Another beautiful day with blue skies all around. I was up late last night booking a car for my road trip with stegglés from Bath, checking with my insurance if the camera will be covered and looking at what kind of camera I am willing to pay for as a replacement. I don't think i could theoretically live without an SLR. Won't be going as big or professional, but the features on some of the new exceed what i have now. I'm looking at a 5D Mark II. Not as quick as my old one, bit simpler and half the frames per second. So that is what I'm looking at, just looking. If i can find one for €1900 in Paris I'll probably get one. Tomorrow will be my getting lost in Paris so there is time. I'll try and organize a tour of the Louvre for Saturday or Sunday, if the weather will be rainy or snowy I'd rather be inside. Right now I'm on my first high speed train from Nice to Paris. I think the high speed part will kick in after Toulon.
Last night i arrived in Ventimiglia a little town on the edge of the Italian/French border. I had some idea where i had to go. Most train stations will have a street map when you exit, this one didn't. All of the other places I've been i had google maps screen grabbed and saved on both my ipad and iphone. Since i hadn't booked this part of the accommodation until i was well into the trip. It was 11:45pm and there is no one around. I had a hunch where my accommodation was, but thanks for someones unsecured internet i managed to log in to google maps and find out exactly where it was. And for once, I was heading in the right direction. Got to the street, and walked all the way to the beach because there was no signs anywhere. The beach and the water looked beautiful, i don't know what was so well lit up at nigh, but all i was thinking that Monaco is a meandering 25min train ride from where i was. I found the place it is having outside renovations so it was covered by scaffolding (hence why i couldn't see any signs). I know where i will be staying when i see the Monaco F1 GP!
You couldn't wipe the smile off my face as i was heading into Monte Carlo, this is my favourite F1 track. The one i always check in my diary even before i think about my Melbourne trip. It has remained unchanged really since they started racing there. Unlike all of the new tracks being made which are massive man made tracks with long straights, big gravel traps and they are all really safe. Monaco, it's tight, twisty and has a lot of elevation changes. Every driver in the race will brush the barrier at one point of another.
I've had a nap and as i write this I'm speeding across the French countryside. It's pouring outside, i visited the bar for some water and a big bolt of lightning stuck outside, European storm number six, or pronounced in french sees. It's really hard to switch your brain off from Italian. That has been really hard, i do know a bit of French like Italian, but i have gotten used to the italian words, and it has been automatic. I've been getting used to what people are generally saying to me, and what i words i need to listen out for at the station, at the end i didn't need the English translations, i knew numbers, platform and whether a train was running late just by the announcements Italian. I was surprised how much i did actually pick up, mind you i tried italian as much as i could until i was stuck, then came the hand gestures, Italians are fluent in hand gestures. And now it's all in French. Nearly two weeks in Italy, and i'm happy to move on, i would like to re-visit Florence, do more Cinque Terre and actually see the see the Amalfi Coast. Sicily and the east coast would be good too, but I'm very happy with what I've seen learnt and experienced. I believe everyone else makes better Italian food than Italians, that's my honest opinion. The best lasagne other than mine of course is one i had in Melbourne at the casino, best pizza was in Cairns. And no one beats grandmas mince and macaroni!
Getting back to Monaco. This year Mark Webber accomplished one of his dreams in F1 and that was to win the Monaco GP and he did it this year, he dominated it. And today as I walked out of the train station, turn one, Ste Devote. But before i went on the track walk of MY dreams, where the bloody hell is the baggage drop off? So i'm walking in every direction to find an area or even information on where i could find one. After failed messages i went back and found an (i) sign, but then after heading up to the platform no more signs, you have to guess. No wonder i couldn't see anything when i got off the train, thought i had a woman look ;-) haha! I saw a sign at the information desk, no lockers here. So I asked where? Nice! Oh your kidding. I had missed the previous train by 5 mins so i had 25 mins to fill in before the next one. I was going to Nice after Monaco because i am catching the train to Paris from Nice. It ended up taking an hour and a half out of my time in Monaco, so i was initially disappointed that I'd miss out on time there. But i did everything I wanted to in the three hours i got to spend there. Most track walks i have done take about an hour, hour and a half. This one took 45 mins. It's a small track in length, they do 72 laps in the race and still don't get to do a proper grand prix distance (300km).
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This is my time about Monaco and F in general, i will probably talk crap so if you can't be bothered scroll down
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Why do i love this race track so much? So many reasons, it may have been the first race I'd ever seen on TV, it has so much history, you have to be good to win, you have to be switched on for nearly two hours racing through this barrier clad street circuit. It's the flash of F1, there are multi million dollar boats everywhere, probably three or four times as many as there were today. The races at Monaco are generally not great for 'racing' and passing, but there is always drama. The drivers say with about 10 laps to go the walls feel closer and closer with every lap. If you make a mistake, you're out of the race, and the crash is going to be expensive. The photos and TV do not do this place justice, and i love it even more after being there. The streets are tighter, corners are longer, sharper and the elevation changes are massive and you really can't see that on TV. It's my ultimate dream in life to be an accredited photographer at the Monaco F1 grand prix. First corner, there is always a crash. It gets tight on exit and you always think you can push that bit more. But the wall always wins. Can you tell i love this place?! Then it's uphill, very steep, they blast up it it goes a bit left a bit right then at the top a long and very tight left hander, this is where Fernando Alonso crashed in qualifying this year, you can still see the tyre marks. On your right is the Monte Carlo casino, hence the corner being called casino square. This is where Monaco gets tricky, you have a blind right hander that drops away suddenly then a short blip of a straight, you swerve to the right to avoid a dip that will damage the underneath of the car if you go straight. I had always wondered why and how bad it actually is, and it's pretty severe. There is a restaurant gazebo on that area, as with a lot of the track it is covered by businesses. But i know this place like the back of my hand. Down from that little blip and i mean blip, you're straight into a right hand hairpin, it opens a tiny bit on exit before the slowest corner, the left hand hairpin, most famous hairpin in F1. The turning circle in F1 cars are terrible and the specification of cars they take to Monaco are completely different to nearly all other F1 tracks. Different steering is required just for this one hairpin. Why call it a hairpin, well next time you have a hairpin (not clip) look at the shape ;-) I'd love a shot of Mark Webber going around this hairpin on my wall from his win this year! One year, one of the cars had a massive Steinmetz diamond encrusted in the nose of the car, they crashed at this hairpin, the $60,000 diamond was never seen again. The fun doesn't stop there, you have two sharp right handers, and both you are on the throttle a small amount, brake, turn, throttle, brake, turn, then into the tunnel! The tunnel is a full throttle right hander, and I've played this on PS2 it gets sharp towards the end but wow does it get sharp! It's better lit than i thought it would be, still dark, but they improved the lighting a few years ago. Many drivers have crashed in here, the best one was Alonso???????
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who was trying to pass a slower, lapped car in the tunnel he went offline and the car smashed into the wall, sparks and pieces everywhere and as his car skidded out of the tunnel his car was pointing towards the driver he had tried to pass and gave him the finger as he was still crashing! Love it! All drivers pretty much take the same line into corners (they all know the quickest way around) and as they travel in the same line and dirt, debris or bits of tyre that wear off (called marbles) will be just off that racing line, so if they are going around a driver off line they aren't driving on rubbered up racetrack but on the marbles, and it's like driving on marbles, as soon as they get offline they are going in the wall. You need to be precise with everything in Monaco, i think that's why i love it. I love F1 because of the immense attention to detail, everything is tested, re-tested, sculpted for maximum aero efficiency, the drivers have to have that attention to detail in their diets, their training and their driving. They like their mechanics have to analyze mountains of data to see how they can best set up the car to go fast, and how to be the fastest guy and win races. Just a little thing on what they can change, tyre pressure, ride heights, suspension, adjustable front wing, brake bias, roll bars, gear ratios, engine mapping, fuel mix, they have a menu on their steering wheel to go through data, split times and toggle through different settings in the electronics oh and for this year they had the f-duct no not fuck duct, it stalled air over the rear wing and created less aerodynamic drag and in effect higher top speed. Ferrari drivers would place there hand over the duct (yep, driving one handed) to make it work, McLaren (inventor of the f-duct), their drivers would push their knees on the duct to make their duct work. There is so much more about what they can change, but i have already crapped way too much and only two thirds through the track. It's always great to be passionate about your subject when you're taking photos! Out of the tunnel, bang, bright sun light, the cars then drop two stories on exit and a slight kink to the right and into the chicane, left-right and far more severe than i had first thought, and there isn't much room! Jenson Button had a massive crash here a few years ago. The cars get really light on exit since they drop so much and all the inertia is going forward but they have that kink that really unsettled the car. From there it's a short straight along the marina, probably drop a gear for the left hander, again tighter than i thought, bit more of a straight part. Fisichella had a engine blow there one year, so much smoke and no one could see, cars crashed everywhere! Then onto my favourite part, the swimming pool section, yes there is a swimming pool there and they drive around it. The great thing about the entry to swimming pool is they are flying and it's a slight left right, but you have to have big balls to go through there flat a few years ago. One photographer Darren Heath explained Michael Schumacher would be 1cm close to the barriers on entry and 1cm away from the barriers on exit during qualifying. The F1 cars on TV bounce through there and change direction with such grace, no body roll like a V8 Supercar. Now they have opened up the entry and exit of the corner so it's not so tight to the barriers and full throttle is easy for todays F1 drivers. Then heavy braking into another chicane right left, many drivers have pushed too hard and crashed here, Kimi Raikkonen took off his front wheel in qualifying there. All of these moments just rush through me when I'm at different points of the track. Next is another short blip before Rascasse the second last right hand corner, Schumacher 'parked' it there a few years ago in attempt to screw everyones lap time. And this year with about 5 laps to go, Webber is coming up on two slower lapped cars who were fighting, i think Mark was lapping them for the second or third time. Lotus and HRT cars played leap frog right in front of Mark. My heart skipped a beat when i saw that. This was the area where Schumacher thought he had nailed Alonso on the final lap under safety car, and so did everyone until the FIA clarified the rules after the race, caught a few people very smart people out. Then the last corner a very tight corner where it drops away slightly, and quite often the cars get very sideways on exit. The track is very busy, even the straight isn't straight. There is no time for rest or complacency at Monaco.
Apparently drivers have a heart rate over 140 bpm for the entire race. An F1 journalist and ex-pat Peter Windsor drove a Toyota F1 car, he said you get strapped in, they ask can you breathe? Yes, so they tighten it. You are actually sitting on your lower back, each gear change is like a punch in the kidneys. As you reach top speed your helmet tries to lift your head off your neck, and braking is the most severe, some tracks can get 5G just with braking alone. Now your legs and arms get battered by the cockpit, you pull up to 5G with cornering and braking. Your visibility is poor at best, you are low to the ground probably 70cm from the ground and you have two fat wheels blocking your vision. You can't even see the nose and front wing of the car. You have to drive fast, even in the rain, you have to push against the cars aerodynamic forces, G forces, heat! In Malaysia it can get up to 50 degrees in the cockpit, then they have fireproof thermals, balaclava, gloves, shoes, race suit and the helmet, don't forget the Malaysian humidity! The only airflow is from the top of the cockpit, a driver might undo the top velcro part of the suit to let some air in. A driver can lose over 5 litres of fluids in a grand prix. Then you have to concentrate for up to two hours driving at your maximum controlling the car, talking to your engineers, changing settings on your steering wheel. At some tracks drivers are known to make brake bias changes (more brake pressure to the front or rear brakes) every lap, then the thousand of gear changes in the race. I can appreciate how good these guys are. I know why they get paid so much!
Back in the day of old school F1 there wasn't that many barriers and guys would crash into the harbour, many would lose their life. F1 hasn't lost a driver since 1994 Ayrton Senna at Imola, San Marino. There has been track marshals who have been killed more recently through flying cars and debris. Motorsport is dangerous, taking photos at motorsport is very dangerous. Even this year Mark Webber ran into the back of a slower car who braked 80m before Mark did the lap before and the flipped upside down and flew into the air, luckily there was no pedestrian overpass at that part of the track, he landed upside down, but with the strength of F1 cars now he walked away unharmed and no one was hurt. I cannot understand excessive speeding or road racing on public roads, racing is for the race track, leave it there. If you are running late, tell someone before you get in the car that you might be late. This has been a public address.......
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F1 talk finished, passionate about something huh
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At the end of the track walk, I noticed the palace that i had been advised to check out. I knew it was up somewhere, but right at the end of the lap, there it is. Sweet, saves time looking for it! It was a great view and I'm sure the usually massive luxury boats that litter the marina were dwarfed today by Cunard's Queen Elizabeth cruise liner. The view was great, you can see everything and the other side of Monaco, the lesser known side, maybe it was a French side because they had cannons pointed in that direction! Yeah frenchys. Take that! There was a few souvenir shops up there too! You wouldn't think a palace would have several cafés and souvenir shops. I found a little pizza shop right near the swimming pool corners. It was by far the messiest pizza i had ever had, the property values of Monte Carlo dropped severely when i was sitting on the marinas edge, eating my pizza with it just dripping down my hands. Was good, but, messy, messy, messy. I couldn't find a camera store in Monaco, i did find one in Nice but they were more general consumer based. So ill have to try Paris tomorrow. Nearly there now. I'll be arriving at about 11:30pm. Book a tour or two tonight, shower and bed. Im so bloody tired, maybe a sleep in tomorrow!
From France uhaw haw haw
P.S. French women are beautiful, many of them need a pie though! The European smoking epidemic continues too, no point wearing cologne as soon as i walk out straight into a smoke haze of several smokers, oh cmon!
P.P.S. Great to hear a good start to the ashes!
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