2014 St. Petersburg Grand Prix | FerrariChat

2014 St. Petersburg Grand Prix

Discussion in 'Other Racing' started by Str8shooter, Mar 30, 2014.

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  1. Str8shooter

    Str8shooter Formula 3

    Jan 31, 2011
    1,731
    Orlando
    #1 Str8shooter, Mar 30, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I had the chance to check out the St Pete Grand Prix. First time as I've always passed on this event because of the fence being an obstruction to my photography but I really wanted to see the PWC cars so I bit the bullet and got tickets for yesterday and today.

    The day started out ok and as I walked the track I began to find a few spots for pictures. Took a break to grab an early lunch and soon after the rain came and got worse as the day went on. I finally gave up around 4:00 but not before the stadium trucks did their thing and it was pretty cool to watch especially after such a long lull in the action.

    Really didn't feel like getting up early and making the two and half hour drive again today so I passed. Sure wish today's weather happened yesterday but what can you do. I had a good time and saw the potential so I'm sure I'll add the event to my roster and return next year. The weather is perfect today and they should have a great race.

    Here's a few pics from yesterday.
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  2. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Jun 30, 2007
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    good pics! thought about going, probably should have, but didn't have the enthusiasm for the time and money required to watch 1 corner at a street circuit. I got spoiled at Daytona and Sebring :eek:

    thanks for the pics, keep 'em coming! :)
     
  3. Str8shooter

    Str8shooter Formula 3

    Jan 31, 2011
    1,731
    Orlando
    I don't like the fact you can only see one corner at a time either.

    What I really didn't care for was the grandstands were reserved seating and you couldn't sit in them with a general admission ticket. They were practical empty but the five or six ushers kept general admission ticket holders from entering them. Too bad as it would've helped me get over the fence. Walking the track there are lots of great spots to see a bit of the action but you have to look through the fence.

    I stood at the last turn before the front straight and they would come out of the turn sawing the wheel fighting the slide as they came out to the wall. It was pretty amazing to watch from that position.

    While Daytona is very open, St Pete feels very confined but there is still plenty to see and do. I'm kind of wishing I went back as I already had the ticket but didn't want to do the drive in my old beater Jeep.
     
  4. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Jun 30, 2007
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    ^^^ now that's a duck face! :eek:

    so far this indycar race has been excellent.
     
  5. RP

    RP F1 World Champ

    Feb 9, 2005
    17,667
    Bocahuahua, Florxico
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    Tone Def
    Power should have been penalized for that ridiculous slow start. If he was not driving for Penske......

    Lost respect for these IndyCar officials.
     
  6. Str8shooter

    Str8shooter Formula 3

    Jan 31, 2011
    1,731
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    He admitted he lifted so it's clear cut what he did even though the officials didn't act on it after it happened.

    I also think they had the restart zone too close to turn 14 and should've moved it farther down so the entire field could be on the straight before restarting.
    Seems like having several cars still coming around the turn when the green flag drops is asking for trouble.
     
  7. yoda

    yoda F1 Rookie

    Sep 27, 2004
    2,598
    UT
    Great pics, I forgot to TiVo the Indy race, but did catch the PWC replay. Thankfully the weather cleared up by Sunday.
     
  8. Sushimon355

    Sushimon355 Formula Junior

    May 27, 2009
    533
    Dallas, TX
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    Wade
    one of the consistent problems has been guys jumping the gun on these restarts...Will has been vocal about this in the past so this might have been a way to keep them honest. RHR and Dixon both said they didn't see anything wrong w/ the way Will handled the restart. of course Helio took issue with it and the guys involved in the wreck had the most obvious complaint. but also seemed like those guys in the back were indeed jumping the gun. pretty good race overall and good win for Will.
     
  9. Ney

    Ney F1 Veteran
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    Apr 20, 2004
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    Holy crap AJ.....try a salad once in a while! ;)
     
  10. SWB

    SWB Formula Junior

    Nov 12, 2006
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    Toronto & Ottawa
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    Seth
    Maybe Sato can convince Super Tex to try a sashimi diet? Hehe
     
  11. SCantera

    SCantera F1 Veteran
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    Aug 4, 2004
    5,112
    Living Falls NC
    It was a fun race to watch. The trick for viewing is finding an invite to a party on a high rise overlooking the circuit. We were on the 27th floor balcony above turn 5. We could see most of the track...turns 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14.and so on. With a TV inside we would see replays. And a couple of times we went to street level at Turn 8 for a close up.

    Fun time. My first Indycar race.
     
  12. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Jun 30, 2007
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    Indycar pulled a 0.6 rating for that race.

    sad. :(
     
  13. BartonWorkman

    BartonWorkman F1 Veteran
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    Perhaps if it was on a consistent network race to race. One week they're on
    NBCS, the next ABC, the next ESPN, etc.

    I had assumed (yes, dangerous I know) that the SPGP would be on NBCS after the
    F-1 replay.

    Then, had to scramble around before finding out it was on ABC and on at virtually
    the same time the F-1 replay was being aired.

    BHW
     
  14. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    TV packages for anything but NASCAR in this country suck.

    :(

    live streaming could be the way to go if fundamental issues like bandwidth are solved (I'm looking at you, PWC), but then you still have to market it so people know how and where to find you.

    I'm hoping that Verizon can help raise the profile of Indycar, but I'm suspecting they're just here bc they can't be in NASCAR.
     
  15. BartonWorkman

    BartonWorkman F1 Veteran
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    Indy Car is going to have to do something about the cars though too.

    We are now three years into this new Dallara DW12 car They appear just as they did
    in their debut. You mean to tell us that these cars couldn't receive some subtle aerodynamic
    tweaking in that time?

    I don't care what NASCAR says, people want to see something new. If it's just the same
    cars every year only with a few different drivers and liveries, that isn't going to be
    enough.

    Where would F-1 be if the cars looked the same for half a decade?

    Let's see something new Indy Car. You hit the reset button in 2012 and there has
    not been a march forward in any way since.

    BHW
     
  16. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    I think the problem is there's no money to pay for the new updates, wind tunnel time, testing, etc.

    they shouldn't have released such a hideously ugly car, but that's hindsight being 20/20.
     
  17. kylec

    kylec F1 Rookie
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    Jun 9, 2005
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    I don't think it's that simple. Iirc, there was a feeling of DW died because of the dangerous cars and WE need to address this NOW!
     
  18. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    that's BS, that car was well under development before DW died. remember, he did most of the testing work on it :)

    and it really hasn't achieved its goal of preventing cars from going up and over each other, or otherwise achieving liftoff...
     
  19. kylec

    kylec F1 Rookie
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    What I meant was there was a push to not delay the new car
     
  20. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    ah, I see. misunderstood you :eek:

    I'm not sure how much of that was due to DW's death but there was a big push to get the new car out for 2012, even after a lot of complaints about the car (styling, cost, difficulty to setup, etc). the promised aero kits never arrived, I think mainly due to cost, but it would have been nice to see better looking cars on track :(
     
  21. BartonWorkman

    BartonWorkman F1 Veteran
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    Difficult to believe there is no money there to develop the chassis and upgrade
    them every once in a while.

    They're risking running into monotony and people are going to get bored watching
    these same cars year after year.

    They're going to let the teams boost their engines in order to go for qualifying record
    speeds at Indy with the new revised qualifying format. That is interesting but Indy
    is only one race.

    Let's hope too that some of this year's crop of rookies help shake things up at the pointy
    end of the field. New names are always good.

    BHW
     
  22. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    I think outside of Penske, Ganassi, Andretti and whoever has the Nat'l Guard sponsorship ( ;) ), there really isn't any money. funded drivers, lame sponsors (Boy Scouts? some BBQ sauce I've never heard of? yikes), no sponsors...

    I agree they need some new stars, I was hoping Newgarden would be that be he hasn't produced, Hawksworth is clearly a great talent but has modern racing driver complete lack of personality. sad.
     
  23. BartonWorkman

    BartonWorkman F1 Veteran
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    Its too bad no F-1 drivers make the cross-over to Indy Car with the possible exception
    of Seabass, back in the 90s when Mansell made the cross-over, that really added a
    lot to the credibility of CART.

    BHW
     
  24. Str8shooter

    Str8shooter Formula 3

    Jan 31, 2011
    1,731
    Orlando
    #25 Str8shooter, Apr 2, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017

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