Anyone been to an F1 race?

[Boourns]

Hey all. I am going with my dad to the F1 USGP next month. Anyone ever been to an F1 race? If so I'd appreciate any tips or suggestions for making it a great experience. I definitely need to get some ear protection, so if anyone has experience with ear plugs that are heavy duty enough and comfortable to wear all day let me know. I'll take and post a bunch of pics if any of you are interested.

 

[palmermd]

I went in 2002? Foam earplugs and Bose noise canceling heatphones. They blocked out lots of noise and also allowed me to listen to race radios. Google for some race radio frequencies of teams you like to follow.

edit: I looked it up, yes, it was 2002. The year that Michael Schumacher gave the race away at the end (accidently?).

 

[johnrhansen]

If you want earplugs a safety supply store ought to have the industrial disposable kind... they might make you buy a whole box though. Another place might be an airport with a flight school. They sometimes sell individual earplugs for the pilots. Way back when I started working in aviation, I worked at one that did. I don't like the ones they sell in drugstores. I get all the earplugs I need from work (they allow us to take them in limited quantities) so I haven't had to buy any for a long time.

 

[johnrhansen]

some times when noise gets really loud you need to wear earplugs and ear muffs. I don't know about f1 racing, but jet engines can get really loud!

 

[palmermd]

some times when noise gets really loud you need to wear earplugs and ear muffs. I don't know about f1 racing, but jet engines can get really loud!

Yes, bring both. The cars are VERY loud. Particularly if you are in a location with grandstands on both sides. The start/finish line straightaway at Indy where they ran it in the early aughts was very loud. I don't know much about the current venue.

 

[AndyH]

One can buy small packages of foam earplugs at Lowes and Home Depot.

 

[GIBBER]

My family was at Monza this year for the F1 race and had start/finish line seats. They had very high quality plugs and said it was still "painfully loud" (grandstands on both sides) I would take head gear (as we are all planning to do for our visit to the USGP 2014.) I hope you update this after to let us know where you were and what level of protection was needed. Thanks in advance.

Hey all. I am going with my dad to the F1 USGP next month. Anyone ever been to an F1 race? If so I'd appreciate any tips or suggestions for making it a great experience. I definitely need to get some ear protection, so if anyone has experience with ear plugs that are heavy duty enough and comfortable to wear all day let me know. I'll take and post a bunch of pics if any of you are interested.

 

[Drivesolo]

Boourns,

Your dad rocks! He's SO much cooler than mine. I'm still hoping to make it to the USGP one of these years, but the logistics just aren't in my favor this year. I'm an long time F1 fan but I've haven't been to a F1 GP yet. I've been to a few Indy and other motorsports events and comfortable hearing protection that you can wear for hours makes the day a lot better. For starters; ear plugs if it's a hot day, full hearing protection if it's cool enough. But you may want hearing protection w/ an AM/FM receiver so you can hear the broadcasted race coverage. I don't know how COTA is laid out or what services they provide, but if you don't have a good view of one of their screens, maybe and tablet or iPad will allow you to connect to a WiFi feed that'll allow you to watch the FIA live feed. I dunno if COTA is like some tracks that will let certain ticket holders walk the track, or on it after the race (I can't recall last year's trophy ceremony) but if they do plan accordingly. You'll probably walk a lot and will be standing for most of the day. Will you be there for Practice and Qualifying too?

 

[ttime4four]

I went to COTA last year for the inaugural USGP race and had grandstand seats in T12 ($500). If I were going to do it again, I'd get GA tickets ($170 ish) and park my folding chair at T11.

IMHO, earplugs are good enough at this location as the grounds are open and the sound doesn't get trapped.

They did rent some devices that you could listen to the announcers and see some track positioning info. They were expensive. Online access was totally crap -- the infrastructure just couldn't handle the 80K people trying to post to facebook

Trackside screens were a bit too small to really use them.

Had a great time, but COTA was still being put together when the F1 race went through there last year -- and it showed. Services were overloaded (bathrooms, food, cell phone/data, merchandise). I think I waited over an hour at the COTA merchandise booth and to find out most of the stuff was sold out and if you wanted to buy anything - it was cash only because the cell based credit card machines didn't work.

I'm confident that they would have all that sorted this year. Have fun!

 

[Beleaf]

Yes, I've been to about 6 of them.

It can be incredibly loud. Generally, I take some silicone earplugs and some high spec ear muffs. When I want to hear the broadcast, I ditch the silicone plugs and use in-ear earphones with the ear muffs over the top. Works really well. I also have some earmuffs that have an external mic and internal speaker so that I can hear the PA - they blank the high DB noise - haven't tried those at the track yet, but they're handy in the workshop.

Here is a good range of hearing protection solutions (no relation or experience of this company) http://www.earplugstore.com/hunting-and-shooting-ear-plugs.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Boourns]

Thanks for the helpful replies. We are sitting in the bleachers on the exit of turn 11. My dad couldn't make it for practice or qualifying so we're just going to the race on Sunday. I am pretty excited.

I needed some stuff from Amazon yesterday, so I got a couple of these in-ear plugs, since they are well-reviewed and prime eligible. I will probably also get some cheaper disposable foam ones from Home Depot just to have as a backup. I'll see if I can do a little more research from people's experience around turn 11 from last year to determine whether I need over-the-ear muffs too.

I will do a write-up of my experience after the event, and I'll let you guys know if I find a way to sneak the Leaf onto the track for a hot lap. :lol: