Thinking of taking son to Spa F1 2023

[RSbandit]

Thinking of going this yr as the GP is a month earlier than usual being at the end of July. My young lad is a real F1 nut so think this could be the best track for his first F1 experience, more interesting than Silverstone imo! Looks like official tixs are sold out already but I'm fine with paying for grandstand seats through a broker. Haven't been to the F1 here before although have done some track days there alright! Some do's and dont's from people who've been there would be appreciated especially with a younger kid (he'll be 7 by then)..thanks in advance!

[gshughes]

I took my 9 year old son last year. He absolutely loved it. Was part of a family holiday. We took the DFDS ferry from North Shields to Amsterdam, Spent a week camping in the Netherlands and then drove down to Spa and camped there for 4 nights going to the qualifying and Grand Prix itself. I attended with my nine year old son, he absolutely loved it and described it as the best day of his life. My wife and 11 year old daughter stayed on the campsite both days which was a bit dull, but they coped. The Dutch fans were lively and provided atmosphere, but in no way intimidating.

Tickets were reasonably priced - much cheaper than the British Grand Prix. We camped in a nice family site called Camping Eau Rouge which is about a 3 mile walk or cycle to the circuit. We had tickets for the Speed corner/ Les Combes, but the circuit is long and the terrain undulating, so work out which campsite works best for where you want to enter the circuit. I went on my own with a general admission ticket for qualifying and then on Sunday with the boy for the race with a Grandstand ticket. I walked the Eau Rouge / Les Combes side of the circuit on Saturday which was good and I could see ok from a variety of vantage points, but busier on the Sunday and quite a lot of walking, so better to be in a grandstand with kids.

The campsite was good. It was taken over by Dutch Max fans who like to drink and party, but they were all well behaved and friendly to the Brits who were there. The campsite owners turned off the power about midnight, so we all got some sleep. This doesn't happen at the official campsites at the circuit apparently - loud music 24/7 so no-one gets any sleep! We had tickets for which is the nearest point to this campsite, so all worked out very well. The nearest town is Stavelot which is only a few miles away and has some nice bars, supermarkets etc.

If you do go there with the family my recommendations would be go to Plopsa Coo which is a little nearby theme park - we went there on the Monday after the race - the kids loved it. On the way back to the Ferry we had a couple of city breaks in boutique hotels in Ghent and Bruges as a thank you to the girls which went down well.

Any queries ask. There are a couple of relevant threads here. The first one asks the same question as yours!

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[RSbandit]

Thanks for the info and links …will prob go hotel route as will be a weekend trip stay there Sat night. Yep certainly seems better value than Silverstone and not that bad a drive from Calais.

[gshughes]

RSbandit said:

Thanks for the info and links …will prob go hotel route as will be a weekend trip stay there Sat night. Yep certainly seems better value than Silverstone and not that bad a drive from Calais.

No problem. If you look at the second link you will see that I managed to cock the tickets up. Got a child's weekend grandstand ticket and an adult Sunday grandstand ticket when it was meant to be the other way round! There was a tout at the circuit on Saturday who offered me an adult general admission ticket with a face value of 150 for Euro for 200 Euro, but agreed to sell it to me for 100 Euro when I told him that was all I had, so there there are deals to be done. A bit risky turning up banking on this happening though, but you could turn up with general admission tickets and see if you can do a deal with a tout for grandstand tickets though.

[plynchy]

I'm booked to go with my 13 year old lad this year, have done a few track days there in the past, and it possibly being the last year it's on the F1 calendar.

We'll be camping, gone for GA tickets as no grandstand available when I bought them (no jnr tickets available either), still a big chunk cheaper than Silverstone which we've attended the last 2 years.

Looking to book up on what looks to be a decent site just outside Spa itself when they get their act together. Looking forward to it.

[davidd]

Spa is awesome, has some amazing viewing opportunities but you need to walk a lot!

Dominos in town is a great steak place, might well spot a driver or two in there.

[andycaca]

If you're there on a GA ticket without allocated seating, you WILL need to be entering the circuit at 6am and staking your claim on a small patch of grass.

I've been there twice for the F1 - first time GA, and last year with gold grandstand tickets after having experienced GA. And I've also done 4 track days there (javelin double headers), its a brilliant circuit to drive in anger

[plynchy]

Same as Silverstone in that regard then.

[RSbandit]

I’m looking at grandstand tickets as my lad is only 7 so wouldn’t want to be scrambling to find a position at crazy hours. Seems the hospitality firms have availability (at a price !) but would also need a hotel room but could prob stay 30 mins away from circuit if it means more availability. Its only gonna be for one night drive out sat morning come back sun evening . It’ll be a real shame if it drops off the calendar next year… thrilling track to drive some v quick sections to it and much quicker to learn than somewhere like the Ring.