My experience of Hungaroring

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maltafan
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My experience of Hungaroring

Post by maltafan » 10 Aug 2008, 21:14

Well, my holiday is over and boy, I can say it was a wonderful experience, one that I will never ever forget. Why?

I spent a week in Budapest, 4 day of which, at the circuit. We used to arrive at about 8.30am and may times we were one of the last ppl to leave the track at approx 6pm, watching every Free practice, qualifying and race. Apart from F1, there were the GP2, Porche and Formula BMW races during the whole weekend.

Thursday 31st July
Left Budapest at 14.00 as pitlane was due to open at 16.00. After metro, HEV (local tram) and over an hour of walking across fields and up and down hills, we arrived at the circuit. Only 1 gate was open so we had to walk there. It's a great feeling to walk on the actual track, on the same tarmac which the day after hosts a numerous laps by such great cars & drivers. Pushing we managed to enter the pit lane at about 16.20. Red Bull was seen in scrutineering and Ferrari waiting for its turn outside the Parc Ferme.

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We walked a bit downwards until we could fight our way to the front line just behind the barriers. A couple of minutes later, Nico Rosberg walked by with another team member. We called him, took out our autograph books and to our great delight, he approached us to leave us a great souvenier from the day. (which photo also ended on F1live)

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Same story also happened with Nakajima, however, he was less willing than Nico to give us his autograph. Still we succeeded. Red Bull out and Ferrari into scrutineering, Honda was next in the waiting line, giving us ample time to take a pic of every detail of its body.

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Walking up and down the pitlane, with great difficulty amongst the numerous fans was very interesting. We saw Renault, Spyker and Williams doing pit stop practices, other teams preparing the tyres and other related work.

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Pitlane walk ended with the signature of Mike Gascoyne and pictures of the Start /finish line, the Pitlane lights and the breaking point. Security people directed us to the main gate, where, with some luck managed to see a number of vip's going out of the circuit in super expensive cars; Bourdais, Trulli, Kovalinen, Hamilton, Frank Williams, Mario Theissen and Bernie Ecclestone to name a few.

Friday 1st August
Arriving at the circuit at 8.30 gave us another opportunity to see drivers like Glock, Coulthard & Klien going into the circuit. By 9am we were visiting the Team stands, admiring the Safety Car, a McLaren, Toro Rosso, Ferrari and a Toyota, apart from spending money on merchandise. Off to our seat, a Silver 3 ticket, in the last corner before the final straight. A very good location imo.

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Watched races, alternating between Formula BMW, GP2, Porche supercup and F1 free practice, drinking a lot of water and putting on sunblock to protect us form the 35 degrees sun. All other series were interesting to watch.
Being close to Poland, Kubica was the most cheered for driver with people trying to make as much loud noises as possible every time he reached our corner.

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Saturday was practically similar to Friday, however fans were on the increase and the stand (which was the only sold one one) was full in time for the qualifying session.

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GP2race and Formula BMW provided some bonus entertainment with spins and stalls just in front of us. One driver also managed to crash into the barriers as he was entering the pits for refuelling lol. We were lucky to see the safety car, the medical car and the Race control car refuelling in the petrol station just outside the circuit.

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Sunday 3rd August
The Big day. more and more ppl can be seen on track, especially in the General Admission areas. Many of them with self made seating facilities! Porches, Formula BMW and GP2's all had their turn, paving the way for the F1 moment. First there was the Drivers' parade, and the drivers' presentation. Then, pitbabes with flag of each dirivers' nation walked on track to settle on the grid.

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Time went by and we started watching the first cars doing their installation lap/s. Race wasn't that interesting once Massa took the lead in the 1st corner and maintained it till very late in the race. Only a couple of incidents happened. We were following the race mainly on what was passing in front of us and on the Big screen that was just in front. 3 laps from the end the unexpected happened and to our delight (yes we were all siding British teams) Massa's engine went BOOOOM on the other end of the straight, paving the way for Heikki's maiden win.

2 of us went on track just after Kovalainen won the GP to see the podium celebrations. They managed to collect some rubber from the track, which was still very hot and we kept as a souvenier.

Unfortunately, my 2nd GP experience was over, now still deciding on next year's venue.

(I know I wrote a looooong post. I hope you enjoyed it). I might upload some video on youtube too. Look for maltafan)
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shailf1
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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by shailf1 » 10 Aug 2008, 21:20

good one. it was not long. I definitely enjoyed reading that.

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Arrows_F1
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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by Arrows_F1 » 10 Aug 2008, 21:40

wow, long post, but easy to read, many thanks. your pictures are nice, too.
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Sanredrose
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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by Sanredrose » 11 Aug 2008, 06:30

thanks maltafan .. nice to hear from a person who actually visited the GP ... pics are nice & an easy to read report !!

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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by Zack » 11 Aug 2008, 06:45

... we need more pics(large) & scanned autographed postcards too :p :n

edit: f1live.com link plz
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laloo
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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by laloo » 11 Aug 2008, 07:31

very nice read.thanks for sharing.

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phil1993
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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by phil1993 » 11 Aug 2008, 07:34

thanks, very interesting and it looked like you had a great time :)

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eleanor
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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by eleanor » 11 Aug 2008, 09:52

good for you... thx for sharing your feelings...
'Life is about passions. Thank you for sharing mine.'

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Ali
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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by Ali » 11 Aug 2008, 11:50

How could you walk in the paddock and perc ferme? That's really amazing, I envy you :pout:
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swca92
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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by swca92 » 11 Aug 2008, 12:12

Thanks very much for the post.Sounds like you got a paddock pass,them things are expensive but sounds like it was worth it,you had some trip.

P.S FIA cars refuelling in petrol stations? What a sight seeing them cars on public roads...

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sejtur
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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by sejtur » 11 Aug 2008, 17:13

Good idea to make a topic about it. It's very pleasant to read. I have been to the Hockenheimring GP a few weeks ago, and we only could be there on sunday which was a shame, but we still had fun as we were there the whole day and saw most of the action and the race ofcourse, which was exciting. I'm starting to talk about my own expierience now, haha. Maybe I'm goinng to write a report about that too, just like you. At a GP it's always fun to go but the ticket is too expensive just for one day. Next time I go to a GP, I'm going 4 full days I think. Anyways, seems like you had a lot of fun, and especially seeing the cars up close is vety cool at the FIA checks. I never seen that IRL. I hope I will. And it seems like you had a good spot. I don't think there are much seats out there from what I saw from TV. Only at the straight and the last corner where you sat?
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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by ScuderiaFan » 11 Aug 2008, 17:19

awesome ocverge brother .. great to have some experince for someone who was in action :)
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maltafan
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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by maltafan » 11 Aug 2008, 19:57

xyneid wrote:How could you walk in the paddock and perc ferme? That's really amazing, I envy you :pout:
My ticket was at Silver 3 corner, just before the finish straight, not paddock one.

The reason why I ended in the pitlane is cause in Hungary, anyone with a valid ticket,even the General Admission one, can go to the pitlane walk on Thursday and watch the teams while they work. There were lots of ppl and it's really a plus. The ticket cost EUR 270 and was valid for all 4 days so it was very worthed, and believe me, I really underestimated the support races. The are good fun to see too.

Re pics, I will post some more later on.
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phil1993
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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by phil1993 » 12 Aug 2008, 06:19

maltafan wrote: The ticket cost EUR 270 and was valid for all 4 days so it was very worthed,
:blink: that little, it cost me £70 for a grandstand ticket for silverstone friday on the start finish line, at silverstone it would be £250 for the race (about 300 euros), talk about rip off Britain. you got a good time and it was amazingly cheap!

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Re: My experience of Hungaroring

Post by JoostLamers » 12 Aug 2008, 17:20

Looks you enjoyed the weekend very much ;)
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