Yeah, I remember the BS they tried for safety in those days, for sure.

I had a short conversation with Mark Donohue at Road America shortly before he went to Austria for the GP, where he got mangled (head injury) by the catch fencing.

A couple years before that, an Illinois legislator tried passing a law requiring a rail around all race tracks in the state, after a spectator fatality at a drag race. It took a large delegation of people from all forms of racing to convince the guy that we didn't need a fence made of 4"x4" square wood beams, mounted two feet off the ground on 4"x4" wood posts, and topped off by a 2" braided steel cable.

Horrible memories for those of us who were active in racing sports back then.

Bit of flooding at COTA with all the rain central TX has been getting.

Supposed to be wet Fri/Sat & dry Sunday.

The race is live Sunday on ABC, replayed that evening on ESPN2. I'm not seeing practice and qualifying being shown on either.

That picture above is from 2015 fortunately. Some wet weather would spice up the action. I just hope it isn't as bad as 2015 when some of it got washed out.

My Directv guide shows the practice and qualifying on ESPNHD, #207 on Direct.

The race is on ABC at 1:30.

Formula 1 boat race?

My apologies for the out of date photo. Copied from an article & didn't see it explicitly mentioned that it was from the last COTA flood.

RE: Practice & quali:
FP1 & FP2 on ESPNU
FP3 & Quali on ESPNews
Race on ABC (live) & ESPN2 (replay).

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
Formula 1 boat race?

Vettel's ride:

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
The race is live Sunday on ABC, replayed that evening on ESPN2. I'm not seeing practice and qualifying being shown on either.

I use this site to show the TV and streaming schedule for the weekends.

http://tvracer.com/

It only updates about 2-3 days before the events. Streaming locations are usually at the bottom. HTH

Un-believable!!! Well sort of, Vettel getting a three place grid penalty for not slowing down fast enough under the red flag. So either he just doesn't care anymore or just cannot stop making mistakes. Could they make it any easier for Hamdouche to get the championship????

quote:

Originally posted by cfiore:
Un-believable!!! Well sort of, Vettel getting a three place grid penalty for not slowing down fast enough under the red flag. So either he just doesn't care anymore or just cannot stop making mistakes. Could they make it any easier for Hamdouche to get the championship????

I can't cite any of this but I read that Vettel is under pressure to produce a WDC next year or he's out. Also mentioned is he's becoming somewhat isolated in the team. Not a surprise if he's losing focus.

His teammates notwithstanding, I've always thought he was a major asset to have on board, very involved with all aspects of what a driver should be. Between Ferrari in particular and F1 generally, keeping one's head above water eats people alive.

Today was a wash (literally) not much on track in FP2. We missed most of FP1, was nice to sleep in for once.

A bit disappointed in the merch setup this year. Last year, each team had their own booth & a larger selection. There was prior season overstock available last year too.
All 10 teams, Pirelli, Senna, and general F1 merch was all in 1 tent together. Really crowded & not restocked quick enough.

FanZone stuff was set up better this year. The F1 2018 'simulator' set up was twice as big & it was all working this year. Last year they only had 8 stations & 2-4 were constantly down.

Didn't hear the 2 seater, guess it only runs in the dry.

Cars are a bit louder this year, I think. The Honda still sounds weird, compared to the rest.

That was a great race!

I honestly did not expect it to turn out that way, and having three cars cross the line within 4 seconds was pretty exciting. If you missed the race, I suggest you watch a rebroadcast.

By the way, I was appalled at Trevor Noah's (from the Daily Show) interview of Lewis Hamilton on Thursday night. If you have not seen it, it is the reason I will never vote liberal. He suggested that as a black man, Lewis Hamilton looks like he is out of place in F1, and that by his race he would be putting "speakers on his (F1) car and playing hip hop". What an utter douche.

I noticed that all the drivers and team members stood for the National Anthem, even the Russian guy.
Great race and an outcome many will be happy with.

Great wheel to wheel action with Verstappen & Hamilton.

& Kimi's immediate post race interview was great & classic Kimi as to be expected.

Great race, really feel bad for Daniel. Was at a small corporate event in Miami last week and had Daniel and Verstappen stop in to speak with us. Daniel is a hoot, gave my buddy a hard time about partying in Austin, Verstappen wasn't done with Puberty yet, etc.

But when asked about what he wants to achieve and how to stay focused - he talked about wanting to win a Driver's Championship and that meant hard decisions and hard work. I think we got some insight into why he left for Renault - at Red Bull, he would not be allowed to be champion - at Renault there is a chance.

Very cool experience, he is all smiles and comfortable with a crowd and Verstappen is all business. Hell of a drive from both and give them the Mercedes or Ferrari and either would likely be champion,IMHO

Not a snoozer, finally. That track always seems to give a decent show.

Hope P250 enjoyed his trip!

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
Not a snoozer, finally. That track always seems to give a decent show.

Hope P250 enjoyed his trip!

Working through the 3k photos I took. Race review probably tomorrow.

Anybody notice Kimi took his hat off when General was making presentation? If you pull up the video, he also asked him to step up on podium.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
Anybody notice Kimi took his hat off when General was making presentation? ...he also asked him to step up on podium.

Maybe because he's the only driver up there who has served in the military