway’s road race layout from 2000 to 2007. I’ve seen F1 in Montreal Canada and Austin Texas. All were great experiences.
The best entertainment value, in my opinion are sports car endurance races - 24 hour, 12 hour, or 10 hour races. Buy into the box seats for food, drinks and shelter, if needed, with paddock access.
I heard prices for attendance dropped significantly the closer the race came to be. They were trying hard to fill seats so it looked good.
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I can’t see paying $200 to watch a practice session. $200 for a ticket to watch the main event, that’s within reason imo. It might make more sense to rent a hotel room with a view of the race from the window. Grammar-school me used to enjoy the F1 races routinely on tv on Saturday morning’s Wide World of Sports. Jackie Stewart provided excellent commentary.
Prices dropped by 70% closer to the race compared to what people were paying a month or more before, They’re taking reservations for next year starting at $200 for General Admission.
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Fully agree!
I went to the Beckley Motor Speedway dirt track in Mt. Hope WV, and loved it.
Well worth seeing in person.
https://beckleymotorspeedway.com/
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