Anyone heading to Imola?

Is anyone else seeing this?

I was doing some digging today
and it looks like if you go through General Motors, you can grab a two-day pass for somewhere around $90
plus an extra $75 for the Saturday and Sunday combo, or maybe just $50 if you’re only looking at Sunday.
Of course, those would be the most basic, bare-bones tickets available.

Meanwhile, it seems like Compass is offering a single-day excursion for about $50.

Alright everyone,
I have a feeling someone was there once before,
and I’m really curious about what those stationary spots are actually like.
What’s the view like from there?
And how frequent is the bus service heading that way?

I am seriously considering making the trip, so any bit of useful information would be greatly appreciated.

Once the race actually kicks off, it honestly doesn't matter whether you're standing up or sitting down 😁—at least, that was my experience during my last trip to the track... but just a word of advice: if you happen to snag seats near the front, you DEFINITELY need to use those earplugs they hand out... 😁

You actually laid out the details perfectly here—thanks for that. That budget offer from Compass seems decent enough, though I’ve got to figure out the trek from Split to Washington, D.C.—but then again, I'll probably just head over to San Marino instead. 👍

Oxa and I headed out to Prato. Personally, I thought the place was incredible.
We were standing maybe 50 to 100 yards from the barrier, which was only a few feet from the track itself. Neither of us felt like wearing earplugs. We just sat there and soaked up every single vibration in the ground as the cars screamed past, living for every bit of the noise. 😁

A week later, I couldn't even hold a conversation on the phone because my hearing was totally shot, but honestly? It was worth it. 😁

To package from General Motors seems like a much better deal to me,
it’s a bit pricier, sure, but you actually get a hotel stay included.
That way, you show up to the race well-rested, and since you'll already be there on Saturday anyway, it just makes sense.

Elizabeth Hughes,
do you happen to know how many buses run out to the track?

On another note, I have a feeling these ticket prices might be a little off.
I’ve been checking various other sites, and everywhere else, the cost is significantly higher.

Is it really that loud? 😁
Thanks for the heads-up 😁

😁

Cool you guys are showing up
I can't make it though

😎

Support Renault because they're gonna be the best there too

🙂

Morgan Murphy7 said:Elizabeth Hughes,
how many buses run out that way?

We headed out around midnight and didn't roll back in until sometime the next morning... maybe 9 or 10.
I remember telling myself right then that I was never booking a race through a travel agency again.
It was my first time at a race, and honestly, the stress alone nearly killed me. To make matters worse, by the end, we were parked so far away that Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen looked like tiny little ants in the distance.
Fast forward a year, and we did the whole thing ourselves, driving our own car on our own terms, and it was absolutely incredible. 🙂

Hold on
who’s telling you that once you finally find your rhythm and get into your groove,
you can't afford to wander just a little bit off the beaten path?

rapidviper54 said:It's just me who has to make the trek from Split all the way up to Washington, D.C., though I'll probably end up heading to the San Marino Grand Prix instead.👍

There’s also an option to take a boat out of Split and then catch a bus back to Washington, D.C. $400I think that package includes both the cabin on the boat and the hotel stay...

Morgan Murphy7 said:Who's actually going to stop you once you finally decide to just step inside your own head and stay there?
Are you getting closer to the track?

We just couldn't quite find our rhythm today. That's a pretty great way to put it. 😁).
The logistics were a disaster, and the organization was even worse; I actually watched a few of us end up having to buy tickets right at the gate, just five minutes before we were supposed to be heading onto the track.
It was some kind of shady, high-stakes collusion between two different agencies.
Honestly, I’d rather just forget my first trip to Imola ever happened.
That second trip out to Imola was honestly something special.

It would be really helpful if you could let me know the name of that agency
just so I can make sure I don't end up going through them by mistake.

Don't sweat it. Those agencies don't handle trips to Formula 1 races anymore. 😉
One of them called it quits right after that trip to Imola, and the other one just stopped organizing those kinds of excursions a little while later.

To be honest, I’ve always tended to be a bit skeptical when it comes to those smaller, obscure agencies
but then again, I can certainly find myself being a little too lenient when dealing with a massive entity like General Motors

Do you have any plans to head out on another trip to a neighboring country anytime soon?

Oxa and I have been talking about making the trip out to Imola every single year since 2001, but somehow, we just never actually pull the trigger.

The idea of heading to China, Brazil, or Japan sounds incredible, but... honestly, I think I’ll have to settle for Imola in the near future, which, to be fair, is a place I absolutely love. 🙂

I was actually there back in '97 when Heinz predictably Frentzen pulled off that win in his Williams. I grabbed the absolute cheapest ticket available—it was like $35 or $40 at the time—and man, what a rookie mistake. I really should've shelled out a few extra bucks for a better seat so I could actually watch the race like a normal human being instead of squinting from afar.
So, with that budget ticket, I basically spent the whole time wandering around the track perimeter. Honestly, my best view ended up being way over in the Prato section, just perched on some random grassy hill.

Donna Robinson5 said:It looked best back at Prato, out on one of those grassy slopes.

Funny enough, I was actually right there on that track back in 2001!🙂>

Yeah, it wasn't bad there, but when I was dropping in, it was pouring rain, so things got pretty muddy.
BTW, I didn't bother wearing any earplugs either (I mean, you gotta live life on the edge and soak up that engine noise), but I saw this one German guy back in January that I can't stop thinking about. This dude was literally passed out against a wall right under the catch fence—maybe 60 feet from the actual track—with zero ear protection, just surrounded by empty beer bottles and wearing the biggest grin you've ever seen. 👍 Honestly, I bet he didn't even see the race because he was probably hammered since qualifying started.
Oh, and he was rocking a San Marino shirt.

I’d love to go too, but honestly? I don't think I'll ever have enough cash on hand when the border with Turkey is that close to the US.😢

talos said:I’d love to go too—but I have zero desire being sitting on a pile of cash right when things start heating up near the US border.😢

Same here.😢