hiya YH,

      I went back in 1996 and after seeing damon hill take P1 in qualifing i was looking forward to a great race day.

      I sat in the braking zone of Copse Corner, good view bac down the straight even tho you cant see the grid, gr8 view of pit exit and just a good a view of copse corner, even though Damon Hill fell off the track on lap 27 right in front of us it was still an amazing day, including great races in other formulas such as Renault Spiders, British Touring Cars and so on.

   The following year i went for 2 days, friday and saturday and went home to watch the race on tv.

    In 98 i booked a holiday to spain 40 miles from barcelona, a couple of days after arriving i pointed out that the Grand Prix was in Barcelona, my partner still hadn't got a clue that my plan was coming together and she offered to treat me, so off i went with a guy i met at the hotel and payed cash on the gate, what a great day we had, but sadly when we returned, that guy or his wife who stayed at the hotel with my girlfriend didn't drink or really speak to us for the rest of the holiday. lol.

TIPS & ADVICE

     I had a general addmission ticket too and there was about 26 different gates and the track for general addmission, but BEWARE cos the track is split in to sections, for example... you can not enter the circuit via copse corner and walk round to hanger straight. So decide where you want to sit before going or check out different sections on friday and saturday if pos.

    Take a deck chair with you and a cool box full of your chosen beverage.

    We arrived at the gates of copse corner at approx 4am only to find 200+ people in front of us, Get comfy and start drinking.

     I would advise you to purchase a center transfer ticket if you have not already, this will give you access to the pits for all other formula's, but not the F1 paddock. Im not sure if there is access to these pits from all sections tho, i gained access from copse corner via a tunnel under the track.

    Things may of changed alot since i went last went but one thing i can tell you is, YOU'LL HAVE A WEEKEND THAT YOU WILL NEVER FORGET.

The centre of the track, as you mentioned, is only available to those with centre transfers. You can walk around the perimeter of the track, all the seating areas are blocked off though so you won't be allowed in the grandstands. You should be allowed to walk around the track though. I've done it before.

YH wrote:
> Thanks for the info. We (I'm going with Mrs YH) had planned to
> walk around the track and on the friday and watch from different
> places. I didn't realise that you different gates only let you in
> to certain areas, so thanks for that! I guess we'll be in and out
> of different gates during the day as we work our way round.

Bear in mind that my advice is based on my experience over a decade ago, other advice may/will be more upto date.

But i do advise to arrive at the gate early rather than at opening time.

Monaco is always interesting.

Looks like Ferrari haven't given up on the legal case, either.  Since the French court said no to their complaints, they're starting another legal battle.

You can look at this in two ways.  Either they are so passionate about the sport that, despite them keep threatening to quit and throwing their toys out the pram, they're trying to take matters in to their own hands.

Or you could say that the quitting F1 thing is just a way to get their own way and they have little intention of quitting.

Personally I don't agree with the two tier system but it isn't in place and looks like it'll be more likely an overall budget cap will be in place instead.

N.Technology racing team brings the list to new candidates to nine including Lola, Prodrive, Team USF1, Campos Racing, Litespeed, Epsilon Euskadi, March and Superfund.

Also, Brabham have entered their name too. If there are no teams that pull out (which could be a lot of teams pulling out again if recent news is to be believed), then only 3 get in.

Yeah, I've had to give my place up for this year. I've been having sinus problems all year so far and it's been affecting my ears, which is not good as the cars are very loud.

Remember the snoozeathon that was the Spanish GP ?.Check out the final lap of last weekends Moto GP race at the very same circuit : Here

With the top 3 riders all tied on points at the top of the championship i'm going to Donington in July instead.

Work breakfast, yey!

Strangely, I past the pastries and went straight for the summer fruit; cherries, rasberries and strawberries. mmmm.

Fruit is good.

Hope YH has a good time. 

Well, looks like FOTA have decided that enough is enough and had enough of the overbearing money grabbing FIA.

Brawn GP, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso are all thinking of quitting F1 to set up their own championship, which may also mean racing back at Silverstone and Montreal, 2 of the fan favourite tracks that have been taken away from the Formula 1 calander.

There is time yet for the FIA to turn their ideas around and get everyone to sign up for 2010 but it's looking more likely that Williams will be joined by a few new teams and none of the big names that usually bring the money in.

Personally, I'm not surprised.  Between Ecclestone and Mosely the Formula 1 brand has become bigger than ever.  Yes, they rescued the brand and the races at a time when it was going through a bad patch but now they're making rules left, right and centre without asking the teams.  It also seems completely money motivated instead of fan motivated, taking on new tracks from rich nations willing to pay sky high fees for racing at venues that aren't even completed by race day and dropping other fan favourite tracks because they can't afford the fees or keep the venue up to the exacting standards.

Cheers pb, we had an excellent time - went with Mrs YH.

The campsite we were staying at had a hotel where some of the drivers were staying, so saw some of those on Thursday night. Got some photo's and some autographs etc. Heikki looked at me a bit weirdly when I wished up luck and shook his hand, but there we go...

All three days were excellent at the track. Spent Friday walking round to see where the best spots would be to watch from on the other days. We started off in the Grandstand at Copse – there was a great atmosphere when the drivers took to the track at the start of frist practice. We then watched from Maggotts/Becketts and the grip the cars have is awesome.

We watched from the breaking zone of Abbey on Saturday, and it's ridiculous how late these things break, and still make it round the corner.

On Sunday we sat at the exit of Stowe, so we could see the end of the Hanger Straight, round Stowe, through Vale and off out of Club. Saw some close racing from here in the GP2 and the Porsche supercup race, plus the Alonso/Heidfeld shennanigans during the main event. It’s funny how the race seems to got a lot quicker when you’re there. It didn’t seem like much time had gone and already there was only ten laps left. And we didn’t fall asleep! Despite being in the track at half 6!

Vettel was pulling away so quickly. Seeing it in the flesh was awesome, every lap he came round he was even further ahead.

We went over to the post race party too (hosted by Tony Jardine), and saw the interviews with Jenson, Lewis, Sitrling Moss, Jackie Stewart, Vettel – a top bloke by the way!, Webber, Ross Brawn etc. The best quote was from Ross Brawn:

Tony Jardine: So, Ross, what happened today?
Ross Brawn: We got our @rses kicked.

Why doesn't he answer questions like that when interviewed on the telly?

looks like you had a great time YH!  I'm envious!

"There will be no split"
Looks like 2010 is sorted out. It can only be good news as it looks like an agreement has been reached for the FOTA teams to continue.  I'm not surprised that there has been a compromise really.

I sat at Luffield a but for the Renault World Series last weekend, mainly because my mate got sun burnt and wanted to sit the shade :-)

I've finished going through the F1 pictures and have added some more - F1, GP2, Porsche Supercup and Formula BMW.

On the exit of Stowe was pretty good this year, we got some side by side stuff from Alonso and Heidfeld for quite a while.

Right, off to sort the RWS pictures now...

Grandprix wrote:
> Congrats Mark Webber. Fully deserved and about time he won a
> race.

Agreed.Hard to think of a bloke who deserved it more.Stuffing Vettel in his own backyard after a drive through penalty was no mean feat.

Barrichello looked well hacked off after the race.Can't see Ross Brawn being too thrilled with those comments ?.

Barrichello pretty much says what he feels anyway, but it was a bit harsh considering that they made a mistake that wasn't human error.

He'll have some grovelling to do to Brawn no doubt!

Good race anyway and I agree, it was nice to see Webber get the win.  My speakers nearly blew when his voice came over the team radio. You could say he was at least slighty happy by the win....

Seems to have been a spring from another car, but I still say it came from an odd angle...

It did look as though he breaked though, so probably not unconcious unless there was an automatic system.

Anyway, utter confusion and comedy at the end with no-one knowing their times.  What were Brawn playing at as well? They put Button out for just one lap on Q3, no wonder he ends up 9th.

Well done to Alonso, though for pole tomorrow.

Massa is to undergo surgery due to 'Skull Damage'.Doesn't sound good : Here

I hope he recovers. What a legend, and what a bad way to go.

Renault suspended for the European GP for knowingly releasing Alonso with a loose wheel and not notifying the driver. Renault are appealing.