The Motorsport Events You Must Attend

When it comes to motorsports, fans tend to stick to the pinnacle and try their best finding fancy F1 tickets. It is comprehensible after all, but reducing motorsport to F1 is a mistake. Open your mind and experience awesome and way cheaper motorsport events.

WEC

The world endurance championship is getting more and more popular. The category that introduced hypercar in 2021 will enter a new phase next year, with 14 different manufacturers. 19 hypercars and 18 LMGT3s will race on the 2024 WEC grid.
Endurance races means you can enjoy a longer on-track action, and with all this time available, you will be able to multiply your points of view around the track and try all the grandstands you want.
Former Formula 1 drivers have shown interest in the category, especially since the introduction of Hypercar. Here is a list of the big names you could encounter: Sébastien Buemi, Kamui Kobayashi, Brendon Hartley, Antonio Giovinazzi, André Lotterer, Jean-Eric Vergne, Paul Di Resta, Will Stevens, Stoffel Vandoorne… And guess what: You will be able to meet them all during the autograph session that takes place before the race.
This rise of popularity consequently means ticket prices getting higher but the series stays affordable for the spectacle offered, even though the autograph session regrettably became paying for some events.

ELMS

Similar to WEC, but even cheaper and even more accessible! Certainly, the European Le Mans Series isn’t as attractive as its WEC great sister but you’ll still love it!
The 2024 ELMS calendar features six 4 hour races across Europe. For a ridiculous 15€, you can access tribunes, paddock and the grid walk. Yes, you read me right, for this price you can walk by the racecars on the grid before the race. Last year, Spa-Francorchamps let people attend the event for free.

GTWC

This one is interesting! Previously named “Blancpain” the GT World Challenge offers a mix of Sprint and Endurance events. The racing format is quite unique. Each car is shared by a peer of drivers that switch during the race. The category is also growing and getting more and more attractive. GTWC even convinced Valentino Rossi to join in 2022, before the Italian champion switched to WEC for 2024.
GTWC offers a huge range of variety in its field, with big teams like WRT or AF Corse but also smaller ones. This diversity allows a quite old school operation with open paddocks where you can easily approach drivers, cars or mechanics. Support categories like European GT4 could also provide you a great experience, because you can get really close to drivers in preparation, before they install to the grid and try to make a way through the paddock.

The category features the famous Spa 24 hours, held on the Ardennes circuit since 1924. This 100 year old race gives you an opportunity to experience the magic of a night race.

Historic Events

Historic events are lovely. While nowadays motorsport tends to use smaller (hybrid) engines with mega tyre grip and tonnes of aero, historic cars prefer a great old V12, low tyre grip, light and unsafe cars. Purely anachronistic. You’ll feel nostalgic hearing how great the cars used to sound before.
This might also be a chance to nourish your car/motorsport culture. Don’t be shy and have a little chat with the drivers. Most of them aren’t professional but just as passionate as you and will be really happy to tell you about their car. Embrace motorsport history and feel how racing looked like decades ago.

Hill Climb / Rally

Last but not least. These events are a hidden gem. For a very low price and near your home you could get very close to action and enjoy each car’s run. Watching 300hp+ cars driven at the extreme limit on narrow open roads is breathtaking. Some drivers are professionals, others are like you, passionate individuals.
These events also offer a diverse range of cars with rally cars or prototypes, GT, open-wheels, kit-cars etc… And once again, I recommend you to approach the drivers. Go to the parc-ferme at the end of the day, you will get a closer look at the cars and could possibly have an interesting chat.

Wrap-up

Everything is about personal experience. I can’t list all the racing categories and you may have other preferences following the car/motorsport culture you have in your own country. But one advice can be given to everyone: Stay open minded and go for it, dare and try to get the best experience possible.