Your opinion and mine for SRT VIP event at Daytona. Just curious.

[Late Apex]

I am wanting your opinion for those who paid and attended the SRT VIP event at Daytona. IMO it simply was not worth the high cost (as compared to COTA) anyway which was awesome. For the price, the food served was marginal and there was no set written schedule for dining times. Again for the cost considered there should have been an open bar and not just beer and wine. I also think there should have been a door gift like the SRT bag you had to stand in line for at the SRT trailer and register for. The view from the seats were mostly blocked by the teams pit tents. And hardly anyone was on the top of the trailer as the view was even worse. Im sure the Ferrari area was more expensive but they had a birds eye view of turn 1 with a huge enclosed seating area too. I was surprised at how few people were at the VIP area and the atmosphere was very cold. Again this is just my opinion and maybe Im wrong with my thoughts but for 155.00 per person we thought it was not well planned. We are attending the 24 next year but will not sign up for the VIP.

[XSnake]

Completely disagree on almost every level.

View - you know you could go all the way down to turn 1 and sit right? You didn't have to stay right where the rig was. You had access to the entire pit patio deck. I walked all the way down to the end as it's one of the best spots to watch people try and outbreak each other going into T1.

Food - I thought the food was decent, especially for track food. There were shrimp skewers, chicken, burgers, breakfast was awesome on sunday.

Price - Normal Ticket is $55 I believe, garage pass is an additional $35. Your at $90 right there. Food, drinks, AC and the T1 view (which you didn't take advantage of apparently) is worth the extra $60 to me. Plus the fact that you access to all the SRT engineers and execs there.

The only thing that I was disappointed with was that they locked the trailer at 11pm. I stayed the entire night and figured that I would have access to the rig. I didn't expect anyone there to be serving me or anything. I just wanted to be able to watch the race on the TV's and relax after walking around all day. This is the only 24 hour race on the schedule so this issue is unique to this event.

The parking situation was also horrible but I knew that going in and made arrangements. They didn't really have any control over that.

I will be doing the VIP again next year and will probably be doing it at Sebring in March as well.

[Kurt]

I completely agree with just about everything Matt said. This was my second event with SRT (went to ALMS at Lime Rock last year) and was impressed again by the hospitality suite.

As far as the food goes, I thought the meals were great. I think the cost was very reasonable considering we had 4 all-you-can eat meals and a light breakfast on Saturday morning. The caterer did a great job and offered a nice variety of options. And drinks were available all day. Like Matt said, the tickets alone would have cost $90. Buying food at the track would have cost significantly more, and the quality would have been nowhere close to what we received.

Another bonus of paying for the hospitality suite is the access to SRT VIPs. Ralph was at the suite several times throughout the day, along with designers Mark Trostle and Klaus Busse. Additionally, the drivers of both the #91 and #93 Vipers came to the suite for a Q & A on Friday. Having the opportunity to chat with these guys is priceless. Mark and Klaus even hosted an informal "coffee chat" on Sunday morning. While I think a small gift would be nice, I would much rather have this interaction with the SRT team than something given out at the SRT display.

I saw the VIP suite as a place to sit and relax in between enjoying the race from the many different viewing areas. One of the best parts of the race for me was watching from so many different vantage points. While the SRT suite itself did not have the best view, we did have access to the Pit Patio right next to the trailer and big-screen TVs both inside and outside where we could watch the race.

I really only had 2 minor issues with the SRT hospitality. The first, as Matt mentioned, was the closing of the trailer at 11 PM. I also had planned on watching the late hours of the race in the trailer. Also, it would have been nice to have a more definitive schedule. The schedule sent with our tickets was fairly vague and didn't include everything. These two issues are minor, and it's important to remember that this is SRT's first event at Daytona (and only their 2nd 24 hour event). Overall, I think they did a great job, and I was very pleased with the hospitality.

This was my first time at Daytona, as I wanted to see the return of Viper. SRT exceeded my expectations with the hospitality, and the whole event was a blast. I will definitely be going back next year, and will be signing up for the hospitality suite again. I also plan on attending the 6 hour race at Watkins Glen, and will sign up for SRT hospitality there as well. It's nice to be able to enjoy the race and support Viper with so many other SRT enthusiasts.

[Late Apex]

Good reply and opinion and hope for more like this just to see. Glad you mentioned on "almost" every level and it looks like we were charged extra as I already had all the tickets paid for in advance except for the VIP portion. We tried to go to the Porsche "pit patio deck side" right next door for a better view and was a lot more popular than the SRT area but were told to leave. So much for that working. When we asked the SRT event person Friday when the drivers were coming over she had no idea and thought they might be? going over to the SRT marketing area across the track.Thank goodness for the pit access. At COTA it was clear to all when they would be by. We were at the engineers talk and there must of been a whopping 12 people in the room albeit interesting info. Glad we did not have to face the horrible parking as you mentioned but the Porsche and Ferrari guys sure had a nice place in the infield as usual.

[MoparBoyy]

Sorry you had a bad time. The SRT car corral was beyond horrible, there was zero excuse for that and I will be talking with JRThompson about it. but the rest was top notch, as Matt said $90 would have been the normal cost for a ticket, so the extra $60 was well worth the food, drink and seats. The access to the stands above pit lane are really great, if you walk down closer to T1, that is the perfect spot to watch, I always sit there for HSR races or trackdays, etc. A normal infield ticket to the Rolex will not get you there.

On top of hanging out with the SRT people made for the best time i've ever had at the Rolex24. I've been to it 3 years in a row so far. I can't wait for Sebring I will 100% be buying the SRT package.

[MoparBoyy]

Theres also this thread on the subject:

http://driveviper.com/forums/threads/1826-POST-Rolex24-weekend

[daytonprowler]

I've been to 7 of the races. The SRT hospitality is top notch. Food and drink was great at every venue. Parking is a different issue at some of the race tracks. This is not SRT's fault. You have to realize that Porsche, Corvette, etc. have had the same spaces at these respective tracks for many years. I would imagine that since the COTA is new, is that no one has a claim on a certain part of the track.

If I was retired I'd go to every race the Viper was at. : )

[XSnake]

I was also told that a infield corral at Daytona costs $10k

[MoparBoyy]

I was also told that a infield corral at Daytona costs $10k

i heard that too.. i almost choked on the sushi SRT served us :)

[hawk02]

2852285328542855It was great at LimeRock last year, was $50 per person and $15 for car corral parking and 2 laps on the track........

[XSnake]

2852285328542855It was great at LimeRock last year, was $50 per person and $15 for car corral parking and 2 laps on the track........

That's cheap

[hawk02]

Yeah and it was awesome to get the truck on the track, did a lot better than I thought it would.....