Thanks for posting that vid. I was wondering how that looked from an outside perspective. That was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me in a racecar. I was going about 130 mph when I went to brake for the hair pin and the pedal went to the floor. The brake fluid completely boiled. I pumped the brakes over and over and could not get anything. The only thing I thought to do was pitch the car back and forth and try to bleed off as much speed as I could. It worked for the most part, I saved the car and just need to repaint the bumber cover.

Hope you were there for the race, it was crazy. I will post our official press release soon. Basically after getting totally ****ed on the start by the guy in front of me, and getting shuffled back to 8'th, we managed a forth place finish and moved into second in points. Thanks for coming out. The first link is broken by the way.

 

Yeah, visibility sucked with the GA tickets. My friend and I watched some of the race where the emergency vehicles entered the course...no barriers, fences, or green screens obstructing the view. And of course the bridges were a cluster f@ck. We waited half an hour while they let foot traffic from the other side use the walkway. Plus, for the longest time we thought those loud bangs were backfires, turned out it was the cars jumping the tracks. Glad I didn't pay for the tickets...radio perks whoo hoo! Hope these issues get fixed for next year! Only wish SF would do something like this.

 

Roo looks like you had the best time at the track hands down.

 

it was really hot, and I had no problem with that except that some people need to learn how ot use deoderant. oh man...some people REALLY needed to use some...lots of hot girls out there...but it's a real turn-off when they smell worse than hairy men in a crowded gym.

my friends and I went on an impulse, and randomly found a hole in a gate, and we just walked in and watched for free. definitely worth the trip since it was free. I Don't know about those 100 dollar tickets though. glad I didn't pay.

 

most of my complaints have already been voiced, but I'd also like to add that their crappy *** maps had me running around the parimiter of the event for two hours looking for my seats, even the event staff couldn't tell which way was up on them damn maps!

great racing BRIAN, definatly came up after getting the shaft at that start

 

Yes! The maps needed to clearly state where one could and could not go. I was also disappointed that there was nowhere to take good pictures. Laguna Seca is so much more fun because of the elevation changes. It makes for much more interesting racing and a much better spectator experience.

I like the idea of a Grand Prix course, but in typical San Jose fashion, it was not executed very well. Too much thought was given to proximity of businesses and not enough thought was given to the spectators enjoyment.

 

All-in-all, pretty good for a first event. Some definite hiccups, but nothing major.

As for the maps.....I'll mention that the folks in charge (and I'm talking WAY up in the command chain for the SJGP ) were still trying to figure out some of those things as of Thursday afternoon. Yes, dead serious on that! Needless to say, not everything filtered down to the volunteers and staff as quick as one would hope.

My guess : things will go a lot smoother next year.

As for spectator experience : next year, volunteer with SCCA or similar. My "seats" were better than almost ANY paying customer, and they didn't cost me a dime! Hell, I even got to park for free INSIDE the track . Well worth the time to volunteer.

Working on getting together the pics. 2cam16 and -j- : if y'all see this, let me know. Figure that between the three of us we can throw our pics/video together somewhere on the web since they'll be mostly the same shots anyways (and I'm pretty sure you both got better pictures than I did, esp Sunday).

 

We got two rooms on the 18th floor of the marriott inside the track and watched saturday and sunday. We had a good view of turn 10, but the rooms dont have balconies, so we spent both days on the inside of the track.

A couple huge Champ Car fans of mine came up from LA and had a great time, although we have similar complaints as others. We never got to the outside of the track because the foot bridges were too crowded. Organizers said they're gonna fix that next year.

The best views we got (GA) were inside turn 4 (w/big screen), inside turn 6 (w/big screen and shade) and in front of the hilton where we watched the start of the race and saw the cars jumping the light rail tracks. It was an unreal sight and another thing that they will be fixing next year.

My friends have been going to the Long Beach GP for 10 years now and they said that race is a lot more fan friendly due to the many areas where you could see the track from General Admission. The SJGP is more of a grandstand seating race since only they really got a view of the track and the screens. Still, we all had a great time.

Other fixes needed include more food/beer vendors, wider walkways in spots, more big screens and/or PA speakers.

Surprisingly, there was a ton of parking even on race morning. Some buddies of mine came in sunday morning and found street parking two blocks away. I guess everyone got scared with driving and took light rail. I took light rail in and it was pretty crowded, especially after the race. At least light rail was free and convenient.

Overall, it was a great weekend for Champ Car and San Jose. Over 150,000 people came over the three days, so it's in the interest of the city and the businesses to fix all the issues that came up in this first year. And with all the people that snuck in (you could just walk into the hotels during the night w/o a ticket if you had friends there and then just stay there for the races the next day), there is even more potential to draw people in.

 

More Bridges



-Ave

 

I'll put my pics in a disc Ed and give it to you at GGF. I unfortunately couldn't take too many pics on Sunday cause I had the wife with me and and we were just walking around, but Rob looked like he had his big azz camera so he may have been able to get nice shots.

 

There isn't much point in paying admission if you can't see the track. Part of the problem was the huge number of billboards on the perimeter fences. I realize that they need to show the sponsor's ads, but these blocked a large amount of trackside viewing.

I might go again, but I'd probably just go for the Saturday qualifying sessions. We could only see about 5' of track on Sunday and ended up watching the race on the jumbotron. If I can only see a TV, I might as well stay home and watch it on Speed.

I realize that it is never going to be as good for spectators as Laguna or Infineon, but it was disappointing.

 

i thought it was pritty cool consideriting its the only race ive ever been too, the drifters were ok i was expection better the racing was ok and the crowd was huge! but ill be there again next year!

 

I wish I got to ride in the pace cars! Well..not the scion but the mustangs for sure.

VTA was free that day?!?! damn, I want my $1.75 x 2 back. heh.

 

I realized later that those signs are also placed at the apex's so that the driver's do not get distracted by the fans. On the green flag there where lots of camera flashes going off right along the fence. Very distracting. I could be wrong though.

 

Hmm, you could be right. However, it looked to me like they were all set up opposite TV camera positions as bill boards. Most of these cameras were opposite the corners so they could view the cars as they approach and exit the corners.