USGP photographics + my own personal highlights blog

In no particular order of timeframe or importance of thought, here is my USGP '06 blog:


- overall it was a most excellent time. I can't say it was better than last year, b/c that was my first time, and even with the race being a wash in '05, the experience was incredible.


- the V8s didn't arouse me as much as the V10s. Or as much as Chris M, for that matter Which is tragic, as I wanted my hairs to be on end the whole time, like last year. That aside, the factory Honda engines were way louder than the rest of the field. Piercing noises. Speak loudly and clearly to me at Bermuda Run, please.


- I've come to conclude that Indianapolis, as a city, is pretty lame. The people are mostly friendly, but honestly, who wouldn't be when you throw tens of millions into a place in a matter of 4 days. But they're not up to "F1 spec" IMO. Food, even at "the best places" is meh and I'm being generous, the track facilities are what I would expect from America, which is to say it caters to our trend of crappy quality/service/products, at the highest prices. The track isn't that exciting to watch cars going around, it just doesn't have that European flair and history to it. Hell even Sepang is way cooler, in my opinion, and Bahrain obviously blows it away. The VIP suites at Indy aren't that suite, er, sweet. All the Porsche SuperCup photos were taken from there. AMAZING views, you can see every turn of the track, I was lucky beyond belief to get up there, not going to argue that. But seriously, for what I would have to pay for that, it's kind of a toss-up whether it's worth it.


- speaking of the SuperCup races, those were probably the most exciting all weekend. Every turn had some action in it, every straight had passing going on, it was fantastic. The last place car was having an awful day. He missed braking points into turn 1 almost every time, had to use the runoff area and go around and rejoin the line numerous times. He was probably 20-30 seconds in last place. But every time, EVERY time he would come around, the corner workers there would signal the crowd with their whistles, and they would lead the crowd opposite turn 1 in a huge wave formation for him. Every time the driver missed the turn the crowd would sigh instead of laugh, and every time he made it the crowd would go absolutely nuts. That was extremely classy of both the workers and the fans, I was pleased to be a part of that.


- Speaking of people, there were less overall international people, which made that area of the F1 experience a little more lame. Even moreso in the department of hot wimmenz They were pretty scarce. I'm not even counting the local girls who worked the booths/PR crap, they were mostly gross. I guess the lower internationals numbers is likely a result of '05 USGP + World Cup, Tour de France, and Wimbledon all happeneing at once this year. Sucky.


- I didn't care where my tickets were, I actually never bothered to find my seat. We walked around and had great views every place we went.


- Saturday morning driving to the track, we get through the center of downtown and I notice a maroon grand marquis is keeping up with me pretty good. I was hustling to get there for practice, didn't want to miss a second. So I slow up a tad and look over to let this old crazy jackass by, and it was Mark Webber. zOMFG!! I did my best not to do something dumb and predictable like rev him or race him, so we just kept a nice pace (in F1 terms) and I got behind him once or twice. When we made eye contact he said "great car mate, wanna swap???" Ok he didn't really say that, but I could tell he was cursing whoever made the rental reservations. But I digress..... At one point Webber and I were headed to an intersection and the light went red rather quickly, go figure. We both had to slam the brakes on we both went about 10 feet into the intersection. After realizing we weren't going to stop where we should have, we just kept going. No big deal to an F1 guy, he's used to hitting the gas at red lights anyways Next fun moment was when someone turned into his lane from a side street while we were doing about 55 I guess. We were right next to each other, I had a car directly to my left in the next lane, but I still moved over and accelerated as much as possible to give him a hole to shoot through. It worked flawlessly- he followed me over, about 2 feet from my door. Momentum is key in racing, as is always looking out for your teammate, lol. If I were Niko Rosberg I would have turned into him at some point But Mark looked like his normal self the whole time, no expression change. As we slowed up for the entrance, I told him good luck. I think that was my favorite moment of the trip. I had a ****-eating grin on the whole time :]


- the SPEED pavillion was a great place to get autographs on thursday after the pit walk. Trulli was tossing out signed Bridgestone hats, I got one of those, and Alonso signed my engine cover. I'll bring that stuff and more to the Bermuda Run. The week of the race, Christian Klien did some promo for Red Bull and was wake boarding on some lake near greenville. I asked him which one, he had no idea, lol.


- Jenson Button is even nicer than what is said about him. Friends ran into him downtown, they ended up having a drink with him and his dad, said they were both just so gracious and so nice. The mom got pics, I'll see if I can get them.


- Despite some of his noob-ness and hokieness in interviews, I think Scott Speed is a super nice guy too. At the end of an autograph session at his own merchandise tent (no other driver had their own tent by the way) everyone else walked off when his PR guy said to the crowd he was done signing. But Scott stayed right there in his seat. I watched in amazement. Stupid greedy Americans, trying to grab whatever they could from him. So I just walked right up and said hey, good luck, etc. Really nice guy, and to me he gives the vibe of being so amazed by what he's found himself in. I also got the impression the whole thing is a bit overwhelming to him at this point. That was a super awesome moment of time. As opposed to the others who just wanted some scribble on whatever 80 dollar shirt they bought, I'd rather be able to say that he and I exchanged something, that we both got something out of the encounter. And that's exactly what I can say


Overall, most excellent trip. I want to do Montreal next year.


If you made it this far, congratulations, you get to see the pictures. Not every picture was posted, some I just had to keep for my eyes only

http://www.pbase.com/mfd164/usgp_2006


oh and David, here's the '05 gallery as well. Hopefully you can see where my photog skeelz have improved.

http://www.pbase.com/mfd164/usgp_indy_f1


cheers,
Mark

 

Not a real one. You'd pretty much have to be the Sultan of Brunei to get that done, and I think only Ferrari would bow to those requests, Porsche wasn't hard up enough for $$ at any point to charge ridiculous amounts for one-off customer cars.

At any rate, it looked like a kitted 964 (certainly no newer than that), and it possibly started out as a speedster. Got a ton of looks, but honestly I liked the rag top G-Wagen that rolled up next to it even better

 

yeah ok buddy, I *vaguely* remember someone being all hopped up about "next year's Indy F1" and then flaking out. And then having plans to go. And then, flaking out again. This isn't the hokey pokey, you put both feet in the first damn time and you stay there. Capice??????

Oh, and the pics of the spider were when we were doing 10mph. We didn't have the steadiness to take any at 140

 

nothing, which is, coincidentally, precisely the number of Ferraris I own. Heh.

this rain needs to stop, I need to get the car clean.

Chris are you bringing the Z to BR???? We could make a nice ricer couple if I brought the S2000. Robin will be coming along, so keep the spider at home lol.