A1 Grand Prix of Nations

[Bones]

Anyone been following the A1? This year I have lost track of my motorsport. 

The Australian circuit (Eastern Creek) is only about 3 miles from my house and I am considering buying tickets.

Anyone been following it and know what the racing is like?

[GGKoul]

Its suppose to be ok racing.  But alot of juniors and F1-castaways...

[rchadd]

it was pretty popular when the race was run here in the UK

[GGKoul]

it was pretty popular when the race was run here in the UK

That was more because of the price point for the series...

[Bones]

Race starts in 1/2 hour.

[Bones]

Well that sucked. I would have spewed if I paid for tickets.

[patrickl]

The drivers are in the same class as GP2 and IRL/CHAMP. Not the top but some are close to it. I like the idea of a league that runs in the winter. The boost button allows for a lot of overtaking.

I don't like the idea of nations competing. They overdo that angle way to much. They should at least mention the name of the driver if they do something good. Now it's something like "Wow, stunning performance by France". Come on France sux, their driver is good though.

[Harry Potter]

Well that sucked. I would have spewed if I paid for tickets.

Can't you just sneak on top of a hill and watch from there?

[ozmotorsport]

I thought it was a great weekend of entertainment.

Car pix here
http://www.shoalhaven.net.au/~motorsport/rof/page2b/

Babe pix here
http://www.shoalhaven.net.au/~motorsport/rof/page2a/

[Bones]

I think I expected to see something closer to F1. The racing looked very amateurish. Being an Eastern Creek local I have seen much better racing there from lesser classes, I just expected more....

Also not keen the racing times out after an hour, I think this is soft.

[patrickl]

It is kinda short yes. They have 2 races on one day though.

They do also have some real amateurs amongst the backmarkers yes, but I thought the top half raced pretty well. The skill level is a bit too diverse maybe, but that's probably because they needed drivers from every nation. As the thing gets better know, better drivers should volunteer to drive for their country. Also when the teams need to start paying then some lesser teams will probably drop out. At least I hope so. Anyway, it has getten better from the first 2 races. I think the first race there was like 10 seconds difference between the fastest and slowest drivers (in basically the same car)

Actually, better drivers usually ensures less action. Look at formula 1. It's rare for drivers there to make a mistake. Mistake, as in trying to overtake an opponent. So they just wait and pray the pitstops will change the order. I still watch every race (and I even visited 2 races this year), but they do tend to get a bit boring now and then.

I quite enjoyed the racing up front. I hate those damned IRL like safety car timeouts every time a car gets a wheel dirty, but on the other hand they do bunch it all up again and it makes for more close racing in the end.

It looks pretty similar to GP2 and IRL (or CHAMP car) to me.

Bones, The lesser classes (that race better) you mention would they be open wheel racing? Cause if it's not then that's a big difference.

[Stingray]

The racing looked very amateurish.

If you ever come to Oklahoma, I'll bring you out to the Route 66 Speedway and show you what amatureish looks like. Nothing like watching a bunch of drunken rednecks run their homemade cars around a dirt track all night to really define the term "amature racing".

-S