No... I used to go to the Long Beach Grand Prix in the 70's... and even accidentally ended up in the pits by helping to push Niki Lauda's 312T Ferrari up a slight hill when it stalled early in the morning coming up to pit lane. I was sitting on a curb waiting for the cars to come out... and he stalls and a couple guys on the team start yelling at me to "Poooosh".

I had a FILM camera at the time (mid and late 70's) and got some sweet shots of Emerson Fittipaldi's Copersucar... and Mario Andretti's John Player Special.. and Giles Villeneuve's Ferrari... before I ran out of film (a role of 24) and finally some gendarme tossed my sorry butt out of there!

Im not up to speed on these things, but when does a boat become a yacht and a yacht become a ship?:question:

Hey Greg, you do know your telling 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher how to drive? The best F1 driver of all time :lol: :lol:

Great stories Greg!

I suppose it just depends on comparison, which harbor you're pulling into :question:

Starting at only 630,000 Euro per week. :wow:

Awesome pic's of yaught's and views but your right, I peaked right here. Rubbin' shoulders with the real deal is where I would want to be.

That is a killer pic. And Greg you really have lost that poundage! :unibrow:

#1 lesson in "Boats vs Yachts vs Ships"....

A yacht is anything with a bedroom and a bathroom AKA a "stateroom" and a "head"...


#2 - You can put a boat on a ship but not the other way around.




So after roaming Monaco I finally found something that IS NOT in Charley's collection.



A gift from Gorbachev!



http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...x/b8ee05fe.jpg




http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...x/90de55aa.jpg




http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...x/f9626c24.jpg

What do the photos tell you?!?!?



A simple question -- which version do you think was off line? Which version do you think was faster through these turns?



Maybe he was bored and fell asleep.... "Oh Shiat! I have a turn coming up...."

I would add that Michael Schumacher is #18 on the F1 standings with a whopping 2 points.... That would put him 59 points behind the current leader. :rofl:

Perhaps his line could use some improvement?

I inhaled and was holding my breath!

Thanks for sharing all this Greg!! This is definitely on my list of things to do!!!

Thanks for the great post Greg. Great stories and even greater pics to enjoy as well.

For your first trip to Europe, you sure chose the go with the Full Monte!!

I love the Yacht with the Hospital Room.

For a sick old fart like me, that is what I would need...

Great Pictures...

Is Schumi going to pull it off with the pole advantage and Ross Braun's strategy?

Speaking of Jody...I received great help from Jody fixing my hook up to this site..

My hat is off to Jody and congrats on their son's Graduation.:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I think he took Greg's driving advice :lol:

Yup used to go to F-1 LBGP and also to the Las vegas F-1 race. Would be very cool to see that footage you took. Giles V was one of my all time favs. Have a great race day!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y3/...scan0001-4.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y3/real3/GilesV.jpg

Historically nobody has ever won the Monaco GP from 6th position (his start position)... and after being here at the track I certainly understand why. This SOB is N A R R O W... and while the straights look long... they are not! And these guys know how to make themselves 30 ft wide. :unibrow:

#1 I'm glad that you are enjoying the "blog" from my view. This is what I'm trying to do - as just like you - I enjoy reading about your cars and your adventures. This is why we're all here I think. I'm not trying to 'brag' about being here... I am - and that is all... after that I'm doing my best to share a lifetime dream.


After yesterday -- we decided to watch the race from our vantage point at 48 Rue Grimaldi building. We can watch turn 6 from the hotel - but this is a very short - albeit famous - turn and not much "action" can be seen from here.... whereas from our 14 floor room on Rue Grimaldi which is just towards turn 1 from the start stop line we can see:

Turn 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - the exit from the tunnel so the end of 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 and coming from 19

If anyone is planning on doing this race - we have lots to talk about - because I have learned a lot during this trip so far and would do many things differently.

So - a bit of breakfast and enjoy the boats and terrace - then a schlep to Rue Grimaldi "hang out" for the 2 PM race. I don't think I'll even take my camera today -- I've taken enough pictures for the memories... so today I shall just open both eyes and watch and soak up the sounds etc.

:woot:

This should give some perspective

Cool thread
 

It's pretty cool getting to hang out with you on your trip. I'm stoked somebody is there keeping us all in the loop. :thumbsup:

I'm thinking the inaugural NY event sounds like a trip that needs to be done.

Enjoy the day off duty tomorrow.

What was #2?

Hopefully he tells us about all the beautiful F-1 women he is seeing there :unibrow:

At dinner on Friday night - the place where I took the cell phone shots of the harbor... the woman next to us had a diamond ring on that might equal my entire net worth (it was the size of a quarter and was FLAWLESS!) -- and THEN she had earrings that were ruby and diamonds and I'm certain they cost a million euro each... and THEN the bracelet OMG....

Oh and the bottoxed lips - priceless!

I didn't know he had a grid penalty..........:(

No doubt it's narrow, techincal, limited visability, with varying irregular surfaces.........and mentally fatiguing on the drivers.

He was penalized 5 grid spots in this race for crashing into Bruno Senna at the Spanish Grand Prix.

mentally fatiguing? ....... just wait, now there's a threat of rain!!

Great thread - thanks Greg! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

It changes the perception of what you're seeing on TV, because Greg's description of the sound of the cars (which I love, love, love too) reverberating through the town, etc all rings in my head with the sounds an sights on my TV screen... Awesome. :yes:

The view of the cars going away from you and slinging to the right out of the tunnel is incredible! They have to feel like a bullet being shot out of a curved barrel. :hail:

Greg,Thank's so much for sharing this with us.It's a side of the F1 world, some of us would ever get to see.:thumbsup: :thumbsup: Now can you take in some Australian V8 super car Race's.:lol:

Okay -- walking back to our hotel from the race position - the building I mentioned earlier was OMG HELL! This town is built around 8 elevators lifting you from the sea wall area... the start / finish line... and all these people 90% of them not knowing where to go! Like rats cornered in a maze! All the streets blocked - people just keep getting closer and closer together. Finally we turned around - swam up stream - hooked up with a group of young (20 somethings) that seemed to know the routine and bingo -- we climbed 126 steps (thank gawd at 59 I work with a personal trainer 3 days a week!!!!!!! I took them two at a time I'll have you know!!).... we pop out on the street where I'd taken that awesome photo of the rocky cliff walls peering way down to the marina! So think about this -- we climbed stairs from the bottom all the way to the top of that! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA

Now I must face time with my daughter for a few minutes then back to post some pics!

AN exciting race there near the end when she started to sprinkle... :cheers:

Awesome....glad to hear your still training ya old fart :lol:

I saw several people near death... you know the type -- ashen grey faces... lips turning whitish... having to stop and moving like slugs... Me the old coot! Kickin' arse and takin' 'em two at a time - non stop to the top! I was thanking Jawarren (my trainer) the whole time! I actually hate him and I tell him that every time! :lol:

At the age of 47 I know the importance of training. I had been slacking off for 3 weeks before T-hill and I felt the difference. Kudos Weld :thumbsup:

Here's the start --- with crash -- taken with my iPhone.... excuse the upside-down start... I flipped this to better see the crash...


It's a short video...

And here's were we walked from the BOTTOM to the TOP!






http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...x/79e67a38.jpg






TOP looking down!





http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...x/fca1e465.jpg

Hey, you gotta problem with ashen grey faced people ? :_paranoid

I resemble that remark,haha..:rofl: :willy:

That is what Heart problems and Brain trouble will get you, errr ah, I mean me...

As long as I don't wear a Grey sweatshirt, I don't look as bad..:cheers:

I have to color co-ordinate my colors...Grey face, and Blue shirts seem to look the best.:lateral:

Here's a couple links to my photobucket account if anyone cares to just cruise thru the photos on there....

One is most of the photos I've put on this thread --- the "PORTOFINO" one is some pics of todays drive and lunch DIVE - on our way from Nice to Portofino hotel where we'll be for the next 3 nights... It's the Splendido --- Love that name! What a hoot!

GRAND PRIX:

http://s919.photobucket.com/albums/a...rix/?start=all




PORTOFINO Journey:




http://s919.photobucket.com/albums/a...ino/?start=all

Those pictures and the video are awesome. Thanks for sharing!

Glad you enjoyed them!


It's only about 1% of what I've taken... the magic - you know - of digital photography! Not having to pay development costs (RIP Kodak!)....

Next time I would bring a couple other bodies I have so I don't have to swap lens and tele convertors etc. I've also discovered that a good "shorter" lens would have been helpful as the two I brought can't capture the "actual" vistas as seen with your own two.

This morning when we FINALLY got our lazy arses out of the rack -- we had b'fast on the terrace with the view of the Dolce and Gabana (ask your wives) "weekend getaway hut". And when I peaked over the edge of the terrace wall saw another - they're a dime a dozen here - Ferrari and Lambo. They truly are the Chevrolets <or maybe Buicks> of the places we're visiting.



http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/DSC_1069.jpg






http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/IMG_2361.jpg

F-1 in car @ Monaco

http://www.wimp.com/formulamonaco/