Z102
Well-Known Member
Given that my new job is in Valencia city, and that Tuesday was a local holiday, my new colleagues and I decided to spend the day watching the F1 testing taking place in Cheste. Unfortunately, many people seemed to have the same idea, so the road to the circuit was completely jammed, which meant, in my case, 1 hour to get there (usually it only takes about 30 min) and, once in the circuit, about two hours' queue for the tickets. This meant that by the time we finally sat down, most teams were in the middle of their lunch break, so the first minutes were not very interesting. At first there was only Red Bulls and Toro Rossos lapping the circuit. The Red Bulls specially put on quite a show:
http://img507.imageshack.**/img507/5775/rbrskid1resizejj1.jpg
http://img205.imageshack.**/img205/9310/rbrskid2resizesc8.jpg
We were lucky to snap this photo of the Force India, because it didn't finish this lap (there was smoke coming out of the engine), and didn't come out again:
http://img251.imageshack.**/img251/9646/forceindiaresizehr9.jpg
A few minutes later the Toyotas joined the Red Bulls, and being in the Doohan curve we saw some overtaking action:
http://img505.imageshack.**/img505/1928/toyotavsrbrresizewt5.jpg
A closeup of the Toyota:
http://img179.imageshack.**/img179/6209/toyota03resizelr7.jpg
As the afternoon progressed, more teams came out, first of which were the Williams, in a nice black livery:
http://img341.imageshack.**/img341/8360/williams2resizeom7.jpg
And then the Saubers, which sounded incredibly loud:
http://img165.imageshack.**/img165/2179/sauber02resizenu8.jpg
After this, all hell broke loose, and all the big ones started coming out. First the Ferraris:
http://img126.imageshack.**/img126/6184/ferrari01resizerf8.jpg
And then the McLarens:
http://img403.imageshack.**/img403/3636/mclaren02resizepp7.jpg
And, finally, the most awaited of them all: Fernando Alonso's Renault:
http://img519.imageshack.**/img519/8881/alonso03resizees0.jpg
http://img519.imageshack.**/img519/3766/alonso05resizeho8.jpg
All of them lapped the circuit for a while, till one of the Hondas, we think (it was a completely white car, we're not sure what it was), skidded out of the track and the session was stopped for a good 15 minutes. In these crappy pics taken with my crappy camera (the ones until now were taken by one of my colleagues, using a 10mp Panasonic) you can more or less make out a white car in the gravel:
http://img132.imageshack.**/img132/5317/hondacrashxg4.th.jpg
http://img88.imageshack.**/img88/2184/hondagruame3.th.jpg
This was a pity, for two main reasons: one, it was by far the loudest of all the cars present, and second, the session was stopped for about 15 minutes until they took the car away.
After they took away the Honda, the testing was resumed, but we decided it was time to leave in order to avoid another traffic jam to Valencia, so we watched Alonso for a couple more laps and went home. But before getting to my car, I snapped a picture of this beauty in the car park:
http://img245.imageshack.**/img245/5833/lanciadeltamartiniresizxg8.jpg
Finally, here are a few random shots from both my camera (crappy, faraway ones) and my colleague's:
http://img135.imageshack.**/img135/1589/ferrari05resizesh8.jpg
http://img254.imageshack.**/img254/815/redbull02resizelg9.jpg
http://img523.imageshack.**/img523/2381/williams02resizekb4.jpg
http://img99.imageshack.**/img99/1373/mclarenvsredbullresizemk1.jpg
http://img526.imageshack.**/img526/9479/hondaresizecm5.jpg
http://img175.imageshack.**/img175/6320/redbull02resizexh6.jpg
http://img175.imageshack.**/img175/5488/tororosso01resizewa1.jpg
http://img91.imageshack.**/img91/3634/tororosso02resizenj2.jpg
http://img525.imageshack.**/img525/4769/toyota07resizesu1.jpg
http://img521.imageshack.**/img521/9624/mclarenvsrbrresizegq2.jpg
http://img220.imageshack.**/img220/6697/mclaren09resizeuc2.jpg
http://img235.imageshack.**/img235/4111/mclaren10resizewq5.jpg
http://img120.imageshack.**/img120/7457/ferrari03resizeht4.jpg
http://img110.imageshack.**/img110/6350/sauber01resizedh0.jpg
http://img87.imageshack.**/img87/8767/williams03resizezo6.jpg
I didn't think this belonged entirely in the Photography forum, since these are just a random shots, with no artistic intention whatsoever. Mods/admins feel free to move it there if it need be
http://img507.imageshack.**/img507/5775/rbrskid1resizejj1.jpg
http://img205.imageshack.**/img205/9310/rbrskid2resizesc8.jpg
We were lucky to snap this photo of the Force India, because it didn't finish this lap (there was smoke coming out of the engine), and didn't come out again:
http://img251.imageshack.**/img251/9646/forceindiaresizehr9.jpg
A few minutes later the Toyotas joined the Red Bulls, and being in the Doohan curve we saw some overtaking action:
http://img505.imageshack.**/img505/1928/toyotavsrbrresizewt5.jpg
A closeup of the Toyota:
http://img179.imageshack.**/img179/6209/toyota03resizelr7.jpg
As the afternoon progressed, more teams came out, first of which were the Williams, in a nice black livery:
http://img341.imageshack.**/img341/8360/williams2resizeom7.jpg
And then the Saubers, which sounded incredibly loud:
http://img165.imageshack.**/img165/2179/sauber02resizenu8.jpg
After this, all hell broke loose, and all the big ones started coming out. First the Ferraris:
http://img126.imageshack.**/img126/6184/ferrari01resizerf8.jpg
And then the McLarens:
http://img403.imageshack.**/img403/3636/mclaren02resizepp7.jpg
And, finally, the most awaited of them all: Fernando Alonso's Renault:
http://img519.imageshack.**/img519/8881/alonso03resizees0.jpg
http://img519.imageshack.**/img519/3766/alonso05resizeho8.jpg
All of them lapped the circuit for a while, till one of the Hondas, we think (it was a completely white car, we're not sure what it was), skidded out of the track and the session was stopped for a good 15 minutes. In these crappy pics taken with my crappy camera (the ones until now were taken by one of my colleagues, using a 10mp Panasonic) you can more or less make out a white car in the gravel:
http://img132.imageshack.**/img132/5317/hondacrashxg4.th.jpg
http://img88.imageshack.**/img88/2184/hondagruame3.th.jpg
This was a pity, for two main reasons: one, it was by far the loudest of all the cars present, and second, the session was stopped for about 15 minutes until they took the car away.
After they took away the Honda, the testing was resumed, but we decided it was time to leave in order to avoid another traffic jam to Valencia, so we watched Alonso for a couple more laps and went home. But before getting to my car, I snapped a picture of this beauty in the car park:
http://img245.imageshack.**/img245/5833/lanciadeltamartiniresizxg8.jpg
Finally, here are a few random shots from both my camera (crappy, faraway ones) and my colleague's:
http://img135.imageshack.**/img135/1589/ferrari05resizesh8.jpg
http://img254.imageshack.**/img254/815/redbull02resizelg9.jpg
http://img523.imageshack.**/img523/2381/williams02resizekb4.jpg
http://img99.imageshack.**/img99/1373/mclarenvsredbullresizemk1.jpg
http://img526.imageshack.**/img526/9479/hondaresizecm5.jpg
http://img175.imageshack.**/img175/6320/redbull02resizexh6.jpg
http://img175.imageshack.**/img175/5488/tororosso01resizewa1.jpg
http://img91.imageshack.**/img91/3634/tororosso02resizenj2.jpg
http://img525.imageshack.**/img525/4769/toyota07resizesu1.jpg
http://img521.imageshack.**/img521/9624/mclarenvsrbrresizegq2.jpg
http://img220.imageshack.**/img220/6697/mclaren09resizeuc2.jpg
http://img235.imageshack.**/img235/4111/mclaren10resizewq5.jpg
http://img120.imageshack.**/img120/7457/ferrari03resizeht4.jpg
http://img110.imageshack.**/img110/6350/sauber01resizedh0.jpg
http://img87.imageshack.**/img87/8767/williams03resizezo6.jpg
I didn't think this belonged entirely in the Photography forum, since these are just a random shots, with no artistic intention whatsoever. Mods/admins feel free to move it there if it need be