"Must see" motorsport events worldwide

[Fred W B]

I am lucky that I have been able to see some motor sport in various parts of the world, mostly while on business trips.

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Still have a lot I want to see though, so I made a list, excluding South African events. The entries with place and date are what I have done already. What "must sees" am I missing?

Any Grand Prix - Kyalami 1975
Monaco Grand Prix

Goodwood Festival of Speed - 2005
Goodwood Revival
Silverstone Classic
British touring cars - Knockhill 1999
British club race - Knockhill 1999
British hill climb - Harewood 1999
British historic meet - Donnington 1991
British karting meet - 1999

Lemans
Lemans Classic
Millie Migla Retrospective
Drive laps of the old Nurburing - 1991
European club / historic race - Zandvoort 1991
DTM Round

Macau Historics
Asian karting meet - Singapore 1994, Kuala Lumpar 1998

American sprint cars on dirt - Houston 1994
American club race - Houston 1994
Bonnivale Salt Flats Speed Week
Monterey historics, Laguna seca
Pikes Peak

Australian V8's at Bathurst
Isle of Man TT (motorcycle)
WRC round
Paris-Dakar

For me, spectating at motorsport events is much more about seeing and hearing the cars themselves, than the actual racing as such. If I had to choose between attending one of the events on my list on either a practice day, when I could wander the pits and paddock, or on race day, but only sit in the stands, I would by far prefer the former.

Hence my list did not include Indy 500, or Nascar, as from what I see of these events on TV the fans are kept well away from the cars. Indy also seemed to loose it's lustre when the American openwheelers split into two camps, and I haven't really followed it since then. Is that conflict still going on?

Cheers

Fred W B

[ChrisL]

In a period of 4 short weeks in June/July this year I was lucky enough to attend the LeMans 24Hr, the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the MotoGP in Assen, the Motorcycle Historics at Spa, the F1 GP in Silverstone and did laps of the old Nurburgring,... and finally capped it off with a tour of the Prodrive factory near Oxford.

I'm with you about getting close to the cars. There is nothing quite like being in the pits during a major event. Also, my usual for the F1 when it comes to Melbourne is to be amongst the crowd noise and smells on the Saturday (just to take in the atmosphere) then watch the race on TV on Sunday.

[Peter Jankovskis]

I would add the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Indianapolis 500 to your list. Both are events with rich history. They also provide an opportunity to get up close to the action.

[Peter Jankovskis]

Although the split in the Indy cars series is still going on, most of the top teams have moved to the Indy Racing League that sanctions the Indy 500. You have good opportunities to view the cars up close if you go to carbueration day or show up early on race day Sunday.

[Darren]

Spa 6 Hour. Got to be on the list. Only just missed it as well.....

Darren