Happy we didn’t see any bedbugs or get murdered in our sleep, E and I were up with the roosters and ready to head out to the bus for Silverstone at 5:15. I could tell it was a special day because I didn’t have to remind E-Koog to use deodorant! Christmas and the British Grand Prix are really special days for that kid.
We’ve been waiting for this day since I was conned into buying ridiculously expensive tickets for this race in February. E is a chip off my old block when he used my own logic against me. “Brah, if we are going to do Silverstone, we need to do it on *the* race day. And if we are going to do it on Grand Prix day, we need get grandstand tickets. And if we are going to get grandstand tickets, we need Club A grandstand tickets. And if we are going to get grandstand tickets, brah, we need to get the inner track tickets. And what good are inner track passes if we don’t get he early entry fast pass gate tickets. Brah, we need to do it right, Brah.” Yes, I am his Brah and he is my son and he used my own technique against me. I guess the game has turned on the hunter…
(To be fair, it’s not like it was *that* hard to talk me into all the extras but I had to put up some kind of fight or Mrs. Koog would think I wanted all of these extras for myself.)
Our excitement was palpable when we got off the bus and into the early entry fast pass line at the gate. We were probably one of the first 50 people through the gate when it opened at 6am. We walked (and walked and walked) to the Inner Track and found a place to stand so E could meet his idol, Lando Norris. We stood from 6:30 to 9:45 waiting for Lando to arrive. At 9:45, he drove his antique Jaguar into his spot and took a good 30ish minutes to meet his fans. E-Koog was speechless and didn’t ask for an autograph or photo or anything. He just said “hey” to Lando and got a photo. It was adorable to see the kid who never lacks for words speechless. It was also nice to see a humble guy taking time with his fans, especially the kids, and thanking then for their support. If I’m honest, I was a bit worried he was going to be a tool and walk right by everyone (Like Verstappen did 30 minutes before Lando’s arrival) and into the Paddock. Lando was a class act.
I should also mention, it was 56 degrees in the morning and we froze our butts standing still for all those hours! As soon as E saw Lando, we headed to the outer track and into the “FanZone” to grab warmer clothes. We each got hoodies E got a McLaren hoodie and I got a Silverstone BGP hoodie. We also bought a blanket. It was *that* cold. Ironically, it was as hot as the face of the sun back home so we were not complaining about the cool weather at all. Plus, it justified fan gear to Mrs. Koog.
Amex was a sponsor and offered Lounge access for any Platinum members. Evan thought we were basically royalty because we were given access to their Trackside Lounge. I tried to explain that anyone can have a Platinum Amex if they pay the fee but to him, we were rock stars. Once I elaborated that anyone with a Black Card had access to the Paddock Club he asked if we could upgrade to one of those cards. I explained the $1 million yearly spend and he genuinely seemed perplexed as to why we didn’t have one yet. He also asked if we could be “gifted” a Black Card. I’m sure we could but those are not the circles we travel in, kid! Oh E, I do hope you either have a great job or marry into generational wealth.
We used the Amex Trackside Lounge to watch the Drivers Parade. This year, they were in go-karts made of Legos. It was pretty cool to see these Gods of speed in these little tiny go-carts. The drivers seemed to be laughing and really enjoying their time behind the wheel of these things. Once that was over, we walked what seemed like 200 miles to our seats at the Club A. We could see Club Corner, Hamilton Straight and Pit Straight from our seats. So awesome!
Remember when I said we had to buy 2 hoodies and a blanket this morning due to the chill in the air? Well, it was now 82 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We were cooking in the sun. Because I am a bad parent, I didn’t bring (or even think of bringing) sunscreen so E got sunburn on his legs and I got it on my face, neck and behind my ears. Luckily I had light hiking pants and my legs were both cool and protected from the sun and E has longish bangs that seemed to shade his face from the sun. They also seem to always be in his eyes so I’m not sure how he can even see on a day to day basis…
All 52 laps of the race were spectacular. I felt bad for Verstappen who spun out and was retired from the race. Kimi Antonelli, probably my favorite driver, had car issues and finished but due to penalties went from 9th to 16 and received no points. Lando was 4th so E was happy. He was disappointed he didn’t podium but he was happy that he did well nonetheless.
After the race was finished, E had 3 asks. 1. To visit the Lando Stand and Store, 2. To visit the Monster Energy Drink Stage to get the limited edition Lando Monster Can and 3, to get back to the hotel of horrors ASAP because he was exhausted. I was more than happy to comply with all 3 because I was also exhausted. We completed numbers 1 and 2 and headed for our bus to complete number 3. While Brackley is only 20 mins from Silverstone, it took about 45 mins due to traffic. That was fine with us, at least we were sitting! While we were on the bus, I check my health app and found we had walked 7.52 miles! No wonder our dogs were barking!
The bus stop was a half block from our roach motel so the walk back was fine. The Mrs. went with me to this amazing Turkish kabab place across from the bus stop for dinner as I had only eaten one slice of pizza all day. For the record, at Silverstone E ate 1 bowl of churro rings, 10 chicken tenders and fries, 2 TRIPLE cheeseburgers and fries, 5 slices of our 6 slice pizza, 2 Dr. Peppers and 7 bottles of water. As the Mrs. and I were leaving the Turkish place, he asked for a burger from the burger truck across the street. His last meal of the day was a double cheeseburger. As soon as the last bite was down the gullet, he basically passed out asleep.
I was definitely not excited about using the shower but I was soaked from sweating all day and couldn’t not sleep in that level of grossness. After all, I’m not E-Koog! Mrs. Koog and B had already used the shower after their day touring Oxford (he didn’ T like it) so I knew it was clean. It was surprisingly enjoyable and the horrible cigarette smell was but a memory and was replaced by dove soap and Lysol.
The clock read 9pm and I was in bed hoping to stay up until the England/Mexico World Cup game. I really wanted to head to the pub across the street to watch it with the Brits. Alas, I believe I was asleep by 9:30 and didn’t wake up until 8:30 this morning.
We leave on Monday for my definition of heaven on Earth, North Wales. That is assuming we make it through the night without being murdered in this hell hotel.
Until tomorrow…
We’ve been waiting for this day since I was conned into buying ridiculously expensive tickets for this race in February. E is a chip off my old block when he used my own logic against me. “Brah, if we are going to do Silverstone, we need to do it on *the* race day. And if we are going to do it on Grand Prix day, we need get grandstand tickets. And if we are going to get grandstand tickets, we need Club A grandstand tickets. And if we are going to get grandstand tickets, brah, we need to get the inner track tickets. And what good are inner track passes if we don’t get he early entry fast pass gate tickets. Brah, we need to do it right, Brah.” Yes, I am his Brah and he is my son and he used my own technique against me. I guess the game has turned on the hunter…
(To be fair, it’s not like it was *that* hard to talk me into all the extras but I had to put up some kind of fight or Mrs. Koog would think I wanted all of these extras for myself.)
Our excitement was palpable when we got off the bus and into the early entry fast pass line at the gate. We were probably one of the first 50 people through the gate when it opened at 6am. We walked (and walked and walked) to the Inner Track and found a place to stand so E could meet his idol, Lando Norris. We stood from 6:30 to 9:45 waiting for Lando to arrive. At 9:45, he drove his antique Jaguar into his spot and took a good 30ish minutes to meet his fans. E-Koog was speechless and didn’t ask for an autograph or photo or anything. He just said “hey” to Lando and got a photo. It was adorable to see the kid who never lacks for words speechless. It was also nice to see a humble guy taking time with his fans, especially the kids, and thanking then for their support. If I’m honest, I was a bit worried he was going to be a tool and walk right by everyone (Like Verstappen did 30 minutes before Lando’s arrival) and into the Paddock. Lando was a class act.
I should also mention, it was 56 degrees in the morning and we froze our butts standing still for all those hours! As soon as E saw Lando, we headed to the outer track and into the “FanZone” to grab warmer clothes. We each got hoodies E got a McLaren hoodie and I got a Silverstone BGP hoodie. We also bought a blanket. It was *that* cold. Ironically, it was as hot as the face of the sun back home so we were not complaining about the cool weather at all. Plus, it justified fan gear to Mrs. Koog.
Amex was a sponsor and offered Lounge access for any Platinum members. Evan thought we were basically royalty because we were given access to their Trackside Lounge. I tried to explain that anyone can have a Platinum Amex if they pay the fee but to him, we were rock stars. Once I elaborated that anyone with a Black Card had access to the Paddock Club he asked if we could upgrade to one of those cards. I explained the $1 million yearly spend and he genuinely seemed perplexed as to why we didn’t have one yet. He also asked if we could be “gifted” a Black Card. I’m sure we could but those are not the circles we travel in, kid! Oh E, I do hope you either have a great job or marry into generational wealth.
We used the Amex Trackside Lounge to watch the Drivers Parade. This year, they were in go-karts made of Legos. It was pretty cool to see these Gods of speed in these little tiny go-carts. The drivers seemed to be laughing and really enjoying their time behind the wheel of these things. Once that was over, we walked what seemed like 200 miles to our seats at the Club A. We could see Club Corner, Hamilton Straight and Pit Straight from our seats. So awesome!
Remember when I said we had to buy 2 hoodies and a blanket this morning due to the chill in the air? Well, it was now 82 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We were cooking in the sun. Because I am a bad parent, I didn’t bring (or even think of bringing) sunscreen so E got sunburn on his legs and I got it on my face, neck and behind my ears. Luckily I had light hiking pants and my legs were both cool and protected from the sun and E has longish bangs that seemed to shade his face from the sun. They also seem to always be in his eyes so I’m not sure how he can even see on a day to day basis…
All 52 laps of the race were spectacular. I felt bad for Verstappen who spun out and was retired from the race. Kimi Antonelli, probably my favorite driver, had car issues and finished but due to penalties went from 9th to 16 and received no points. Lando was 4th so E was happy. He was disappointed he didn’t podium but he was happy that he did well nonetheless.
After the race was finished, E had 3 asks. 1. To visit the Lando Stand and Store, 2. To visit the Monster Energy Drink Stage to get the limited edition Lando Monster Can and 3, to get back to the hotel of horrors ASAP because he was exhausted. I was more than happy to comply with all 3 because I was also exhausted. We completed numbers 1 and 2 and headed for our bus to complete number 3. While Brackley is only 20 mins from Silverstone, it took about 45 mins due to traffic. That was fine with us, at least we were sitting! While we were on the bus, I check my health app and found we had walked 7.52 miles! No wonder our dogs were barking!
The bus stop was a half block from our roach motel so the walk back was fine. The Mrs. went with me to this amazing Turkish kabab place across from the bus stop for dinner as I had only eaten one slice of pizza all day. For the record, at Silverstone E ate 1 bowl of churro rings, 10 chicken tenders and fries, 2 TRIPLE cheeseburgers and fries, 5 slices of our 6 slice pizza, 2 Dr. Peppers and 7 bottles of water. As the Mrs. and I were leaving the Turkish place, he asked for a burger from the burger truck across the street. His last meal of the day was a double cheeseburger. As soon as the last bite was down the gullet, he basically passed out asleep.
I was definitely not excited about using the shower but I was soaked from sweating all day and couldn’t not sleep in that level of grossness. After all, I’m not E-Koog! Mrs. Koog and B had already used the shower after their day touring Oxford (he didn’ T like it) so I knew it was clean. It was surprisingly enjoyable and the horrible cigarette smell was but a memory and was replaced by dove soap and Lysol.
The clock read 9pm and I was in bed hoping to stay up until the England/Mexico World Cup game. I really wanted to head to the pub across the street to watch it with the Brits. Alas, I believe I was asleep by 9:30 and didn’t wake up until 8:30 this morning.
We leave on Monday for my definition of heaven on Earth, North Wales. That is assuming we make it through the night without being murdered in this hell hotel.
Until tomorrow…
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