With 1,213 laps over 67.5 miles, and a total of 3,977 miles to cover, petrol heads around the world are eagerly anticipating the start of the Formula 1 season. But being a hardened fan can come with a very large price tag, research has revealed today.
Lets Race – the UK’s only full-motion Formula 1 simulation centre – has analysed the costs of travelling, attending and staying at all 21 locations globally – and the findings are staggering.
If you are looking at attending Silverstone in July, you may wish to reconsider as the race is the 12th most expensive to attend, and this is the only one you don’t need to pay to book flights for. You can visit Brazil, Singapore, Italy, and Canada for less money than staying on home turf!
The least expensive race to visit was Hungary, coming in at under £400 for a three-day escape. Unsurprisingly, the costliest was Monaco at nearly £3,000. If you analyse the price of the whole experience over the number of race laps at each venue, Abu Dhabi came top with each circuit of the track costing £49.58 to watch.
Germany topped the most expensive to attend in Europe, however, it was only £19 more expensive than the UK. Finally, if you’re planning to attend all the races, you’ll need a healthy bank balance to make all 21 trips could set you back more than £27,000.
Ben Stephenson, Commercial Director for the Lets Go group, commented, “We decided to take a look at the typical costs associated with F1, and we were quite surprised with the results. We never dreamt that Silverstone would sit mid-way on cost, especially as no flights were involved.
“For those who don’t have the time or money to visit all the venues, we offer the opportunity to drive a full-motion Formula 1 simulator on all of the world’s most famous tracks. This is the closest experience you can get to driving a Formula 1 car in the UK. You can then use the money you saved from not travelling to put towards buying your own F1 car, which only costs around £6 million.”
The Lets Go venue is also home to Lets Golf simulation centre and Lets Explore soft play centre. For more information or to book a race experience at Lets Race visit www.letsrace.co.uk
