2004 Indianapolis Formula 1
Part 1
Well, it finally happened. Been there, done that. Got the T-shirt. Literally. Even the T-shirts are nice. It wasn't Canada. Didn't hear a word of French the whole time I was there. No Customs agents. No funny money. The cars were the same awesome devices, only faster. I don't have the audio files or the skills to manipulate them to fully describe the sounds of Formula 1. I wish I did. It truly is indescribable. Once again. Still.
Since we'd never been there before, we all planned to get there on Thursday so we could do some reconnaissance of the hotel, taxi, restaurants, and other important things like that. I got in at about 8:30 AM, B got there at about 10 AM, Dave & Tammy got there about 11:15 AM. While I was waiting for B to get there, I luckily found a bar that was open and it was right across from the security exit he'd be coming from. Fate, I'd say. So where else was I going to sit and wait? I had a breakfast burrito and a Bud. As luck would have it, there was a guy in there who'd been to the Indianapolis F1 before, so we talked about this and that. Where to watch qualifying, where you couldn't go, things like that. He was pretty helpful. Soon enough, B arrived. I explained that we had about another hour to wait for Dave & Tammy so we went to the bar. We hadn't seen each other since October of 2003 during my convalescence, so we had some things to talk about. We had a couple of beers. Finally Dave & Tammy get in. So what should we do? Get a cab? Want to eat something here? I think Dave might have noticed we were a few ahead of him, and it didn't look like it set well with him. We went back to the bar. To plan.
Turns out Indianapolis is pretty big. We stayed in a nice hotel, a Residence Inn, on the north side of the city. The taxi ride from the airport was a little over $40.00. We asked the driver (Frank, he said) what it would be from the hotel to the track and back (we would have to make six trips). Habib, I mean Frank answered about the same. Yak! $240 for cab fare this week, just to the track and back. That's what we were paying for the hotel! O.K. Turns out it was even more. So we learn, albeit slowly.
Friday. Practice Day - First Practice
The practice sessions for Formula 1 aren't like those for Indy cars (the IRL). Indy cars take up pretty much the month of May to sort things out. F1? One day. Two one hour sessions. All the cars together, all at once. Learn the track, set up the car, decide on your tires. Today. Never mind if it rains half the time. Get it out there. Qualifying for the race is tomorrow. It's the way it should be. We'll be watching the first practice near the end of the back straight, at the entrance to a fairly abrupt left hander, Turn 8. See the map. It's hot, probably about 86° - 88°, and the track temperature has got to be way up there. Looks like a promising day.
I hadn't heard an F1 car since Canada last year. When they started rolling out we were just getting to the end of the back straight where we wanted to be. We could hear them coming. They sound like howling banshees. We started hustling across the bridge over the back straight just as the cars streamed toward us, shifting up toward 5th or 6th gear as the came, revving to over 18,000 RPM. It's clearly impossible, but they do it anyway. So we watched there for a while. One after another, flashing under us at I'd guess 150-160 MPH or so. First lap, first practice. They'll go faster later. I could feel the vibration of the bridge through my sneakers. The noise is really ear drum piercing. I can't explain the cloudiness of my eyes. Right after the bridge they are hard on the brakes and coming down 3 or 4 gears for the left hander there. We watch them approach the bridge hard on the gas, and then for a while turning in to the turn hard on the brakes. Typically the first lap of a practice is just to shake things out and then pit to see if the crew can find anything wrong, or possibly change a wing or suspension setting to try to pick up a hundredth of a second here or there. So at the end of the first lap, we took advantage of the lull to situate ourselves along the nearby berm to watch turns 8, 9, 10, & 11 for the rest of the first hour. This was the perfect beginning. Bliss.
Go to Part 2
just a thought. bill brower, 23-Jun-2004
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