Official F1/Motorsport thread

[mjbrooky]

Final lap was just awesome yes. The Master being the master. End of.

Surprised no-one has mention Simon in the 125 race. N00b lol.
Still, helped Smith out loads as he had a bit of an off-day, click and watch here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...es/8092853.stm

Rossi sir I salute you ... (Lorenzo's not bad either). That was incredible. Even people at work who don't normally bother watching bike racing have been going on about it today. Truely amazing.

Ha ha couldn't believe what Simon was doing. For someone of his experience to do something like that was bizarre to say the least. Like you say David, helped Bradders out a bit thankfully. How gutted with Simon be, if those points dropped on Sunday will turn out to cost him the title to Smith

[Mr_Skinny]

Anyone know where I can go on a general admission ticket? We're only going Saturday and the website says view from 'banked areas' but doesn't say where these are. I wonder if we can get inside the track? I think I've seen somewhere though that Silverstone doesn't do inside access unless on a VIP ticket though.

With general admission you can go pretty much anywhere around the outside of the track, apart from the seated areas like the grandstands. Good views can be had though as you'll be closer to the track than those in the grandstands.

You always used to be able to get into the middle part at certain times but I've not been for years so not sure if this is still the case.

[cutmymilk]

So my lovely girlfriend got me tickets for Silverstone this weekend. We are going along to the qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday, sitting in the Grandstand on the pit straight. Just wondering what time we need to get there realistically? I notice the gates open at like 5am!!

You have your seat so get there whenever dude, depends if you want to see support races. If you have a weekend ticket you can sit anywhere on the saturday.

[VR46]

Hope you're going to be wearing "NTSC roxxors your boxers" T-shirts Marmite & Chris.

Last British F1 I went to was in 1999, was a great sunny day, and the traffic wasn't as bad as I was expecting must admit, yeah it was slow moving but I've been sat in worse on the M25 many a time.

[Marmite]

Does'nt sound too hectic then seeing as i've got tickets to a grandstand. Praying for some sunny weather now!

I'm in pit straight A as well Chris - must be the place to be! I'll be the one messing around with my new Nikon D60 and probably missing most of the action in the process!! Actually i think i should get there for the support races so i can have a mess around with the camera in order to ensure i get some decent pics of the F1 cars when they are eventually out on track.

Only been to 1 GP before (Austrian race at the A1 ring when Barrichello let Schumacher through on the last corner) and had a cracking time, so really looking forward to this.

[ChrisF]

That was something I was going to ask.. Are they alright with you taking cameras?

[Alastair]

Yes, fine. No problem at all and there will be a lot of people there with Pro setups in the crowd.

[CMcK]

That's good news about the cameras. I'll be taking the good lady's 5D then. That's a KonicaMinolta 5D before anyone asks. How close can you get to the track with a general admission ticket? I don't fancy humping in the huge Sigma 500mm zoom lens she has but I think the doubler would make things too slow to use with the 300mm zoom.

[ChrisF]

Gonna be taking my 70-300mm Sigma lens that I got for my Birthday off my good wife. Hopefully should get some good snaps, but I suspect I'll be more restricted in the grandstand than you guys with general admission.

Will be great to see everyone's shots after the event!

[Alastair]

Depends where you sit CMcK tbh. I've not been to a GP there but at the test day last year I wouldn't have minded a 500mm lens. My 200 + 1.4x converter wasn't long enough for certain locations. The main problem is getting a spot to view the action where there isn't a fence in the way, these areas will be rammed on Sat and Sun.

Mr Skinny - are the concrete seating areas (uncovered) classed as grandstands or are they open to general admission?

[PeteJ]

I'm taking my 50D and a borrowed 70-300, will probably take my 24-105 in case I can get in real close

[Mr_Skinny]

Depends where you sit CMcK tbh. I've not been to a GP there but at the test day last year I wouldn't have minded a 500mm lens. My 200 + 1.4x converter wasn't long enough for certain locations. The main problem is getting a spot to view the action where there isn't a fence in the way, these areas will be rammed on Sat and Sun.

Mr Skinny - are the concrete seating areas (uncovered) classed as grandstands or are they open to general admission?

The concrete bits are classed as 'bronze terraces' and are supposedly not open to general admission. From the Silverstone website - "General admission
Your ticket includes access to the venue and viewing from any bank area. This excludes access to the Bronze Terraces on all three days."

Map here http://www.silverstone.co.uk/pdf/SI2...t_info_map.pdf

[Alastair]

Yep, I've seen that map and I've been to Silverstone before so what I don't understand is where we ARE allowed to go, the only banked areas I saw were inside the track.

Guess we'll be taking the camping chairs anyway!

[NekoFever]

F1 teams to set up rival series

Formula One has been thrown into chaos with the news that the Formula One Teams Association (Fota) plan to set up a rival championship in 2010.

[Roddie]

Was pretty sure it would happen. Didn't see the teams reconciling by tomorrow. Wonder what will really happen by 2010. You'd have to say that the breakaway series would be the premiere motorsport class if F1 is basically to be made up of teams from lower disciplines.

This will mess the statistics right up!