To celebrate 'Heritage Day' (Thursday March 14th) at the Australian F1 Grand Prix, free General Admission tickets are available for the first day of the Grand Prix weekend at Albert Park, Melbourne. These tickets can be downloaded and printed or be picked up at the circuit on the day.
While I don't think there's any F1 on-track action on Day 1, this is still a good offer if you're interested in attending the GP while avoiding the packed crowd that are typically seen as the weekend progresses.
Try contributing for once.
his avatar's pretty cool though
Let's not encourage him shall we?
ok well I 'bought' 10….
Now to find 10 friends.
u can get more than 10, even 100+
but what's the point for getting that much tickets for??
nah this is a great deal I will find 10 easy. like was said before. still lots to see and do on thurs. and if going GA later in week. this free day would help u scope out a spot.
ebay?
T&C #8
Tickets may not be sold, on-sold, exchanged for fee or reward or other valuable consideration or otherwise commercially dealt with without the prior written consent of AGPC, which, if granted, may attach any conditions it sees fit thereto. If a Ticket has been dealt with in contravention of this condition 8, the bearer of the Ticket may be denied admission or may be directed to leave the Event.
Hey hey hey everybody, careful with the reckless ticket downloading, or else the Grand Prix corporation won't have reliable ticket numbers to report to the Government!
/end sarcasm
I love the arguments against the Grand Prix.
How could an event that costs ~$50million a year but only brings in several hundred million and almost half a billion people world wide watch the sport be bad for Melbourne?
That is definantly not the kind of exposure that Melbourne needs. We should buy a couple more weird statues or invest in another brilliant Ferris wheel.
How could an event that costs ~$50million a year but only brings in several hundred million and almost half a billion people world wide watch the sport be bad for Melbourne?
Both of those figures you cite are a bit of an exaggeration. The Grand Prix increases Gross State Product by about $40 million, with net direct expenditures by locals and tourists around the event being about $30 million: http://www.tourism.vic.gov.au/images/stories/Documents/Facts…
The "half a billion people world wide watch the sport" figure refers to the entire F1 season. The report I linked to above cites a global audience of 270.7 million for the 2009 event. TV audience figures are a bit wishy-washy, because they basically include anyone who saw the event on TV in any form, such as a short clip in the news. Melbourne is one of the lowest rating events in the season because it occurs in the early morning in Europe (F1's biggest market) — in the UK, for example, the live telecast of the 2012 event only managed an average of 526,000 viewers: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/19/sky-australian-g…
That being said, I'm not one to argue against staging the Grand Prix in Melbourne because I think the value it returns still justifies the tax payer expense.
Yes your right, the several hundred million may be excessive. I didn't do research but upon doing so every source has different numbers.
And yes the half billion people that watch the sport isn't based on Melbourne alone but F1 total.
A side note that the only person unhappy with the viewers for the Grand Prix is Bernie and he was more than happy to resign in 2011. Him seeming unhappy is just a bargaining chip (helped by the herald sun releasing the cost from a confidential agreement).
Broden, is that you?
Typical Broden..
There doesn't seem to be any information about what is happening on the Thursday? Didn't it use to be Thursday - Practice Session - Fri/Sat Qualifying - Sunday - Race?
There's info about the Formula 1 schedule going from Friday - Sunday, although don't think the full schedule gets announced for a few more weeks
Taken from FIA site…
Fri 15 March 2013
Practice 1 12:30 - 14:00
Practice 2 16:30 - 18:00
Sat 16 March 2013
Practice 3 14:00 - 15:00
Qualifying 17:00
Sun 17 March 2013
Race 17:00
so what is their to do on thursday….?
lots of drinks at crazy prices - shut up and take my money!
edit: note crazy prices is not the good cRaZy
There is loads to do and the amount of people (and racing of course) on other days makes it nearly impossible to do things on Friday-Sunday.
There's heaps of shops (you can get everything cheaper online though, there is nothing cheap).
There will be car displays.
Nitro Circus will be performing on all days (no idea what times)
There will be atleast a V8 super car practice (is this the first time the nissans and Mercedes will be taking to the track publicly?)
And if it's 'Heritage Day', there's a fair chance they might get a few of the old cars out! (Here's hoping!)
Thursday's usually when the support categories practice and qualify, it will be good to get up close and see the new car of the future for the V8 series.
V8 sux (except for Bathurst track)
FFS I love the F1s
Nothing can describe the feeling of being there watching the race. What a great sport. I hope to be able to get to another one soon!
Here is last years program for each day, I expect 2013 wont change all that much.
http://www.grandprix.com.au/docs/2012-full-schedule.pdf
A free ticket to this is still great value.
Thanks dirtybird! Full line up of this year's events, yet to be announced, but can be found here, when they do update1
(Off track): http://www.grandprix.com.au/event/off-track
(On track): http://www.grandprix.com.au/event/on-track
Melbourne is too far away, I would like to go see the GP, if only they had free tickets for the actual races :)
Go to Malaysia for the race the following weekend. Grandstand tickets are $100 for all 3 days if you buy early
exactly what i did last year.
the cost of flight/accom and tickets to the melb F1 wasnt cheap.
ended up going to malaysia the week after to watch it
whats the accom costs like for the weekend in malaysia?
I went to this one last year.
accom was quite reasonable especially at that time. Especially if you dont wanna stay at the ritz. You can get some places for under $100 a night.
Pretty cheap. You could find a 5 star hotel for around 200-250 a night twin share. Food, drink, transport is all crazy cheap compared to Aus. Only issue is that the commute to the track each day takes about an hour and a half on the train/monorail from KL. But hey, it's a fun weekend. Just be prepared to be seriously hot most of the day and then get soaked in the afternoon ;-)
Cheap hotel in KL are around $25. Near the racetrack there are limited hotels, so prices there would be sky high.
That sounds nice, $100 for 3 days is very cheap, although I would need flights, accomodation and transport in Malaysia, but then again it would be a good experience to go overseas. Thanks for the tip.
Been to Malaysian F1, NEVER AGAIN, public transport is a JOKE!! trying to get out of the circuit is a complete nightmare, there's really nothing to do apart from watch the F1 cars, no support races like in melbourne, there's one strip that you can walk up and down in that sells merchandise etc… and you can't go wondering around to find decent spots for viewing as it's all zoned off. Oh and did i mention they take ALL drinks off you when entering your nominated zone… yep that includes any water even when it's +30 degree temps.
Personally i'd say Melbourne is 500x better than Malaysia.
I've heard the same thing from friends about other races around the world too!!!
Lack of support races, lack of entertainment & lack of vendors!!!
AWESOME, Thanks for sharing!!! Any idea what sort of activities/event they'll have on that day? We've never been to a race, so just curious what other things they may have there.
I can't wait to see the New Jersey race. That will be something else…
New Joyzeeee…
From the previous years Thursday is support races. Driver signings. Promo girls. Promo tents. And celebrity races.
F1 practice 1 and 2 is on fri and 3 on sat. Followed by qualify and sun race
"Driver signings. Promo girls. Promo tents. And celebrity races."
Sounds like Bogan heaven.
Lived here my whole life and never been to the GP - thanks, even if it's not the race itself, still kinda cool just to check it out. - So it's Thursday right?
God sepang is a nightmare to goto.
It might be just me but the unalocated seating in grandstands is a bad idea there.
Although very cheap I would doubt I would go again to see the Moto go again.
2 years in a row the race has been red flagged.
Now Albert park.
Saturday is a good day to go. See a bit of everything.
Groovy! Thanks from me and 3 of my friends :)
Track Schedule for Thursday 14 March
10:30 GATES OPEN TO PUBLIC
11:00 11:15 SHANNONS HISTORIC DEMONSTRATION
11:25 12:10 AGPC GUEST HOT LAPS
12:15 12:25 TARMAC RALLY CAR DEMONSTRATION
12:25 12:45 TOTAL OIL INTERNATIONAL SPORTS CARSPRACTICE SESSION
12:55 13:15 MAZDA6 CELEBRITY CHALLENGE PRACTICE SESSION
13:15 13:30 RAAF ROULETTESAIR DISPLAY
13:30 14:00 MSS SECURITY V8 SUPERCARS CHALLENGE FIRST PRACTICE SESSION
14:10 14:30 PORSCHE CARRERA CUP PRACTICE SESSION
14:40 15:00 TOTAL OIL INTERNATIONAL SPORTS CARS QUALIFYING SESSION
15:10 15:30 MAZDA6 CELEBRITY CHALLENGE QUALIFYING SESSION
15:40 16:00 ULTIMATE SPEED COMPARISON PRACTICE SESSION
16:10 16:40 MSS SECURITY V8 SUPERCARS CHALLENGE SECOND PRACTICE SESSION
16:50 17:10 PORSCHE CARRERA CUP QUALIFYING SESSION
17:20 17:35 ULTIMATE SPEED COMPARISON DEMONSTRATION
17:40 18:00 2 SEATER DEMONSTRATION LAPS
18:10 18:20 FORMULA SAE DEMONSTRATION
18:30 19:00 MSS SECURITY V8 SUPERCARS CHALLENGE QUALIFYING SESSION
20:00 GATES CLOSE TO PUBLIC
Full schedule including off-track download: http://www.grandprix.com.au/2013/docs/entertainment/2013_F1_…
Should be quiet in here tomorrow.
.
OzBargain meetup? :P
I have my OzBargain t-shirt on today. If you spot someone with the t-shirt, you are obliged to buy them a drink. /OzBargainer code
Are you watching the races or watches the live deals page??
If it's anything like the Australian open then the Optus (Vaya) network will be saturated. No choice. :(
with 180 likes there is a good chance you will be meeting quite a few. I think I'd rather pay for a ticker on another day, might be cheaper ;)
Got any free drink tonight? :)
Nope, shafted. :(
Love F1 time in Melbourne. Great vibe.
Totally forgot about it :(
thinking of going on the weekend. never been there before. is it worth the money?
Correct, no F1's on the Thursday but still a lot of other things to keep people entertained.