[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by amgraham

Doesn't involve private jets or yachts but... quite some time ago, when HP was the principle sponsor of the BMW/Williams team, I was invited to Indy for the F1 race because I was a primary contact with my company when it came to HP servers. We bought 1000s per year at the time. We even had our own SKUs.

So... HP offered me VIP passes to their hospitality suite. Like most of you, I'm guessing, I can't accept gifts over a certain amount from vendors. I said I'd love to but declined and told them why. They were super cool about it and said... "We can invoice you, specifically and personally, for the "value" of the perks. So they did... and I went.

They ended up invoicing me like $700-ish for three hotel nights, dinner and VIP treatment at the track. For which I gave them a personal check. No way it was market value... Just whatever number they came up with as a price, even though none were actually sold at that.

So... to get to the point... We stayed downtown, not sure where but we had a whole bag of F1/BMW/Williams swag awaiting us at the front desk when we arrived on Friday. Concierge level at the hotel. Free everything.

This is where is gets good... we were shuttled to and from the track every day in BMW/Williams liveried minivans with full police escort. We just rolled through every intersection and they went right to the elevators behind the pits to take us up to the luxury boxes. Back and forth, every day... police escort. It wasn't just BMW/Williams though... apparently all the teams VIP guests were in a "convoy".

So... we got the suite above the pits. Food and drink was uh... not ballpark. Lobster salad, prime rib, all the champagne you could drink. ...and... Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld were the drivers at the time and came up before and after each session to hang out and talk.

We also got to hang out with Steve Matchett at St. Elmo downtown on Saturday night and chit chat, ask questions, etc.

I did the same thing with the AMG Petronas F1 team a few years ago. I got to meet Ross Brawn, Niki Lauda, MSC and ROS and a slew of other drivers. We hung out with the team for 3 days and even chatted with Bernd Marylander. One of the best trips of my life.