Silverstone MotoGP Attendance Thread
 

So, who else is going?

I'll be arriving Thursday evening and camping for all three days :cool:

Got platinum grandstand passes - Arena B on Sunday :cool::cool::cool:

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just the saturday practice for me, its only 15 minutes away and if i open the back door i can hear it live on sunday :rolleyes:

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Thinking of going Sunday - General Admission

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I will be going, dunno what my tickets allow for though. I have a friend who works there so she is sorting me out with the tickets so probably just general admission.

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Freebies? :p

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may be there :D

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I'll definitely be there Sunday, maybe Saturday too.

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Indeedy but kerri's dad has already called dibs on the second ticket.

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Camping all 3 days

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Saturday for me

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Might go - the PR company I am helping with the launch at Lord's asked if I was already working that weekend on cricket and when I said no they asked if I'd like to go.

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LPH - you HAVE to go - especially if you can get in on a freebie/corporate.

if not, I would be more than happy to take a couple of corporate tickets on your behalf and report back ;-)

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There will be no one there looking at the number of tickets for sale on eBay at the moment and so many of them are selling as Rossi isn't racing. Don't get me wrong, seeing Rossi is amazing, but would I not go just because he ain't racing, would I hell! Some people are just bonkers, or is it just me that doesn't understand the mentality :confused:

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Me neither! The whole Rossi hype is incredilbe though. At Philip Island lsland last year there was a mob that knew exactly where he was gonna be the whole time that followed him around the paddock. Yet standing about 25 metres away was Colin Edwards, James Toesland, Loris Capirossi - no-one even batted an eyelid!

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Couldn't give two poops whether rossi was racing or not!!! I'll be there, I'm mostly going for the moto2 race!! Moto 2 is awesome!

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Im tempted to grab one of the tickets going cheap on ebay... maybe

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Now confirmed, I'll be there on Saturday. Got 4 of the riders, including Lorenzo, at work on Wednesday. Should I wear heels? I'm only 5'2" but I don't want to feel like Nicole Kidman standing next to Tom Cruise when I meet him.

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I bet he would be most impressed if you could speak a bit of
Spanish.
Get some pics posted here though.

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Er, I know how to ask for the bill in a resturant and that is it.

Hayden's coming too. This has got the girls in the office excited.

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I know what you mean, but I reckon you'll all have a better time for it. Its those same fans that boo Casey Stoner or give him the finger on the slowing down lap. Its those same fans that push and barge into the front. Its those same fans that climb the catch fencing to invade the track putting themselves and the riders at risk. Its those same fans who turn up for the Moto GP and then disappear as soon as the race has finished only to sit in their cars and block the carparks up for hours on end. Its those same fans who point at the other riders and ask "who's that then ?" Its those same fans who stand in front of you when you are trying to take a picture hold up their phone and then try and use that to get a picture. Or they stand in front of a guy in a wheel chair just to try and get a bit closer to the track.

They all have Rossi shirts on or whatever the latest brand of Rossi tat cheap merchandise is in fashion this year....

Thing is, its those people who spoil it for everybod else. Its why I prefer the atmosphere on Fridays and Saturdays and TBH they arent what I'd class as a fan or motorcycle racing, they are just "Rossi" fans and its not the same thing...

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That's one of the reasons (other than cost :D) that I mainly go to practice or qualifying for BSB rounds. Plenty of space at the good spots to watch etc. TBH, the Moto GP race isn't normally the best anyway and hasn't been for a few years, its the 125s, 250s and Moto 2 this year that i'm most looking forward to.

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This time tomorrow night - I will be there, supping a nice glass or two of red with a tasty steak cooked on a camping stove.

Look out for me on Sunday and say hello - I'll be the one in the Rossi t-shirt :rolleyes:

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In case you didn't see this in Idle Banter - yesterday was great fun at work.

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.p...24#post2297724

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Got a weekend ticket, so I'll be up and down all weekend.
Not camping as I'm only a short distance away from Silverstone.

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My tickets arrived today but will only manage to make race day due to work, dunno where we will be stood but probably just wandering, would be happy to meet up with anyone going. Apparently I am being supplied a camping pass too so I can park my bike closer to the track, not sure about it but will see.

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Nice one LPH! :thumbsup:

I'll be there on the Sunday. It would have been nice if Rossi were riding, but managed to see him at Le Mans a few weeks ago, and anyhoo the other classes this year have been on fire, so can't wait to watch them! :D

Can't believe some people are dropping out as Rossi's injured, but hey I guess it shows what he's done for making the sport popular...

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Righto those of you that went and have experience of Donnington. Any feedback on how they compare. Whats the viewing like ? What was it like getting out the carpark tonight, what are the facilities like etc etc.

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My dad went just for today, so had to park in one of the main car parks - took him about an hour to get out in his cage - would have been longer but someone lifted a gate of its hinges which meant he could drive up a bank and straight on to the road, rather than trying to get out of the only other gate that was open :rolleyes:

We wandered back to the campsite, packed the tent, and drove out of the campsite exit on to the back road out of Silverstone - no queues at all ;)

Arena B was an excellent place to watch from - a photo thread will be along at some stage, just need to sift through the 751 pictures I took

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Traffic - Nightmare. Took 45 mins to get from car park to A43 (on bike!). Left at the very end after the last support race at about 4.30pm. Viewing, some good spots, but nothing as nice and grassy as most of Donington is. Mainly gravel spots on the edge of the pathways. Photography, can't comment from a grandstand perspective as I was a cheap skate and had general admin ticket, but very limited from that perspective, you're either miles away or huuuuge fencing :( Entertainment other than racing - excellent. Loads to do and watch. There were countless supermoto races on the Stowe circuit, red bull x fighter bods doing flips etc, Eurofighter display, Craig Jones and Dougie Lampkin stunt shows, Porches blatting round there test track near on the site dealership. Numerous large screens dotted around the site and had a walk through the Heliport and onto the support paddock which was buzzing. Got to the Moto GP paddock entrance but obviously can't get in without a pass. Saw John McGuinness on his scoot and James Ellison randomly limping about on the infield, looked like he was just having a great day :D. I would say it's good at Silverstone, however I think I prefer Donington from the viewing aspect.

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Drove up Saturday morning in the camper and straight into one of the car parks in time to watch the Moto2 practice. Spent the day walking round checking out the various viewing points (General admission so no stands). Moto GP bikes were awesome out of Chapel and down the hanger straight plus they did their practice starts right in front of us there. The viewing from the bank by Maggots/Becketts was excellent as well with a giant screen opposite, but you were a bit exposed to the wind there (freezing on Saturday).

Drove into nearby town saturday night, top nosh in local restaurant then back to circuit and camped for free in the car park.

Decided to spend today watching from the terrace directly in front of the Luffield stand (directly opposite the pit entrance). Moto and Moto2 bikes were coming out of Luffield drifting the back and then short shifting up the box and disappearing round Woodcote in one long drift, plus you had a great view across to where they were braking into Brookland. You could also see the giant screen opposite and we even had the commentary on a speaker, although hearing anything over the bikes was pretty random chance.... Now if we had been able to do a trackday on the monday like we could at Donnington last year it would have been perfect!

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I was actually pretty impressed with the set up there vs Donington. We gave up on going to the latter after several frustrating years there (finding decent (or even any) viewing if you're not at the track by 8:30am, getting out of the circuit - once took us 2hrs on a bike with our mates in a car taking 4.5hrs!

Silverstone isn't perfect, but there seems to be more space to move around, lounge about, and the extra facilities (food, drink, entertainments) were really good. There also seem to be a lot more screens, and several places to view whether or not you had a grandstand place.

We had a grandstand seat at Copse, but also had a good walk around to check out some of the free-viewing places around the track and there seemed to be a few options. With Silverstone being so wide there are lots of potential overtaking spots, so I don't think there is one place that is clearly way better for action than others. Copse was a decent spot, and had loads of banking and steps for people to sit on for free, opposite the grandstand. Seems to be a good place for rider's celebrations, oh and people running on at the end of the pit straight (Capirossi being one of them!)

Think next time I might try either Stowe or Luffield/Woodcote area though, as they are a couple of the harder braking spots.

We had to go in the car this year as bike not working, and it took us 1.5hrs to get from the car park to the A43 (left after 125 race). Mind you, it was lovely and sunny and there was nice scenery, so if you kicked back with some good tunes it went pretty quickly.

Would definitely go again anyway :D

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I went on Saturday as guests of Nicky Hayden's sponsors, Tissot. I'm not usually the one swanning about in hospitality - my job at Lord's means I'm normally rushed off my feet on match days, but as a thank you for looking after the media launch and Nicky at Lord's last week they asked me if I'd like to go along for qualifying and I got to take Mr LPH.

We arrived at about 11am. I'll admit I was totally spoilt as I had parking in the media car park just to the back of the copse, then we were escorted through to the VIP village area.

First up was a drink, the bar was free all day but I was driving Ileft Mr LPH to enjoy that part. We then had a pit lane tour which was brilliant. It's good to see that those ladies are keeing the fake tan and hair spray industries in business.

After a spot of lunch at our table in the big marquee, we watvhed the MotoGP qualifying from the viewing platform then were given a paddock tour. Then back to watch the rest of qualifying before being served afternoon tea. I ate way too many scones and truffles.

We sat with some of the MCN and other bike journos out on a jolly, and the Sunday Telegraph writer who had been taken round the track on a Ducati, which he said was terrifying.

We drove straight out at about 5pm, a bit deaf and windswept but having had an amazing day.

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The two seater ducati is usually ridden by Randy Mamola (GP legend), and the bike is pretty much a full MotoGP bike (240bhp) - I am not surprised he was terrified :p

I have got a few pictures of ducati when it was going round two-up - I'll post them on the photothread when I get round to doing it:rolleyes:

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Went the last 2 years as a VIP guest of Rizla. This year I went with a guy I know who was in the 250 support race, so I was camped out in that paddock for the weekend. I agree with MR UKI - the entertainment was good (spermoto was awesome but could have used some dirt), but the viewing was mediocre. Also from the practical side the facilities and some of the organisation were pretty poor- not many toilets, ridiculous showers, not enough rubbish bins and not emptied often enough, parking nazis who first told me to move from being parked alongside our awning, and then towed my truck across the track although I had a pass and was parked exactly where they had told me to! :smt076

I left the track at about 18:15pm and it took me an hour to reach the A43 and then another hour to get back to Rushden.

EDIT - Almost forgot - we had Sam Ermolenko (former world speedway champ and Sky Sports commentator) around our tent chatting for an hour or so -that was pretty cool!

Re: Silverstone MotoGP Attendance Thread
 

I've put a few pics here - though the thread appears to have gone slightly off course onto the subject of boobage!

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.p...93#post2300893

Re: Silverstone MotoGP Attendance Thread
 

Sounds just like Donnington !

Traffic chaos sounds comparable, I would average that most years its taken an hour or so to get out of the carpark, best time was 20 minutes from getting into the car and being on the M1, worst was 4 hrs, would have been longer except for some nice chap got fedup with waiting and took some bolt croppers out of his van and cut the chains off the gate that we were all near but the marshalls refused to open !

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Facilities over in the Woodlands campsite were pretty good I thought - bit of a queue sometimes for the showers but they were clean and hot. Loos were also kept clean, and (usually) had paper :rolleyes:

Big screen on next to the beer tent for footie, stage with some good bands. Huge pitches for tents/vans/motorhomes, decent roadways and loads of security.

It was a only about a 10 minute walk from our tent to Club corner, however we were in section A - if you were right over the back then it was probably a good 20 walk. The 'lively' section was very loud until about 2/3 in the morning - lots of banging bass music - but nothing that earplugs couldn't deal with ;)

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Hayden at Lord's

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...es/8750564.stm

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I stayed at Whittlebury (?) campsite (golf and country club, dontcha know!). The big plus for me was, unlike Donington, although you had to leave the bike in the bike park, you could take your bike AND all the luggage to your chosen site, put the tent up, and THEN take the bike back to the bike park. NO lugging the stuff forty million miles away in the sweaty heat!! AND it was sweaty on the Thursday.
BUT, Silverstone is NO Craner curves. I watched on Sunday at Maggots/Becketts. I also watched a wee bit there on the Saturday - saw Hector Barbera slide from my right to my left. I still hear that sound when I close my eyes. Have to say, although I got burnt to a crisp, it was bloomin' freezin'. So much so that I didn't see the Po boys, cos I had to go back to the camp-site for a hot shower to de-frost!

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Meant to say, the highlight of the week-end for me (almost) was the George White hot air motor-cycle and rider balloon, landing in my camp-site on the Sunday night. Especially when some random guy shouted out "F***ing put out that BBQ", cos it almost landed on it! haha!