New To The Forum and Big F1 Fan

Hello,

I am new to the forum but have heard great things about your F1 discussions. I am a huge F1 fan. I do not own any Ferraris - although I absolutely love them and will own one soon. Currently I am driving a 2007 Porsche 997TT with Stage II modifications running at about 560 bhp. Here are a few photos:





I also own a heavily modified MB SLK55 AMG. In its current form, it is a Brabus B55S. It is putting down about 500 bhp. Here are a few pics of that car:





I have been following F1 voraciously for the past 4 years. I had the privilege of going to the USGP in 2007. It was the best time I have ever had at a sporting event. The sound of those cars just thrilled the hell out of me. I share this passion with my 13-year old son. He knows more about cars than most anyone I know. He is also a fine photographer. Here is a gallery of photos he took at the USGP.

http://downforce.smugmug.com/gallery/3098240_3xCFG#169627502_TFY9D

This summer we had a great experience. Through a friend of mine, my son and I had the chance to meet F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil. We spent about an hour with them just hanging out and chatting. They were both very gracious. Here is a pic from that meeting:





After this meeting, Lewis has actually stayed in touch with us. It means the world to my son and I am pretty star struck by him as well. Very cool young man.

I know that this probably won't be the most popular thing about me (at least to most people who post here), but I have always been a big McLaren fan. Our relationship with Lewis Hamilton and his father Anthony has just further solidified that for me. I don't talk trash about Ferrari though because I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the company - both for their road cars and their F1 heritage.

I look forward to joining you in your F1 discussions. I have been looking for a place like this to engage in some good F1 banter. I have failed to inspire other forums to get interested in F1. I don't understand why anyone who loves cars wouldn't be just obsessed by F1 like I am. It looks like you guys are. So, I am very happy to be here.

Thanks!

Barrister

ps. I have a lot of pics and videos of my cars plus cars I love and would like to own some day on my personal website: http://downforce.smugmug.com/Cars. Please feel free to check it out.

 

Thanks Ian and Edwardo for the warm welcome.

Ian, I will try to add some intelligent posts to the site and promise to respect other forum members at all times - no matter how badly they slander McLaren.

Edwardo, no charge for any of my pics. They are free to anyone who wants them. Just love the Scud. I have had the chance to ride in one recently and it is an absolute thrill! The Enzo still tops my list of best modern Ferraris but the F40 and the Scud are close behind.

 

I am very happy to tell the story. It was one of the coolest things I have done in a while. We met Lewis and Adrian through a friend of mine that most of you probably know - Claus Ettensberger of CEC fame. The meeting took place on May 31, 2008 just after the Monaco GP. It was quite an intimate meeting with just me, my son, Claus and one of Claus' sales managers Andreas. Both Lewis and Adrian were tremendously gracious and kind. Lewis acted suprised that my son and I were such F1 fans. We showed him our hats and pics from the USGP last year and he was legitimately shocked that we had actually gone. He was very casual and fun. He kept cracking jokes and encouraging my son to be a race car driver. My son is a little taller than Lewis and he kept mentioning that my son had better stop growing or his career would be over. Hilarious. When he saw that my McLaren hat from the USGP listed him as "driver 2" he pointed at it and said that it would be a collector's item because he would never be "driver 2" again! I asked him about his relationship with Alonso and he was very frank. Suffice it to say that they don't speak much.

We talked a lot about what happened at Monaco. Both guys were incredibly candid about their experiences. Lewis was still pretty excited about winning and could not hide it behind his grinning face. Adrian was pretty philosophical about his tragic misfortune. He simply said that "it wasn't my day." But within a few minutes of chatting about it - and Lewis egging him on - he got pretty animated about the whole situation. He described how it felt at the point of impact and how he went through several stages of grief in about 3 seconds. At first, he thought that he could keep going, but then it hit him that his day was done. He said that he was crushed and that it took several days to get over it. He appeared to be moving on but he was still pretty sore about things. He never blamed Kimi though. In fact, my son asked him if he was angry with Kimi for the incident and he emphatically said "No, Kimi was just racing." I respected him for that. Lewis agreed and said that nobody really blamed Kimi at all. Hopefully this worked as a bit of Karma for Lewis given what happened in Canada just a few days after this.

Claus had several of his heavily modified Mercedes and Porsche cars there. Lewis enjoyed driving in them. But the thing he liked most was Claus's big GLK550 Wide Body. He tried to get Claus to let him drive it but the car was an MB prototype and was not meant to be driven. Lewis kept begging but Claus wouldn't give in. Earlier in the week Claus had gotten some grief from Ron Dennis over a picture of Lewis in one of Claus's suped up Porsche Caymans that made its way to the Net. As a result, Claus was particuarly careful about what he let Lewis drive. I really wanted to have him drive my Brabus B55S. He admired it and let me go on and on about all of the modifications. He acted genuinely interested. Then he asked me - imagine my excitement - if he could take it for a spin! But then Claus came out of nowhere and said that he could not because of all the Brabus badges and such on the car. He wouldn't even let me take a picture of Lewis in or anywhere near the car. Lewis kept saying, "oh, it's ok" but then Claus would throw a fit. I didn't want to make things hard for anyone - particulary Lewis or my kind host - so we just shot the pics the other direction.

Lewis and Adrian signed several pieces of memorabilia that we brought - hats, books, pics, etc. He stayed with us talking about everything from soccer to baseball and even a little politics. When he had to go he came over to my son and I and shook our hands. He called us both by name, wished us the best and said that he would keep in touch. And he has! I have been amazed at how kind he has been - particularly to my son.

This was one of the coolest things I have ever done. I could go on all day about it. Thanks for asking!