Formula 1

When I was 16, a movie came to town titled "Gran Prix" starring James Garner. It was in Super Panavision and was shown at the Villa Theater on their super big screen with their state-of-the-art sound system (but pre-Dolby). The only thing they didn't have was the smell of the gas fumes. The movie was terrific, with close ups of the engines working as you heard the roar. It was a really fun movie. I remember it was a snowy night the night we went, and when we got to the parking lot after the movie, everyone was gunning their engines like they were getting ready to run a race.

Ever since then, I've wanted to attend a Gran Prix race, and this weekend was my chance. The Spanish Gran Prix was held in Barcelona this past weekend. The girls weren't interested, so I went alone, traveling to Barcelona on the train was cheaper and easier, although a little longer time, than driving (because of the tolls, which total about $100 euros one way to drive from Cartagena to Barcelona). I got a pretty cheap deal..really cheap when you consider the price of hotels on race week in Barcelona..at an AirBnB home...just a room and a bath in an apartment, but it only cost me $40 a night.

I received a discount on the tickets because of my advanced age. I felt my age on the train ride out to the race course, when a young man stood up from sitting next to his girlfriend and offered me his seat, but I was grateful for the seat because it was a long walk from the train station to the race course. Luckily, there were shuttle buses that whisked me everywhere. The race itself was kind of anti-climactic for me. The Mercedes team won the first two positions on the pole, but crashed into each other on the first lap and were out of the race. The Red Bull team followed closely by the Ferrari team chased each other the whole race, never gaining an advantage. The lead car blew a tire on the penultimate lap, but they were near the pits and were able to put a fresh tire on and finish in 4th, but his partner overtook the Ferrari and won, and that was it. So, I get to scratch that off my bucket list. I'm glad I went, but I won't do it again, unless I get to go with someone else that really enjoys the racing. Here are a few pictures.

The Porsche race was just before the main Gran Prix event.

Wish I could put the smells on here, but here is a brief video of the start to give you a feel for it.