Sounds like the Speed party was a blast. I sat in the paddock penthouse for the Indy 500 and definatley appreciated the concessions and restrooms just for that section.

 

So what do you think the impact will be of the upcomming F1 make-over? I can't remember if it starts in 2006 or 2007...

 

On one hand I feel ferrari works hard to have an advantage, they have best car, the best driver, and the best people. Lets not forget the most money as well. Why should they be penalized for doing everything right?
Then on the other it has become so incredibly boring watching the red cars lead and the others fight for "best of the rest" that I want them to do something to close the gap. One team dominating like that is not good for the sport and I want to see F1 survive in the US.

 

I enjoy watching the technological advancements that take place within F1.

M. schumacher is an extremely talented driver who @ times drives like a complete arrogant a$$hole.

R. barrichello is a huge bleeding tw@t, R. schumacher only has a ride because of his brother.

Montoya is bad a$$ & K. rikkenon is quick. Sato is showing some promise too.

Oh yeah, I love the sound of an engine spinning 19K .

 

tech is cool, cars sound great. I used to love F1. Ive been watching for 10 years now..
but these days it isnt much of a race. More of a 2 hour parade behind Schuie. I used to enjoy watching champ car races more. Cars are lower tech but at least it was exciting to watch. I am rooting for Montoya, then Sato, then Trulli this year. I know that a team that works hard should win but maybe they need to do what touring cars do.. penalize the winningingest teams (e.g. weight). As good a driver as Michael is.. if he didnt have the Ferrari, he wouldnt be winning. F1 is a big soap opera.

 

w00t, i'm in the minority.

I do watch racing:
Moto GP, World Supersport 600, WRC, AMA Motocross, AMA Superbike, NHRA Drag Racing

in that order. I'd watch F1 over Nascar, but that's faint praise.

 

I too just got back from the USGP with great memories, some autographs and a nice sunburn. We’ve had the same seats in Stand J, section 28 for the last four races. We had a great view of the lap 1 accident and we got a good whiff of Webbers flaming Jag. The marshals actually pulled the rear body work off the car so we were able to get a good look at the engine and gear box. Webber waved to the crowd a few times and got a good response.

I was listening to Montoya’s frequency with my scanner most of the race. The team knew the FIA was looking into his situation fairly early, around lap 10 or so. I think the team also knew that they were likely out of luck, but hoped that the ruling would go the other way so they kept him out. Montoya had some interesting things to say about Ralf’s crash. During the first safety car lap he said that he thought that Ralf had gotten down onto the part of the track that hd no banking and had lost it. On the next lap he saw a chunk of debris in Turn 12 and figured that Ralf had punctured his tire on that. He said there were marks up on the banking that were likely from Ralf’s car bottoming.

The best part of going to the USGP is seeing and talking to the crazy Columbians, the Italians, people from the UK and Japan. It is just a great atmosphere. I also like the opportunities for fan interaction. The Thursday pit walk was great. I spent most of the time at Renault, Minardi and Toyota. The Q/A sessions they had after they ended the pit walk with Panis, Button and De Matta were fantastic and funny. Without any special passes or privileges I was able to get autographs from Jenson Button, Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso (twice!), Zsolt Baumgartner, Ross Braun, Mario Thessin and Peter Sauber. I’ve been able to get autographs at each USGP I’ve been to. Jenson’s behavior with the fans has moved my esteem of him up a couple of notches. If any of you got his autograph Sunday morning at the entrance to the paddock, he was using my pen.

I love F-1 for the tech, the tracks and the whole world wide feel of the thing . As far as it being a Schumacher parade, I too wish other would win or do well. I was one of the people who cheered loudly for Minardi scoring a point and Sato’s sucess. I try to take the attitude that watching Michael run is a historic thing and should be savored. I also appreciate that he appears to be genuinely pleased with each and every win and pole. The guy just loves doing what he is doing. I don’t think he should retire from doing something he loves because he is too good at it!

Best wishes and Forza Minardi!
f86sabre

 

Here are some pics I took this weekend if you guys are interested:
http://usgp04.giant-robot.com

 

hey sabre, i was in Stand J section 22

 

siQness,
They are about the best seats in the house! I hope you had fun. After all the problems I had with flights up and back I may take the Evo next year. At least I will be able to take it around the track on the following Monday. I spent 12+ hours trying to get home on United where the drive would have only been 10 hours.

Best wishes,
f86sabre

 

This was my first time attending Formula 1 races after being a fan for the past 15 years. I went to both the Montreal race and the Indy race. Wow what a difference between the two events. Montreal was exactly how I thought it would be, exciting, unique and a great spectacle as well as a challenging race. Fans everywhere downtown and the whole city appered under siege from the Formula 1 gauntlet.

Indianapolis was a completly different event. The true fans of the sport seemed to be nowhere to be found unless they were foreign? I heard numerous Americans complaining that the cars are not fun to watch like Nascar or the Indy 500 cars etc etc... One woman behind me at the ATM complained of all of the "foreign" weirdos that were running around with some "bizzare" flag draped about themselves like capes(Montoya fans and Colombians). At the Montreal race their were numrous hot girls handing out free Trojan condoms. That would never happen at Indy. However you could still buy a ticket on race day to the US Grand Prix as there were around 80,000 unsold tickets. That would never happen in Canada. Downtown at Indy was like a ghost town in comparasion to Montreal. I managed to leave the track each day and get downown within 20 minutes, find a park for $3 a day and walk around as if it was a Sunday and everyone was abducted by aliens.

I was sad to see the incompetence of the US officials on race day. First the horrendous crash at turn 2 should have stopped the race as there was carbon fiber debris everywhere. Instead the safety car was deployed. Then somehow Michael Schumacher manged to pit and still come out in the lead even though cars directly behind him (Button and Sato) did not??? WTF! Montoya's incident was downright criminal. The man was sprinting from car to car like a looney tunes character right in front of me ( I was in Stand A in front of the Williams and Renault pits) finally getting into his spare car and stat=rting from pit lane. He then proceeds to drive the wheels off the spare car and worked his way up to 2nd before being black flagged for taking too long to switch cars, or not having a sticker on his car, or some other bull****. 2 weeks in a row the man I was cheering for was disqualified.

As for the Ralph Schumacher incident I can honestly say that I was disgusted by the total lack of urgency on the part of the crew to get to him and ensure his safety as cars were doing over 170MPH by him. It took way longer than 40 seconds to reach him and almost 10 laps before he was removed from the wreckage of his car( I was almost hit by parts of his car flying our way) I thought perhaps I was the only one thinking this until I got home and heard a distraught commentator pleading that that crew get to Ralph as well. Especially as when he first hit the wall he was obviously knocked out and not moving for some time.

The highlight for me was meeting Takuma Sato and seeing how much fun he is having and how down to earth he is. His overtaking moves on the track, while often reckless and sometimes downright stupid, reminds me a lot of the old British lion Nigel Mansell. While Takuma has a way to go maturity wise, he is still along with Montoya the most exciting guys to watch at Forumal 1. Both of the guys actually overtake on the race course, not in the pits.

Brett.

 

That just reaffirms my reasons for not attending the USGP. I think we need to get a petition going for F1 in Long Beach again

Mark

 

Just posted my picts from the UGSP:


Go to Website...

I think I identified most of the cars correctly, but PM me corrections. Anyhow, the new Corner 6 Terrace was fantastic. I only wish I'd have been there for the Pit Walkabout.

 

Mark,
I've been to a few of the Long Beach ChampCar races, and while the atmosphere is fantastic, it is a horrible place to watch a race. I like being able to see the cars for more than 2 seconds at a time. Now if we could get them to come to Road Atlanta or Road America…

FDizzleBrett, I like Indy for some of the reasons you don't. They have been doing big auto races for so long that the roads are set up so it doesn't take 4 hours to move a mile after a race. The track has enough room that you are not sphincters to elbows with the guy next to you all the time and it isn't seven deep at the fence trying to watch. They were able to get 120,000 people in there with room to spare. I also like the staffing levels. The yellow coats may be mostly old folks, but at least there is someone who know what is happening and where to go or directing traffic. Most other racing series go with minimal staffing and the fan is on their own. Downtown was a little dead, I'll grant you that.

Best wishes,
f86sabre

 

I have watched F1 for years. Many people forget that Schumacher also won at Benetton before coming to Ferrari. One area people cut Schumacher short on is car development. He is probably one of the best development drivers in F1 history. He knows how to work wiith his engineers and pass along what the car is doing. Before he came to Ferrari, it was I believe three years or more since they had won a race. Schumacher is also very smart in keeping his team together. He has had stability in the team and has keep his engineers and managers. IMO he is in the top 2 or 3 drivers in F1 history. Yes Ferrari wins most of the time, but also look at what they do. No other drivers or team are as dedicated to their profession.