US GP visitors have to leave home early

[Gerard]

Fans attending the United States Grand Prix are encouraged to leave their home or hotel early to come to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for practice, qualifications and Race Day.

Planning to leave an hour earlier than one would for the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 is a good idea, no matter from which direction you approach the track, according to Speedway officials. This is due to construction in the Indianapolis area and because it is the inaugural running of the United States Grand Prix.

Fans are urged to follow the directions of law-enforcement personnel, who will direct traffic to the best and fastest routes to parking areas. There is no parking available inside the Speedway for this event. But parking is available in the 'North 40' lot, just north of the track off 30th Street. On practice and qualifying days, each person in the vehicle must have a ticket or pay gate admission in order to park in the lot.

Friday's practice day is $10 per person, while Saturday's qualifying day is $20. On Race Day, each person in the vehicle must have a Race Day ticket to park in the North 40. All tickets - for general admission and reserved seating - are sold out for Race Day. Tickets are available for Friday and Saturday.

Adequate parking is also available in the Speedway's Lot 1, adjacent to the northwest corner of the Speedway at 25th Street and Georgetown Road. Parking is $20 per day, or a four-day event package can be purchased in advance for $50 by calling the ticket office at (317) 484-6700. Other lots are available along Georgetown Road and along 16th Street. In addition, parking is available at private residences in the Town of Speedway, usually for a fee. On Race Day, fans are encouraged to travel via the IndyGo public transit services, which leave from the airport and downtown Indianapolis on a regular basis. More information can be obtained by calling IndyGo at (317) 635-3344, or on the IndyGo Web site, http://www.indygo.net .

Due to construction in the Indianapolis area, some routes that fans normally take to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be closed during the United States Grand Prix.

[TheShadow]

If you plan on parking inside the track, do leave early.
However, the crowd coming to the GP should have no problems getting there. The 500 has many more people and this crowd should be more orderly as well.( Most will want to get inside to drink cocktails, unlike the 500 where many would rather drink beer out in the street )

Parking is usually $5.00 on practice days and $10.00 on race day. Of course this is F-1, so who knows what the locals may charge.

I live 20 minutes from the Speedway. I am planning on 45 minutes come race day.

The Shadow

PS-The airport is close to the track- do not let drivers take you on a tour of the city. People are very nice here, so don't worry about that too much!

[Jay]

TheShadow, 85% of the people attending this race are the people who attended the Indy 500 and/or Brickyard 500, so I wouldn't expect any crowd differences.

[TheShadow]

I have four guests coming to the F-1 race. Only one has attended the 500. I really doubt that 85% of the F-1 crowd are the same people that came to the Brickyard race.

The Shadow

[Jay]

That 85% came from the USGP site. Unfortunately, they don't seem to keep old news stories.

I believe they sent out order forms to the all of the Indy 500 ticket holders, and that accounted for 85% of Indy ticket sales. I am not sure, but would expect that the brickyard race would be included there too.

PS, F1 fans are not exactly what I would call orderly either. I have been to Molson Indy Toronto and the Canadian GP, and the Americans at the Cart races are much more polite than the crowd in Montreal.

[Liz]

Half the people who write for the Newsletter are going to the USGP, or at least that is their story.

I'll be interested to hear what all of you say about it when it's over. I hope some of you will write your impressions for the newsletter.