Road trip to Ferrari Challenge at Laguna, May 20-22

Anyone interested in a road trip in May to attend the Ferrari Challenge event at Laguna Seca? Event takes place Friday 5/20 through Sunday 5/22. Sat/Sun combined pass is $40. Fri/Sat/Sun is $50. Preferred parking around the lagoon (turn 3-4) is an additional $25 for all three days.

Here's the press release:

The Ferrari Challenge is returning to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on May 20-22, 2011, the raceway and Ferrari North America announced today. Headlining the three full days of racing are the Ferrari 458 Challenge and the series rarely brought to the U.S., the F1 Corse Clienti program.

“The Ferrari Challenge will provide motorsports fans with a thrilling season opener at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca,” said Gill Campbell, CEO/general manager for Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. “Fans will surely enjoy the sights and sounds of these modern race cars and shrieking F1 cars as they challenge the Corkscrew.”

Ever since the days of Enzo Ferrari, the automaker has maintained close ties with owners and the privateers who carry the Ferrari racing heritage worldwide. The Ferrari Challenge series is designed to allow Ferrari owners the opportunity to compete on some of the world’s greatest race tracks while providing Ferrari enthusiasts the chance to enjoy watching Ferraris in their natural environment – the race track.

Cars in the series include the new purpose-built Ferrari 458 Challenge. These modern race cars will share the paddock with the speed, elegance and style of the greatest cars from Ferrari’s glorious F1 past like Niki Lauda’s 312T and Michael Schumacher’s F2001."

 

Okay, looks like we are gaining some momentum! Let's see how many other people express an interest over the next couple of days and then I'll contact the track and see if we can get a reserved parking area near the lagoon on Saturday. I'm thinking of driving up on Friday afternoon, staying overnight at a hotel in Seaside or Monterey, then hitting the track for the full day on Saturday and driving back on Saturday evening.

I'll also check the rates at some of the decent hotels with safe parking.

 

Hi Guys, we can get a very good group rate of $139 per night on rooms right now at the Hilton Garden Inn Monterey. It meets several key criteria: (1) Reasonably priced; (2) Underground parking; (3) Bar and restaurant on the premises. Here's the location on Google maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1000+Aguajito+Road+Monterey,+CA,+93940+&aq=&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.231745,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1000+Aguajito+Rd,+Monterey,+California+93940&z=16

I'm willing to put a small group reservation on my credit card so we can at least guarantee 10 rooms. Anyone who wants to join us after the first 10 rooms are spoken for can call the hotel directly to be added.

The plan would be to all meet in Santa Barbara early afternoon on Friday 5/20 and caravan up to the hotel. Dinner at the hotel (or some other nearby place) on Friday night and then off to the track on Saturday 5/21.

Let's get a hotel reservation list going. Add your screen name and first name to the list please by using the QUOTE function. I'll start with the guys I know, (and please feel free to remove your name if you change your mind):

1. m5guy (Greg)
2. Monteman (Monte)
3. Testarossa Lover (Haig)
4. Modenafan (Jon) - Jon, you said maybe, so drop your name off if you can't make it.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

 

The $127 rate is also advertised on Hotels.com, but in the fine print they state that it is an advanced room rate, non-refundable, and the hotel selects the type of room to put you in at the time of check in (i.e. you could conceivably end up in the twin bed, extra smoking room next to the ice machine.) The $139 rate directly from Hilton guarantees a non-smoking, king bed room (I think they refer to it as a junior suite.) Both rates are before taxes and local fees.

Depending on the interest we get over the next week or so, I can either book the group reservation, or each person can reserve their room independently using Expedia, Hotels.com, etc so they can select the type of room they want to stay in.