[erics75218]

I'm seriously considering going to check out a GP this year. I've always wanted to go to Italy, to Monza.

I'm looking on both GP Tours and Formula Tours as potential options. Has anyone had any experience with them? Is it worth it?

Maybe it's better, since I'm traveling alone, to just get tickets and just go and figure it out on the fly.

Those above travel agencies have some nice options to their packages and such...

I'm just kind of lost....HA!

 

[mikeyd]

I'm seriously considering going to check out a GP this year. I've always wanted to go to Italy, to Monza.

I'm looking on both GP Tours and Formula Tours as potential options. Has anyone had any experience with them? Is it worth it?

Maybe it's better, since I'm traveling alone, to just get tickets and just go and figure it out on the fly.

Those above travel agencies have some nice options to their packages and such...

I'm just kind of lost....HA!

Italy is my favourite country, GREAT food, genuinely friendly people, great style, everybody goes for a stroll in the evening, they are a beautiful looking well dressed bunch as a whole and the country is not too expensive.
Going to a GP there is a slightly different ball game...
The circuits are hard to reach, Monza is about an hour outside Milan and San Marino is about the same outside Rimini. you'll prob have to take a coach and will be stuck there all day. Unless you get a pit pass you'll probably be stuck in a grandstand for most of race day and I have found it to be hot and tedious. Choice of grandstand is crucial - at monza you'll be seeing the cars for a few seconds every few minutes with commentary only in Italian on the big screens- I have found it to be quite...well... tedious.
My advice is don't spoil a good Italian holiday with a trip to a GP unless it's Monaco.
The Goodwood Revival however is the same date (ish) and it is fabulous... but it's not Italy and the girls aren't as hot...
my $.02

 

[erics75218]

That's why I was thinking of going with one of those groups since they have it all planned up. Your advice is very well taken, and great point on Monte Carlo....i've been there for fun, stayed in Nice. I would not mind revisiting that trip + the GP again.

If anyone has any exp with the above firms I'd love to hear a review on your exp...no matter what GP you went to. One puts you up on a lake to the west of lake Como..which is the hotel location for the other firm. Both looked pretty damn nice. One outfit gets you a little dinner with a guest speaker...I think it was Peter Windsor last year. The packages I'm looking at are in the 2200 range for double occupancy. That includes a hotel every night, transfers, 3 days at the track...among a few tours of Ferrari and Masseratti....etc...they seem worth it actually.

Here is the link to the one that, to me, looks awesome.
Formula 1 Monza Tifosi Tour Monza tours travel packages hotel tickets . FORMULA TOURS

Also this wont be my first race...I've been to World Superbike and MotoGP at Laguna, as well as the Long Beach GP a few times. I TOTALLY understand what you mean by a BEATING.

I enjoy very much to be AT the event...but I don't have a desire or need to sit in one spot to watch it. Shorts, a water bottle...oh and maybe some happy smoke...and a few hours to spend walking around a track is GREAT fun for me.

Is the track SO crowded on GP day that one can't walk around comfortably? I've never EVER sat in a grandsand seat for a race....

 

[mikeyd]

I'd forget about walking around Monza - not possible. Most of the Grandstands in Italy are priced differently and IIRC if you leave a grandstand you have real problems getting back in, there are only a few good vantage points at Monza as it's very spread out compared to other tracks. Ideally you want an access all areas pass which are unheard of - unless you spend thousands - or know Bernie Ecclestone.
If you want to change views then you have to buy a new pass for that grandstand, and yeah it's gets very very crowded. The last race I attended in Italy was San Marino and I kinda lost faith.
No exp of the firms you mentioned - sorry.
But Italy - oh Italy... you'll want to stay.

 

[macdady2424]

You won't be sitting in the grandstands all day long straight. I've only been to Montreal races, but imagine its the same everywhere. You'll leave your seat a lot during some of the boring support races and between them. You'll be able to walk around certain areas of the grounds of the track to find a shady spot or get food, or buy some super marked up expensive F1 merchandise. IF you go all 3 days, by race day, you'll have the routine down and know what your doing by the time the big crowd is there as on Fridays it's usually pretty empty. You will spend all day at the track though, it's not like you'll leave for lunch or any breaks and come back after. My best advice for you is bring a Camelback for water. That way you have free hands, water to drink, and some storage space on your back.

 

[macdady2424]

I'd forget about walking around Monza - not possible. Most of the Grandstands in Italy are priced differently and IIRC if you leave a grandstand you have real problems getting back in, there are only a few good vantage points at Monza as it's very spread out compared to other tracks. Ideally you want an access all areas pass which are unheard of - unless you spend thousands - or know Bernie Ecclestone.
If you want to change views then you have to buy a new pass for that grandstand, and yeah it's gets very very crowded. The last race I attended in Italy was San Marino and I kinda lost faith.
No exp of the firms you mentioned - sorry.
But Italy - oh Italy... you'll want to stay.

Like he said, you won't be able to walk around the entire track. Your ticket will limit you to certain areas. Well, unless you know Bernie or look like Noami Campbell.

 

[erics75218]

Damn that Naomi Campbell HAGUAR...I saw her at the GP this past weekend on TV!!!


Good stuff...so then at the Monza GP...there isn't like how would I say it..general admission areas..with pavillions.

At the Long Beach GP for insance....I spent some time at the free to enter...pay to drink Patron booth..was good fun. Required no special pass other than cashola.

 

[mikeyd]

If I recall correctly - a general admission pass at Monza (it's been 8 years or so since last at Monza so I may have mixed a few of the memories up) gives you access to the commercial areas - hats, t-shirts, saurkraut and Fries etc. and a few obstructed views from behind fences, barriers and trees between the Grandstands.
In order to see the cars for more than a few milliseconds at a time you need to use the grandstands, which require different tickets.
A GP cost hundreds of times more to stage than a regular say F3 meeting and it is massively policed and spectators are squeezed for cash and managed far more than at other events - there is none of the - wander up to the barrier stuff you'd get at other motorsport events and it feels much less special/more oppressive because of it.
Now if you were to come up with some photos of Max or Bernie being spanked by hookers then I'm sure the Monza GP would be a fabulous experience - or convince the FIA you are press...
The other stuff on the itenerary looks like a blast especially Maranello.
Not trying to put you off but going there with realistic expectations might prevent some dissappointment.

 

[Spudboy]

I went to Monaco last year with GP Tours. I did the dinner with Peter Windsor, the guests were S. Vettel and Pat Symonds. I did practice at Rascasse. I did the pit walk. I watched the race from 6th floor balcony while sipping champagne. Overall, they do do a good job. Our guide had been to the Monaco GP nearly 30 times, and had great stories to tell. It cost me a small fortune, but it was a once in a lifetime thing, and I loved the hell out of it. I brought back "clag" from the tunnel in Monaco!!!!!!

You won't have that many options in Monza. Also, make sure to check what the adder is for single occupancy, they tack on a fair bit for that. The other folks on the tour ran the gamut from first timers like me, to couples that have been going year after year.

BTW, one of the main reasons I went with a tour group is because that was the only way to get some of the tickets I got. Not sure if that is a factor at Monza.

 

[Exigent]

I'm seriously considering going to check out a GP this year. I've always wanted to go to Italy, to Monza.

I'm looking on both GP Tours and Formula Tours as potential options. Has anyone had any experience with them? Is it worth it?

Maybe it's better, since I'm traveling alone, to just get tickets and just go and figure it out on the fly.

Those above travel agencies have some nice options to their packages and such...

I'm just kind of lost....HA!

I went with GP Tours in 1999. I did their "Italian Extravaganza". Phill Hill went with us to the Ferrari factory, Lamborghini factory, to the Alfa museum, and to Lake Como. Then the GP at Monza. Awesome experience. I took my father for his 60th birthday.

Monza is an experience. It's not super-orderly and there were times when it felt dangerously crowded, but I am glad I had the experience.

And Lake Como is perhaps the most beautiful place on Earth. Do it!

 

[erics75218]

Boy oh boy...you all are making this really tough!!!!

I want to say F*CK it and just pull the trigger...who knows what F1 will be like in the future..maybe I can go on the cheap some other time.

The GP tour is slightly more expensive, than formula tours..but they DO get that guest thing going on....I tried to get them to tell me who it would be....unconfirmed by GP Tours it would be Peter Windsor....cool..but not say...MASA cool.

BUT GP tours does put you up on Lake Como....FormulaTours puts you up on the lake to the LEFT of Lake Como....which may even be cooler..I don't know..probably not as "hip"

Oh lord....and then there is the double occupancy thing...that is going to att 500 or so...damnit.

Anyone want to go with?

 

[powerbookguy]

reviving this thread, i am thinking of going to monza as well. i've never been to an F1 race, and while the track is not my first choice, the date fits in with my schedule and with its history, art and food, italy is perhaps my favorite place on earth.

with schumacher back on the grid tickets may be scarce.

 

[rnr]

reviving this thread, i am thinking of going to monza as well. i've never been to an F1 race, and while the track is not my first choice

:thwack::thwack:

Unless your first choice is Monaco and/or Spa we may have to take back you man card

 

[powerbookguy]

:thwack::thwack:

Unless your first choice is Monaco and/or Spa we may have to take back you man card

monaco of course.

i thought of doing a 2 race vacation with both spa and monza but the online reviews of spa were horrible (no transport, no food, no bathrooms, etc.) and to be honest, the reviews of monza were not much better.

planning to go to monaco next year but i'd really like to see a race this year.