Motorsport related activities in this European cities (help!)

[kobefly]

Hello everyone!

This year, from August 21st to September 11th, I will be for the first time in my life in Europe visiting the following cities...

- Krakow
- Budapest
- Bratislava
- Vienna
- Prague
- Berlin

... and I would love to know which motorsport related acitivities I can get to do there.

ANY suggestion is welcomed, from watching races, to renting go-karts, to buying some die-cast models, to anything you can think of.

Thanks for your help!

[FIRE]

In Poland Speedway GP?

[NaBUru38]

Slovakia Ring is very close to Bratislava.
Hungaroring is very close to Budapest.
Brno, Sachsenring and Lausitz are (not so) close to Prague.

Berlin has the old Avus.

Later I'll check rallycross circuits.

[bella]

taxis to and from the hungaroring from the city and airport are expensive but there is a bus service that stops at the circuit. they're quite strict about letting people in on general test days, but obviously if there's a race on they welcome spectators. there's a karting track at the circuit that's open usually, but honestly if you're not there for like, 7-10 days i would stick to enjoying the city because it's absolutely brilliant, one of the real treasures of europe and the people are absolutely wonderful and welcoming. a small heads up: whilst a lot of the local young people do speak good english, it's predominantly a german tourist destination, and thus in hotels and tourist destinations many peoples first foreign language is german. it may help to know some basic german to help you get around the city.

vienna is a 2-3 hour train ride away from the red bull ring, which is only closed to visitors very occasionally (i guess when they have someone wanting a closed test). you can get a train to knittelfeld, which is a €25-€30 taxi ride each way (its about a 10 minute drive) from the circuit. it is a genuinely beautiful part of the world, i'd recommend hiring a car if you can and enjoying the local area instead purely for the graz-circuit drive if you go over the hills instead of take the motorway but the train ride is pretty cool too once you're out of the flatlands around vienna.

berlin is a superb city. don't bother with motorsport stuff there unless you're really keen to see whats left of avus.

brno isn't really worth the effort from prague, imo. if you can get to an event there then it's a pretty cool circuit (it's kind of a cross between zolder, spa and brands hatch) but otherwise, it's just a circuit.

so from your list, depending on how much time you have, i would make the biggest effort to visit the red bull ring to also enjoy the countryside. vienna is very flat and as enjoyable as the city is, the hills and mountains and forests to the south are just stunning.

[kobefly]

Thanks for all the advice!

These are the number of nights I will spend at each location:

- Krakow 2
- Budapest 4 (including weekend)
- Bratislava 1
- Vienna 3
- Prague 4 (including weekend)
- Berlin 6 (including weekend)

As bella stated, I am planing more on enjoying the cities but if there is something Motorsport related that will not take too much time from the schedule I would love to do it. Another thing I did not mention are racing/cars museums which I did not find online so far.

Being from Argentina, even though we have pretty strong motorsport tradition and I was able to see here F1, WRC and WTCC events (I'll be there again the next race of the season), I see most of the events going on in Europe and if there is anything I can access I will take the opportunity.

By the way, I only speak Spanish and English. Since I am staying mostly at hostels I believe I will find young people able to help with in English.

[bella]

you're going to have a great time in budapest, the nightlife scene is really relaxed and international so you've got it exactly right by staying in a hostel.

you'd need to catch a flight from berlin to koln/cologne or dusseldorf but you could perhaps consider doing the 9-10th september friday-saturday of the dtm meeting at the nurburgring? you'd almost definitely need to rent a car (and mayyyyybe sleep in it depending what the hotel situation is), but there's a decent amount of things to see and do at a dtm event and i think there's some kind of a museum at the circuit that should be open too?

[kobefly]

Originally Posted by bella

you'd need to catch a flight from berlin to koln/cologne or dusseldorf but you could perhaps consider doing the 9-10th september friday-saturday of the dtm meeting at the nurburgring?

That's a good one! I love DTM and since Berlin is the city I am staying the most time at I might aford being away for a couple of days. Aren't the races on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th? I checked the website and it does not have the exact schedule.

[bella]

yes, there's one race on saturday and one on sunday, and i *think* they qualify in the morning for the afternoon race too, plus all the support races. there should be at least one f3 race on the saturday for example, and there's usually the audi tt cup at the german circuits

[NaBUru38]

Brno has a MotoGP race on August 21.

Slovakia Ring has some local GT race on August 21 and a motorbike time attack on August 4.

Lausitzring has an Red Bull Air Race on September 4.