FORMULA 1

[lupin]

Anybody went??

I did. Too tired to type anything now, but all I can say is WOW!

oh,
and I think Anand got a chance to visit the pits.. so cool...

 

[Corn]

I was in secion A up close to the track.

One word: LOUD

Can't wait for next year.

 

[nickdakick]

Unfortunately just TV, would have been hell of a long trip, VERY happy with the winner hehehehe.

 

[DABANSHEE]

I wished it rained more too & Shuey started at the back of the grid (for stalling on the warmup lap or something) - its great seeing him fly past evryone in the wet.

Oh & maybe Mika's fire could have been more dramatic & occured near the last lap. Plus Coultard jump starting was a let down.

IMAO this should 'ave been thought up 40 years ago - a F1 at Indy taking in half the oval & a street circut on the infield. Its the best thing to happen to F1 in years.

Its a bit ironic that Indy cars don't race at Indy any more but F1 cars do.

 

[nickdakick]

DABANSHEE c'mon there was more action in this race than in A LOT of others I've seen. Some people are just never satisfied. ts..ts..ts

 

[SirFshAlot]

I liked the track.

congrats to Ferrari fro the 1,2 finish!

 

[Midnight Rambler]

Anand was not in the pits, at least not on Sunday. Nonody gets in there on Sunday without Bernie's personal blessing. We did actually get up to a back fence in the morn, and saw a few drivers and team principals. JV was out and about.

I got in on Sat. as my employer (Delphi Auto Sys.) makes the "black box" used by all cars (they're mounted behind/under the driver's seat). We make a component for the assembly at my plant which is in my product group (Safety Sys.), then the final assembly is done over at a sister plant in Indiana. The release engineer (aka product engineer) from HQ spent the whole weekend in the pits. What a bummer, huh?

For the race, I was in Stand H. Got a great view of them roaring down the straight, in to Turn One, and could see Turns 2-8 fairly well also. Mika was gonna run MS down, just like he did in Spa. Too bad his engine went. After that, I was cheering for JV. If not for his early spin, he would have come home 2nd. From my seat, we had a great view of his bonzai pass attempt of Frentzen in T1. When you could see he was going for it, the whole crowd just raised up in simultaneous cheer, then a hush when he missed it.

Crowd was great too, a lot different than what most U.S. races offer. My seating "neighbors" were from Finland, Brazil, Scotland, GB, Canada, and Germany. Only a couple other Americans in the area. Was almost as much fun interacting as watching the race.

Watching the Porsche SC race was a challenge, but had to see Mario!

Only downside of the day - some idiot NASCAR fan actually threw a full beer can at a car (a Minardi). And the food lines were ridiculous - stood for an hour and didn't move but 2 or 3 spaces. To top it off, got stuck in a massive traffic jam on I-70 on the way home. 9 miles in 4 hrs. Argh ... :|

 

[DABANSHEE]

Are you talking about Jos Verstappen?

After seeing him scream through the feild a couple of races back, when it was real wet. I've become a bit of a fan of his.

Both he & Arrows have got quite a bit of potential (especially now that Walkinshaw owns Arrows outright). They just have to keep it going till the last lap. Actually at Monza he just missed out on a podium finish.

 

[lupin]

Midnight Rambler:

What a cool job... *drool*

 

[Midnight Rambler]

No, JV as in Jacques Villeneuve.

Funny you mention Jos though, his and his teammates cars (the Orange/Arrows cars) were the only ones we got to see up close. It was like they were the "token" display cars to appease the American fans. Normally F1 is totally off-limits for everything and nearly everyone, but I have to give Indy owner Tony George credit for twisting Bernie's arm. Even at that, he only got 2 sets of race day credentials for the US, out of a total of 10 for the whole world that is given by F1 at each event. F1 just doesn't understand that access to pits, drivers, etc., is practically a given in the U.S., and this will take time to work out a solution that appeases both sides. But for F1 to succeed in the U.S., Bernie and crew must get more fan friendly or they don't have a chance. Not when I can go to a CART race and hang out, chat, get an autograph, even have a bowl of pasta, with Mario Andretti. About the only driver that is not accessable is Dario, whose head swelled once he got engaged to Ashley. Even Montoya broke out of his shell this year and proved to be an affable guy.

Lupin: I'm not the guy with the great job. It's the product engineer at HQ that is the lucky guy! Right in the thick of things all weekend, plus he is usually at all the other races, since the "black box" is so important (captures crash data, etc.). He got me in as a favor for being a friend, and as a suppier of a component to his assembly who has saved his butt a couple times on stuff he needed in a hurry. Me, I just get to oversee one measly component, and we got the job because we are part of Delphi and have expertise in a proprietary process required to produce this component. Still, though, it's pretty cool to know where the part is going to end up. BTW, they use our Delphi black box in IRL cars too, but not in CART.

 

[lupin]

hey, check out the pictures I took at the race:

Photos

 

[CrumCake]

I see you joined the club MR, the i cant move nowhere in this damn line of traffic. Me and the wife sit in the coke lot one year for 3 1/2 hours waiting to get out after the brickyard. 400,000 fans is why i'm not going back to the brickyard anymore, 6 years of hell is enough! I think next year i'm gonna go up for F1 qualifing. It's nice only living 60 minutes from the track.

 

[LXi]

Sure didn't expect people here talking Formula1. Anybody know how CART compares to F1 in top speed?

 

[lupin]

Club MR??

LXi:
I read somewhere :
Engine: 3 liter V10 vs. 3.5 liter V8 (Formula 1, IRL respectively)
HP: ~800 vs ~650
RPM: 18,000 vs ~11,000
Fuel: Gasoline vs Methanol
Top speed: 255 mph vs. 240 mph.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Not sure about CART though.

 

[LXi]

Wow... sure didnt expect them to top at 255. They were running about 225mph at Monza, and I thought they topped out with that.

 

[3615buck]

F1 are technologically more advanced, more finetuned but I'm not sure they are faster...
Cheers from Belgium (the most beautiful F1 track IN THE WORLD !!!)

 

[LXi]

3615buck: Too bad Schummi didnt win there.

 

[3615buck]

I don't like Schum, he's so...
Is he popular in the US ?

 

[LXi]

3615buck: I dont think anyone in the US knows any of the Formula 1 drivers, all they care is Nascar, Daytona and CART. Which is why US didnt have Formula 1.

 

[DABANSHEE]

I don't know why so many Americans are such fans of Jaques Villenueve. The days he was doing well in F1 was when he was driving for Williams & in those days any F1 driver would win if they drove for Williams (look at Damon Hill, he won the Championship with Williams, but since then he's been just average, even with the Jordaen team, & couldn't even keep up with his teamate). It's a bit like Mclaren today - even if the 2 Minardi drivers were driving for Mclaren, Mclaren would still be winning every 2nd race. To those who hale his CART ability, well any modern competitive F1 driver would fly through the field in CART, look at Nigel Mansell, yet he came back to F1 & wasn't even competitive. Then look at the way Zinardi took the CART championship & then the way he failed at F1. Then there's Dariel Franchetti who fail his F1 try outs with horrible times.

I'know I'm generalising & making assumptions, but why does it seem every 2nd American F1 fan 'roots' for Jacques?

 

[Pepsi90919]

It's mainly the Canadians who do that.

 

[vanderStoep]

Dabashee,

if only Jos`s car would not break down so much, he would have a lot more points.

 

[SirFshAlot]

LXi,
I dont think anyone in the US knows any of the Formula 1 drivers
???????

then why do they carry all the races on U.S. TV stations?

I taped the race when Senna was killed, and I still have the tape of his last completed race. (I was an Alain Prost fan, though)

NFL and Nascar may be more popular here; but it doesn't mean that everyone falls into the majority.

 

[lupin]

Yeah, one thing that I keep wondering on the race was the commentator seems to love JV.

I think he's ok. Yes, he won the championship. But he's ok now.

 

[LXi]

DABANSHEE: Whats wrong with JV? He won that 97 world champ for nothing? I didnt think so. It's been said by many that the top three driver in the world are Schumacher, Hakkinen, and Villeneuve. The BAR team isnt that strong compared to McLaren and Ferrari, but if they can get their reliability up to par, I believe that Jacques has a legitimate shot at the world champions, his frequent top 6 finishes proves he's got the skills to accomplish that. H-H Frentzen is another underrated driver like Jacques.

SirFshAlot: Yes, I do realize that F1 has huge fans like you in the US, but that number is largely outnumbered by the various world-class sport leagues(NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB), and even CART and Nascar.