Silverstone testing

[Rennen]

I went to Silverstone yesterday (Tue) and was surprised at how few F1 fans were there watching!...It's free! (and it was neither squalid nor did it smell of fried onions!)

It was a beautiful 'crisp' sunny, wall to wall blueSky day...with the sound of glorious Formula One cars in the air! (except when TC cuts in on the exits!)

I'm not to up on driver helmets but I think it was De la Rosa in the McLaren, Glock & Pantano in Jordans and Button and Davidson in the BARs.

It's a beut' day again today get up there then!

P.S: Any doubters of the speed of the new BAR should have seen them...most impressive place to watch is at Bridge and on the approach into the Maggots complex!

Anthony in Jenson's new 006 took 2 seconds off his previous fastest in last years car, and he never does qualifying runs (min fuel + brand new tyres)

[golem]

Damn. Wish they tested a little closer to me... would have skipped a lecture for it.

[Smokey 6 litre]

same, i rember i used to go and see Pacific and Lotus testing up at Snett, by Silverstone is too far away for me.

[Rennen]

Hi golem...yeah but I can't afford to go to Melbourne! Hope you can, I also hope the BAR goes as well in Oz...Whats the tempreture there at the mo?

[Redblurr]

When the weather improves a larger crowd will appear - the best is nearer the BGP - all teams present

[Rennen]

"Weather"!...it was glorious!..Sunny and blue sky! F1 cars...what more do they want?!

Actually to see Button, Davidson and Pantano circulating together was deja-vous for me...and them too...You lot wouldn't fully understand but in 1996 these three were professional kart racers in the F1A/CIK European karting championships in the Formula A class. Pantano was the 1995 champion who had been denied an upgrade to the factory Formula Super A class, as he wasn't quite 17 yet! However the Formula A class had 130 of the worlds top class karters competing (inc someone called Kimi Raikkenon...what ever happened to that guy?)through one lap qualifying, 4 heats and a repocharge race to land one of the 34 places in the two point scoring finals. Basically the toughest, closest most competitive form of 4 wheel road racing of any kind in the world. For those that doubt it...that's your loss! It's the class that made Senna and Schumacher etc what they were/are...many drivers never left it such as Terry Fullerton & Mike Wilson, to name but two because they knew it was were it was at...So did Senna, he came back from junior cars to karting to try and win the World title...but he never quite got it...because he tried to do both at the same time!

For me (and those who understand top level international karting) it's no surprise that Button, Davidson, and Pantano are still together. All of their fathers knew it would happen too! What a pity team bosses still havn't got the message...only one did! Smart man Flavio!