JAPANESE FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX

Stayed in Nagoya for the weekend. Travelling to Suzuka Circuit Inou takes about an hour. If you've got a JR pass, just get on the train and expect to pay 200 yen when you get off. The train station is very busy at the end of each day but they're really well organised so the wait is acceptable. Great atmosphere, big queues for food and toilets on race day, buy souvenirs early, they sell out fast. From my seat in E1, I could see 3 areas of track and a small video screen. It was a superb weekend, well done Jenson!

For the Japanese F1, book the cheapest seat available and walk the track. Access to and from the track was really easy using a rental car; the train station looked extremely crowded - i'm glad I drove.

I very much enjoyed going to the Sazuka circuit but it would have been much better if I could have heard information about what was going on, both in qualifying & the race. The large screen TV was too far away to read the details of times/positions. Would have been OK if I had taken my binos.
I assumed I would be able to hear commentary on my radio, but it only goes down to about 88.0 and they broadcast on 87.0. They had radios for hire & I did ask but they said it was all in japanese. I'm not sure if this was right as they certainly had Bob Constanduras there as I heard him over the PA when the trophy presentation was being done.

Having only spent just over a £100 on the tickets for the weekend I was worried about the view, however there was nothing to fear had an excellent veiw twice firstly as they went under the crossover and then again as they went over the crossover.

Flew into Tokyo and then experienced the Bullet train well worth it if alittle pricey £100 eachway, I stayed in Nagoya and travelled to the track each day, was only a 40 minute journey on the limited express train (approx £40 return) followed by a short bus journey of about 10 minutes.

The organisation was amazing even on race day we were back in Nagoya within 2 hours. make sure that you have Cash with you as their is no ATM's that accept UK cards in Susuka.

Japan is an expensive place to visit but worth every penny, thanks Book F1....

Our seats int he lower tier C Stand were superb providing excellent views of the cars breaking at the end of the main straight, and accelerating out of turn one moving towards the Senna Esses. If i went back to Suzuka (which i would love to do...!!) then i woudl go for the C stand again, but if possible I would consider payign more to be higher up, even though the lower stand was very good.

Overall, this was an excellent event and I truly enjoyed myself. I was a bit daunted at times as there did not seem to be a lot of English signs, even the onsite translatos English was not that great, somewhat difficult to understand. Also, it would have been good to know to carry more cash as to the difficulty of using an ATM in Japan. This was problematic as there were many vendors that did not take cc, making it somewhat difficult.

The Japanese F1 was fantastic! I've only ever been to the Melbourne GP and truth be told, I'm not the biggest fan of F1...but the Suzuka track is truly exceptional!

We went all 3 days and had tickets in D, zones 1,2,3. The seat were quite cheap - as we had left to the last minute so anything decent was booked out. To be honest, my expectations were low...but we were amazed at how great the seats were.

Unfortunately we had no TV screen, but we did pick up a Fanvision set, so we were up to date on what was happening. I would suggest this, or at the very least, a radio so you can tune in to the BBC commentary.

Getting to Suzuka isn't such a drama...we used the JR line from Nagoya...they had a rapid service which was covered by our Japan Rail pass. It was about 50minutes to get to Inno Suzuka Station (300 Yen to cover the non JR line) Unfortunately the sheer volume of people using the service to get out there made the trip rather exhausting though. More often than not, there were no seats and you were crammed in like sardines...it just made for one very uncomfortable trip...especially when you have been climbing the steep slopes of Suzuka all day. Also, the wait times for the train could be quite long. No matter how you time it, you'll have to wait.

Other facilities at the track which were lacking...toilets. Lots of them, but not enough western style...perhaps I'm just being picky...but I refuse to use a "port-a-squat". Apart from that, food was reasonable and delicious and merchandise tents were great.

Be prepared for a lot of walking and some feet in need of a nice foot bath at the end of the day...but also be prepared for a great weekend with a pretty good view.

GREAT SEATS AT A GREAT CIRCUIT. THE BEST STAND I'VE EVER BEEN IN FOR VIEWING
IT IS A LONG JOURNEY FROM NAGOYA BUT WORKS WITH ALL THE USUAL JAPANESE EFFIENCY

We took a chance on where to sit at Suzuka as it was our first time in Japan, and didn't want to pay stacks of money for the very expensive grandstands so we sat in J. We had a great view of the race, very close to the track and saw lots of overtakes too :) The only down side to this grandstand is that it is a very long trek to get to from the entrance to Suzuka. Transport from Nagoya to and from the circuit was easy and if you're prepared to stand on the train you will find it very cheap too (well, by Japanese standards!!) You will just need to persevere with the language barrier, very few of the staff speak English. All in all a great weekend at Suzuka!!

Tickets were very reasonably priced. We only attended the race day as were travelling in Japan.

Only problem was that we purposefully selected seats with a view of a giant screen as we would not be able to follow the commentary as it would be in Japanese. This was the only reason we chose to sit where we did. When we arrived there was no screen. There was an incident on the first lap and to this day I still don't really know what happened. As this was the exact reason we chose seats with a screen this was annoying.

Getting to the circuit was realtively easy via public transport and it was a good day ouy.

The circuit had run out of beer by the time the race started!

Great time!

I booked the seats in O section only because of it possess TV, however, when we get to our seats, the TV was gone (or actually it didn't have it at the beginning?). If I know there is no TV in the first place, I'd rent a kangaroo TV or just simply reserve other seats!

Having researched several ticket selling websites, we were under the impression that we would be able to see a screen from our seats (O section). There was no screen and with only a Japanese commentary it was impossible to follow what was going on. In the end, we didn't sit in our seats for the race and sat on the floor in general admission so we could see a screen and follow what was going on. (No Kangaroo systems available for race day). A Japanese sports writer told us later that there were much fewer screens that there used to be. As previously noted there is next to no covered areas for bad weather (as there was on qualifying Saturday), so you just sit in the rain waiting for something to happen - and if you can't even see a screen, you just sit and wait and hope. Despite all of this the

There also seemed to be large sections fenced off for a few press photographers which would have made great viewing areas - not a great track if you can't see a screen.

Re transferring from Nagoya - we did that - long queues but they do move relatively quickly as they absolutely pack them on to the trains.

Despite a wet saturday and a scorching sunday, a great experience.

The weekend was very good. Thankfully we got access to any of the stands on the Friday practice sessions as the seats in G4 didn't have much action in sight. I had originally paid and selected G2 tickets but I was told 3 weeks later that Suzuka Raceway had over sold their ticket allocation for that stand and instead I was offered G4 tickets. I wasn't very pleased about this as I thought I had selected the tickets I wanted and that were advertised but eventually there was nothing that could be done. It wasn't the fault of BookF1 but in theory, customers shouldn't be advertised something that isn't available.

The circuit itself is great and there are plenty of options for food and drinks. I got the seats in section O because I had left it too late to get the ones I wanted ("Q"). BookF1 did a great job delivering on time, but I regret not spending more on better seats. These tickets are expensive but if you're traveling from overseas for the race just spend the money for the better seats. The main problem was getting to and from the race. I stayed in Nagoya the night before the race but it still took two hours getting from Nagoya station to my seat and even longer on the way back. It's not tourist friendly with practically nothing written in English, but even without that problem there just aren't enough easy options for getting to the track. By the way, I had tried to rent a car in Tokyo but they require an international driving license so couldn't get a rental car either.

My enjoyment of the race was unfortunately limited by the poor seats we had to exchange after the stand we first booked and paid for in May in was oversubscribed.

I booked the tickets as there was supposed to be a TV by this grand stand but there wasn't a TV there. I also missed English radio broadcasting so that you could follow the race.

My advice would be there is no cover at this track to hide from rain or shine
So be prepaired if you arrive by train allow plenty of time as the bus' s to take you to the circuit take aleast an hour

Long queues for the buses once you have left the train station. You can walk in about an hour if the weather is nice. Make sure your shoes are suitable to walk in as the distance from where the buses drop you off is still a short hike. Very little English at the circuit so be prepared, also programmes areall in Japanese.

Be prepared for wet weather, and I do mean prepared!

That all said it was a fabulous weekend with a cracking view of the first corner and the first crashes.

Enjoy

Access to the circuit can be a trek (especially in the pouring rain on Saturday) but its well organised with lots of people to help point you in the right direction. I rented kangaroo TV which is an ABSOLUTE must for the weekend as you get access to BBC Radio 5 Live commentary. It really helped being able to listen and to see what was happening since the circuit commentary was in japanese and even then never gave the full story with pit stops and accidents.

I would also recommend staying a bit later after the race in order to let the queue for the train die down. I wandered around the exhibitions and went into the grandstand - just in time to see Vettel come out and then run across the track to throw his cap into the fans. IT WAS AMAZING. By the time I got to the station I waited 10 minutes for a train and was back in Nagoya within an hour.