The other day I was asked to figure out how much we travel in Formula 1. The article was never used, so I figured I would publish it here instead:
There are a lot of people who go to all the Formula 1 races around the world and it is heavy duty travelling to get to all 20 races, without taking into account any tests, launches or leisure travel, which adds to the total. Travelling from London or Paris, the basic flying mileage in a year is somewhere around 108,000 miles, or 173,000 kilometres. This is four and a half times around the globe. It equates to something like 192 hours of flying, or eight 24-hour days. Turn that around and you see that it is 24 eight-hour working days.
Most of us do our flying in Economy Class, in order to keep costs to a minimum. The longest hauls of the year come at the start and at the end of the season with the triangular Australia-Malaysia trip being the toughest with 21,000 miles of flying, but surprisingly this is not that much longer than the USA-Brazil double-header, which amounts to 20,200 miles. The two trips to China-Bahrain and Japan-Korea amount to15,000 and 16,000 miles apiece.
Some choose to drive to the European races, which brings down the total flying time, but adds something like 6,000 miles of driving, which probably costs more than flying – but is a great deal less stressful.
So what does it all cost? That is a difficult calculation because it depends on what one is willing to accept in terms of stress and strain. If one flies around in Business Class and stays in good hotels, your costs may be as high as $200,000 a year. Hotel prices at Grands Prix are hiked disgracefully, with five- and even seven-night minimum stays and prices that can go off the clock in places like Monaco. Even in Korea, one can find rooms for as much as $1,000 a night.
The costs are largely dependent on the deals that one can get and whether one is willing to share hotel rooms. A season of F1 can be done for about $32,000, flying in Economy and not staying in nice hotels. A more comfortable figure is about $40,000, once again without anything fancy. Internet costs at circuits each year are probably around $1,000, although more enlightened races offer the connections for free; while visas depend on your nationality as things are much more difficult for a South African than they are for an Englishman. Visa costs are probably in the region of $750 a year.
One would think with all this mileage it would be easy to get to Gold Card status in frequent flyer schemes easily enough, but that is only if one can fly everywhere with the same company. This is not always possible because we go both east and west and a lot of the European airlines employ convoluted tiered schemes and fare-linked points benefits that make it hard to reach the required levels. The truth is that their frequent flyer schemes are not designed for frequent flyers, but rather for people who have companies paying for their flying.
Many of us use Emirates because not only does it provide a pleasant stop halfway to Asia, where there are good lounges, but also because they regularly upgrade their Economy Class gold card holders if Economy is full. This makes a big difference, especially on the new Airbus A380s.
joeblogsf1 
Are visa issues simply easier for an Englishman because of the European Union, or does “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” still carry some weight out in the wider world?
Europe is Europe. It is the same for everyone. Being British helps in some places and is a problem in others.
Nope you need a Aussie Passport almost gets you anywhere
Actually, the Danish passport has the most VISA free travel locations (as of 2012) at 168 nations and Germans next at 167 with the UK at 166 nations. OZ and Canada are tied at 160 with the US at 163. Don’t be an F1 journalist from Afghanistan (25) or Pakistan (35). Just saying… -:)
Or Irish.
$40,000 a year still sounds like impressive travel management given the number of destinations and the cost of everything during GP weekend. Not that it is not a lot of money but I would have expected that comfortable figure would be more than that.
Great article Joe – I’ve wanted to work out the miles and hours for a long time, really interesting how it all adds up…
Joe
Is a media visa always required outside the EU? And how hard is it to get one? I have working visas for several counties, Malaysia no problem, but India is not easy, im not sure how this works for a media visa. Lucky i don`t have to arrange these visas my self, what about you?
Some are a pain. The major problems are China, the United States and India. I do the visas myself. They cost enough already without adding $100 for agency fees
How do you send your passport away for a visa when you need to be travelling with it during the season? Must be fraught at times.
It is but multiple passports help.
That’s interesting! I’d always wondered how people like you manage to send your passport off for a visa while you still have to travel in the mean time. I’d frankly never heard of multiple passports.
So how are some able to chuck 200,000 a year at it, and others can’t? Must have some pretty lucrative writing deals!
Because some of them are on staff and their companies are stupid enough to let them spend that much. No-one in the F1 writing media earns that kind of money.
As an aspiring (but completely broke) American photographer wanting to cover the sport someday, this aspect of it has always sort of cowed my ambition. Makes me wonder if it really is possible to do if you haven’t got much financial backing to speak of… Certainly doesn’t seem that way. (And it’s hard enough to make any sort of living as a photographer in any line of the profession!)
If you don’t try, it will never happen.
It often works similar for photographers as the divers…practice in de lower classes and develop your talent and get published. What I have understood about it is that you need some orders from media or F1 sponsors to obtain media accreditation for a photographer….so as Joe says…try and make it happen…break it up in little pieces that u need to achieve..
. I guess that if you start out by doing other motorsports to hone your skills and try and get a bit of publicity for that etc to get a feel for it, then you can prepare for a jump into the paddock.
It will be a lot like gambling your house and everything on it at first (like many a starting entrepreneur really), as you would have to count on fielding the cost for the first year yourself (limiting risk, if you get paid a bit it makes for a bonus that way).
After all, there’s not much to lose is there? Being broke and not doing F1, or at least having a go at it and still be broke 🙂 Good luck if you do take the jump Eleanore!
Thanks for the very kind comment! It does seem like an insurmountable goal from where I am currently, but I suppose all I can do is try! At least I’m relatively close to Long Beach and Willow Springs…
One thing you might be able to get in your favor, is carrying less kit. These Micro Four Thirds bodies are hitting (with proper technique) plenty for many magazine spreads.
Compare that with carrying a couple of top end full frame Nikons / Canons, range of 2.8 zooms, flight cases, at least a 300 or 400 maybe a 600 prime, support, laptops, backup for it all . .
Thing I’d watch out for is that even though there are some “pro spec” zooms, 70-200 equivalent from Panasonic, e.g. I simply do not believe their T Stop / actual light transmission. I assume they’re f/4.
I gave up over funded amateur / semi pro (as in sold pictures on request, but not seriously) shooting about 7 years ago. That kit weighed more than me.
Now, I’m missing (well, long time missing) the habit, which I gained before I hit double digits, and thinking the Oly OM-D is really not such a climb down from serious Nikon when I left off. I dunno, I grew up with film that had to be exposed like balancing on a razor blade, and took years to re-learn what I call the digital substrate, in depth. I still miss the D2x, because that and the Kodak full framers sorted the proverbial men from the boys. (only fun because of who I talked to when that was a challenge, I had a lot of help) It may be the same with the constraints of the new smaller formats, because of physical properties of the sensors. I mean they may be quite hard still to get the best out of. But it does suggest the chance you could avoid booking a adjacent seat for your equipment, this new stuff being almost dinky.
Bottom line, if you get your timing together with your technique, you may be able to take a advantage over the agency boys and NPS / CPS favorites who can expect their heavy top end and heavy kit to arrive for them automagically.
Definitely a suggestion I hadn’t considered before, John! (Bear in mind though, the amount of kit I shoot with now is extremely minimal, and at this point about 7-8 years old. If I could afford to upgrade anything I would, but of course I can’t, so I’m stuck with the one body and two lenses I have. Seriously, that’s it. Bulk of too much kit is not a concern for me at the moment!)
Hi Eleanore,
my reasoning is coming from growing up with Kodak Retina RF’s . . . and the huge step forward it was to have a Minolta SRT101b SLR – that with care I could place focus. Many sports have interesting focus points you might want to lock on to. Say, in Squash Rackets, you’d look to take a serve as the server steps right to the front foot line, or anticipate a drop at the tin. Set your focus, wait . . .
As a result, I held out on autofocus, until the wrench of digital happened. (and my pocket book emptied like snatching the bottom out of a lake at 10,000 feet)
For sure, many fix focus. But look about, and you may find that those are the guys with half a dozen bodies on remote at 9FPS wireless trigger, as is pretty normal for e.g. SI. At least statistically.
My point is that at least with Nikon pro bodies I can set focus priority, the shutter releases at the focus point I expect. Apparently they messed with this for the D4, and D3s models are pixie dust. (For drivers out there, they changed the focus dials in a way like changing braking foot over night, not good) and so I am rather lost as to where to go on that.
But you say you are using old gear. Well, the D3 is 5 years old. If you’ve not used – learned, go get the Thom Hogan guide for the tricks if long experimentation is not your thing – a top end Nikon for focus, of that gen, they were plain rock solid. Maybe upgrade to something slightly less old, with a few clicks on it. For a D3, less than 100,000 actuations is good, very good.
But now we are hand holding as much as 10 pounds of gear, assuming a fast long lens. My build is slighter than my height needs. I have to work out to handle this kit, religiously. Different kind of not pure muscle strength, BTW, and my best tip here.
I was being a little speculative. The big downsides to the MFT gear are actually perceptual things behind the lens – no optical finder – and, ironically, weight. Weight helps you stabilise. It actuates different muscles when you hold it for long periods. If I bulk up, my frame looks silly. Lots of light reps, stops twitching. But stretch longer muscles with bigger free weights to hold a camera all day to your eye.
The other plan I can think of is use the silly high ISOs of FF like the 5DIII – at lower resolution – and f/4 lenses. That’ll cut lots of weight. I just called to pre-order a 24-70 stabilized F/4 from my dealer (only NPS and CPS shop in existence) for just this reason. Confession: I never shot in earnest with Canon before. This is on spec, I’ll get the body as and when that arrives. No reach, but the MKIII is very quiet, that lens looks to be very good, and it’s fairly stealthy for FF.
So where am I going with this?
– If you compete with the big boys, they really will have great kit.
– Those guys borrow lenses a lot from Nikon or Canon at a event.
– None of this helps you find your view pictorially of a event.
– 5 year old kit is good as gold, choose your vendor carefully, are they are real service center?
– You can take the kit to push boundaries, say a D3s and the lovely 200/2.0 (and take back strain, tell me about that . .
– The art of anticipation has been lost by agency photogs because unless you are rich you have no means to even play properly with the kit.
– Smaller kit matters, but more in confined spaces, you can go wield a 600/4 on a whopping Sachtler from the field, but does that get you anything novel?
– What advantages do you have?
Contrary answers:
– Kit is always levelled with technique. I’ve sold prints from disposables. Err, okay that was luck, but it does not require huge expense.
– Don’t worry about NPS or CPS, the won’t help you at basic membership level. It takes a lot to get noticed above Reuters / AP / Big Name. Though they usually ship gear for loaner at events. You just won’t be first in queue/
– The big cameras may have hit a plateau for all kinds of performance, across the board, 5 years ago. My word only on this, sorry, but lots of evidence. So go cheap and used.
– Push the boundaries elsewhere.
– Most sports shots are crap. SI might cull 15,999 shots to get a cover. How do you up the odds?
– Are long shots of F1 cars boring already?
– You’re a girl, go be nice to the people, and ask. Nobody will take you seriously with your “dinky” little kit. Use that. Serious humor.
. . .
Dealer when I bought Minolta gear out of production, from Vegas, lovely guy, I had had a lull, said to me, “John, this is not riding a bicycle.” when I bought a 17/4. Yeeep.
Put the effort into your imagination, learn the space you are in.
BIG thing, learn how the light variances affect exposure. Bayer sensors treat green as white, but have wildly varying behaviours as to how they treat red or blue. Think differently how to use a blue dawn or red sunset. There’s too many tiring well balanced shots out there. If you choose what to emphasise, you can pull two or more stops exposure out of it, and that means a MFT sensor is the same as okay FF exposure. Get that “I’ll sort it in raw conversion” death valley. Could be done with film stock, definitely can with digital. Use WB bracketing. Get a good monitor. There’s a Dell 27″ monitor now, forget the one, for $350 ish that is so good at the basics, I cringe at what I spent 10 years ago.
– – –
That may have just been a bit too much, but my thought is to push what you can get, and it may not be too expensive to go buy kit (rent, when you can) you can really mess about with. Homework, a bit, for sure, but in my little nook of adland, I puke at the dullness of photography. Learn something the other guys cannot do. They’re just guys with toys, too many of them. Guilty as sin, myself, but I figured out something at least *I* could understand. Tool up your mind, not indebt your future! cheers, ~ john
A friend of mine got into music photography (more as a sideline, he’s happy being a geek at his day job) simply by getting in touch with a few local music magazines where he lives and offering them photos he took at gigs.
After having had a few pics of local bands published he got a call from the editor asking if he could cover for their regular guy taking photos of an American band in town as part of a tour.
“So who’s the band?” he says, expecting it to be some small group no-one has heard of or a one-hit wonder still desperately clinging on to the dream.
“Metallica” says the editor.
This is the type of suggestion I’ve heard often, which is why I recently moved to Los Angeles. At least there’s some bits of racing nearby, unlike in my hometown!
I’m Indian so it could be a lot more difficult visa-wise. Having said that, it sure does sound fun. Do you search for new hotels every year or are you set with your choices by now? And is there a group of travellers that you have gotten on good terms with? Writers, businessmen, tourists?
We tend to go to the same places unless they get too expensive or nothing works.
Interesting post Joe,
I’m doing my first fly away next year to Malaysia in March and have targeted Singapore to be my second trip but not in the same year.
Do you book your travel and hotels early or leave it late in the hope of a deal?
So Joe,
What are your tips for being able to sleep comfortably in economy class?
If you tired enough, you will sleep anywhere. I have slept standing up in the past.
My tips:
– Audio-Technica noise cancelling supra aural headphones (ref ATH ANC7 – about $200)
– eye shade
– airline pillow at the bottom of my seat for greater incline
– inlfatable U-shape pillow to support the neck and head
– choose a window seat to avoid being disturbed. One without the entertainment system casing under the seat in front is even better so as to have space to move your feet (I use seatguru.com for that)
– place the blanket under your seat belt fastened
– preferably eat before boarding and tell the on board staff you do not want to be disturbed before you go to sleep.
– keep a bottle of water and face mosturiser in the pocket in front of you for when needed.
– avoid alcohol.
Having had two DVT clots and one pulmonari embolus, I would also strongly recommend using a sleeptracker.com alarm clock/watch set up to wake up every two hours or so.
That way you won’t feel groggy and will get up walk and exercise for 5 minutes before heading back to your next sleep cycle without fearing a nasty trip to the hospital
Also, from lots of NZ-US travel, get a seat away from the galley or the toilets. I’ve also had success talking up the ticket agent to put a hold on an empty seat next to me. And lastly, hope like hell the person next to you isn’t hugely fat.
However if you’re prone to a certain amount of fear of flying, grab an aisle seat three rows from the back of the plane (assuming there’s an emergency exit at the rear which to my knowledge is the case on every civilian aircraft).
It’s maybe not a big difference, but it is pretty much the safest place to sit.
Who worries about stuff like this? If a plane crashes, you die. It is really very simply. However planes are generally flown by computers these days and they are safer than humans. I never understand why anyone claps when a plane lands. The computer does not care.
I agree entirely, but irrational fears are irrational fears.
Most of it is about a lack of control – at least choosing the safest seat on the plane has somehow been a comfort to some friends of mine because it is at least one variable they can control. The difference might be marginal, but it can/does make a difference to mortality rates on crashes during take-off and landing.
Of course, making sure to look both ways before crossing the street is a much more effective way of improving your life expectancy.
Flying, spiders, mice, nuclear power. Many people get scared of all the wrong things.
They’re not clapping for the pilot (or computer) they are clapping for themselves and that they are safely on the ground. They are relieved and are releasing their fear.
I know that.
‘I never understand why anyone claps when a plane lands.’
Your right. Do people clap when their friend drives them somewhere in a car and you arrive successfully?
‘The computer does not care.’
Here’s the thing. No airline uses the ‘auto-land’ features in the latest aircraft even though it does work well. The software is disabled usually at the outer marker and the aircraft is hand flown down to touchdown. Most airline manuals specifically outlaw non VFR landings past decision heights as a matter of policy. A missed approach IS automated however with one button being pushed (TO_GO) so you can live to fly another day.
That sounds complicated.
I programmed myself to drift off as the engines spun up.
That way, I’d get in all of a “Oh Shit!” if we crashed.
Downside: if I had the race on telly too loud, starts would send me to sleep…
Even business class isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be, but you do get a fully reclining seat and a good choice of drinks and snacks, plus the TV screens are a decent size.
Most of our flying is ‘cattle class’ like everyone else, but the last trip to SFO was business class with United, and it made a nice break. Still couldn’t sleep though…..
You need to try upstairs in an Emirates A380
I can dream…
You could change your name by deed poll, then their check in computers might think you’re Joe 😉
Wow! That sounds unbelievable. Which ones are the races where you have to pay for internet connection yourself in the press room? Is this sort of stuff just a little detail about which the FIA and the FOM don’t care about?
I honestly cannot remember apart from the fact that places like Monza are rip offs.
Interesting article (as always Joe), but then you have also the cost of entry tickets to each of the races, If you can get tickets that is eg(Japan) Also add on overpriced food and beverages at the track for three days, taxi and public transport fares etc. It’s and expensive business going to every Formula One race. At least as a professional journalist you can claim your expences asa tax deduction.
Joe: Excellent analysis and quite interesting! A friend and I long ago agreed to place on our “bucket list” the plan to follow the F1 circus for an entire season. Thanks for providiing us a bit of a reality check on this endeavour! And adding in the cost of race tickets (for some of us!) and simply arranging for transportation around each venue makes this quite the challenge! But if there’s a “will”, there’s a way, right!
Ditto! Though I never thought to actually cost it.
It’s a shock and, since I recently read an article on the perils of ‘flying and deep vein thrombosis’, I’m somewhat put off.
Living the season vicariously through Joe is almost as good. 😉
You’re probably more likely to die in a car accident on the trips to and from airports. Basic precautions render DVT a trivial risk for anyone not firmly in the “at risk” groups.
Interesting comment re DVT.
I used to do a lot of flying for work in Asia..Predominantly on THAI and never had a problem Came back to Australia from Thailand last year, and suffered a stroke. Wasn’t flying THAI, but, in a plane with the Flying Kangaroo on the tail. No legroom, and unable to get up to stretch in the night as I was in a middle ” Y” seat.
May have been a co-incidence, but, I ended up with 100 days in hospital. Now, I am on blood thinners daily.
A chap called Alex Snell (spelling?) did that for the 2010 season. Could be worth messaging should you be serious about it:
As a journalist do you get free access to race venue?
I think you gave a slightly lower figure last time Joe, (a few months back) because at that time I estimated that if you had a thousand GP+ subscribers it would just pay your travelling costs.
As has occasionally been mentioned before, with all the F1 airfreight, there must be a considerable amount of clout with some airlines which could be used to create an F1 travellers scheme. I have no doubts that Bernie could probably put together a favourable deal over a weekend. But then he would inevitably want a profit out of it and the prices would rise. Air ticketing is a whole complex universe in itself, with huge disparities between what you paid and the person in the seat next to you paid. Similarly there ought to be an F1 visa service. Would you pay say, two grand per year, to avoid all the hassle of getting your own visas?
You need to remember that There are more than one partners in GP+
Hi Joe,
Do you book all of your flights and accommodation yourself, or get someone else to sort it out for you?
Cheers,
Julian
A bit of both
Joe, a few months ago Forbes talked about $77,000 (USD) for a whole season, including flights, hotels, food, tickets, etc. The link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/03/22/how-much-would-it-cost-to-attend-every-formula-1-event-in-a-season/
They are obviously used to living in rather higher style than those who pay their own bills.
They’re also flying in and out of San Francisco, nearly 2000 miles from the nearest F1 circuit (Austin, Texas).
I have a friend who’s cousin went to every race two seasons ago, lucky girl!
I’m considering going to Malaysia next year, for my first trip to an F1 race (bur not KL) – how much premium do they put on the hotel prices when the circus is in town?
Wow, I naively thought the stats would be a little lower.
And switching to smaller V6 engines is going to make the sport sustainable?
I flew from California to see the Chinese Grand Prix. I can just imagine following the races throughout the whole season. I’ll bet those days in-between the Asia races are tough.
Seems ridiculous to me (by the way it was the Nuerburgring that made you pay) but then again I am used to work in a championship wherein the title sponsor is a mobile telephone operator. Maybe a little late but the responsible Vodafone marketing man/woman has been asleep.
Joe, thanks for the insight.
Thanks Joe really interesting article. Just curious but how do you actually watch the races? Are you by the trackside or is there a special room for journalists to watch? If it is on a TV do you get the same feed as us at home or do you get extras?
The Media Centre has the same TV feed, but better stats.
Joe,
List from best to worst F1 tracks to get to and from.
When I have time perhaps.
Guess I need to wait for my numbers to come up in the lottery.
This reinforces an idea I’ve posted here several times before..alternate all the races between Silverstone and Spa and paint in the various backgrounds (Budapest, Melbourne, whatever) with virtual graphics to make it appear to viewers the races are being held wherever. The racing would be far better, it would be way cheaper and way greener, and guys like Joe and DT could simply rent a house down the street for the entire season.
I’m in the television virtual graphics business, I know it can be done and I know exactly what it would cost. Trust me. Bernie, I await your call.
Do you work for NASA by any chance?
People around me think I’m a crazy man because I’m giggling like an idiot after reading these two posts.
Hahaha.. that was epic!
100% right – “The truth is that their frequent flyer schemes are not designed for frequent flyers, but rather for people who have companies paying for their flying”
Well I can only hope you have a good Amex to tally up some extra points?! I’ve actually found mine to be pretty awesome over the last couple of years but I’m not speeding that kind of money on it 🙂
I stopped using Amex 20 years ago because it was a shitty company that treated its customers badly. I have never gone back. And nor do I intend to. It would take a lot of incentive to sign up with those clowns again.
+1
Interesting read Joe, what you need to do is land yourself the pitlane reporter gig for NBC Sports and have them cover the costs, it’ll afford you a better class of brothel/hotel the next time you go to Korea ;)….besides something tells me that Bob Costas is going to need experienced brains to pick if he is to sound like he know’s a thing about the sport next year.
It would be nice to get to hear your thought during the race as events unfold, not that I’m knocking the job Will Buxton does currently, I think he’s good.
Buxton is an overhyped crackpot. You only have to listen to his loony GP2 commentary to hear that.
I do not agree. The job of a commentator is to get people excited. I suspect that you think that Murray Walker was an idiot as well. Wrong.
No. I agree with what the role should entail, but Buxton has too much bias against certain drivers and for certain others. He lets his friendships with the likes of Calado overshadow his own editorial switches in a way that appears crass. Murray Walker although clearly having favourites had a tone which seemed to soften that blow, a tone that created empathy and good will. I will back track though and say crackpot, overhyped and loony are over the top adjectives.
I guess everyone has their own opinion, but I have been watching Buxton doing the GP2 races as much as possible in the past year and a half and I must say he is doing a great job.
The fact he personally knows many of the drivers makes it better, as these are all young people whom we hardly every heard of before they get on the grid.
I agree F1fan1998 Buxton comes across as being a naive fanboy. Thankfully we don’t have to put up with him any more now that Speed has bitten the dust 🙂
Maybe he will join NBC.
Naw… Buxton is excellent! Most of the F1 fans I know are seriously hoping he gets picked up by NBC next season.
Presumably paddock passes are on top of that? And they must be circa $2k/race?!
You must be joking. If we had to pay for Paddock Passes then the Press Corps could be counted on one hand, as opposed to 300. If that happened I would go and do something else.
Seriously?
Paddock club is charged as a hospitality item to the corporate market, but paddock passes are not chargeable, they are granted on application.
Although there are a few shady people buying and selling paddock passes on the ‘black market’ some well known F1 ticket sellers from the UK amongst others.
Not a good practice to be involved in and I’ve seen Pasquale (in Monza last year for example) marching up to someone, checking their passes and then throwing them out of the paddock. Always amusing. I like to get mine from FOM when I go to a race. It’s much nicer to know you are there legitimately. There is a lot more respect for that.
Thanks for sharing this. The idea of travelling with the circus seems fantastic, but I can’t imagine doing it since ’88. It must be very hard to eat well, get enough rest, etc. All of that flying seems very unhealthy, too.
As i recall, internet at circuit. Free – Oz, Canada, Silverstone, Belgium, Singapore, India, Abu Dhabi. Not free – Malaysia, China, Bahrain, Spain, Monaco, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea. Extortionate – Hungary, Brazil. 😉
That may be right. I honestly don’t keep track.
In a world where you can get free WiFi at McDonalds, this is just mindboggling.
For the record, do the teams have to pay to have some connection to the factory back home (where one presumes they still do a substantial amount of their strategy work?)
Everything in an F1 paddock costs money. Sometimes the numbers are insane.
Eight 24-hour days in economy class doesn’t seem too bad – I have to spend around 37 24-hour days on Britain’s clogged motorways getting to and from customers sites each year. Appreciate some of your hotels may not be top notch, but a Travelodge on the M1 isn’t exactly luxury either. I’m sure the teams catering units beats the m/way services too! Oh and you get to watch every F1 race too right in the thick of the action.
Always look on the bright side Joe!
Was I complaining?
Not sure – some of your posts come across that way sometimes! I’m sure you love your job really, but the enthusiasm doesn’t always show through for me!
Still love your work though!
You should try the hours and try to be chirpy at all of them…
Motorway TLs are the worst. Do yourself a favour and start staying on farm B&Bs instead. This one is ideal for Longbridge and all points midlands and you can avoid all the main roads. I used to stay there regularly 10 years ago, huge dog though. http://www.farminguk.com/Accommodation/Alcott-Farm_645.html Follow the directions do not use satnav.
Nice Advertisement ..…
Just telling it like it is. I gain nothing from it.
Nice advert for what? I don’t understand you comment. For F1? For travel?
Great read Joe. Thanks for trading your time for our entertainment.
Interesting insight Joe. Has there ever been any suggestion of FOM chartered flights for teams and media?
FOM has a massive freight operation.
Sorry understood that, but it is a key man risk issue why they wouldn’t also take personnel to the races in addition to the 747s for the freight?
FOM never does anything cheaply. There are always better prices elsewhere, unless there is no option.
I’d also take a guess, maybe now lessened by recent “RRA” type deals, that there were incredible amounts of technology export licenses to deal with. Ex partner of mine handled, or at least was on the right committees, the hard core of that for the DTI, as it was then, retired as the Sov dismantled. Thrown out early with a friendly “don’t come back” amount of bread. When the DTI actually did a job…
I really doubt that teams with close to billion dollar budgets, aimed at serious materials tech, were allowed to just waltz through customs. If I’m right, we’ve missed a angle on just how much wheeling and dealing Bernie did to get the circus on the road, and I’ve heard enough stories I should not have heard, to know that’d be very impressive of its own right.
There you go – you and DT need to slip a truckie a tenner to lock you up in one of their freight containers (and another tenner to let you out at the other end…)