VIP/Hospitality Tickets

[Joni_F]

What are your thoughts about VIP/Hospitality tickets for Motor Sports events e.g. F1?

I would be interested to hear what you think in the forum thread. Have you purchased these type of packages and did you think they were worth the money?

I am currently undertaking PhD research at Aberystwyth University Business School and would be grateful if you could please take the time to complete an online survey based on these types of ticket packages. Further details can be found on this link:

https://aber.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/vip-hospitality-sports-event-survey

Thank you very much.

 

[J.J.McClure]

Hello my questioning friend.
I find the tickets for Formula 1 immensely expensive.
Silver VIP tickets average a whopping €3,500 for the entire weekend.
Gold VIP will cost around 6000 euros.
Even a ticket for the Sunday race in Spielberg with two children on a normal grandstand costs a whopping 1200 euros. It's just too much money for what's on offer.
There are discos in my city for less, an adventure park with a carousel and roller coaster,
and a Ferris wheel comes to my city 3 times a year. At least that's what I thought, you go to a motorsport event to see a race and not to party.
You can do that and that's what I'm going to do at LeMans this year.
So the race takes a little longer. Or you go to the 24-hour race on the Nordschleife.
Partying is just part of it. But for 1.5 hours, no thanks.
Well, there are still the support races but honestly you go there to see Formula 1.
Then there are all the rednecks with their orange Bengalos, the drunk and marijuana
so-called fans. I can do without that.
If you want something to eat and drink, a t-shirt and all that, you'll get rid of it for about 200 euros. Even the tent, if you don't want to stay in a hotel, costs 450 euros a night in Spielberg, you can't bring your own. At least that's what a TV reporters said last season.
Better take the smaller classes.
I was a BMW VIP guest in Zandvoort for the DTM. That was really awesome.
There were also real grid girls. I was allowed to go into the pits, talk to the drivers, flirt with the grid girls, and I had my own VIP access to the race track. No queuing like the "normal" spectators. There was also food and drink. But it also costs about 1100 euros for the entire weekend if you have to buy it.
But there is also a cheaper way. In Spa, for example, the Sunday ticket for the Spa Classics 2023 costs just 360 euros.
The TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps - WEC - Weekend Ticket costs 65 euros. Students pay 30 euros. Children under 12 have free entry. These races are always more exciting, longer and also more relaxed than the mass rip-off machinery of Formula 1. Formula 1 2023 is completely dead for me live and on TV. Uninteresting.
I prefer to drive them myself in Assetto.
Look at these Site:

https://www.ticketmaster.be/sports/motorsports/25/events

Have a nice week.

 

[Joni_F]

Thank you very much for this comprehensive reply, it is very much appreciated.

 

[Andy_J]

Forget VIP tickets. Me and my son used to attend the British GP every year until 2011. We can no longer afford to go just to stand up and watch. It just takes too much of our income to go. So for ever more we watch on TV. Which is a shame as we used to love the atmosphere. As for VIP/Hospitality tickets, well that's just a dream.

 

[J.J.McClure]

Yes, VIP tickets are a dream of every true motorsport enthusiast.
I was only able to enjoy the manufacturer ticket because my brother-in-law works for a company that cooperates with BMW Motorsport.
Personally, I wouldn't spend 1100 euros for a weekend, but tickets like this let a motorsport fan see that what interests him.
As I already wrote, I don't need a fair, a disco and all that stuff that has nothing to do with motorsport.
What would an F1 event look like without all this clutter?
Absolutely desolate and empty. Only the really real Fans would go there.
So you have to distract the adventure-hungry F1 fan from it. Put pseudo-entertainment in front of him. Somehow you have to show that the overpriced tickets are worth the money. You can also see the races on site on screens. I can do that at home if I want to.
Was something different when the old Hockenheimring still existed.
You stood in the forest with a radio to your ear and only saw the vehicles fly past 46 times. That's all. Only for real fans.
Here in Hamburg there is the Grand Prix of Hamburg every year on the old motorcycle race track in the Stadt park. But not in the last 2 years. You know Corona
Absolutely brilliant event. Cost 12 euros per day. It's organized like it was in the golden era. Bales of hay on the track and then you stand behind them. Historic rally cars, formula cars and touring cars drive there. Even HJ Stuck was there with his Ausdi 90 GTO.
This car is vulgarly noisy, even earplugs don't help and it accelerates which is madness.
In addition, since they are all private drivers, you can touch the cars if you ask politely.
Sit in, take detailed photos, etc. I've also been able to get hold of one or the other original part from historic racing cars at reasonable prices at the associated flea market.
Everything is in the showcase.
A racing car from the 1930s had an accident once. total loss.
The owner only said over the loudspeakers on the Circuit that it would probably take 3 to 4 years to restore it. It can happen when you race.
That's real enthusiasm for this sport or he doesn't give a damn about money.