Monaco Grand Prix & Indy 500 - TV Coverage

thanks Vin.. I head to Indy tomorrow morning.. Having dinner Friday night with Tom Sneva, Steve Chassey and Pancho Carter.. cant wait.

 

Have fun, Brian. Bring us back some photos.

 

8:30 AM - 9:05 AM (L) PreRace ESPN
9:05 AM - 11:00 AM (L) RACE ESPN
11:00 AM - Noon (L) PreRace ABC
Noon - 3:00 PM (L) RACE ABC

The biggest race day of the year! 6-1/2 straight hours of (hopefully) open-wheel excitement. (And in the evening you can watch the taxi cabs race in Charlotte.) Thanks, Vince.

 

Not to be a Troll but the biggest race day of the year will be coming up on June 16th-17th in a little town in France.....

 

Yes. This.

Hardest thing I ever did, and have wanted to go back ever since.

sjd

 

Granted that, but since Le Mans is spread over two days, that doesn't count!

 

Longest doesn't always equal biggest or better (That's what she said)!

 

If you're awake the whole time, it's more like 3. Sleepless from nerves the night before, after having prepped all day, morning warmup (please divine diety, don't crash the f'in car), wait around, eat, prep, more prep, ceremony, race....race more....unlike daytona (which used to start at 10am), when the sun comes up, you've still got a LONG way go to...deal with one, maybe two catastrophes, race more... maybe finish. Finishing IS an accomplishment, because the rules are weird and little things can end your race.

sjd

 

The opening sequence of the movie "Le Mans" does a pretty good idea of showing what goes on from daybreak on Saturday until the start of the race in mid-afternoon. Even though 48 years have passed since that was filmed, I'm certain that what the spectators have to go through, from the rustic "accommodations" to the horrific traffic jams, hasn't changed much.

 

My typical race weekend at LeMans when working on a team:

Try to go to bed early Friday night. Impossible. You have been up to 1:00 or 2:00 am Wednesday and Thursday for qualifying. And nerves on edge. So sleep Friday night is fleeting at best.
Up around 4:00 or 5:00 am Saturday morning. At track by 6:00 am latest.
for me-being an engineer there is not a lot to do while the mechanics get everything ready for the race. Talk strategy, answers questions of mechanics, drivers, etc. But you have to be there. And there is always something else that needs to be done. Always.
Warm up at around 9:00 AM
Debrief with drivers.
Drivers always want to change something. I never want to change anything. In the end you do what is required to make "team" happy and car okay.
Start of race. Now 3:00 PM-Use to be 4:00 PM. In any case race has just started and have been up for 11-12 hours already.
You are okay during daylight and evening.
Gets tough (tired) early morning. 2:00 AM to 5:00 Am my tough times. If car is okay you can snooze a bit during stint.
Get a bit of a boost as sun comes up. Walk around a bit, get some food, get human some.
Gets tough again around 10:00 am to noon. Still 3-5 hours more!
Race ends. Team pulls all of gear inside garage and closes doors. After race the crowd will still anything not bolted down. If you have won then different story-crowd will steal clothes off of your back!
You hid for 1-2 hours in garage. Wait for crowd to go away.
So now 5-6 pm. Pack up some stuff, wonder a little and see other team personal, etc. Franklu in a zombie like condition at this point in time.
Head to hotel, clean up, grab some dinner and in bed around 7:00 or 8:00 PM.
So total time up 38-40 hours.
Unless you win. Then can be even longer.
In 99 with BMW I didn't get to hotel till Monday morning around 4:00 AM So 48 hours.
In 2004 with Audi I was in hotel by midnight. Hell--Second win-I could afford to be a bit more relaxed about it all.

 

Awesome story and experience. Thanks for sharing.

 

Brian I feel your pain I did two 24 hour historic races at Daytona with a 996gt cup and 991gt cup porsche at my age it was fun but exhausting.

 

Great summary! I'd forgotten about dragging everything not bolted down inside as the checkered flag flies...

sjd