G.P. at Albert Park

[colcol]

So once again for the 30th year in a row, uncle Col goes to the Grand Prix, new Formula 1 cars are good, 1.6 V-6 turbo motors with lots of power with help from green technoligy, when they brake power is generated and fed into batteries and they send power to the electric motors, if you want something developed quick, have a war [not good], or get motor racing to develop it, as the ones that succeed become wealthy and the ones that finish 15th lose their sponsorship and loose their jobs.
V-8 touring cars good as well, close racing, 5 manufacturers, Shane Van Gisbergen wins 2 races in the VIP Petfoods VF Commodore, Scott M, the 20 year old Kiwi, is one of the most exiting drivers for a few years, right up the front with the new Valvoline/Wilson Security Volvo, Qualified and finished ahead of the Falcons and Mercedes Benzes.
The Sportscar division of Volkswagon also have a race, which is a place for up and coming race drivers to learn their craft, and for ex touring car drivers to keep race fit for the endurance drives, the racing is close and the cars sound good....and they have boxer motors, race winner Steven Richards driving the Laser plumbing and electrical car won the second race and lapped one of the tailenders.
Now the bad, they still waste our time and money with the celibrity race, out of all the celibrity's running, i knew 3, Tora Bright, Megan Washington and Catrina Rowntree, who are all the others? , no idea at all, this year they are driving the new Mazda 3 - 2.5 litre V-6, you would think Mazda would have learnt their lesson after last years carnage, most of them suffered severe damage, yet Mazda won't race in the touring cars or finance the Mazda rally team.
Then you have the speed comparison, where they get an elderly David Coultard driving an old Formula 1 Red Bull car, Steven Richards or Craig Lowndes driving a Red Bull VF touring car Commodore, then they have 5 times motor bike champion driving a Hot Mercedes road car, then they get them to do a lap, and time it, then the handicappers do their work, so that the 3 have a handicap race and they all cross the finish line together, and from this we work out that a Formula 1 car is quicker than a touring car and the hot Mercedes isn't as quick as a touring car, when this was first done about 10 years ago, it was mildly interesting, now its just a yawn, or as uncle Col would say, some snoozy time.
These 2 hopeless events should be replaced by Appendix J historics, so we can see Mini Coopers, mark 1 Cortinas, EH Holdens, Hillman Imps, Studebaker Larks and any other Touring cars from the early 60's, they actually did have them one year and the stands were full every race.
Touring Car Masters, this is where they race touring cars from the late 60's to mid 70's, with Ford Mustangs, Falcon Sprints, American Motors Javelins, Holden Monaros, Holden Toranas, Chevrolet Camaros, Falcon Hardtops, Porcshes, they are well prepared and driven, by a number of ex touring car drivers, when they win, they get a reduction in revs, to keep the competition even.
We pay our hard earned money, so we should get more entertaining racing than the current crop, my 2 cents worth, Colin.

[lombardi]

AGREE with you on the useless celebrity race, i wonder if they have this crap at other F1 events round the world, as for the F1 cars, used to give me goose pimples the noise and roar of the engines, unfortunately after attending both practice sessions yesterday can confirm that pleasure is no more.Sat at several locations including near corners,ok on the straights but when the F1 car nears the corner it is virtually silent with some audible type of hiss ,i guess this is the sound of some green engineering power, luckily u can still hera  the gear changing, when the car revs out of the corner there is some old passion in anger sound but nothing like before, I guess this is another thing u can cross of as being improved for the new regiment-- but ruined for the fans and the spectacle-- will still follow F1 because i love it,but as usual the public is the loser, all in the name of progress--NOT--

[colcol]

The Formula 1 cars are not as noisy as before, but to me they still make an acceptable amount of noise, Formula 1 cars of the 80's era with 1.5 unrestricted turbos, well they were noisy, in Adelaide, Nelson P.K. in his BMW turbo hit the rev limiter crossing the finish line, and it was like a bomb going off.
But its not all bad, there are plenty of [clean] toilets and food and drink stalls close by, and they are not opening the gate 10 minutes before the Formula 1 starts, so you are still lining up and the Grand Prix cars are going around.
As a curiosity, on thursday the much hated, [by me], Mazda 3 celebrity race failed to go out on the track as per program, due to 'unforscene issues', we talked about it and said that they had all had engines failures, the computer nanny had shut them down due to them all speeding, we were wrong, it seems that the tow hooks were not good enough, and on friday they all had tow hooks complete with a length, [about 100mm] of tow rope hanging out the back, anyone know the story?, Colin.

[f1fascination]

As for what other GP support races are like, we caught Monaco in 2007 and they had Porsche Carrera Cup, Formula Renault V6, and Formula 3 I think.
Formula Renault was great, and showcases the up and coming talent in Europe, and the Carrera Cup was the international series, with more up and coming talent, not just cashed up weekend warriors or touring car has-beens, no offence intended of course.
The best support races at the Albert Park GP are all the historic sports and racing cars that are still hanging around from the Phillip Island Classic.
It's true, Melbourne's GP has become a hub for "celebrities" and advertising, with over-cautious security staff telling you where you can't go because you don't have the right pass, even though you paid a King's ransom for it 6 months before the event.
If you want to enjoy racing as it should  be, get along to Phillip Island or Historic Sandown or Winton.
At least you can see some great cars without all of the other bollocks.

[colcol]

Daniel Ricardo did a great job in qualifying, in the Redbull race car, he was on the right tyres at the right time, he was on intermediate wets, which looked a bit dodgy, but it paid off, his teamate Vettal, not so, he went into the garage, for a bit of a tweak to his car, they changed tyres and he went out at the last moment, but it started bucketing down, and he had a few wild slides, and it was all over for him, he missed the cut in the final qualifying and will start 13th, much to the approval of the crowd who cheered when he missed out.
The Martini racing Williams Mercedes, look great, like some sort of retro Formula 1 car from the 70's, white with the classic Martini colours, reminding you of the Martini Racing Brabham Alfa Romeo cars of the 70's and the Martini racing Lancia's of the 80's, they just need a 3rd car for Susie Wolf....Colin.

[Garibaldi]

Col, a major part of attending the Grand Prix was the noise. There was nothing like a Formula One engine at full cry, it resonated through your whole body and let's face it that was an important part of the attraction. Motor racing is meant to be noisy, I really don't why the FIA felt a need to make the cars quieter. I have read reports that they are trying to create a stronger link between the F1 cars and production models, and certainly a lot of the technology developed in F1 does eventually filter down into road cars but as we all know there are very few similarities between the two. It will be interesting to see whether the crowd numbers decrease this year as a result. Noise aside, well done Daniel Ricciardo we will all be supporting you this afternoon.

[ANG156]

Ricciardo's old man Joe, was sports sedan champion in 1992 with an alfetta gtv v8. The family business ricciardo earthmoving would sponsor the aroca wa club. I remember seeing an add years back.

[colcol]

The Touring car race was a cracker with Scott M, winning the final race in his Valvoline Wilson Security Volvo, and because of the points he had racked up in the previous races, he won the round of the weekend at Albert Park, first time race win for Volvo in the V-8 series, was it a popular win, you betcha, with the crowd giving him a standing ovation, Craig Lowndes in the Red Bull Racing VF Commodore was second overall in the points.
There was also a race in the new Mazda 3 with someone winning it, second was another driver and third was someone else.
The Formula 1 race was also good with Sebastion Vetal getting some of Mark Webbers bad luck, Vetals Red Bull Renault suffering from a lack of boost on the warm up resulting in no power, he had to park it so as not to damage the engine, as they only have 5 engines for the whole year and 5 gearboxes, if they replace an engine, sorry power train or gearbox, then they will get put back x number of places on the grid.
Young Daniel drove a great race in the second Red Bull car, did everything he was supposed to do and ended up on the podium second and also Kevin Magnussan on his dubut race for Mobil 1 Mercedes McClaren was third on the podium, it looks like it will be a good year in Formula 1, Colin.