Anybody into F-1 racing??

[Sharkbait]

The United States Grand Prix is this weekend in Indianapolis. A buddy of mine got us VIP passes to the McLaren-Mercedes luxury box on qualification day. :shock: It was spectacular!! Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime experience!!! I took over 300 photos, most of which came out great!! I was in awe of some of the $6000 Canon glass I saw toted around the speedway. Wow!!!!

Anyway, here are a few of the best so far...


Me out on the speedway during the pit tours:

Me in the McLaren Mercedes pit garage:

One of the cars 'at speed' during qualification. He was just coming out of turn 8 and heading into the big straight. By this point he was probably around 180mph or so.

 

[danalec99]

WOW!!!

But I thought Grand Prix is different from THE F1! Is it?
You mean to say the likes of Schumacher was there???

 

[Sharkbait]

If you don't mind some old guys' head in part of the frame, I've got a GREAT photo of michael schumacher sitting in his car, helmet off, in the ferrari garage doing some testing work with the techs. :thumbsup:

 

[danalec99]

Am waiting!!

 

[danalec99]

And what kind of pass did you have?

 

[Sharkbait]

I know jack squat about racing ( ), but a bunch of people said that this was schumacher sitting in the car. I couldn't even get within 5 feet of the barrier to the Ferrari garage because of the crowd... (this is just the 'snapshot' version with no cleanup or post work)

 

[Sharkbait]

And what kind of pass did you have?

VIP pass to the McLaren-Mercedes luxury box. We got wined and dined all day long. Our box was right over the Renault team pit, about 200yds from the start/finish line.

 

[danalec99]

his face is not clear!!

Anyways, it was neat that you got the ticket. It sure is a once in a lifetime opportunity!

How did you like listening to the engine notes??

 

[Sharkbait]

BAhhh I found a photo of schumacher on the net, and unless he grew a mustache, I think that's only a tech. Ahh well!

It really was a once in a lifetime thing, that's for sure. I went to Indy 500 qualifiers a few years ago, so I knew what was coming with the noise. My buddy had never heard an Indy or F-1 car winding up though. It's great--they sound like old 50s beater cars when they're idling--backfires, stuttery engines, dying over and over; but jeeeeeeezus, when they get out and move. WOW!!!

They showed us this video clip in the box--back in the UK, they took a new street-ready mercedes, a race-ready version of the same car, and gave them about a 50 sec head start heading around the UK Grand Prix track. Then let loose the F-1 car. The F-1 caught the others and beat them by several seconds. 0-100-0 in about 8 sec. :shock: I mean, you see them on TV, but there's simply no way to appreciate just how FAST those cars are. Watching them come out of the turn, I tracked them almost 180* from left-right with the shutter down and only got off 3 shots before they were out of sight--about 2.5 sec.

 

[Sharkbait]

And the Montoya fans in the stands were freakin' NUTS!!! It was like watching a south american football match!!! Flags, horns, chants, the whole deal.

 

[danalec99]

Why dont they have somethin like that on the east coast???

 

[Sharkbait]

Hey, the east coast is only a day and a half road trip from Indy. You can crash here next year and we'll do the F-1. :-D :thumbsup:

The box we were in was actually on the 2nd storey of the building that houses the pit garages. Look out one side, you've got the track and pit row, go out the door on the other side and you're overlooking the garage offices and walkways, watching all the drivers go back and forth from the back garages to the offices for meetings to the front pits to drive. AWESOME!!!

 

[craig]

Good job!!! To me the "coming out of the 8th turn" is the strongest. The white guard wall really shows the car's colors. Maybe crop the handrail in the bottom left.

 

[Sharkbait]

One more for tonight...

 

[deencarolh]

No surprise that schumacher won.. Makes it kind of boring I think when the same guy always wins.
But I must admit.. its more exciting than watching a bunch of guys going around in circles.