dgrobs

What are the exact hours of the race itself?

jsabatini

Starts at 1:40 PM on Saturday and ends 24 hours later. There are some good support races on Friday, Michelin Pilot Challenge 4 hour race on Friday and hopefully the attack of the killer bees (the Miatas) will be racing this year.

dgrobs

Awesome, thanks.

So maybe you could help me a bit further, or anyone else as well.

I am with my wife who couldn't care less about racing. She's just happy to be where there's no snow.

We are at The Daytona Beach Hilton from Thursday afternoon until Sunday check out.

On Sunday after the 24 hours, my wife will go to MCO to drop off the rental car and fly home to Newark, and I will begin my 2 day tow home from Florida (We're at Sebring the weekend before for PBOC Winterfest and I'm leaving my car, truck, ad trailer in Orlando at a friend's place and we're both (wife and I) flying home from Sebring (out of Orlando) Monday morning (the Monday before the 24 hours) and flying back into Orlando Thursday morning and driving over to Daytona for the weekend.
We have the Porsche VIP passes, and I assume parking. We also have dinner reservations at Hyde Park for Friday night at 7:30, and that's the only meal we know about so far.

What should our agenda/itinerary look like? We were just gonna go and wing it and take it as it comes, but are there better times to be at the 24-hour race than others?

We will def check out the races and TT's on Friday, but for the actual 24 hours?

Watch the start for a few hours into the night on Saturday, then go back Sunday morning, or just let the wife stay at the Hotel late night Saturday and I stay at the race overnight? We are new to this race and were just gonna wing it and take it as it comes, so we are really relying on others to help us this trip.

Thanks...

jsabatini

Check the website for info on parking, they have VIP parking close to the entrance and infield shuttles on Saturday and Sunday and then other parking options for all 4 days a little farther away. You can park at One Daytona by the Bass Pro shops across from the track and take the skywalk over the main road to the track. The grounds are huge so there is a lot of walking involved, so if you are only coming Sat and Sun, the closer VIP parking tickets would probably be a good option.

Tickets are good for the Roar so if you are close, not a bad idea to go then to get a lay of the land. We do that driving across the state from Tampa.

While I ain't no expert, this will by our (son and I) 5th straight trip. Will be parked in the Porsche Corral and volunteering to help with the corral so stop by and say hi. Any more questions feel free to PM me.

dgrobs

Appreciate it. We plan on being at the track all 4 days, Thursday and Friday to get the lay of the place and see some races, and where everything is and maybe scope out some of the viewing areas that folks here have posted about for Sat and Sunday.
Thanks again. We will stop by the Porsche corral as we have lots of folks to meet, now including you and your son.
See ya there. Any other suggestions welcomed.....thanks.

NaroEscape

Does your wife (and you) like wine?
At some point on Saturday night - 8 or 9pm or something like that - there is a 'wine tasting' that goes on in one end of the support garages (blue garages). You buy tickets and use them for wine tastes. They have multiple stations and some of the wine-tenders are heavier pours than others...kinda of a game to see who pours the best. there's also light apps that the tickets buy too.
We usually end up with a ton of extra tickets because people leaving just give us theirs or leave them on the table... ;-)
Eventually it becomes a contest of plastic cup tower building... gets pretty intense!!
TBH...its also the warmest place around once it starts getting cold at night, which is how we found it the first time many years ago.

Here's our typical 24h Sat/Sun schedule:
Wander around the paddock and garages Saturday morning and chat with anyone we know - teams, drivers, crew, etc. Less than we used to but still a lot to keep us busy.
We watch the race start from the grandstands closest to the international horseshoe - best place to watch on starts. We watch there for a while, then head to the grandstands by the PCA corral/kink. After a while, sometimes we head to the PCA tent, say hi to everyone, then maybe back to the paddock area. Most years we have pit passes (not this year yet) so we wander up and down the pits talking with teams we know.
When it gets dark, we do the wine tasting then head to someone's RV (this year we'll have our own) and have some food, drinks and cigars around a fire pit. Depending on how cold it is, we used to head back to the hotel at around midnight or so, then come back in the AM and just kinda wander around to different viewing areas for the day. With our own RV, I have a feeling we'll be back and forth a lot more.

Once I figure out where we'll be parking (getting the parking pass from a friend) I'll post it here - everyone is more than welcome to come by and hang out if we're there. I'm sure we'll have plenty of adult beverages...

dgrobs

See you there.
You won’t have the same vehicle that you had when I last saw you guys at VIR?

NaroEscape

We’ll have the RV and our street-ish 914 Huey.
It’s possible that we will be at Roebling Road the weekend before as a vendor, head from there to Daytona (find a place to park the trailer), do the 24 with RV and 914 at our spot so we can leave the track, then head directly to Sebring for the PCA race as the vendor.

dgrobs

Let me know where you end up at the 24 and wife and I will come by with some party favors and hang a bit. Be good to see you guys again, and the more people my wife meet there, the more into the race she might be. I’ll pm you my cell and you can text when you get settled.

needmoregarage

Hearing protection is a MUST! I usually wear ear plugs under the “headphone style” protection. Those double as ear muffs when it gets cold.

Lot 4 pass is well worth the $50 (or whatever it costs these days). Especially returning late Sat night. I always buy it in addition to Porsche VIP pass which includes parking with two tx. I believe Porsche courtesy shuttles stop at 11 pm. The track shuttle stops are a hike from Porsche parking and wait times can be 45+ min for shuttle. The other shuttles are hit/miss. Parking just outside the turn 4 tunnel (Lot 4) is a nice convenience and more walkable from the infield.

L8 APXR

Thanks for the great feedback everyone.

Looking forward to seeing ya'll at the event!

sbelles

Flying into Orlando is fine but I wouldn't stay there. It's a long race not to mention the preliminaries. You are going to want to go back and forth to your hotel. Get a place in Daytona Beach with an ocean view.

dgrobs

That’s the same advice I got the exact same advice here and that’s exactly what we did. Hilton Daytona Beach. Balcony overlooking the Atlantic and on the beach. I did that for my wife, but regardless, you don’t want to be in Orlando for the 24. You wanna be in Daytona beach.

NastyHabits

If any of you 24 hr. attendees get to watching the MX5 Global Cup[aka killer bees} races and need a rooting interest. #55 is a new Canadian kid, Neufeld is the name. He bought my Cup car about a month ago and is running the series with Hixon Motorsports.

dgrobs

I’ll root for him, especially if he’s running a Cup Car against the Miata’s.
#55 check!!