Durban Day1
Today I nipped out in my lunch break to get my press pass for the weekend. I’m off work tomorrow so I can spend the entire weekend at the trackside.
There has been a lot of noise about the A1 GP in the local media these past few weeks. There have been complaints from people who live in flats next to the circuit about the noise levels they will have to endure and plenty of people have been moaning because of the road closures over the past week or two. There is also a journalist who has a weekly column in several local free newspapers who has been criticising A1 GP and the Durban race almost continously since A1 GP started back in 2005. What he has against A1 GP, nobody seems to know and the continual unwarrented ranting at A1 has seemingly led most people to just ignore him. If he doesn’t like it then why doesn’t he go and find something he does like to write about? Overall though I think most people here support the A1 GP, they just aren’t as vocal as the small minority of complainents.
At the moment (8:30pm Thursday) it is raining, the weather forecast for tomorrow is 31c with no rain, there seems to be a possibility of rain on Saturday though which could make qualifying very interesting.
Stay tuned for tomorrows report on the first practice sessions.
Durban Day2
I arrived at the A1 media centre at around 8am this morning only to find out that I had to wait until 9am to get my photographers vest that would allow me access to virtually all areas. While waiting I did go for a walk in the paddock believing that my media card (as last year) would be sufficient, after spending a few minutes there I was firmly informed that I would need the white vest to walk around there this year. I went back to the media centre in the adjacent casino and had another cup of coffee while waiting for the centre to officially open so I could get my vest. At 9am exactly I handed over my R50 deposit and got handed a white vest with number 61 (look for me on TV) on it. I then hurried back to the track and made my way over to the chicane to watch John Watson do a few laps for his TV guide to the track. Last time I saw John Watson drive a car live was at Brands Hatch for the 1983 European GP, nice to see the old orange and silver helmet in a car once again
After Watty had finished his handfull of laps, I decided that I should try and get to the hairpin for the first practice session. Unlike last year I was unable to walk around the trackside and had to go out of the circuit and walk through a couple of streets and then come back into the circuit near turn one. For some reason there didn’t seem to be any place for photographers at the hairpin, there were no holes cut in the fence and it was not even possible to get behind the fence at the point that would be suitable for photographs. At this point I met a fellow photographer and we both agreed that there were far too few spots for accredited photographers (there were three small slots at the chicane, one slot at the last turn and three slots just after turn two from what I saw today, I’m not sure about the far side of the circuit though). We decided to head back to the paddock and then the pitlane where I managed to get quite a few pictures of the drivers and teams preparing for the rookie session.
While most garages were a hive of activity with drivers and mechanics making final adjustments to the car, the South African pit was strangely quiet. This was because Adrian Zaugg was still in transit from Paul Ricard where he had been testing for Red Bull on Thursday. With literally a few seconds to go before the start of the session, Mr Zaugg suddenly appears as if by magic and with a smile on his face from the end of the pitlane. The fact that their #1 driver has arrived doesn’t seem to make much difference to team boss Mike Carrol who has the signs of immense stress in his facial expressions and body language.
Suddenly there was a change in the atmosphere as teams fired up their cars in anticipation of the practice session. Before I knew it there was a traffic jam in pitlane as cars queued eagerly to get out on the circuit. Now with the cars gone there was nothing of interest in the pitlane so I found a hole in the fence at the last turn to take some photographs. After a short while the session was stopped when the Pakistan car spun and it occurred to me I had not seen the South African car. I was to find out later that the driveshaft had broken on the first lap and it had obviously gone back into the pits while I was looking the other way.
After the two morning sessions I headed back to the media centre where we basked in the air conditioning while eating free sandwiches. I chatted to several other photographers and the general concensus was that the facilities in the way of shooting points for accredited photographers was pathetic. I did get a hint that turn two was quite a good spot though and that is where I headed for th hour long afternoon session. There were several holes in the fence at turn two and the straight immediately after it and I spent the practice session there until it was prematurely ended when a piece of track broke. We all headed back to the media centre for the press conference and also to hear that proceedings for the day had been abanoned in order for the track to be fixed. I was quite relieved as it had been a burning hot day and I had pretty well had enough of standing out in the hot sun for one day. I just hope the track malfunctions are sorted out for qualifying tomorrow, I’m confident everything will be okay!
Durban Day3
Today, Saturday, was even hotter than Friday. By the time I got to the media centre just after 8am I was already quite thankful for the air-conditioning in there. First stop today was the pit lane where quite a few teams were practicing tyre changes. It seems even quicker seeing it live then when you see it on TV, the wheel changers rush out around the car and before you know it they are running back into the garage. Most teams were doing quite a few practice pit-stops and interestingly none seemed to have any problems with wheel nust or anything else.
While the German team were getting ready for their practice stop I was sitting on the pitwall opposite their garage. Next to me was sitting a young boy in shorts and T-shirt, I didn’t really think much of it until he got up and walked into the German Pit, I then realised it was Nico Hulkenburg. He looks impossibly young but this doesn’t seem to have an adverse affect on his performance as we were to be reminded of later.
After having a stroll in pitlane I decided I wanted to try to get to the corner at the end of the back straight for the morning practice session. I was with another photographer and we followed the circuit from turn until we got to within 200 metres of the corner we wanted to be at where we were halted in our tracks by a security guard. This meant we had to walk all the way back to the chicane (remember it’s over 30c and very humid and I was carrying a full camera backpack), where we took a few pics of a saloon car practice session, before walking through the centre of the circuit and to the outside of the bend at the end of the back straight where we finally got access to the trackside via the support race paddock and climbing under various bits of scaffolding. On the way I picked up a hot-dog and managed to spill half the tomatoe sauce on my A1 photographers vest so it now has a delightful red patch on it. I was right in predicting that the corner at the end of the straight would be a good spot to shoot from, well actually I have not checked my pictures yet so I might change my mind regarding that.
Even in the morning session it was quite visible that the drivers were pushing a bit harder and going quicker. It’s actually strange how a driver can seem to be going a lot quicker in one corner but he will only end up being a fraction of a second quicker over the whole lap. During the last stoppage period we decided that it was time to head back to the media centre and soak up some air-conditioning. Actually when we walked into the casino building (where the media centre is based) I almost thought that I was going to go into shock because of the difference in temperature. I spent an hour or so chilling out in the media centre while hearing various stories from different photographers of how thet were denied access or removed from certain parts of the track (including those with holes cut in the fence for photographers!)
For qualifying I finally found my way down to the inside of the hairpin before wandering back to the pits. For photography qualifying wasn’t really as interesting as free practice as the cars were on track less and there were longer gaps between them coming past. Adding to that it was difficult to follow what was going on as we were not close to a loudspeaker and it wasn’t always possible to follow things on the big screen. During the final 15 minute session we went back into the pitlane and spent about 10 minutes there before someone ina white A1 shirt came along and ejected all the photographers saying that they were not allowed during qualifying, even though it was written in the guidelines that we could be there any time except for during the two races on Sunday. I think most accredited photographers at the event would agree that there seems to be some sort of communication problem between A1 GP and the security personell. Security guards are evicting photographers from areas A1 GP says they are allowed and on the other hand they allowed us into the pitlane during qualifying and A1 GP Personel threw us out! Hopefully by tomorrow we will have a clearer picture of where we can and where we can’t go!
Durban Day4
Today there was a different atmosphere at the circuit, a more festive atmosphere in the stands with far larger crowds than the previous two days and a far more serious atmosphere in the pits as the teams realised that any error today could instantly wipe out any good work they had done so far this weekend.
Once again it was searing hot even before I got to the circuit at about half past eight. Actually I don\’t know why we bother commenting on Durbans February weather, there are only two different types we get in this month, very hot and humid or unbearably hot and humid! I decided to park at Kings Park Rugby Stadium today after yesterday when it took me 45 minutes to get out of the Casino car park. After the 15 minute walk to the media centre I was glad to see a tub full of ice and bottled water and I duely helped myself.
My day was mainly spent either in the media centre, the pits, on the grid or on the outside of turn two. It was quite exciting to be on the sprint race grid, I took plenty of shots of the grid girls and the drivers trying to keep themselves cool before the start. The Czech republic had more pretty girls than the others around their car which kind of made their trip worthwhile. I also noticed Alan Jones standing by the Aussie car and went over to him and shook his hand and just told him that he was the first driver I ever followed and it was nice to meet him.
For the start of the sprint race I decided to go down to the inside of the hairpin only to find that the two holes in the fence for photographers had been covered by advertising banners. The sound of the start at the hairpin was indescribable. There was a tremendous rumbling sound and the ground literally shook as the 23 cars all accelerated together and arrived as one at the hairpin. I managed to stick my lens through a small hole and got a couple of pics at the corner before wandering back to turn two where the rest of my racing pics for the day were taken.
For the feature race the grid was jam packed with people, I don\’t know where they all came from, I think a lot were meant to be VIP\’s and celebritys but I only recognised one or two people. I guess enough money can buy you anything? The South African car dissapeared in a sea of people as Tokyo Sexwale and his family, Tony Texeira, the mayor of Durban and other various people met Adrian Zaugg. Of course just about every photographer descended on them trying to get pictures, it was real journalist type photography, having to my camera above my head to get a clear view.
For the feature race I didn\’t take many pictures after the first few laps, figuring that I had enough pics of most cars and there wasn\’t a big chance of anything exciting happening at the corner I was standing at. Instead I watched the race on a nearby big screen before crossing back across the track after the race for the podium ceremony.
The last few days have really been good fun, quite a lot of work to get the right pics but well worth it.
