13 replies to this topic

[BAR up]

Well, it's the day before the day we start the fun. Wednesday. I wandered around Albert Park today, snuck into the pits without credentials and spent 1 and a half hours righ there. The track is ready, the kitty litter is being painted, and the when I heard the sound of my first engine for the year (except for testing in Barcelona), my hear skipped a beat. They were all there, all on show. The last of the decals were going on the cars as I wandered up and down. It is 29 degrees today, and will be for the next 2, then 30, then maybe showers race day.
I spoke to Ralf's engineer for about 10 minutes, then hespoke to some touring car drivers next to me and told us some interesting things. He said the BMW unit was not up to scratch yet, and that they would not expect to go race distance for at least a couple of races. He said that Williams were used to 'bulletproof' engines, and now they had to deal with leaking engines and other problems, but that they had good data on how to overcome other things that some teams take too long to work out. He said the unit was underpowered and unreliable, and he works for BMW!!
He also said the Jenson was fast, and because he hadnt had a big prang yet, that he wasn't scared to throw it around, but he seems to always make it stick. He said that he expects BMW/Williams to get a few points, maybe a podium, but really end up getting 10th-14th place mostly, when they do finish.
Then I bumped into an old mate of mine who is driving one of the mefical support cars for the event, and they told him to go for some familiarisation laps in his supplied BMW doctors car. He asked if I wanted to join him for a few hot laps. Naturally, i was in the car before he finished his sentence. It was wild. The track looks great, a little dusty,but the sweepers and the drag and support races should fix that. I went to my seat. Right in front of grid pos. 7- opposite Hakkinens pit. Superscreens to the left and right. The cameras are ready, the engines are revving. It's time boys and girls.

[Cinquecento]

Oh man, I'm thousands of miles away and you
took me there for a minute. Thanks mate, I
loved that post.

[Rainstorm]

I envy you, BAR Up.... thanks for the post though, it was indeed great.

[A3]

Great post man! Did you alrady see the new arrows in its new livery??

[slc]

Wow...great post !! Thanks for the info and atmosphere-preview.
Couldn't it be saturday already ? Please...

[Laphroaig]

Same here Everything starts to itch each time I see something about F1!
About 40 hours left till the first times start rolling in!

[Daemon]

A3- Saw some pre-launch photos. Its umm, Orange, very orange, sickly orange as a matter of fact. It didn't have any other decals apart from orange, so maybe that will add to the look, but the black car was much nicer. But hey, they need the money.

The launch is this time tommorrow, and with launch in Melbourne, with Mark Webber being announced as test driver, maybe it will get him some attention from the businesses over here for sponsorship. Hope so.

[A3]

Deamon, I've seen the pics too, but I don't think (hope) it's going to look like that.

[Mat]

how the hell did you get into the tarck on Wednesday!?!?1

Will we see ya at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow on friday night??

Everyone come along!!! Check the post, 'who's going to albert park' ( i think thats what its called) for details.

Mat

[doohanOK]

Okay, it's ****ing impossible to get past the security guards. How did you get through the pits, or are you bluffing?

2nd, how did you get into the track?!

Please Explain..hehe!

regards,
doohanOK.

[RedFever]

BAR Up, just a question. You mentioned they were painting the kitty litter. Did they place also a sign "Jos this way"?

[Mary]

BAR up, wow! Thanks for the post!

Mary

[Keith Steele]

Great read BAR up, and indeed a chuckle inspiring comment Red.

[BAR up]

Glad you liked the post. To be honest, I didn't realise that the park was closed to the public until I had already been in there for an hour! I parked my car right in front of the security guy at the gate, about 10 meters from him, and as I went to walk through the gate, another car pulled up and started talking to the guard, and I just walked in! He saw me but didn't care. I only got hassled once to leave, said 'yeah, OK' and then just kept standing there, and the security guy moved on!
Anyway, I'll post my Thursday report in another topic.