The long walk to the track from the bus drop off point. On the way back, we tried to cut the corner by going through the brush. It worked out great until we hit the stream crossings. I should have gotten a pic of the log we walked across. Falling off would have been memorable!
After the race, we started walking at 3pm. We got to our car at the airport at 5:30. I resisted letting the Lot 1 parkers know that in Lot 2 we only pay $7 a day. They paid $40 for three days. Suckers!
The view from the stairs of the south bridge. I got stuck on the bridge for half an hour around noon on Friday. On Sunday, the race organizers had people organizing the flow so that didn't happen. One fellow stuck fan quipped, "Friday is practice not only for the drivers, but also for the fans. We will not use the bridge ever again!"
General Admission seating at Turn 11. These are the tickets Spiffster gave us. Spiffster has fine taste in tickets. This seating was FAR superior to the bleachers, and the view of the race was good. What you are seeing now is some Mercedes wagon that has been modified to do the same lap times as the SLS pace car. The pace cars took every opportunity to "practice" racing around the track. Lucky!
My $6 folding chair out performed dad's $25 chair because it was lighter, yet just as comfortable. We were hoping that ten percent chance of rain would bring rain, but the skies were clear. Beer was $9 a can, and they sold rapidly. The rule was no more than two per person, but I saw one guy buy four just by saying they were for his friends.
Before the race, the drivers paraded around in classic American convertible cars. Somehow they got even Kimi to wave. Perhaps they threatened to take away his ball cap.
The white car is an early 70s Buick GS. My dad has one and has been auto-crossing it since he bought it in 1970.
Right before the action there was a fly-over of these four planes. You know what they are so I won't bother naming them. There were also some parachutists that came down with American flags. They took their time coming down so the planes had to go fly around over Austin until the skies were clear. Notice how high they were. I would have preferred 200 AGL. F1 fans like excitement.
Here is me trying to take a picture of Alonso, and failing. The poor guy just couldn't catch the two leaders, who seemed to be in a class of their own.
Here is a bad picture of the leaders right before Hamilton passed Vettel for the win. It was nice to have the German leading and the British man winning. The Perez fans were quite wild and I recommend not associating yourself with those hooligans. The British fans wore their flags with dignity and pride.
A couple other people showed up to watch the race. Hats were $50. They were nice hats. Judging by the lines for the official race gear, they could have charged $100 for the hats and still sold out. I learned that F1 fans like wearing clothes with car company logos, the more the better. Somehow the car companies have convinced people to advertise for them by selling them $300 jackets. That is clever marketing. I suppose they are advertising that by wearing a Ferrari logo they are living the Gangnam Style lifestyle.
One must-have on race day are those Fanvision radios. We will be renting one next year. The cars are so loud that you never hear the announcers, and they don't show all of the action on the screen. We had to ask a neighbor what happened to Weber (hey man, his pit seems like it's taking forever
).