[s-cars] ALMS photos

[Bob Rossato]

Lime Rock stopped selling advance tickets on Wednesday, so at this stage the
only way in is to pay $65 at the gate.  Compare that to $45 ($40 advance)
for the Memorial day event.

And that's the other thing.  Normally there is only a $5 difference between
advance tickets and "at the gate" tickets for race day, not $15, so I don't
have any qualms about paying at the gate if my schedule frees up and I can
go.  And granted, the higher ticket prices may in part be due to the fees
ALMS takes in vs. World Challenge, but given the jump to a $15 difference in
advance vs. at the gate prices it would seem that is not really a factor.
Seems more like some opportunistic gouging to me.

And don't even try to compare ALMS at LRP to USGP at Indy.  Let's see, LRP
was $80 for the whole weekend if you buy an advanced ticket.  Indy was $110
including General Admission for Fri/Sat and very good race day seats.  If
you wanted to go General Admission on race day as well, it would have been
around the same price as LRP, and GA on race day gets you some great viewing
sites all around the infield as well as being able to watch the main
straight from the Tower Terrace grandstands.  On Fri/Sat you could sit
anywhere you wanted.  Plus Indy has free parking in the infield for car
clubs.

If your summation of Formula 1 racing is that they are just "higher pitched"
and "faster", then it's obvious you have never seen one.  Higher pitched
doesn't even begin to describe the sensory overload of 22 Formula 1 cars
screaming down the front straight at 225 mph with engines shrieking at up to
19,000 rpm.  That alone is worth the price of admission.  What you see on TV
isn't even close.  While I'll be the first to admit that F1 racing itself is
rather boring, I just marvel at the technology.  It's something that just
has to be experienced first hand.  Plus there were four other races over the
weekend.  Two each Porsche Super Cup (great knock down, drag out racing -
not muffled Spec Miata) and Formula BMW.  Not to mention the Grid Girls ;-)
At $110 for the weekend it was a bargain.  And the facility is top notch.

Don't get me wrong.  I love Lime Rock, but the prices for this event are in
my opinion quite inflated compared to similar events they've had.

Bob

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brett Dikeman [mailto:brett at cloud9.net]
> Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2004 2:38 PM
> To: bob.rossato at att.net
> Cc: quattro at audifans.com; s-car-list at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] ALMS photos
>
>
> At 12:19 PM +0000 7/4/04, bob.rossato at att.net wrote:
> >  > Enjoy, and give a holler if you'll be at the races on Monday!
> >
> >Sorry, but at $65 you won't see me.
>
> I don't think that is a very fair comment.
>
> Advance tickets were $50 for monday, not $65; a 20% difference.
> Further, some of the cheaper-ticket-on-race-day ALMS venues seem to
> split out the paddock pass- in some cases, such as Portland, on a
> -day to day- basis, which makes it nearly the same cost since LRP has
> open paddocks.  Don't know about parking at other events, but it's
> free at LRP, and pretty decent.
>
> If you want cheap tickets...go up to NHIS and see a NASCAR race, the
> tickets are $25-35(and assigned, I believe?)  You'll get a great view
> of a couple dozen identical specs zooming around...an oval.
>
> Or you can go to the Indy 500.  It's $20-$50.  To PARK.  Tickets
> start well over $50 for the US GP, and go up to $150 or more.  The
> major difference is that the specs are smaller, higher pitched, move
> faster, and crash less.