I've done a good few euro trackdays and I'm thinking about loading up taking my van. Does anyone on here do that?? How much are ferry's/eurotrain. And most importantly, would you recommend it or is not worth the chew?? Cheers.
I've done a few with NL and FE. Have you checked how much you save by not having them ship the bike for you?
I don't think the saving would be huge (if anything). Obviously you won't have the dick dance of flights and car hire but I wondered what the crack was with ferry/train crossings. Cheers.
When I used to Almeria, I did not take my own van (I don't have one) but for three years I did hire a guy from Brum to pick my and my mates' bikes up, deliver them and return them home. Not only did it mean my bike was only away for the trip plus say three days, but all our kit went with him to. I cannot remember the cost, but I think it was around £ 400 for a 4 day track session. He would sleep in the van, and there were no extra costs for us. That covered his fuel, ferries, food and drink. Well worth it in my mind. All I had to do was strip the bike the day before pick up, wheel it round to my mate's house along with my kit, The mate's wife waited in for the guy so I did not hang around and do the reverse a day or so after getting home. He was a pro biking man so no cowboy when it came to loading, strapping etc. I would fly out with no more than my helmet as luggage.
you will likely save about £100-225 off the trackday price depending on the event and organiser. maybe a bit more if you don't want hotels i would have thought unless you have 4-5 people people/bikes then its not worth it to use your own van to go very long distances like southern spain/portugal. the fuel costs alone from london area about £5-600, ferry is about £6-700 inc cabin, plus roadside hotels & living expenses so you are looking at £1300-1500 fwiw a few of us were going to have 5 bikes shipped door to door by a professional vehicle mover from london & south east to mugello and back fully insured all inclusive cost wast £450 per bike this seems like a lot but really its reasonable if you have to factor in van hire and fuel to drop off and collect the bikes from theTDO (and the time and hassle to drive there and back twice) then its not that much of stretch especially this is the way to go if you want your bikes back quick and you can take extra wheels/tyres tools or more than 1 bike etc
Wow, thanks guys. Enlightening stuff. Expensive do with fuel and ferries then. Last time out I used Tracksense and would say they were the best I've used yet. Very quick turnaround with the bike and a relaxed event.
Me and 'im indoors took a van to Aragon a couple of years ago when we were a bit late booking and all the bike transport was full. We hired a new VW Crafter (great vehicle) which took the 2 bikes and all the rest plus the kitchen sink easily. We got the overnight ferry to Santander/Bilbao and stayed at a lovely hotel in Zaragoza the next night on the way down. Just drove straight back without the hotel stay on the return. It worked out a bit cheaper than the bike transport, seeing as there were 2 of us (could probably have got 3 bikes and another person in) and meant we didn't have the hassle of taking the bikes to the drop off and picking them up, plus we weren't without them for a week either end. tbh it was a really nice, relaxing trip, but I wouldn't want to do it for anywhere much further, or taking pot luck with the van hire (ie getting some horrible dog of a transit).
Thanks stray cat. I'm not too focused on costings as the journey down there would be part of the fun and from what you say it sounds ok. I've got a comfy van (Vito Sport) which drives like a car really so no probs there. So that's it then, load up and head for the horizon!
Coming from Jersey we normally take the ferry and drive down as its much easier / cheaper than shipping the bikes to the mainland and back for the arranged transportation. It makes the whole event seem more like a holiday and it's great having the extra space for stuff like spares, chairs, beer and BBQ's etc. I've often thought taking the overnight boat from the UK to northern Spain would make for a good trip to Spanish trackdays. Just remember to factor in fuel costs... We once took a big old Merc van down and if cost us about £400 in diesel for a return trip from St Malo to Aragon.
