Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
gridwalker wrote:Probably my favourite was watching the Renault F1 team play God Save The Queen using the engine note of their championship winning engine, back at the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed
Not F1 but i thought i'd throw in my racing experiance anyway:
I was at Le Mans three years ago and i was one of the years that had the historics competing. So my dad and I walked into the historic car's paddock and wandered round to the back of the old '88 Group C Jags that they had. Someone inside saw me peeking in and gestured me in. It was amazing the cars were there just naked.
It was amazing because there were about 50 people behind their barriers that they put up and here was my dad and i wandering around, taking pictures, asking questions. My bigggggest regret is that i did not ask to sit in one of them. I asked my dad first and he said no - I think he thought that we did not want to push our luck.
Please excuse the poor pictures..I was young, photography was not my strong point.
I haven't found physical proof so far, may be my mother someday will find it among my dear late father's stuff:
1977 Brasil GP, my father was a director at Citibank here in Brasil. Citibank sponsored Tyrrell and my father got me to the paddock. The experience was much diferent back then , we watched the race from the grass in the back of the garages, above 'Laranja' and the old 'Ferradura' tunrs (http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficheiro:I ... s_1973.jpg).
We spent saturday and sunday in the paddock, and I got to seat in the car. I was 9 yo by then and have watched pretty much every race since then.
I went to the Goodwood Festival of Speed back in 2004, saw all the F1 cars/show cars that were there and got myself the autograph of one driver... *don't laugh...*
Christiano da Matta.
Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars, thinking "where the hell is the ceiling?!"
gridwalker wrote:Probably my favourite was watching the Renault F1 team play God Save The Queen using the engine note of their championship winning engine, back at the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed
Silverstone 2004 - I was in the paddock on the Thursday (no running but lots of work for the teams setting up the cars etc). Having spent a lot of time in the team garages I went for a walk along the paddock. As I walked between the Ferrari pit and motorhome who should step out but Michael Schumacher. I just stuck my hand out in front of him. He shook it and then when I wished him luck for the race he realised he didn't know me and chicaned around me in to the motorhome. Short guy (as most of them are).
In 2003 I was sitting in the Minardi motorhome having a spot of lunch. I was also chatting to a rather attractive lady. A tall chap came over and talked to her. Turns out to be her boyfriend. Also turned out to be Justin Wilson (remember him?). They were going to walk around the track so I cheekily asked if I could join them. Had an interesting 3.5 mile walk with Justin explaining the track from the driver's persepective. Quite enlightening.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.
In 1977 my Dad was an area manager for Texaco. They'd sponsored James Hunt in his '76 title year and one of the garages my dad looked after had arranged to have his racecar in their showroom for some kind of promotional stunt.
My Dad drove our family car up to McLaren HQ, left it in the car park and came back driving a long wheel-based Land Rover towing an M23 on a regular car trailer, covered with an old tarpauline. It wouldn't fit on our drive so he had to park it in the street overnight.
Next morning we got up, my dad uncovered that car so that me and my brother anc a couple of friends could have a sit in it. Then we covered it back up and my Dad drove us to school, F1 car and all.
Now I accept that this may not have been a fully race-spec car but it had Hunt's name and blood group stencilled on the side like they used to back then, and it looked the part to an 8 year-old me. And even just the fact that they just let my Dad drive it away on a regular, open car trailer is a nice, historical reminder of how different F1 was back then.
Whatever - it was the coolest thing to happen ever in my life at that point, and made me the coolest kid in school for a week or so, too (not something I was used to as one of the geeks).
Anth wrote:Na, simon (woody) or mutely, as he was know as at mclaren
Small(ish) world - I didn't know Woody but know some of the people that were friends with him at the Lotus owners club and heard about his tragic accident.
Lovely stories gentlemen!Makes us younger people feel a little jealous of the past glory =D>
Closest "contact" with F1 was in 2006 if my memory serves me well with Kimi Raikonnen's MP4-20.The car was displayed under a Johnnie Walker event.The car was just a display,missing the engine of course but brakes was still on it (although im not sure about other mechanical components).Unfortunately the only thing i had to capture that beautiful thing was a cellphone with a poor quality camera... At least i have something to remember!
It was at Mosport, September of 1974. As mentioned in previous posts, it was a different time, and getting close to the cars and drivers was much different than now.
Before the official start of the Grand Prix, the Canadian national military aerobatic team (the Snowbirds) put on one of their better shows. I should know, having witnessed scores of them. There was an overcast on this cold but dry day, and they had to stay below the clouds, which made things interesting. Mosport has a natural depression in the north end of the middle of the track.
When the airshow began I was in the garages, but found a back door to get a good view of the flying. It was weird, standing behind the garages before the race, and when I glanced around at my surroundings, there was no one else, except about twenty feet away was this little guy with a huge nose and neat moustache. His hair was slicked back, and of course, this was none other than Graham Hill.
He was just taking in the airshow, and there was no way I was going to take away from this great man any spare time available before a race. So for about ten minutes it was just him and me, just chilling and watching the aircraft.
It was so incredibly weird, that in the hustle and bustle of a noisy Grand Prix weekend, this little spot temporarily became an oasis of calm and quiet, and I was in the right place at the right time.
Racing should be decided on the track, not the court room.
Mine may be a bit lame, but there was a Jaguar R2 at the Grampian Transport Museum in Alford a few years ago. Don't know if it is still their. Sadly I didn't have my camera in with me, but I found this photo of it in-situ:
A couple of years ago, after I had finished a survey of a small unit up at Altens lorry park in the south end of Aberdeen, I was just driving out of the park when in came a Ferrari clienti truck. I still kick myself for not loitering and showing plenty of interest in the truck and hope to see what was in the back. Hopefully it was an F1 car.....
And if that wasn't bad enough, whilst walking along Albyn Place one afternoon, outside the offices of Pricewaterhousecoopers was a Ferrari F1 car from the 80's, I can't remember which model being loaded onto a trailer.
- I think he thought that we did not want to push our luck.
