Paid Members BigJag Posted May 25, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 25, 2018 (edited) Cheers Thommo. Here's a nice little piece about Dan Wheldon's son's visit to the Brickyard. https://www.indycar.com/News/2018/05/05-24-Wheldon-Hot-Wheels-karting Edited May 28, 2018 by BigJag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted May 31, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted May 31, 2018 It's the Isle Of Man TT and practice is already underway. First we had the insanity of a spectator walking on the course during practice, and getting dealt with pretty swiftly. https://www.autosport.com/tt/news/136387/spectator-jailed-for-entering-tt-course Then the tragedy of the death during practice of up and coming rider Dan Kneen. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/44311030 The TT is the most insane motorsport event that there is. People die every year doing it but it is the ultimate test of rider skill and bravery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Monkee Posted May 31, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted May 31, 2018 On 5/21/2018 at 9:14 AM, ThommoLincs said: Ironically the race I went to in Singapore has some nutcase on the track. I'd highly recommend looking into a race abroad. I've been to Silverstone, Singapore, Melbourne and Monaco and unfortunately all of those beat Silverstone hands down for atmosphere and peripheral activities and events going on. It's not as expensive as you think either. If you want pointing in the right direction or have any questions, give me a shout. I’ve done Melbourne, Barcelona, Istanbul, Monza, Spa, Turkey (x4), Monaco and Silverstone (x3). Doing Silverstone again this year and Monaco again next year. Silverstone is probably the poorest circuit out of all of them for general entertainment, facilities, atmosphere, excitement and pricing. I’ve only ever paid to go there once (won tickets, had free tickets) and the only reason I’m doing it this year is because I don’t have enough holidays to go abroad so can only take the Friday off work. Abroad works out cheaper at most European races (incl Monaco!) and you can combine with a holiday for the price of a long weekend in Silverstone. Turkey was my favourite - hence going 4 times - and cost less than Silverstone for flight, accommodation, grandstand tickets at the last chicane, and all over about 5 days. The facilities were great (except it being miles outside Isatsnbul), great circuit, great events, good food and weather, and fans from all over. It was something like £103 for 3-day grandstand ticket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BigJag Posted May 31, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 31, 2018 Wow! I never knew that F1 was such good value for money on the continent. Coventry are having their annual Motofest this weekend. They pretty much turn the city centre ring road into a time attack track. Well worth a visit if you're anywhere near the area. Lots to see and experience. https://www.coventrymotofest.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted June 1, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 1, 2018 It's MotoGP from Mugello in Italy this weekend. A great track with some great racing. A couple of years ago the first 4 in the Moto3 race were separated by 2 tenths of a second so close racing guaranteed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted June 1, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 1, 2018 Sorry for the double post but Michele Pirro has had a huge highside in practice for the MotoGP today. I'm going to embed the BT Sport version of it because the full version is pretty horrific. He did lose consciousness and he did dislocated both shoulders but he is moving his hands and legs so that is a relief. I've been watching bike racing for a long time and I don't think I've ever seen such a big highside as this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BigJag Posted June 2, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 2, 2018 That's crazy. Just from that small clip you can tell he's going to be in for a very unpleasant meeting with the Tarmac. One of the commentators refers to an airbag system. Is that something that is on the bike or part of the riders overalls? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted June 2, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 2, 2018 They have an airbag system inside the race suit. Somehow he seems to have come through that crash with just concussion and a dislocated shoulder which is a miracle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BigJag Posted June 2, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 2, 2018 https://rideapart.com/articles/how-motorcycle-airbag-suits-work That type of system definitely would have helped to mitigate his injuries. The forces in play to throw him from the bike and spin him in the air that way must have been phenomenal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted June 2, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 2, 2018 If you look at the clip, when he starts to brake his weight his on his left side and the bike starts to come round on him, as he tries to correct that it comes back around the other way in an almost whiplash type effect. That's what corkscrews him into the air like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BigJag Posted June 2, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 2, 2018 Yep. Got all squirly on him. Like a bull trying to chuck a cowboy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Monkee Posted July 11, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 11, 2018 (edited) I was at Silverstone last weekend and had the best time ever! My mate won a pit walk for Thursday so we got to see into the garages and met Leclerc, Ericsson, Vettel, Jacques Villeneuve, Anthony Davidson, and the Sky F1 Team (minus Brundle ☹️) and saw Hamilton, Bottas and Magnusson. On Friday, 3 of us were sitting around avoiding the sun when a guy from Silverstone TV asked if he could interview us about how our weekend was going. As a thank you he gave us inner track upgrades for Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, my mate and I went to the inner track and, as we’d been told there was a shuttle to take you to the other side of the circuit, we went looking for it. Asked someone how we got to the back of the main straight and got told to get on a people carrier that was waiting. We didn’t think it was right as there were plenty of regular buses and this one had some posh blokes in suits on it. Anyway, this took us to the Drivers’ Club. So we got off, took some photos, were greeted with a smile and nod from the guy at the entrance, found a table near the barrier and got an amazing view of the classic car race. We got given free bottles of water and parked ourselves in prep for qualifying. It was still an hour or so away though so my mate decided to go for a wander inside the building. About 10 mins later she came back and said we had to leave. Apparently we weren’t meant to be in there, security should have asked us for accredition and it was about £5k per ticket! We laughed and left quietly. We headed towards the paddock instead. Saw the media entrance and the media pit where they were doing some interviews with the drivers. Then walked along the fencing and came to the main paddock entrance. First person we saw was Robert Kubica but wasn’t quick enough to get to him before he got in a car. We did meet Zak Brown and Claire Williams though and had pictures. We then got to watch qualifying in the Vale Hospitality grandstand right next to the pit entrance. After quali we decided to hang around the paddock entrance go see who else we could see. Billy Monger was there, and Nico Rosberg chatted and signed my German flag. It was quiet for a bit so I was looking on my phone at the football when a head popped up in front of me and a guy says “I got you in here!” I didn’t have a clue who he was for a minute then realised he was the Silverstone TV guy from the previous day. He was asked if we enjoyed it and his it was going. I jokingly asked if he had any spare paddock passes. He looked around, looked at me and just said quietly, “Give me half an hour.” True to his word, about half an hour later he came back with 3 paddock passes for me and my mates! We couldn’t believe it! He let us out of the fan pen, put the VIP passes around our necks and led us into the paddock. It was so surreal. We were right between the Ferrari and Red Bull motorhomes. We walked towards the free bar first where everyone was watching the football and C4 F1 were doing their post-quali coversage. First person we spotted was Johnny Herbert so we stopped to talk and have photos. You can actually see this towards the end of C4’s Saturday show. Then we went wandering to see who we could see. We ended up meeting Hartley, Raikkonen, Vettel, Paddy Lowe and Rob Smedley, Jackie Stewart, Nick Hamilton, Ted Kravitz, Kubica, Toto Wolff, Suzie Wolff, Alex Wurz, Gutierrez, Perez, Ocon, Stroll and Jenson Button, and we saw Hamilton and Ricciardo but they were just running past. We watched the football on a massive screen, had a couple of drinks and then headed towards the stage in the main area to watch the driver interviews. As we were leaving, one of the other Silverstone TV guys said that we had to go to the backstage area to do another quick interview just to talk about our experience. So we did. There were loads of people already waiting for the drivers to show up. We asked for the guy we were meant to see and he eventually came over. He again opened the barrier and invited us backstage. We did another quick interview and then he told us to just hang out, make ourselves comfortable and the drivers should be showing up soon! As we sat there, a fleet of people carriers came in one by one. Leclerc and Ericsson got out first, went on stage, did their interviews then left. Next was Bottas followed by Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. Bottas left and we could hear all the screaming and shouting when Button and Hamilton got on the stage. Then it was time for them to head off. They were doing an interview in the back of the car so Hamilton was getting mic’d up and a few people were taking photos. I managed to push my way in and got a selfie. I don’t like the guy but it had to be done. And then it was time to leave! What an amazing day, we didn’t want it to end. We thanked the Silverstone guy immensely and then headed back into pleb-land. None of us really cared who won the race on Sunday after that as we’d already had an amazing weekend! However, what a race it was! We were sat in Stowe to watch and there was so much overtaking and scuffling that it was brilliant. The fight towards the end between the Ferraris and Mercedes was fantastic and I was extremely happy with the result. We went onto the track after the race too and had photos in front of the podium. It was just an incredible weekend. I have so many photos that it took ages for me to download them all off my camera and I’m only now getting my voice back after shouting so hard on Sunday. It’s going to be a couple of weeks until I come down off this immense high 😎 Edited July 11, 2018 by Monkee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BigJag Posted July 12, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 12, 2018 Wow! Thanks for sharing that. Great to see that F1 can still be so much fun. It often gets unfairly maligned. Your unplanned backstage excursion reminded me of when I managed to wander backstage at WM 20. It's the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend. Press day began today. Heres a link to the live stream Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherCrapUsername Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 9 hours ago, BigJag said: Wow! Thanks for sharing that. Great to see that F1 can still be so much fun. It often gets unfairly maligned. Your unplanned backstage excursion reminded me of when I managed to wander backstage at WM 20. It's the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend. Press day began today. Heres a link to the live stream How the he'll did you manage to wander backstage at WM 20? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BigJag Posted July 13, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 13, 2018 I just managed to wander down a corridor that was strangely bereft of people. Didn't actually see anyone. As in wrestlers. A security guy soon sent me on my way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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