Anyone ever been to the A1 Ring (now Red Bull Ring)?

[Down F0rce]

Putting together my holiday plans for next year, I'm very tempted by the WSBR/ELMS event at the A1 Ring, now known as the Red Bull Ring... just wondering if anyone has been there before, and can recommend how to get there, places to stay and whatnot?

Driving isn't really an option from where I am... I would need to take too many days off to make it doable. Looks like the nearest airport is in Klagenfurt, only Ryanair serves this from the UK. Not sure I'd like to fly with them... (I'm not snobby or anything, they just offer terrible service and nickel and dime you at every opportunity).

Any advice always appreciated!

[bella]

i'm going, i already booked a backup hotel option but i'm still looking for somewhere... nice. evidently most places aren't releasing their availability for next summer for a while so it's making trying to plan difficult! booking.com has a reasonable range of the b&bs and slightly larger hotels in the area.

your best bet might be vienna, salzburg doesn't seem to have a direct road route to the spielberg area. i think only easyjet, austrian and ba go into vienna but it's worth having a play with some indirect routes from where you are - try the major european national carriers instead of the budget airlines. swiss in particular do some really good pricing via zurich and geneva to loads of places around europe, and they're owned by lufthansa so they have access to a massive range of airports. british airways have a lot of flights to vienna and will obviously connect with airports more local to you too via heathrow.

if i were you i'd be considering a quick crafty trip to monza for the april season opener too. ok the support is rubbish, but it's pretty easy to organise within normal weekend hours and the fr3.5 races are exceptional

[Peat]

Bella, may i ask what it is you do at the WSbR events?

Business or pleasure?

[bella]

mixture of the two

but mostly leisure in that i fund everything with my full time non-motorsport job. motorsport is a great way to see europe and the world, even if you're sat in a grandstand. it just takes some lateral thought and refining of priorities sometimes.

[Down F0rce]

Thanks Bella, I think Vienna is a better bet for me. Flying from Glasgow beats flying from London!

I've been to Monza once before for the Formula One race. It's an awesome place indeed, but I'm focusing on races in countries that I've never been to before for the moment.

Pretty much all of my holidays from work involve going to a race somewhere. Doing Montreal F1 and Milwaukee Indycar back to back in June, WsbR/ELMS in Austria less than a month later and perhaps the Moto GP in Valencia in November. That'll leave a big gap in my calendar though from August to October... will have to do something about that.

[bella]

montreal sounds EPIC, consider yourself a subject of jealous mutterings!

i'm never disciplined enough to save up for the big adventures like that, though a friend is moving to australia and i'm seriously considering visiting him around grand prix time next year...

my only suggestion for the gap in your schedule would be the wsr finale at barcelona in october. there's usually tons of drama and it's an easy one from a hotel and access point of view though i guess it doesn't fulfil your "not been there yet" needs!

[Sparky1]

Used to go to the Österreichring as a member of a couple of F1 teams in the 80's. The closest place for hotel lodging used to be down the road quite some distance away, however a couple of the well know F1 drivers found a place which was a Swiss/Austrian Alpine lodging which you could see from the circuit down below. It was up a little cart track, but when you went in side there was a nice bar and restaurant. There were also lots of bedrooms and a sauna with loft bedrooms down at the bottom of the garden. Well in fact this was a brothel but they cleared all the girls out, except a couple who waitress-ed and served in the bar. We did not realize except we figured something was not quite right, but the team and the team owner had stayed there fr years without knowing. The older lady that ran it was very nice and her son and his wife, who was a prominent lawyer in Vienna would help come and run it. The race weekend was more lucrative to have the team (24 personel) stay there, than the brothel. We didn,t mind as it was only 10 minutes from the circuit and the other tams had at least a 45 min drive. Some day I will have to tell everyone about "Slavy" a beutiful dark haired waitress ! Hope this helps...

[Down F0rce]

I'll keep that in mind, Sparky1!

I've thought about Barcelona, but I read the travelwiki article on it and it didn't exactly sell the place to me. It was basically a giant list of the various ways you are going to be mugged. It can't be that bad, can it?

[bella]

not at all. some people would say the same about london, but if you're sensible it's fine there too. going to places like that i leave my wallet in the glove compartment of the car or in a case back at the hotel and just take a bit of loose change, a credit card and a few notes, and put that somewhere sensible. basically, act like a tourist with a big rucksack, a map and a huge camera and you're going to get targeted!

personally i stay outside of the city for the racing and just go in for a nosey around on the monday after the race, then go to the airport monday night. there's a good train service from granollers into the city, and the tube network is obviously very good. if it's just you i'm not really sure it's worth spending more than a day there unless you're really into art galleries and stuff, but if you are there's plenty to do and see. there's a couple of nice parks to take a stroll in or sit down and read a book in the sun as well.

sparky's cautionary tale should remind us all to check any hotel "services" in case they include "something for the weekend"

[Tim the Grey]

"Extra" Pillow, sir??