Turweston for Grand Prix Weekend

[Diamond 'katana' geezer]

Hi all

I have been in contact with Turweston, and they have very helpfully provided me with a price list of landing fees etc for the race weekend.

I'm absolutely dead set that i want to go, but have found out that transfers alone to and from the airfield will cost...get ready....£280 for two people for the 3 days. This is stupid money, for what is a 8KM distance as the crow flies.

I can understand that the roads are busy, and its a 4X4 service across a farmwers field, and its big money grand prix weekend, but i am still shocked a this cost

Break down for transfers is as follows:

Return transfers to the circuit on Friday 9th July - £25.00 per person
Return transfers to the circuit on Saturday 10th July - £40.00 per
person
Return transfers to the circuit on Sunday 11th July - £75.00 per person


Is there anyone that has been in the past few years that can advise on a local bus route, or even a route to walk to silverstone.

Thanks for your time, am very grateful

Geez

[Circuit Basher]

Pack your folding bikes, or take a monkey bike??!!
:ok:

Or just stow away on one of the paraffin budgies that flits backwards and forwards - they won't notice!!

Or just parachute in - people do it most years and they don't even get charged for a ticket!! ;)

[BRL]

Dont even think about driving there. Fly-in then walk or bike it. Or even pay the money. Nowt wrong with that, bit pricey I agree but that is what it is all about. Roads are chocka-block even the local buses get stuck for hours at a time. If I were you I would bite the pillow and pay up.

[Flyin'Dutch']

Hi Geez,

I don't know what your mount is but I was under the impression that the only traffic that the let 'fly' into Turweston over that weekend are helos.

The road bound traffic is pretty horrendous at that time of the year although I believe it is a bit bettern now the A43 is dual carriage way from the M1 to the M40.

I fly out of Turweston on occassions and am pretty local to Silverstone (~10NM) but avoid that bit of the area like the plague over the GP weekend.

FD

[Tall_guy_in_a_152]

There is a walking route using lanes and public footpaths - they are shown on multimap.com (you have to zoom in to see them). It looks about 6 miles? That might be OK the 1st morning, but I wouldn't fancy walking back afterwards and then flying home.:\ I would not reccommend walking along the new bypass that links Turweston to Silverstone, although you do see people doing it.

I usually drive up Thursday night, pitch the tent at Whittlebury Golf club (right next door to the circuit with its own gate) and pack up again on Sunday night to come home. Unfortunately that doesn't help with your fly-in plan :sad:


TG.

[Diamond 'katana' geezer]

thanks all for your replies.

looks like i'm going to be walking!

I just can't get over the fact that to sit in the back of a 4X4 truck for 6miles will cost £75. They have priced me out of the market :(

Thanks again
Geez

[rtl_flyer]

What are the landing (and parking) fees like that weekend?

[DOC.400]

I thought they had a cheap option with straw bales on a trailer pulled by a tractor....;)

Whittlebury is delightful if you are camping, had the whole place to myself earlier this year. :) Should be a great atmosphere on GP w/e.

" I was under the impression that the only traffic that the let 'fly' into Turweston over that weekend are helos."

Not true of Turweston, but true of Silverstone. For some of the other major events at Silverstone, one can fly in fixed wing i.e. Touring Cars, Coys Festival (as it was, R.I.P.) Great way to arrive and an even better way to depart, over all the queues!!

DOC

[matspart3]

There was a park and ride for vehicular traffic at Hinton-in-the-Hedges last year...don't know how far it was from the airfield though

[Diamond 'katana' geezer]

Rtl,

Landing fee is £6.81
Parking is £10 per night
Camping is £5 per night per tent

These costs i find excellent, especially for GP weekend.

Thanks all for your replies, I am still in contact with Turweston to see if anything else, transport wise, is on offer.

Geez

[Hersham Boy]

I recall several people telling me last year that the LANDING fee was £75 per seat (filled or not)!

This might have been my confusion, of course - sounds like landing was getting confused with 4x4-ing!

For £6.81 it might be worth getting my CLP and ferrying people to the field... Hmmm....

[VCR]

Don't know if they've changed their charging policy for this year but I was definitely quoted around £75 per person 'landing fee' two years ago. They wouldn't give you a PPR booking until you'd paid either and no refunds!

That was the year it rained for a week beforehand and the vehicular traffic came to a grinding halt. It was also very foggy until lunchtime and I don't suppose many aircraft could have landed. I drove, sat for 4 hours in the car in stationary traffic then walked for 6 miles, getting in just before the start.

[Hersham Boy]

I've just discovered an excelent way to avoid all this...

Apparently, the queues to sit in front of my shiny widescreen TV are very short and the landing fee at my local aerodrome is about a tenner. I'll be ferrying punters from field to living room and back for a mere tenner return trip.

The beer tent (aka fridge) is very reasonable and there are also no queues!

BBQ in the paddock (garden) afterwards...

Roll up! Roll up!

[Hairyplane]

The operation at Turdy is very slick indeed and aimed principally at those priviledged people for whom convenience and not money is the order of the day.

Great hospitality and an interesting cross-country route straight into the circuit.

They hire a lot of drivers for the day and tend to operate brand new demo Land Rovers.

So, if you want to get in for free and get paid to watch the race - sign up as a driver and 'go awol' for the day. With so many vehicles involved I also doubt whether they would miss one or two for a couple of hours....?!

Don't knock the prices - basic economics set them. It is also a very expensive operation to set up and with only a couple of days over which to amortise all your costs.

Fair play to David Owen, the owner of Turdy - an entrepreneur who has done great things. Check out the £1M brand new hangar/ offices (PFA have just moved in - their old tatty furniture really looks out of place...) and take your hat off to the man.

HP

[Orange Arm Waver]

They do allow fixed wing in... You HAVE TO BE BOOKED mind you.
I know as I'm one of the marshals at the airfield and we have all sorts, PA.22 to a Metro and a Starship over the years.

I agree with Hairyplane... It is a well organised thing by David.

OAW

[Diamond 'katana' geezer]

Great News,

How are plans going for the big day? :)

I got my invoice through the post on Saturday, all is coming together i think.

Now, just got to pray to the weather God!!

Geez :cool:

[Orange Arm Waver]

Not sure about this years arrangements but will let you know if I find anything out.
:ok:

TW are suffering at the moment as the Vintage Aircraft Club do is being restricted by a 30 visitor limit due to Nimbys... (fuller details are on the Key Publishing General Aviation thread.):mad:

The GP won't be affected by the restrictions but our VAC do's look as if they will be. We had 100+ visitors last year...:{ :mad:

Not wishing to put you off but the airside of operations at the GP weekends has been dropping off in recent years... Is it a reflection of the interest in the sport of late??

Hope to see you there (at TW) then.:ok:

OAW

[strake]

The Grand Prix is a "niche", "luxury", product.
Market forces therefore dictate that you will have to spend significant money to attend. Anything from 250-1000 per skull as the corporate entertainment chaps so nicely put it.

Last year, I took the Amex package to the Vale Complex with Helicopter transfer and had a great time. Cost 1200. Excellent 15 min flight both ways, plenty of good food, good company and world class sport.

11 hours entertainment equals 109 per hour.

Well, I'll be.........!!

That seems to be a remarkably similar cost to something else we all do.......