Porsche experience at the Autodrome

[pete-flint]

Point taken EMM, it has the facilities, just needs better promotion. Shame for it to wither away due to poor exploitation. Maybe someone is waiting to pick up a "cheap" race track ! !

[Miriam]

going slightly off topic

last year in late October I saw lots of adds on various billboards for the Portuguese Open (Golf) and the Superbikes, both of which were over by the time I arrived. But I was slightly miffed to discover - after it was over, natch, that there was a vintage car day at the track during my visit. Saw no advertisements for it anywhere.

Is it on this year and if so anybody got an idea when? Almost sure it was a Sunday last year, late October.

take a look here, says something about a 'classic' weekend 19th-21st October

http://autodromodoalgarve.com/index.php ... Itemid=167

We will be there again this year - been to all of them so far!

[joeysoap]

Not in the Algarve this year

[ditzy]

Classic car festival at the racetrack this weekend: www.algarveclassicfestival.com

[Aitch]

Classic car festival at the racetrack this weekend: http://www.algarveclassicfestival.com

It is well worth a visit if you like your classic cars. I went last year. Some beautiful and famous cars on view and some great racing..... but Goodwood it is not!

[pete-flint]

Classic car festival at the racetrack this weekend: http://www.algarveclassicfestival.com

It is well worth a visit if you like your classic cars. I went last year. Some beautiful and famous cars on view and some great racing..... but Goodwood it is not!

Thank God for that !!

Bunch of posing gits. Although the hill climb is O.K. it's the prats that parade around thinking they belong there ! !

[joeysoap]

Anyone know whats the story? no billboards etc in cvo but in Praia da Rocha yesterday saw an add for the vintage car festival at the autodrome? Thought it was moved to Jerez? Billboard could also be incorrect as theres still one advertising this year's Fatacil beside the taxi rank!

went into the autodrome site but it's like p****ng against the wind. the only information I can make out is that there is an event on but nothing else, I am time constrained on Sunday as I have an airport run at around 6pm latest so a little bit of information would not go astray. Believe the owners of the Autodrome want(ed) to host a GP. Looking at their website I wouldn't let them run a party in a brewery.

[steve]

I am going tomorrow. The programme is

08.15 - 08.40 some sort of parade with races afterwards as follows
09.00 - 11.00 GT and Sports Car cup
11.20 -11.50 JD Classics Challenge
12.10 - 12.40 Pre-war sports cars
13.00-13.25 Formula Junior
13.45-14.10 repeat of the morning parade
14.30 - 16.30 1000Kms
16.50 - 17.40 IGD- Portimao Race

[joeysoap]

Thank you Steve. Great information.

[pete-flint]

It seems Steve can squeeze water from stone ! I couldn't get any information from the girls in the shop there or any where else, the web site is absolute rubbish.

[ditzy]

Anyone know whats the story? no billboards etc in cvo but in Praia da Rocha yesterday saw an add for the vintage car festival at the autodrome? Thought it was moved to Jerez? Billboard could also be incorrect as theres still one advertising this year's Fatacil beside the taxi rank!

went into the autodrome site but it's like p****ng against the wind. the only information I can make out is that there is an event on but nothing else, I am time constrained on Sunday as I have an airport run at around 6pm latest so a little bit of information would not go astray. Believe the owners of the Autodrome want(ed) to host a GP. Looking at their website I wouldn't let them run a party in a brewery.

Joeysoap I had posted the link a few days earlier in regards to this, thought it might help but clearly not

[R.Wethereyet]

I went to the Classic event on Sunday with two friends who are keen motor fans from the UK, we paid 20 euros each and joined what was was part of a pathetic' audience of approx 200 in the main stand. The rest of the circuit including the paddock area looked deserted also, apart from the marshals and driver/team personnel.

We looked all over to try and find someone selling programmes with details of the races, cars and drivers, but nothing had been produced, only a flier with the race time, race name and its duration. Well at least we thought, we can see the large screen over the pit lane which we will be kept updated with information as the races unfold. Unlucky again, this was not working. Even the announcers only contribution was to announce the next race, just before it started, and then said nothing until the race finished when he let everyone know who had come in the podium positions and bugger all else.

After the main event, a 1000km race which finished at approx 2pm, my friends and I went in search of sustenance, only to find that all that was available in the main stand was one unit selling coffee, beer, soft drinks and crisps. We were told we could get a cooked meal in the paddock lounge, so off we went in search of this, only to be told we needed a paddock pass costing an additional 18 euros to get into it. Needless to say we politely refused to pay and went over to the Kart circuit restaurant, which had approx 20 people eating in it.

After queuing for 10 minutes in a line of only 8 people, we ordered and paid for our food from the sole member of staff who was front of house, and at approx 2:35pm sat down and waited. During our wait for food we asked at the kart reception if we could book for the kart circuit at 4pm and was told "talvez" could be 4:15 as there was a party booking at 3:00pm for one hour. That's okay we said we can eat, watch another race and come back over.

Finally, and nearly an hour later at 3:20 our meals (all Bacon burger and fries) eventually arrived and they were the worst food we had seen or tasted in a long time, grease on the plates, stale burger buns, cold fries and under cooked burgers. We commented on this but the attitude was basically a shrug of the shoulders.

So rather peed off by this we thought at least we have the karting and the 30 minute pre war race to look forward to. Oh how wrong we could be, we went back to the reception past a deserted car park and said can we pay now for the karting at 4:15 and we will be back over. "Sorry" was the answer, "the party booking are late so maybe 5:00pm.

We left an empty kart circuit at 3:50, and couldn't be bothered to go back to the autodrome and came home. We spent approximately 100 euros between us, but the circuit lost a further 200 euros that we would have spent had they given us what we asked for and originally been offered.

Marketing, product offering , and above all customer service and satisfaction, are what brings in the revenue into a successful business, the Autodrome and it's ancillary businesses fail miserably in all these areas, so it is hardly surprising that it is facing bankruptcy. It has been all along, and still will be, run by a bunch of amateurs who have no idea. What a waste of such a fantastic facility.

[steve]

Sadly I have to agree with the comments about the lack of information. We were there on the Sunday too. Luckily the passes we had gave access to the pits and to the tower at the centre of the course so we watched the start of the races and then moved over to the tower to see a good section of the track which included several bends. A really good feature of the autodrome is the ability to wander around the pit area and see the cars close up as they are being prepared. We also had a chat with a couple of the drivers.

Based on past experience we went over to the Kartodrome to get a bite to eat at lunchtime. We had soup and sandwiches/tostas and I have to say that these were very tasty.

It was pretty sad to see such a pathetic turn out in terms of spectators. The number of cars was down on the last similar event that I went to there as well. There was a PA system of sorts but I could not hear what was being said. The last time I went there was a programme identifying the cars and giving the names of the drivers but I saw nothing similar this time.

[Octopus]

I was going to go but couldn't be bothered in the end.... looks like I made the right decision.

[joeysoap]

Anyone know whats the story? no billboards etc in cvo but in Praia da Rocha yesterday saw an add for the vintage car festival at the autodrome? Thought it was moved to Jerez? Billboard could also be incorrect as theres still one advertising this year's Fatacil beside the taxi rank!

went into the autodrome site but it's like p****ng against the wind. the only information I can make out is that there is an event on but nothing else, I am time constrained on Sunday as I have an airport run at around 6pm latest so a little bit of information would not go astray. Believe the owners of the Autodrome want(ed) to host a GP. Looking at their website I wouldn't let them run a party in a brewery.

Joeysoap I had posted the link a few days earlier in regards to this, thought it might help but clearly not

Sorry Ditzy my fault, but I needed information on time of opening/races etc . on the official autodrome website there's a little button changing the languague from Portuguese to English but when I changed language it said- No English translation available The information that Steve supplied is what the track's website should have displayed, along with information on pricing, accessability etc. Obviously they are not serious about attracting large attendances and prefer to keep it low key.

Unfortunately or fortunately I didn't see Steve's post until midday Sunday, (in Jailhouse on Saturday night - closed now until December as Dave is going to Germany for an operation on his back- and didn't get in till late). Was very time constrained on Sunday, bringing my son back to airport for 8pm flight, and in the end decided it was not worth going over for the few races we might have taken in.