Warbird Information Exchange

Hello,

This year I'm a about to make a dream come true and travel from Europe to Reno to attend the airraces in september. In an effort to make the most of the trip I wonder if you who have been there could share some experiences of "do's and don'ts". Is it better to go for the shuttle bus than use your own car etc etc. Any recommendations for hotels?

Thanks!
/Mike

There are several threads in the archives exactly about what you seek, but some of it might not be accessible because of the server migration issues the forum has encountered.

My two biggest pieces of advice:

1) Pack for both a snowstorm and a tropical heatwave - I'm not kidding! I'm seen it be both a snowstorm and over 39 degree C during the same time of year.

2) Reserve a rental car NOW. If you wait until you arrive you will be taken advantage of HUGELY! I went last year, and there was a customer in front of me at the car rental counter who didn't have a reservation. There were only a handful of cars left anywhere in Reno. They quoted him a price of over $ 700 a day for the car. For that price, it would be cheaper to rent your own limousine and chauffeur.

For the best experience , fly Strega in the races!

There are lot;s of cheap rooms at the big casino hotels downtown, if there you can take the shuttle to the airport and not really need a rent a car. The shuttle stops right in front of some of the hotels and is usually a few block walk from others. I don't feel that there is that much to see in Reno that a cab or bus or shuttle won'[t get you to, I am not really sure.
The lobby and main room of the casinos is often full of cigarette smoke, they must have a monopoly on the 20 % of people that still smoke. The rooms are usally fine, food is cheap and ok.Don't waste your money on "games of chance" as there is little or no chance to it, the house is not running any charity and they win.
It you do get a rent a car, try something on line like Hotwire , Priceline or Kayak to see the best rates. I got a Mustang, Ford not Merlin , for $17 day in Hawaii.
Weather can be anything, more likely wind and dust then snow. Protect against sunburn, there is litlle shade there.
Buy a pit pass, at least some days.

_________________
Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

I went to Reno for the first time last year and had a blast. I would like to return this year but I need to wait a bit to see if my employment situation permits.

As for suggestions, all of the above plus...

Buy pit passes for EVERY DAY. You are going to want to visit the pits at least once a day. I spent 80 % of my time in the pits. When you do the math admission costs for the actual event are the smallest cost of your trip, so you might as well spend a little extra.

You are required to buy general admission grand seating at a minimum. I bought reserved grand stand last year. I don't think it was worth it as I carry a camera bag. There is barely enough space to sit, never mind placing a camera bag anywhere convenient. The only place you could put a bag would be on your lap which defeats the idea of using a camera. The grand stands do offer a different view though, so maybe just go with the general admission.

Good walking shoes are a must. Assuming you are into photography, you are going to want to walk around. The sun provides different lighting depending on the time of day. The background vistas are different at each end of the ramp. To get the most out of the event you need to be able to move around.

Portable FM radio. Commentary is broadcast and this adds and extra dimension to the event. Also a scanner would be quite the thing as you can listen to the pace place call out the orders, etc. Just don't bring a scanner with a transmitter as you could make people quite upset with you by accident. Someone was last year (not me) and it was causing problems.

That is it for now. I'll post again if I can think of anything.

Mike

_________________
Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.

Ditto on the above .

We arrived on Thursday afternoon, took in the races Friday, Sat. and Sunday, stayed at the Sands - cheap but smokey and dumpy, ate at the Silver Nugget, used the daily bus shuttle, pit pass on Friday - wonderful time, great event!

I have been going since 1971. Your experience at Reno really depends on cubic dollars....i.e. 'how much money you want to spend'.

If you really want the 'experience' (short of actually doing the racing, or getting media credentials and taking photos out at the pylons), you first need to join the National Air-racing Group (NAG). With a membership to NAG you can buy what's called a 'Line Pass'. Line pass gives you general admission in the gates and pit access for the entire week--including before/after hours. And if you lay it out versus buying ticktets and individual pit passes every day, it is one hell of a deal.

There are general admission grandstands (which is free-for-all seating) and reserved seating (which is bigger stands in front of the start/finish line and show-center). There is no seating in the pits, but people line up along the fence between the pit and ramp to watch. Get there early, though, because those are prime spots that are usually filled by 7:00 in the morning and held all day. If you're with a group of friends you can reserve and purchase a box seat out on the ramp in front of the reserved grandstands...I believe this is catered. Or you can join the Checkered Flag Club which gives you all kinds of perks as well as special viewing boxes, access to special events, merchandise, etc. All the information is available at www.airrace.org.

Book a hotel room EARLY. You can stay at the Grand Sierra Resort for a couple hundred a night (top-end), or you can go to the Motel 6 for forty bucks a night (low-end). It depends on whether you are going to 'have a bed to sleep in', or if you want to be able to enjoy the nightlife experience while you're there. They offer camping on-site at the field too. You can either reserve a rental car and drive out to the races every day (about 12 miles out of town), which you have to pay for parking, or you can take shuttle buses from several of the casino's downtown for a nominal fee. If you just want to 'go see the show', I recommend taking the bus. If you want the full experience, get a car so you can do it on YOUR schedule, not the bus schedule.

Like someone else said, pack for all kinds of weather because it changes many times over the week, several times a day. I made that mistake many many years ago when it was hot and sunny in the morning, but by the afternoon I was 'stuck' taking pictures out at the pylons in a t-shirt and shorts in 40 degree F blustery wind. I had to bum a big garbage bag off someone to poke holes in and wear over the top of my stuff. So bring hot/cold weather clothing with you each day.

It takes some work these days, but for an entirely 'different' experience you can go out to the town of Red Rock to the West of the airfield and join the crowd at 'the road'...this is a die-hard group of enthusiasts who camp out at the airport fenceline....which also happens to be the west-leg of the race course called the 'Valley of Speed'. The race people frown on it, and a lot of the area is private property, but....while it's not nearly as easy to do as it was 20-30 years ago, is still a very eye-opening perspective to go and watch at least once. The downside of it is, you don't have ANY comforts, facilities, or anything. And you can't hear the announcers as it's about 2 to 3 miles away from the grandstands.

In the last couple of years the Reno Air Racing Association has offered a high-end perk as part of joining the Checkered Flag club where you can actually buy ticktets to a chalet that they have set up out on the racecourse itself. Next to shooting at the pylons, it's the coolest way to experience and Unlimited race.

Get there early in the morning and be prepared to stay late in the afternoon evening. The schedule is always full, and though the official program runs from something like 11-4:30 each day, some of the smaller classes are racing as early as 8:00 in the morning. And truth be told, some of the race planes go up testing in the mornings as early as 6:30 just as the sun is coming up...commonly known as the 'Dawn Patrol'. Any die-hard fans will also tell you that the real action takes place after the show is done every evening. That's when the planes and pilots go up and 'play'. You can help 'pay for fuel' and get rides in several T-6's and P-51's, and it's usually the time when photographers set up air-to-air photo flights...which inevitably come back to the field in formation around sunset. Mornings and evenings are the magical times for geeks like me.

The programs are expensive, but are a work of art each year. Definitely worth the $20 investment.

Bring lots of cash, too...because not only do a lot of the teams sell shirts, hats, patches, etc. in the pit area, but there is a huge vendors area behind the grandstands where you can buy any/all kind of aviation/racing/flying/airshow related stuff. They also have a pretty diverse food court for your culinary pleasures.

There's your Reno 101. Test during the second week of September.

_________________
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

As for as the shuttle vs rent a car, there is also limited parking in town, and you'd have to pay to park both at the hotel and the airport.
The shuttle is a good deal, drops you off right at the front entrance. BUT even though it will get you there in the am promptly, I think the last shuttle back is in the afternoon. You may want to have a rent a car for one or two days, just so you can stay for after hours that day.
Lot's of people camp at the races, even in RVs so not always as easy to hitch a ride into town as you might think.
The rent a car pirates might make you take a car for the whole week, not sure.
Walking shoes are a must. It is not as big as Oskosh, but you still want to see it all from the displays on the east to the pits on the west. And bring ear plugs, for some reason they inisist on having jet acts there, despite having so many great sounding piston engines.

Want to get a discount? Just tell the casinos you are a close friend of Charlie Sheen and a big spender!

_________________
Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Hi - thanks for all replies! Whow my expecations were heightened by reading them! This was exactly the type of hints and recommendations that will help planning.

I bought the plane tickets to US this friday so point of no return is past and it is just to arrange for car (driving from SF), room and the right passes - pit access is a must. My wife will not get to know the size of the budget for this part of our trip - but it will be large

My wife doesn't plan to follow me to the racing events but plan to take the car and our 3-year old daughter for excursions in the vicinity e.g. Lake Tahoe. Would she get stuck in trafick cues if she drops me of and picks me up in the morning and the evening - I've learned the hard way that there's quite heavy traffic at airshows in UK and could expect that it is the same here?

The "red rock" experience must be something out of the usual.
/Mike

I'll give the one piece of blanket advise I give anyone visiting the Western/ Southwestern US. Pay close attention to the scale on your maps when planning any side-trips. The Western states are of a similar size to many European countries. Nevada is only about 10% smaller than Poland or Germany with 10% of the population of the former, and 5% of the latter.
What looks like a short hop on the tourist map, may involve a lot of driving. I recall an Englishman in Phoenix casually planning an afternoon jaunt to the Grand Canyon, not fully realizing that it was a 4-6 hour drive each way.

Sorry if I'm pointing out the obvious, but it still catches people out - especially tourists and east coasters.

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Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

Point well taken, thanks shrike. The people living in central europe are "spoiled" with having everything close around next corner - at least thats how it feels when I travel there. I'm from Sweden which is a fairly long country so we're used to driving 4 hours to grandma and 6-7 hours to our countryhouse down south...

As for traffic, well my guess is that it is not that bad in once you get to the airport area. In general roads are better and less crowded in the U S than somewhere like around Duxford.
But it would still be a 24 mile round trip drive every morning for her. The shuttle might give her time to relax or sleep in in the mornig. I hope she gets to see one of the races or the practices or at lease from the parking lot.
If you do take the 3 year old, I'd find out what is on the schedule that day. Really loud jet noise is terryifiying for a young child, they don't understand it and it hurts their sensitive ears. Same for a dog.
It is perhpaps a five hour drive from SF to Tahoe, more to Reno. It is very scenic around Lake Tahoe.

For hotels, avoid 2 star rated, 3 stars are usually ok and 4 star are nice. i would ask about smoking policy, it is very bad in Reno, unlike most of the rest of the U S, and especially would be bad for a child. Hotels are genereally cheaper than good ones in the U K. Lots to choose from in Reno.

_________________
Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

If she drops you off early in the morning (6-8 am) you can get in and out fairly easily. Stead Blvd is the main road off of I-395 that goes to the airport....two lanes each way. Once the main traffic starts coming in after 8:00 though, it gets backed up. There is a school right off the offramp, and it drops the speed limit down to 15 mph, so beware Monday-Friday when the lights are flashing. Reno's finest are always there writing tickets for speeding in a school zone.

If she is going to come pick you up in the afternoons, make it after 6:00, as that will give a chance for traffic to clear out...again, on Saturday and Sunday you have 40-50 thousand people all trying to leave at once after the Championship race is over around 4:30.

If she is going to be dropping you off and picking you up, just plan for a long, full day out there....at least 10 hours or more.

_________________
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

Some clarification on this statement. This program is referred to as the "High-G viewing area". It is not required to join the Checkered Flag Club and is an independent program. I have done it. For some reason, RARA (Reno Air Race Association) likes to keep this a secret from the general public. It is not on their website, there is no ability to buy tickets in advance and the people selling the tickets at the general admission stands have no clue about it. You can only buy tickets "in-person" at one specific place. There is a booth at the fenced entrance to the Pits, right next door to the T-6 raffle booth. This is the ONLY place where you can buy these tickets. They are pricey at $ 200 a piece, but they shuttle you out in a bus to the racecourse where you can watch the races in luxury. You will have a covered chalet with free food, drinks and beer/wine. It's a pretty cool perspective and worth doing at least once. Would I do it every day of the races - probably not. I felt it was worth the money, but you can get a similar view for free (although with zero amenities) at the "fenceline" - the same place that Speedy referred to above.

This brought another thought to mind... The traffic out of the airport, south to and through Reno and in the direction west on the Sunday after the show last year was bad. There was construction on the highway in the mountains west of Reno to compound the delays. Fortunately I was not flying out of San Francisco until the next morning, but it meant my sleep that night was short. I felt like crap getting up early to fly back to Ottawa the next day. I don't know what your plans are, but this is something to consider as well. If you are thinking of leaving Reno in the afternoon and getting to SF for a red-eye... well, you likely would not make it. Would not want to try that with a 3-year old on board.

Mike

_________________
Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.

Would like to add too, I think its only been touched on, but when you do buy your show tickets the pit pass is a separate deal but they do offer an all week pit pass(same for general admission??) at a discount as to buying one each day, its a better deal even if you don't go in there every day.