F1 back in action!

[Ben]

I've been waiting for this to come back for quite some time now. ANyone else into F1 racing? Last year was the first year I really startd to follow it. I don't have any stand out favorite driver, maybe Juan Pablo Montoya if I were forced to pick. All of the cars and drivers are absolultey amazing to watch. The engineering is incredible.

Yesterday was practice laps and qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. It was sunny for some of the times but rain started for other drivers. To watch these cars before in the rain is awesome, it seems as though they can be driven just as hard and fast in any weather condition.

Amazing stuff. Speed Channel has great coverage too. One of my dreams is to attend the Monaco Grand Prix. That would be so much fun! Checking out their site, this tours cost some serious money! http://www.gptours.com/new/race.php/id/5051

[Rafcin]

I've been waiting for this to come back for quite some time now. ANyone else into F1 racing? Last year was the first year I really startd to follow it. I don't have any stand out favorite driver, maybe Juan Pablo Montoya if I were forced to pick. All of the cars and drivers are absolultey amazing to watch. The engineering is incredible.

I'm actually going to the US Grand Prix in June. Never missed F1 race (at least tried not to) in the last 10 years... Big fan of BMW, still waiting for their real breaktrough (doubt will happen this year with their current drivers, hate seeing Montoya gone

[Ben]

Yeah, I was really dissapointed to see that Montoya wasn't driving for them anymore too. But, if there was one other crew I'd like to see him with, McLaren would definitely be the crew.

How much is your trip to the US Grand Prix going to cost? Do you get pit access?

[Rafcin]

Yeah, I was really dissapointed to see that Montoya wasn't driving for them anymore too. But, if there was one other crew I'd like to see him with, McLaren would definitely be the crew.

No pit access, but it's amazingly cheap. $150 a person covers fri-sat-sun entry and it's in the Paddock, where from (I've been told) you have the best view of the race - incl. the pit area right across of the track. The expensive part is when you try to book a hotel for this time - a!holes skyrocket the prices example : avg. of $100 at Holiday Inn goes up to $450 for the weekend race.

I got the tickets directly from Indy Motospeedway.

[Rafcin]

Back from Indianapolis... WHAT A CRAP !!!!
Of course - it's not the track, it's not the pre-race event lineup - it's the fact, that there was no RACE !
Extremly disappointed. Whoever follows the F1 knows what happend, so I don't have to get into details, but let me summarize it in one statement : MICHELIN SUCKS !!! They totally destroyed a great experience it could've been. All the mini-events were great - the Infinity formula (400hp, open wheels), the BMW USA formula (140hp open wheels) and the Porsche SuperCup Series ( 450hp 911 GT3's ) were great. The practice rounds and qualifier for Formula 1 were awsome. Crawd was a bit disappointing, I guess due to US location, the majority was the "redneck nascar fan" variaty (no offense, just painting the picture ) not many hot babes dressed nice as you'd see i.e. in Monte Carlo race. Due to my stupidity we missed the pit walk-about (which was included for race day ticket holders) - it was done Thursday morning and we arrived Thu night. Other than that - great, great event. Of course would be nicer if the race actually happen (whoever will say "but there was a race!" is out of his/her mind). Maybe we'll have more luck next year. If one of you is thinking about it - best seats : Corner 10 Terrace (any row, higher the better), Paddock (MUST get row A, boxes in the 20's range are the best - opposite pits with view of corner 1). I snaped a lot of pictures (hard to get a good focus, these bastards are faaaaaast ) I'll post them on my website in a day on two, I'll add the link.

[Ben]

I've been looking for this thread in the last few weeks, but couldn't find it. I was meaning to ask you about your trip! But here it is anyway.

Yeah, I guess I'd feel pretty ripped after what Michelin pulled. You did get to se Friday and Saturday practice at least though, right?! So that must have been pretty neat. Can't wait to see your pics!

I was really pumped on seeing the race because the practice and qualifying sessions looked like the drivers really had the course dialed in. Looked as though the race was going to be really exciting. Oh well, on to the next race I guess. Hey, Michael was destined to win a race this year.

[Rafcin]

true, it was cool to see Michael win, but sure not like that. One funny moment (staged?) was, when Rubens has taken the lead and was pulling away. He pitted and Michael stayed in lead two more laps before pitting. Made some great times and came out of the pit lane wheel-in-wheel with Barichello... and pushed him out of the turn 1 onto the grass! If it was acted - it was done well. I can't belive anybody will be happy if Rubens will spin out and lost 2nd place...
Rubens caught up down to 0.3 sec, but then during overtaking a jordan Schumacher finally pulled away.
It was kind of cute, how he and Rubens accepted the trophies, took the huge champaign bottles and walked off the podium w/o one wink at the crawd. They weren't happy about it.
Here are the pics (don't complain about focus please, these guys were too fast ).
http://www.rcl-consulting.com/USGP2005.htm

[Ben]

Cool pics! Looks like you had some pretty decent seats. Close to the action.

My favorite pic is the undercover photo of the girl in the black ferrari shirt. hahaha. "No, I'm taking a pic of the track, not you." hahahahaaa.

[Rafcin]

...My favorite pic is the undercover photo of the girl in the black ferrari shirt...

Oh my God was she hot

... brazilian (of course Rubens Barrichello fan), with perfect figure and that typical brazilian bubbly butt... oops, forgot we have minors on this site, sorry . Anyway - was it so obvious what was the picture of? I guess it was, I got slapped by my wife for it too . I answered to her "if it wasn't for you being here I'd have full memory stick of this babe, so appreciate the respect I've given to you !" Do I have to mention she didn't buy it ?

[caddy]

I know some people have a strong preference to F1 Racing over Cart. But if your anywhere around Toronto Canada the weekend of July 8-10 you should take in some indy action down on the Lakeshore. This will definitely be the biggest event in Toronto this summer. Can't go wrong with warm weather, fast cars, and beautiful women!

I'm interested to hear if there are any indy fans out there?

[Ben]

I can live without IRL racing... Just seems to be a lesser F1 circuit. At least that's how I see it. Why not just watch the big boys go.

[Rafcin]

Michelin will refund tickets! that's good, but the tickets were only about 10% of the cost oh well, better that than nothing.

[Ben]

Yeah, I read about that elsewhere.

What do we have coming up this week? France, huh. Cool. I don't think I remember this one from last year. Crazy looking track!

http://formula1.com/race/circuitmap/741.html