Friday 11th January 2019

PH at Spa Classic is open for booking

Join us at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit with 1st Tickets

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It's time to shake off those January blues and get booked in to join us on our inaugural trip to Spa Classic, 17th-19th May. This year we celebrate our 10th anniversary of heading to Le Mans with our longstanding partner 1st Tickets. With no Le Mans Classic in 2019 for our historic racing fix, we've decided to start a new tradition to kick off the 10 years.

Over that decade we've learned a thing or two about having a good time at a race weekend, which is why all of our guests will have access to the our very own pit lodge, situated on top of the Endurance pits overlooking the start/finish straight. The lodge will be our base and will be a great place to relax and mingle with other PHers.

Packages include three nights' accommodation, channel crossing, general admission to the race, parking at the circuit and access to the 1st Tickets Endurance pit lodge. Prices per person are from £154 for camping, £195 for a chalet, £255 for an apartment and £380 for a hotel.

For a full rundown of all the action and grids, including Group C, head over to the official Spa Classic website. Similar to the Le Mans Classic and one of the main highlights of attending such events, the paddocks will be open throughout the weekend for attendees to get up close to the cars competing.

The grandstands are free of charge so whether you choose to grab a seat or take a stroll around the circuit to one of the many spectacular viewing points, the choice is yours. If that's not enough, you can get out on track in your own car (subject to eligibility), with 20-minute sessions available throughout the weekend at £110 per session.

We're expecting our packages to sell fast, so don't delay and book today. More information on all of our accommodation is available on the 1st Tickets website.

Still need convincing? Check out Peter Auto's video from last year below.

 

[Nerdherder]

Awesome! Will look into options without a channel crossing as I'm on the right side of the North Sea for this one.

[Zombie]

Tempted but with Brexit going the way it is there's no way I'd risk booking it at the moment.

[DaveGB]

Why will brexit make a difference ?

[pidsy]

Zombie said:

Tempted but with Brexit going the way it is there's no way I'd risk booking it at the moment.

The thought had crossed my mind. It’s not gonna make life any easier that’s a given.

[Zombie]

DaveGB said:

Why will brexit make a difference ?

Are you taking the pish?

A no deal would mean you'd need to apply for a visa to enter Europe, which, for obvious reasons, would likely result in months of back log and a real potential for entry to be refused. There will be issues with leaving the UK in terms of traffic chaos, missed ferries / trains. Further issues with expiration dates on passports. The £ will likely fall sharply against the euro making a trip into Europe vastly more expensive, particularly if you're driving across.

Even with May's "deal", which is aspirational at best, there will be problems with the same issues.

Edited by Zombie on Friday 11th January 19:38

[PhantomPH]

Sorry, am I missing something? I cannot find how to book those packages anywhere. The link to the site shows packages that are very different in price.

Any linkage to the booking page, please?

Also - Brexit?? Are people REALLY letting that affect their choices? Have a word. Last time I checked, Brexit didn't mean we were confined to our own island never to leave. So you have to apply for a visa - so what? Nobody ever visited The States before? Takes about 3 minutes.

Life is for living - if you let something as trivial as 'there might be a queue for a visa' stop you from doing something you want to do, then mr=ore fool you.

[Zombie]

PhantomPH said:

Sorry, am I missing something? I cannot find how to book those packages anywhere. The link to the site shows packages that are very different in price.

Any linkage to the booking page, please?

Also - Brexit?? Are people REALLY letting that affect their choices? Have a word. Last time I checked, Brexit didn't mean we were confined to our own island never to leave. So you have to apply for a visa - so what? Nobody ever visited The States before? Takes about 3 minutes.

Life is for living - if you let something as trivial as 'there might be a queue for a visa' stop you from doing something you want to do, then mr=ore fool you.

I think it's going to be a genuine problem, particularly in the early months after a no deal exit. Taking the US as an example, according to google;

"Applications refused under Section 221(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) pending additional processing, can take around 60 days from the date of the visa interview to be processed. In some certain cases, the processing might take more than 6 months."

You may point out that it requires initial refusal but this is exactly what happened to a Woman I work with for no apparent or logical reason. It took the 60 days to resolve.

When you factor in you won't be able to even apply for a visa before we leave the EU and then consider there won't be the infrastructure in place to deal with it effectively for many months post a no deal Brexit it will be an unmitigated cluster fk. It's not a stretch to imagine that priority will be given to logistics, not holidaymakers.

But if you want to adopt the Brexit blinkers then that's your prerogative. Your money too.

ETA.

Having said that, there is advice available;

https://www.abta.com/tips-and-advice/brexit-advice...

Which suggests that it's not as bad as I think it will be but there is a lot of "if" and "but" in there. However, it's in ABTA's interests to put a favourable spin on it.

Edited by Zombie on Friday 11th January 23:04

[DaveGB]

I also remember a lot of advice around the day after the referendum of the world ending, but amazingly enough it didn’t. Project Fear II here we come.

I’m sure the E.U. will not look to wipe out their tourism trade from the UK this year. Just a hunch.

Anyway back on topic, friends and I have been twice to this event and it’s epic. We will be going again this year. Life’s too short

Edited by DaveGB on Friday 11th January 23:19

[Zombie]

DaveGB said:

I also remember a lot of advice around the day after the referendum of the world ending, but amazingly enough it didn’t. Project Fear II here we come.

I’m sure the E.U. will not look to wipe out their tourism trade from the UK this year. Just a hunch.

Anyway back on topic, friends and I have been twice to this event and it’s epic. We will be going again this year. Life’s too short

Edited by DaveGB on Friday 11th January 23:19

"Project fear"

"Brexiteers"

"remoaners"'

It's all propaganda. If you can't see that though those blinkers then you don't get to complain about the next 50 years.

[mark.c]

I can't wait for this. I booked the ferry yesterday for me and and four pals who are travelling down in a convoy of E30 M3, lotus Elan, UR Quattro, Golf gti and Mondial. We have been a couple of times before ( and always made it there!) and it's always been a great event.

I never even gave brexit a thought to be honest!

[BenLowden]

DaveGB said:

I’m sure the E.U. will not look to wipe out their tourism trade from the UK this year. Just a hunch.

Anyway back on topic, friends and I have been twice to this event and it’s epic. We will be going again this year. Life’s too short

I'm sure hundreds of thousands of people from the UK will have booked summer holidays in Europe this year (me included) – I really have no concerns whatsoever. However this is not a Brexit thread so lets keep things on track please!

[BenLowden]

PH/1st Tickets booking link

This is the official page to book one of our packages with 1st Tickets. Book here

[dinkel]

mark.c said:

I never even gave brexit a thought to be honest!

And you shouldn't. Great event. Do it.

[BenLowden]

The Eau Rouge chalets have nearly sold out already, so if you're thinking of getting one booked, you'll need to act quickly. They start at £195pp based on four in a car, full pricing details are available here: http://www.1st-tickets.co.uk/events/spaclassicsd.h...

[Balmoral]

CTA guidelines and the new ETIAS initiative suggest no problems (and neither are anything to do with brexit anyway) It's not much different to completing API apart from the fee and nothing changes until 2021 anyway regardless of deal/no deal.

https://www.etiasvisa.com/etias-news/etias-visa-ho...

[MJ911]

where are the best places to stay in and around the circuit ? i was thinking Stavelot as a decent local town. Stayed there before for trackdays.
We didnt really want to take the car to and from the circuit as means i cant have a beer! Anyone know if there are shuttle buses to and from the circuit from Spa or Stavelot over the Spa Classic weekend?

[Balmoral]

Sorry to bring Brexit up again, but I've just been to the Post Office to get an IDP for Japan and was told by the staff that they've gone from processing about a dozen a week to a few hundred a week due to uncertainty after 29th March about driving in the EU.

Latest advice is here...

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/prepare-to-drive-in-th...

And more detail from the RAC is here...

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/travel/driving-abroad/...

Edited by Balmoral on Tuesday 5th February 15:52

[MJ911]

hmm that bit about accident insurance is a potential ball-ache ! surely that statement makes thousands of car insurance policies invalid? as most of us with classic or sports cars have euro cover on our insurance and I've toured abroad for about 10 years in my car.

[BenLowden]

For anyone out at Spa this weekend, this thread may be useful: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

We're going to head up to the Eau Rouge campsite bar tonight at 9pm. If anyone fancies joining us for a beer, we'll see you there!

People not staying there are also welcome – the address is Domaine de l’Eau rouge, Cheneux 25, 4970 Stavelot