Quote:
Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz
Exactly, at an F1 race you are treated like you're at the cinema, come in, pay stupid amounts of money, sit in one spot all day to watch the GP and a couple of sprint support races and then go home. I have heard circuits like Silverstone are different however. For me Le Mans was certainly a bigger race to attend than the multiple F1 GPs (mostly at Montreal) I've attended.
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I'd agree there. I've heard of a few friends who have travelled to Canada to watch the GP that they've felt disappointed by it compared to a track like Silverstone or Spa, mostly because the race in Canada is a park, and therefore it is hard to get around the track and watch from different places.
I've been fortunate to go to Silverstone numerous times, for the GP in '09 and '10, as well as events like the Silverstone Classic and the touring cars. The atmosphere has always been incredible, particularly in F1 with over 300,000 people there over the three days. Despite it arguably not being a particularly spectacular track to visit in terms of elevation changes, there are still some nice places to spectate from and it is easy to get about.
As F1 itself, it is very poor value for money compared to other events, like the GTs, sportscar racing and touring cars where you have much greater access to get close to the cars and stars in the paddock than you do with F1. If you get to meet an F1 driver at a race, it is either through luck or that you've simply paid a heck of a lot of money to get a paddock pass.
I've dreamt of getting to the Le Mans 24 hours for many years now, but have never been able to due to school, exams and other commitments too, but I hope to get there one day. I think it is a harder event to sell to your friends though than say a Grand Prix. To put it bluntly, I guess F1 is the idiot's favourite racing where you have to have a deeper knowledge of motorsport to appreciate what Le Mans is with the different classes, etc.