[}{arlequin]

bear with me, it's gonna be loooong post

This weekend I had a chance to check out the GP live. It was one of the coolest things that I've experienced. My first impression is that the machines are LOUD. I mean really, gets-into-your-bone-marrow-hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck-raising loud. It may be louder due to the place I was watching from. It's practically a concrete canyon, but I didn't mind one bit. Disappointingly, all the cars sounded alike, probably due to the unanimous V10 configuration. They did backfire very nicely when off the gas though. (Just like my car ) Somehow the backfires were distinct though, to the point that I could identify the Jordan cars even before they came into view.

My vantage point, arguably, one of the most famous/recognizable corners in the world (apart from Eau Rouge). Nice thing about it is that the speeds are fairly low and you can see the cars accelerate downhill, *really* get on the brakes, turn in, track out, more gas, more brakes, lift the inside front wheel, power out, and continue into the tunnel.

This is Wednesday or Thursday, right before all the practice/qualifying action began. Notice there is no tire marks on the road, yet






JV having lunch.... I wonder how they deal w/ all the attention.




the Bridgestone camp, busy mounting tires all day Wednesday and Thursday




Michelin came out in force (obviously) I think I saw a total of 5 of these rigs




Webber




the MacLaren crew chillin'




most of the tickets were sold out, check out the prices





coming into, through, and out of the hairpin














there were also several supporting races throughout the weekend, including 2 different Formula Renault classes as well as the Supercup

one note on the Cup cars, compared to the 996's, these sounded a lot deeper and bassier. It was almost a V8 rumble.














I was stragnely drawn to this one, even though it didn't have good pace, surprise surprise






this was the leader and eventual winner, don't know how he kept his focus b/c on every right turn his door kept popping open




post race pause, a spinal column of 997's




all the classes use the same pit as the GP cars so after the race this is how all the spares were transported to another part of the city.
Check out the green/orange "tow vehicle"






two different Formula Renault classes going at it






getting lifted off the track




the big boys, right before they go into the tunnel running below the hotel






here you can see the right hand turn preceding the entrance to the tunnel





It was great to see all the action in person. I had a particularly good view of the pile-up that took off Shuey's nose.

Much much later on Sunday (actually Monday morning ) , I had a chance to check out Kimi partying it up celebrating his victory. All the Finns (all two that I know of) seem fridgid during the interviews but this one really let loose afterwards. Wonder if Mika was like that too.



there's more, I'll post the rest later

[BillJ]

One word - WOW

did you mention this last weekend?

[}{arlequin]

not really, trying to keep a low profile

[Parenn911]

Wow is an understatement!!! I am in absolute awe!

Now that's my definition of a "Euro Trip". I'm green with envy, you lucky dog you.

[Mike W]

I am so jealous. This is the race I have ALWAYS wanted to see in person.

Edit - I want to see all races in person... this is just top on my list.

[jsaindc]

Dave, those photos are incedible What size and how fast of a lens did you have? The photos were very clear and sharp. I experienced the Canadian Grand Prix but did not get any shots like that. How was Monaco in general?

[Charlie Stylianos]

wowee, wowee Thanks for the writeup and pics, Dave.

Any grid-girls pics to share

[}{arlequin]

Monaco is really really fun. (this is an understatement)

The place rocks. I've been there few times before, but this was my first GP weekend. I always seem to miss it and all I end up seeing is the tire marks on the roads to remind of all the car stuff that I miss. Even w/o the motorsports going on, it's a heaven for any car guy. I'll post pics of that later, but there is everything imaginable on wheels running around the streets. It's not an exaggeration when I say that no matter at what time, and what place you're in, if you look in any direction you'll see a Ferrari, Lambo, or several of them at any moment. It's a playground for grown-ups.

In the bars/clubs, I've ran across Paris (yes *that* one), Kimi, Kid Rock, Mick Doohan, even George Lucas, and many others. (It's the first time that the GP weekend coincided w/ the Cannes film festival, and since it's only an hour away there was plenty of movie celebrities spilling over) I even saw Mika Hakkinen sitting at a red light. Think about it, former world champion, stuck in traffic!

It's also ridiculously expensive. This is just a sampling of the prices, but I saw signs in some bars for a non-alcoholic drink the price was 20 euros, a leaded one will set you back 30 euros. (It's $1.35 per one euro!!) One place charges over 70 euros for a glass of champagne. A bottle of Absolut in a club, 350 euros.

The place is crawling with some of the hottest women, (some are poor, looking for a rich daddy, some are filthy rich, but they are all smoking! and when you look at them, it just doesn't matter. They are very leggy ) Their beaches are slightly different too Besides the sand, there's always a deck w/ a bar that has tables etc.... basically a cafe in the sand. Lots of waitstaff running around serving drinks and food etc. One place has waitress outfits comprised out of daisy dukes-type of shorts and pasties. That's it... the entire "uniform" Funny how quickly you can adjust to seeing that in every direction that your head turns....

Since I went w/ my dad, I really didn't want to go into perv-mode and take pics of every a$$ that I saw, besides, I would've run out of memory cards. As for the grid girls, they tend to hang out near the grid and we didn't have access to watch the race on the straightaway. Not that good of a view there anyway (at least not of the race...)

The camera that I'm using is a Sony DSC-V1. Only recently while rummaging when packing, did I realize that I can get an attachment long range lens for it. All you see was taken w/ the regular feature zoom built into the camera. I used between 220-350 shutter speed.

[Eli]

Very nice Dave. Keep us posted!

[rs911t]

We are not worthy. Too damn cool!