Soldato
Motorsport Off Topic Thread
- Thread starter Shimmy
- Start date
I attended the US GP last year, the Saturday night concert was headlined by Taylor Swift, it was her only US date last year and they sold the tickets separately to people who wanted to go. Me and my friend thought we would go for a laugh and see what all the fuss was about. The queues for the concert area started in the very early afternoon and consisted of tens of thousands of screaming teenagers/kids and equally as bad parents who had flocked from all over. We made a bee-line for the exit and went to downtown Austin instead, where we bumped into a very drunk Ted Kravitz.
After the race it was Usher headlining, we were on the main straight right in-front of the podium for the post race invasion and had a cracking view of the ceremonies. The track staff then ended the track invasion 45 minutes early so as they said "Get yourselves down to the concert area". Pretty sure all the true fans of the sport as we were, all said we didn't care about the concert and wanted to stay on the track for a further 45 minutes as the schedule said. More track tannoys later and more requests from the staff and the hundreds, if not afew thousands of us hadn't moved. The track staff got heavy handed and called the Sheriffs, who then asked everyone to leave.
Means I won't have to hang around for so long after qualifying. Think of the fans
6th Street in Austin is the place to be, it has "Posh 6th" on one half of town and "Dirty 6th" on the other side. Dirty 6th is full of bars, live bands, great food and was the area where the FOM hosted the downtown festivities for fans to enjoy.
I'm currently planning to do it again this year, general access again and will be fighting again for a spot on the turn 1 hill on the Sunday.
Yes, the track put on coaches from various tourist spots in the city (at extra cost), if I remember correctly we got to the downtown coach stop at around 05:30 for the first coach to leave at 06:00. Got to the track at 06:45 and got real lucky as the coach driver got lost and dropped us off right at the main gate (Instead of the plebs coach stop which was more than a mile away, which you had to walk or hire a cycle rikshaw).
We got right to the front of the queue at the main entrance, sat there until the main gate opened at 08:00. We got through security and the turnstiles pretty quick and then ran, along with hundreds of others. The Turn 1 hill had already started to fill up as a car park and the RV camping site are located nearby. We got there pretty quick and managed to get a decent spot about 3/4 of the way up the hill. The entire hill was full within about 45 minutes of the gates opening at 08:00.
Word of warning, they didn't allow any liquids/aerosols through security last year. This includes water and sun cream, they had free sun cream at the various first aid stations and be ready to pay $10 for a bottle of Heineken
If you want to do the track invasion, plan to get to one of the access points at least 10-15 laps before the end of the race. We were gonna go about 10 minutes before the end, but noticed people starting to gather at the 15 laps to go point. We wanted to be as close as possible so ended up joining them, it was bedlam when they opened the gates eventually but was quite the thrill trying to out run hundreds of people pushing through. But we got great spots after sprinting down the s/f straight and managed to be on the fence.
We got right to the front of the queue at the main entrance, sat there until the main gate opened at 08:00. We got through security and the turnstiles pretty quick and then ran, along with hundreds of others. The Turn 1 hill had already started to fill up as a car park and the RV camping site are located nearby. We got there pretty quick and managed to get a decent spot about 3/4 of the way up the hill. The entire hill was full within about 45 minutes of the gates opening at 08:00.
Word of warning, they didn't allow any liquids/aerosols through security last year. This includes water and sun cream, they had free sun cream at the various first aid stations and be ready to pay $10 for a bottle of Heineken
If you want to do the track invasion, plan to get to one of the access points at least 10-15 laps before the end of the race. We were gonna go about 10 minutes before the end, but noticed people starting to gather at the 15 laps to go point. We wanted to be as close as possible so ended up joining them, it was bedlam when they opened the gates eventually but was quite the thrill trying to out run hundreds of people pushing through. But we got great spots after sprinting down the s/f straight and managed to be on the fence.
Associate
Looks like the circuit of wales will struggle to progress any further with this latest development;
Full Story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-40404661
Full Story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-40404661
Soldato
Thank goodness.
Soldato
Pete's Piano Duelling bar is a good place to spot some F1 folks. A couple of years ago a friend of mine went in there at around 8/9pm and spent the evening with Ricciardo, Hill, Herbert, Lazenby, etc
No one in there had a clue who anyone was. The guys on the piano was asking anyone if they'd been to the F1 not knowing that Ricciardo was right in front of them.
I spent an evening in there and it's a pretty cool little bar
Associate
Shamfully stolen from a thread on pistonheads, however so interesting stats, Red Bull appear to have completed less KMs in races this year then Mclaren...Renault not far ahead of Mclaren either...
http://www.statsf1.com/en/2017/stats.aspx?t=M
http://www.statsf1.com/en/2017/stats.aspx?t=M
Soldato
Ron Dennis has sold his remaining shares in McLaren, ends his 37 year relationship with the team.
Thought this bit might have potential ramifications for the future of the race team:
A prelude to building their own engine for the F1 effort? The road cars use engines jointly developed with Ricardo, perhaps now they're thinking that being beholden to another car manufacturer (either through a works deal gone sour or through a customer deal that won't necessarily guarantee parity) isn't a great spot to be in.
Thought this bit might have potential ramifications for the future of the race team:
the Beeb said:
A prelude to building their own engine for the F1 effort? The road cars use engines jointly developed with Ricardo, perhaps now they're thinking that being beholden to another car manufacturer (either through a works deal gone sour or through a customer deal that won't necessarily guarantee parity) isn't a great spot to be in.
Soldato
I doubt they want to plough that much investment in to build their own engine, even though I'm sure there's some transferrable technology.
When/if the new engine formula is ratified, and it will likely be soon so development can start, McLaren might consider it. The engine, a 1.6L twin turbo V6 with no MGU-H, is far simpler that the current power plants and therefore likely to be far cheaper to develop. The only potential fly in the ointment is that they may then be duty bound to offer the engine to other teams should they request it. That then means more investment and other issues.
Soldato
Sebastian Vettel should not be punished further for Azerbaijan clash, says Jenson Button
shouldn't of gotten the 10 sec stop and go in the first place, drive through penalty at most
shouldn't of gotten the 10 sec stop and go in the first place, drive through penalty at most
Soldato
nvm
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Far more sensible solution than the halo.
http://www.fia.com/news/f1-fia-makes-progress-shield-frontal-protection-system-f1-plans-track-tests
http://www.fia.com/news/f1-fia-makes-progress-shield-frontal-protection-system-f1-plans-track-tests
That looks much, much better. In fact i like it.
Soldato
Looks far better than the fugly halo idea.