Melbourne Grand Prix

[Graham Las Darrington]

Look well if he does. It wouldn't surprise me as nobody seems to be mentioning him or quoting him, while lot's of other blokes are saying what they will or won't do to whoever will listen!

How's this for finishing order at the melbourne GP:
1. Jenson
2. Mark W
3. Rubins

[Graham Las Darrington]

Melbourne: 01w 02d 05h 8m 10s

[Graham Las Darrington]

Och, I nearly didna recognise heem:


DC = Different Chap?

Melbourne: 01w 01d 12h 44m 22s

[Graham Las Darrington]

Any link come to mind between Jordan and the F team?

The launch of Jordan's 2005 car in Red Square.

Countdown to Melbourne GP:
01w 00d 15h 54m 16s

[Graham Las Darrington]

Excuse me, can anybody tell me the way to Melbourne? - Mark Webber drives a Williams across Sydney Harbour Bridge.


Mark's quoted as saying that the Williams won't be competitive for the first few races. We'll soon see!
Race countdown:
Melbourne: 00w 05d 11h 36m 34s

[Thunderstruck]

Ferrari said the same thing about their cars.

[Thunderstruck]

I was at the street parade today. Not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, it seemed like it was missing something, on the other hand, there was no real publicity as to what it's meant to involve so my expectations weren't exactly focused on anything.

I took a spot on the Flinders Street Station end of the Princess Bridge and recorded snippets of the event but it wasn't the best of spots to tape it.

[Graham Las Darrington]

Webber,Williams,Wow!

[Thunderstruck]

that's not a picture file. no .jpg, .png, or .gif at the end. you need it for the image tags to work

[Thunderstruck]

I wrote something about yesterday's parade for my blog. let me know what you think.
=====

The sky was clear, the weather was cool, the wind was breezy. Perfect day for a Formula 1 street parade. You can feel the buzz as the city closed its riverside streets to traffic in preparation for the big event. BMW-Williams and Minardi were set to unleash their cars in the streets of Melbourne and Ferrari drivers were set to show up at the Town Hall. A sea of red shirts highlighted the late morning, packing the barricaded track-turned streets. Red flags and banners were waving to announce the arrival of the motor racing circus.

Clowns dressing up as pit crews, drummers, and men on stilts entertained the crowd as they waited for the open wheeled V10 powered land jets to roar through the city. Following the dignitaries riding on BMW convertibles that were Melbourne's Lord Mayor, his deputy, senior city council members, and Freddo the Cadbury chocolate frog mascot (don't ask), the event began.

While it was never going to be as exciting as the actual race itself on Sunday, The crowd was in party mode. The Vodafone Formula 1 live site at Federation Square was packed. Heat of the sun tempered off by the breeze, people waited in anticipation with cameras at the ready and earplugs on standby.

A black Minardi driven by F1 rookie Christijan Albers burnt rubber and broke the 30Kph city speed limit with a roaring thunder as he took the car for a spin down Flinders Street, headed left towards the Arts Center by Princess Bridge, did a 180 back towards Swanston before turning right down Russell Street and back to the pit lane at Flinders before handing it over to his Australian team boss Paul Stoddart for another two laps.

A red Holden Commodore and a blue Ford Falcon V8 supercars took over the streets before Williams test driver Antonio Pizzonia flew in his BMW-Williams for three laps and left layers of black rubber donut marks all over the track. Engines turned off, drivers rolled out, crowds cheered as Stoddart, Pizzonia, Albers, and local star Mark Webber greeted them.

The atmosphere electrical, the noise deafening, the smoke rises as the race is on for the first round of the 2005 Formula 1 Grand Prix series.

[TC]

Not bad at all. Sounds like a fun day.

Clowns dressing up as pit crews...

Not quite sure what's so special about that, Jordan and Minardi have been doing it for years....

[steaming stormer]

Off to the grand prix tomorrow for my first visit!!! Looking forward to it. A few beers, a lot of noise and atmosphere... should be good

[Graham Las Darrington]

Thunderstruck said:

that's not a picture file. no .jpg, .png, or .gif at the end.

Yes, that's strange as it was a picture...but with an important bit missing from it's 'properties'.
Anyway here's an alternative with less action but nearer to the Mark. It is from the street parade.

Melbourne: 00w 02d 17h 57m 43s

[Thunderstruck]

I'll be there on sunday wearing my Fila Storm training shirt.

[Surandy]

I'll be there on sunday wearing my Fila Storm training shirt.

Unfortunately I can't make it this year, otherwise I would've been there in my 2003 home jersey, same as last year.