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Author Topic: Back from France and the race  (Read 1362 times)

Dannyboy

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Back from France and the race
« on: May 31, 2006, 02:57:29 AM »
Wow.  That's really all I can say.  The weather was fantastic.  Nice is a beautiful city.  Monaco is pretty damn cool, as well.  OK, I had tickets for Sat. and Sun.  Saturday, I sat in the GA section, Z1, which is right at the Tabac corner.  Right on the track and about 10' up.  Amazing view and you could smell the exhaust.  It was incredible.  Even saw a couple cars get squirrelly and almost hit the wall exiting the turn.  There were a few different things going on that day.  First up was the Formula Renault practice and then qualifying.  Then came F1 practice and qualifying.  The GP2 race was after that but I only stayed for the first few laps.  The Porsche SuperCup was last.  They moved it back to about6:30 pm for some reason, so I missed it completely.

Sunday, I was sitting in Section E at Nouvelle Chicane.  After I finally found the entrance, I got on the boat across the harbor to get to the stand.  That was kinda cool.  Got there in time to catch the last half hour of the Formula Renault race.  The stand was relatively empty at that point so I was able to stand along the railing and get some pictures of the cars coming out of the tunnel.  I'm not much of a photographer, so a lot om my pics were guesses.  I'd find a point somewhere and when the car went by, I'd take a picture.  Got lots of pics of empty track that way.  It was really hot Sunday so I climbed down off the stand after that race and relaxed in the shade under the stand.  About 1, I went back up to my seat and commenced roasting.  Got quite a bit of sun and I don't look English anymore.  
 
The race started at 2pm.  It was pretty much over in the first couple of laps.  Alonso, Kimi, Webber, and Montoya (I think) were starting to pull away.  I did get to see a few passes at the chicane.  Unfortunately, I was never able to get any pictures.  I did take a lot of pictures though.  I'll see if I can get a couple of them on here.  I'm not sure if I ever figured out how to do it.

Let's try this.  My favorite pic from the whole weekend.  Schumacher during Saturday qualifying


Webber on Saturday


Looking down from the tunnel


Schumacher coming into the chicane


Kimi and Alonso


Formula Renault car coming out of the tunnel


JPM on Saturday



One more thing.  I think Schumacher got screwed and that Flav must have had very sore kness and a sore jaw.  I think you all know what I mean by that.
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client32

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2006, 03:39:32 AM »
That's pretty cool.  It looks like you had a pretty good spot to watch.

I watched on TV.  Alonso just ran away with the race.  I think he finished 16 seconds ahead of second place.  Schumacher went from last to 4th, that was impressive.  Especially on a track that barely has enough room for one car.
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CatsDieNow

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2006, 03:46:38 AM »
I'll be going to the Indy F1 race in July, but Monaco must have been really neat.
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griz

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2006, 04:00:10 AM »
Did you see Schumacher's "stall" during qualifing?

I would have liked to have seen him start from second.  I think he could have made a race of it.  Certainly had the pace.
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Dannyboy

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2006, 04:54:12 AM »
I was on the opposite side of the harbor from La Rascasse, where he stalled it.  I have to say that I don't think I'll ever go to another F1 race again, except maybe the Aussie GP.  I was so close to the track and could see so much that anywhere else is going to be a disappointment.  Monaco was definitely a great place to get my F1 cherry popped.
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wmenorr67

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2006, 07:57:16 AM »
Nice pictures.  One little piece of advice when shooting moving objects, especially fast ones like race cars, get the car in the view finder and then follow the car as you snap the picture, then follow through.  Should get the car clear and the background blurred.  Also helps if you use a high speed film.
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client32

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2006, 08:39:11 AM »
Quote
One little piece of advice when shooting moving objects, especially fast ones like race cars, get the car in the view finder and then follow the car as you snap the picture, then follow through.
It is much easier to get your object that way.  I was watching the Thunder Birds this weekend, and tried to get a shot where the 1-4 cross by each other at the end of whatever the manuever is called where the peel off of one another.  All I got the picture was the tail of one of the planes.
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Dannyboy

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2006, 09:09:22 AM »
Like I said before, I'm not much of a photographer.  I got lots of pics of tail ends and front ends and empty track.

Here are some more.
Pit road on Friday


Scott Speed, the American


The (not so)Super Aguris


Schumacher being held up by Button


Barrichello leading Rosberg and DC


A train of cars


Schumacher.  I liked this one because I caught the wheel off the ground


"One little piece of advice when shooting moving objects, especially fast ones like race cars, get the car in the view finder and then follow the car as you snap the picture, then follow through.  Should get the car clear and the background blurred."

I couldn't really do that because I had to shoot through a chain link fence and I couldn't really get the camera faced far enough to the left to follow anything.  I did get some decent shots as they were making the turn at Tabac, though.
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Laurent du Var

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2006, 11:05:51 AM »
Hello everybody, been longtime lurking without posting, you guys are to good for me ! I've been at the GP in Monaco as well and it was incredible. I live close by and after 10 years in the region I've got my company to paying tickets for saturday in front of the casino and sundday on the harbor (k2) tribunes. I'm still deaf but what a ride ! Schumacker, as usual cheated in the quallifying, beeing first he just stalled
at the rascas bend instead or moving to the side so other pilotes could be having better starting positions, which finally cost him the pole position and made him 9th for the take off on sunday. While I was baking in the hot monequasque sun on the tribune which sold for 420 Euros I could see two girls watching the race from a 60 meter private yacht sitting in a bubbling jacusy.....
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crt360

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #9 on: May 31, 2006, 12:23:38 PM »
Great pictures.  I hope to get there some day before I'm too old.  I watched qualifying, some of the GP2 race and the F1 race.  I agree that Schumacher got totally screwed on the penalty.  If they could prove he did it intentionally, and Alonso had better sector times on that lap, fine, move Alonso to pole and start Schumacher 2nd.  The other drivers had the same 15 minutes as Michael to post a hot lap.  If they want to risk waiting until there's less than a minute on the clock then they need to be prepared to deal with things like yellow flags and not have a fit like Flavio did.  By dropping Schumacher to last on the grid, they turned what could have been a very exciting race among the championship front-runners into a parade.  On the plus side, I think Schumacher set or tied a record for most positions gained at Monaco (22nd to 5th), and it was good to see D.C. on the podium (in a Superman cape!!!).
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garrettwc

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #10 on: June 01, 2006, 04:35:03 AM »
Quote
I have to say that I don't think I'll ever go to another F1 race again, except maybe the Aussie GP.  I was so close to the track and could see so much that anywhere else is going to be a disappointment.  Monaco was definitely a great place to get my F1 cherry popped.
No kidding! There are some places that are just "the perfect venue" for an event. Monaco is it for F1, LeMans if you like sports cars, Daytona in February, etc.

Quote
Like I said before, I'm not much of a photographer.  I got lots of pics of tail ends and front ends and empty track.
Some of those shots look pretty good to me. They're very well composed, tell the story, have lots of color.

Looks like you had a great time. Trip of a lifetime for a motorsports fan.
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Dannyboy

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #11 on: June 01, 2006, 06:35:44 AM »
"Looks like you had a great time. Trip of a lifetime for a motorsports fan."

I did and it was.  I'm definitely going back again.  Hopefully soon.  As far as going to other races, if I have the chance I'll go but it just won't be the same.  I was talking to a couple at the hostel I was in and they went to the European GP at the Nurburgring and they said the seats were a good ways off of the track.  Just doesn't seem like it would be as fun that way.
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jefnvk

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #12 on: June 01, 2006, 12:18:47 PM »
I just want to say I wish you would shut up about your trip.  You are making me incredibly jealous Smiley

I've wanted to go to Monaco for years now.  Kinda died down the past few years since there is pretty much no F1 on TV where I live, but I still want to go.  Think I'll hit up Indy this year though, a bit more in my price range.
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garyk/nm

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Back from France and the race
« Reply #13 on: June 01, 2006, 03:47:43 PM »
Laurent, welcome mon ami. Thank you for the local insight. At some point in my life, I hope to be able to attend such an event. Until such time, I rely on others for the play-by-play.
This has been a very informative accounting.
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