My Swiss brother in law was dead keen to go and needed a ride so I went up to taupo to watch the main race on sunday.$75 for the ticket, no food or drink allowed in and got to experience what a sandstorm felt like.
I think the A1GP class is fantastic, great idea, better than F1, track looked great and Im sure the other facilities were great. BUT whoever was in charge of management of the embankment running alongside the main straight needs a kick. The top of the embankment was just loose pumus dust, and there was a strong wind for both days of racing. The dust and dirt was continuously drifting onto the track, the cars were kicking up clouds in some areas.
The crowd was a mess, kids crying, an old couple I was near had to leave when the wife started choking. It was in everyones eyes, all food was gritty. Something I would happily live with watching motocross, but to think that the WORLD was watching this race and seeing dustclouds envelop the track and probably cause a few cars to slide off just pissed me off. It was kinda embarrasing. My Swiss brother in law couldnt believe that it was that bad, especially since it had been a problem on saturday as well. Did they use watertrucks overnight? Or think of covering the pumus dust with gravel or bark, or woodchip or mulch (none hard or expensive to get around taupo) No. I simply cant believe they couldnt see this being a problem, the track is often a windy site and the top of the embankment was gonig to be an obvious problem.
The only thing more gritty and dirty than sitting near the track was hearing Helen Clarke talk. Like I didnt feel unclean enough with half a pound of dirt in my underwear.
On the bright side the trip home was fast, going to miss my radar detector. (doesnt anyone speed anymore? most drivers have been pussified big time)
Rant over.
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