OT: Melbourne GP gripe

Just thought I'd share my frustrations with you. Went to the GP, paid through the eye teeth for a seat in the stand, only to have a partial view at the best of times, through the 5 metre high steel mesh fences. Last year I could at least see the cars un-obscured, as the seats looked over the fence, but no more. Also, the stand was badly oriented, facing directly across the run-off area of turn 9, instead of looking down the straight towards the cars as they came into the corner. So looking to your right as the cars come down, they are even more obscured by the steel mesh and support posts. I guess these are the problems associated with a temporary circuit and obviously the results of the death of a marshal last year, but I think a little more thought could go into it. Have a look at this to see what I'm on about. www.southeastweb.com.au/GP_03/stand_view.jpg Cheers, Glenn

Careful Hack <[email hidden]> wrote in news:iH9ba.680$LT.2151 @newsfeeds.bigpond.com: > www.southeastweb.com.au/GP_03/stand_view.jpg Wow, what a terrible view!

Oh man, you (and everyone around you) got screwed.

Your name wrote:

Quoted text (8 lines)

> Careful Hack <[email hidden]> wrote in news:iH9ba.680$LT.2151 > @newsfeeds.bigpond.com: > > >>www.southeastweb.com.au/GP_03/stand_view.jpg > > > Wow, what a terrible view!

Yep! And all that for only $349.00 Aust. Glenn

Your name <[email hidden]> wrote in news:z7bba.441264$[email hidden]:

Quoted text (7 lines)

> Careful Hack <[email hidden]> wrote in news:iH9ba.680$LT.2151 > @newsfeeds.bigpond.com: > >> www.southeastweb.com.au/GP_03/stand_view.jpg > > Wow, what a terrible view! >

Was there a jumbotron big screen within view? The reason for the new fences, I would guess, is the death of the (marshall or photographer?) when a wheel separated and plowed through a gap in the fence in a recent F1 race there. Insurance companies probably forced them to improve the fencing all around the track. dave henrie

Dave Henrie wrote:

Quoted text (15 lines)

> Your name <[email hidden]> wrote in > news:z7bba.441264$[email hidden]: > > >>Careful Hack <[email hidden]> wrote in news:iH9ba.680$LT.2151 >>@newsfeeds.bigpond.com: >> >> >>>www.southeastweb.com.au/GP_03/stand_view.jpg >> >>Wow, what a terrible view! >> > > > Was there a jumbotron big screen within view?

Yeah there was a screen opposite. >The reason for the new > fences, I would guess, is the death of the (marshall or photographer?) when > a wheel separated and plowed through a gap in the fence in a recent F1 race > there. Insurance companies probably forced them to improve the fencing all > around the track. > dave henrie Yes, that's it Dave. The marshall was struck by one of Villenueve's wheels while standing in front of an access hole in the fence... but you're right, insurance, and there was a public outcry at the time. Glenn

"Careful Hack" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:iH9ba.680$[email hidden]... > Just thought I'd share my frustrations with you. > > Went to the GP, paid through the eye teeth for a seat in the stand, only > to have a partial view at the best of times, through the 5 metre high > steel mesh fences. They were pretty huge eh? Well FWIW I have never paid the extra for a seat in the stands and have found the best viewing to be right on the entry to turn 6. You get to see the big twitch under braking as well as being one of the closest points to the cars themselves. I've been the the GP every year except one since it came to Melbourne. I was about 50 metres to your right on the Saturday and had an unobstructed view from the exit of the sweeper, through the chicane. Unfortunately the screen was just outside my FOV. I'm sorry to hear that you had a poor view as the racing was pretty good this year. <snip> > I guess these are the problems associated with a temporary circuit and > obviously the results of the death of a marshal last year, but I think a > little more thought could go into it. The first couple of years at Melbourne I'm pretty sure the Clark stand was oriented to face down the straight. Unfortunately the hill overlooking that chicane have been more and more populated by General Admission people like myself and I think the stand has slowly moved around. Interestingly the death had nothing to do with the fence height but was in fact the access hole in the fence where Vills. tyre and wheel went through the fence and hit a marshall square in the chest at 250kph. It was a totally freak accident. The fencing is a PITA and made it very hard to get decent photos. I did get some great shots of the brabham v8's running around the circuit and later on in the paddock so I'm happy to post them to a bin group if anyone is interested. I still miss Adelaide - one of the great street circuits. iksteh

Quoted text (22 lines)

> Just thought I'd share my frustrations with you. > > Went to the GP, paid through the eye teeth for a seat in the stand, only > to have a partial view at the best of times, through the 5 metre high > steel mesh fences. > > Last year I could at least see the cars un-obscured, as the seats looked > over the fence, but no more. > > Also, the stand was badly oriented, facing directly across the run-off > area of turn 9, instead of looking down the straight towards the cars as > they came into the corner. So looking to your right as the cars come > down, they are even more obscured by the steel mesh and support posts. > > I guess these are the problems associated with a temporary circuit and > obviously the results of the death of a marshal last year, but I think a > little more thought could go into it. > > Have a look at this to see what I'm on about. > www.southeastweb.com.au/GP_03/stand_view.jpg > > Cheers, Glenn

Yeah, I was in the 'Fangio' stand and even there the steel mesh seemed a bit like overkill. One of the problems with buying tickets to the GP is that you can choose which stand you're in but the quality of seating position within the stands varies a lot and it's the luck of the draw. I guess if a car rolled and was tumbling towards me, I wouldn't be to bothered by the steel mesh. ; ) It was an amazing race though, and I had a ball at the GP. I did have one gripe too though - the screen opposite my stand looked like the resolution was wrong. All of the times on screen were unreadable. It kind of looked like a laptop LCD that's not running in its native resolution. I considered it a major blunder on the part of the organisers - it was the main screen for the main stand at the track. I taped the race too but to my extreme disappointment, Channel 10 in their infinite wisdom decided to do their own commentry for the race with none other than Bill Woods and Neil Crompton - ugh! Channel 9 tried something similar in the early days and were flooded with complaints. I'll certainly be complaining in writing to Channel 10. Whilst Channel 9 often neglected overseas races, their coverage of the Australian GP was way better than Channel 10's first effort.

In article <iH9ba.680$[email hidden]>, Careful Hack <[email hidden]> writes:

Quoted text (12 lines)

>Also, the stand was badly oriented, facing directly across the run-off >area of turn 9, instead of looking down the straight towards the cars as >they came into the corner. So looking to your right as the cars come >down, they are even more obscured by the steel mesh and support posts. > >I guess these are the problems associated with a temporary circuit and >obviously the results of the death of a marshal last year, but I think a >little more thought could go into it. > >Have a look at this to see what I'm on about. >www.southeastweb.com.au/GP_03/stand_view.jpg >

Whoa, that sucks... Eldred -- Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett GPLRank:-1.680 MonsterRank: +334.169 N2002 Rank:+17.59 Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you with experience... Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Bad luck there, although you could've checked your seats at ticketmaster7 to the last centimetre before you bought them. At least you know for next time. That's a shocking photo, general admission get a better view at around turn 16 for a fraction of the cost - and they get a big screen. I paid the same and sat in the Senna stand, on the last turn, so they came within 10 metres of us and we could also see the pit entry. Wasn't too bad at all. Sam Newman walked right in front of me when he stacked his lambo. Unfortunately due to the heavy steel fencing we couldn't look down the straight :/ Better safe than sorry I guess. massivechicken p.s. how bad was the sun over the weekend? I've turned black! "Careful Hack" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:iH9ba.680$[email hidden]...

Quoted text (23 lines)

> Just thought I'd share my frustrations with you. > > Went to the GP, paid through the eye teeth for a seat in the stand, only > to have a partial view at the best of times, through the 5 metre high > steel mesh fences. > > Last year I could at least see the cars un-obscured, as the seats looked > over the fence, but no more. > > Also, the stand was badly oriented, facing directly across the run-off > area of turn 9, instead of looking down the straight towards the cars as > they came into the corner. So looking to your right as the cars come > down, they are even more obscured by the steel mesh and support posts. > > I guess these are the problems associated with a temporary circuit and > obviously the results of the death of a marshal last year, but I think a > little more thought could go into it. > > Have a look at this to see what I'm on about. > www.southeastweb.com.au/GP_03/stand_view.jpg > > Cheers, Glenn >

mchicken wrote: > Bad luck there, although you could've checked your seats at ticketmaster7 to > the last centimetre before you bought them. At least you know for next time. I bought them over the phone, but the GP website didn't have seating plans like it did last year, so I didn't really know how lousy the seat would be... althought without the fences, I still would've had a reasonable view.

Quoted text (12 lines)

> That's a shocking photo, general admission get a better view at around turn > 16 for a fraction of the cost - and they get a big screen. > > I paid the same and sat in the Senna stand, on the last turn, so they came > within 10 metres of us and we could also see the pit entry. Wasn't too bad > at all. Sam Newman walked right in front of me when he stacked his lambo. > Unfortunately due to the heavy steel fencing we couldn't look down the > straight :/ Better safe than sorry I guess. > > massivechicken > > p.s. how bad was the sun over the weekend? I've turned black!

Yeah! And wasn't it hot on the Friday sitting in the Stand?!

Damien Smith wrote: > It was an amazing race though, and I had a ball at the GP. I did have one > gripe too though - the screen opposite my stand looked like the resolution > was wrong. All of the times on screen were unreadable. It kind of looked > like a laptop LCD that's not running in its native resolution. I considered > it a major blunder on the part of the organisers - it was the main screen > for the main stand at the track. Yeah, the screen in front of us was like this too. Pretty ordinary! > > I taped the race too but to my extreme disappointment, Channel 10 in their > infinite wisdom decided to do their own commentry for the race with none > other than Bill Woods and Neil Crompton - ugh! Oh, great! Just hope they don't bring the shouting Diffey in on the act! I can't stand James Allen either, but at least Martin Brundle knows what he's talking about... he's actually been there. Glenn > >

iksteh wrote:

Quoted text (9 lines)

> Interestingly the death had nothing to do with the fence height but was > in fact the access hole in the fence where Vills. tyre and wheel went > through the fence and hit a marshall square in the chest at 250kph. > It was a totally freak accident. > > The fencing is a PITA and made it very hard to get decent photos. I did > get some great shots of the brabham v8's running around the circuit and > later on in the paddock so I'm happy to post them to a bin group if anyone > is interested.

I got some shots of the Brabhams in the historic garage and even a pic of a Brabham signed on the spot by old Black Jack himself. He's amazing, 76 and he was out there driving with Stirling chasing him. Glenn

> I got some shots of the Brabhams in the historic garage and even a pic > of a Brabham signed on the spot by old Black Jack himself. He's amazing, > 76 and he was out there driving with Stirling chasing him. Yeah, I got goose bumps seeing Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss and Co. driving past me in their Brabhams and Coopers. They weren't crawling either - they were doing 200kph+ down the straight.

Hell yeah, the Friday killed me out of all the days...it was sooo bad....I seriously lathered sunscreen spf30+ on every 2 hours and I was still red as buggery in the evening. Now everyone in the office calls me the Austrian because I'm all brown and my hair is sunbleached - it's a pisser. I'd never been to the GP on race day before because I was convinced I'd get a better idea of the race from watching it on TV...but it was so much better being at the track....the feeling of excitement was just incredible and the race was quite easy to follow with the big screen....I'm definitely going again next year! Might buy a mexican sombrero this time though haha. Regards, massivechicken "Careful Hack" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:htOba.1917$[email hidden]... > mchicken wrote: > > Bad luck there, although you could've checked your seats atticketmaster7 to > > the last centimetre before you bought them. At least you know for nexttime.

Quoted text (7 lines)

> > I bought them over the phone, but the GP website didn't have seating > plans like it did last year, so I didn't really know how lousy the seat > would be... althought without the fences, I still would've had a > reasonable view. > > > That's a shocking photo, general admission get a better view at around

turn > > 16 for a fraction of the cost - and they get a big screen. > > > > I paid the same and sat in the Senna stand, on the last turn, so theycame > > within 10 metres of us and we could also see the pit entry. Wasn't toobad > > at all. Sam Newman walked right in front of me when he stacked hislambo.

Quoted text (9 lines)

> > Unfortunately due to the heavy steel fencing we couldn't look down the > > straight :/ Better safe than sorry I guess. > > > > massivechicken > > > > p.s. how bad was the sun over the weekend? I've turned black! > > Yeah! And wasn't it hot on the Friday sitting in the Stand?! >

No big surprise - Jack and Stirling were still racing touring cars (competitively) well into their 60's. Alan Jones is still making appearances in the Australian V8 Supercar series, although he's not as old as the others. "Damien Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:b4ompn$225nv6$[email hidden]...

Quoted text (9 lines)

> > I got some shots of the Brabhams in the historic garage and even a pic > > of a Brabham signed on the spot by old Black Jack himself. He's amazing, > > 76 and he was out there driving with Stirling chasing him. > > Yeah, I got goose bumps seeing Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss and Co. > driving past me in their Brabhams and Coopers. They weren't crawling > either - they were doing 200kph+ down the straight. > >