F1 Grand Prix

Generally I'm not really in to motor racing but I've seen a bit of TV. After being at a live F1 Grand Prix race I've decided (and Matt agrees) that TV does not do the sport any justice. What we mean is, you just can't quite capture how extraordinarily fast these F1 cars go, how loud a sound they make (so loud we had to wear ear plugs and you could hear them half way across Melbourne) and truly how exciting the race really is. On TV the race seems to go on forever but we were so caught up in all the excitement that it felt like it was over in a flash.

A very unhappy Vitantonio Liuzzi

Not only did we get to see the world famous Michael Schumacher racing around the track but we saw a car crash out right in front of us, we could even smell the burnt rubber from the skidding tyres. The driver, Vitantonio Liuzzi (Toro Rossos) just got out shaking is head, totally unscratched and was driven off on a motorbike. Meanwhile his car was loaded on to a low loader, with a few bits missing I would imagine and the safety car came out for a lap of the track.

Air display before the race

Once the race had finished the public were aloud to go on the track, people were running to pick up bits of debris from the crashed cars, Matt ended up with a little light and some bit of metal hummm. The steal of the day though would have been Michael Schumacher's wheel nut. He crashed out of the race quite early and at the end they paraded his car around the track, our camera battery was dead by this point annoying. Matt went up to the car (you know to say 'I've touched Schumacher's car') and noticed a loose wheel nut and when no one was looking he started unscrewing it. Just as the nut was about to fly off in his hand the low loaded started to drive off up the track - gutted, we could have a got a few bob for that on e-bay! The track at Albert Park is actually a public road but with a 20km/h speed limit it stops any wannable racers from causing too much havoc.

Michael Schumacher flying around the corner

A great day, I definitely have a new found love of the sport!

One very happy man!

Spectators

Taking to the track

The guy lost a tyre from the crash opps!

The sign that swayed Matt to go

What's left of the car

Zoooooommmmmmmmmmm!