drakkie
08-21-2006, 03:53 AM
Yesterday was the second edition of the F1 demo in Rotterdam. Last year it was very rainy and we hoped to get some better weather this year. The sun was shining when we set off from our hometown,but the closer we got to the city,the rainier it got. Just south of the river Maas the rain started. Even though we arrived early (around 11am) we had some trouble to find a good photography spot. Eventually we ended up on the north side of the Hofplein roundabout. We were lucky we found ourselves among some great people to talk about anything automotive. Albers(?) did a short test run of the track at about 11:30 and immediately the rain started to fall,when he was around the corner.The audience was well equipped with umbrella's luckily.
In the following two hours some more cars came by for a test run and everytime one passed us,it started raining.Were the cars cursed or something we wondered ?
When the event started at 14:00 the sun had still not succeeded to break through the clouds. Our Dutch prime-minister H.Potter came by in an open Bentley together with the organiser and the major of Rotterdam.Yet again when they left the roundabout it rained,this time much harder as before. The track became almost un-driveable and our feet got wet because the sewers couldnt handle the water... Thank god my camera didnt get wet enough to break down. Some rows from me a man was cursing because his digital slr had broken...
In the next few hours the weather remained on the edge of sun and rain. The Demo's of the Formaula 3 and Formula Renault drivers were quite fun and we had a god laugh at Ho Pin Tung spinning his F3 right in front of us :) Niko Rosberg,Cristijan Albers and Tiago monteiro did a driveby and Monteiro succeeded to stall the engine of his Midland F1 while doing a donut.
Many,many more cars came by including some street cars. The most fun were the go-karts that came by. Three drivers did donuts right in front of us and one broke down. We hard from a friendly security man that his axle had broken.
In the end the day was worth the trip.The very nice people made the day even better. Only recommendation i have for the organisers is to have the cars following eachother closer. Now it was often 1-2 car(s) and then almost 30 minutes nothing,which was quite annoying.
In the end we struggled to get our feet moving towards the subway again... We managed to get home swiftly and while enjoying a cold beer we told the people that stayed home about our day.
Pictures were all taken with my Fujifilm S5600 camera on automatic modus.
In the following two hours some more cars came by for a test run and everytime one passed us,it started raining.Were the cars cursed or something we wondered ?
When the event started at 14:00 the sun had still not succeeded to break through the clouds. Our Dutch prime-minister H.Potter came by in an open Bentley together with the organiser and the major of Rotterdam.Yet again when they left the roundabout it rained,this time much harder as before. The track became almost un-driveable and our feet got wet because the sewers couldnt handle the water... Thank god my camera didnt get wet enough to break down. Some rows from me a man was cursing because his digital slr had broken...
In the next few hours the weather remained on the edge of sun and rain. The Demo's of the Formaula 3 and Formula Renault drivers were quite fun and we had a god laugh at Ho Pin Tung spinning his F3 right in front of us :) Niko Rosberg,Cristijan Albers and Tiago monteiro did a driveby and Monteiro succeeded to stall the engine of his Midland F1 while doing a donut.
Many,many more cars came by including some street cars. The most fun were the go-karts that came by. Three drivers did donuts right in front of us and one broke down. We hard from a friendly security man that his axle had broken.
In the end the day was worth the trip.The very nice people made the day even better. Only recommendation i have for the organisers is to have the cars following eachother closer. Now it was often 1-2 car(s) and then almost 30 minutes nothing,which was quite annoying.
In the end we struggled to get our feet moving towards the subway again... We managed to get home swiftly and while enjoying a cold beer we told the people that stayed home about our day.
Pictures were all taken with my Fujifilm S5600 camera on automatic modus.