Formula One Practise week in Cheste
I made good on my promise that since Formula One were practising in the racing circuit next door to my town, I would go along and catch some of the action. In spite of the time of year the weather could not have been more accommodating over the three days from February 1st to the 3rd. It was as though someone had taken the sun and given it a good polishing so that it really did shine brightly. It became so hot that we all had to shed our heavy coats and sweaters, and more than one person came away with sunburn.
I was quite amazed by the numbers that came to see these guys practise. They were not racing, it was just going around the track, the wrong way for them, to kick-start their skills after the break. The stands were packed and everybody and his brother brought a camera, but the problem was, there was absolutely nothing to take a picture of, unless you had some kind of pass that allowed you up close to the cars.
On the day I attended, the most exciting thing that happened was that one of the drivers did not give sufficient respect to one of the corners and he spun out. The gasp from the crowd was wonderful. Otherwise, the degree of excitement that registered on everyone’s face was about what you get when watching everyday traffic.
Still, all the big names were present going through their paces and it was good to be back in the season. On a sad note, we could not have had any idea that we were seeing Mr. Kubica’s last Formula One performance for some time. We wish him a full and speedy recovery.
With an uneventful experience from the track I feel I must complain about something. Having arrived fairly early and parked where directed, as usual I walked away from my car without taking any notice of where I had parked it. At that time there were very few cars there. However, everybody and his brother came later and totally overwhelmed the car park, so finding my car took the better part of about 25 minutes of walking up and down and around and around looking for a black car in a sea of black cars. Had my car been stolen I would not have known it until very late in the day.
Even if I had wanted to be more careful there were no section notices. However, security takes the prize for just plain stupidity. It seems that they had some kind of criteria about what could not be taken into the stands, but they set-up their checkpoint after the tickets sales, and about as far away from where you left your car, to stop you and to tell you that you could throw your stuff into their massive container. Bloody fools! A really great way to spoil one’s day out.
Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael
I made good on my promise that since Formula One were practising in the racing circuit next door to my town, I would go along and catch some of the action. In spite of the time of year the weather could not have been more accommodating over the three days from February 1st to the 3rd. It was as though someone had taken the sun and given it a good polishing so that it really did shine brightly. It became so hot that we all had to shed our heavy coats and sweaters, and more than one person came away with sunburn.
I was quite amazed by the numbers that came to see these guys practise. They were not racing, it was just going around the track, the wrong way for them, to kick-start their skills after the break. The stands were packed and everybody and his brother brought a camera, but the problem was, there was absolutely nothing to take a picture of, unless you had some kind of pass that allowed you up close to the cars.
On the day I attended, the most exciting thing that happened was that one of the drivers did not give sufficient respect to one of the corners and he spun out. The gasp from the crowd was wonderful. Otherwise, the degree of excitement that registered on everyone’s face was about what you get when watching everyday traffic.
Still, all the big names were present going through their paces and it was good to be back in the season. On a sad note, we could not have had any idea that we were seeing Mr. Kubica’s last Formula One performance for some time. We wish him a full and speedy recovery.
With an uneventful experience from the track I feel I must complain about something. Having arrived fairly early and parked where directed, as usual I walked away from my car without taking any notice of where I had parked it. At that time there were very few cars there. However, everybody and his brother came later and totally overwhelmed the car park, so finding my car took the better part of about 25 minutes of walking up and down and around and around looking for a black car in a sea of black cars. Had my car been stolen I would not have known it until very late in the day.
Even if I had wanted to be more careful there were no section notices. However, security takes the prize for just plain stupidity. It seems that they had some kind of criteria about what could not be taken into the stands, but they set-up their checkpoint after the tickets sales, and about as far away from where you left your car, to stop you and to tell you that you could throw your stuff into their massive container. Bloody fools! A really great way to spoil one’s day out.
Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael
