F1 goes to Manchester

[Steven Roy]

http://www.crash.net/motorsport/f1/news/165084-0/f1_hits_manchester.html

BMW are taking their Pit Lane Park to the Trafford Centre in Manchester on 4th-6th July.  Admission is free and there will be all sorts of interactive entertainment.

[Alianora La Canta]

And I can't afford to go, even though it's only a train ride away. Grrr!

[Mitch14]

i wouldn't mind going but i live in exeter so its quite far

[Steven Roy]

I'm going tomorrow.  It means I will miss Friday practise but I get to hear, smell and feel F1 engines so I will make the sacrifice.

[Mitch14]

i hope you enjoy yourself steven

[Alianora La Canta]

Enjoy yourself, Steven!

[Steven Roy]

I'm sure I will.  Thanks.

[cosworth151]

Good call, Steven!

There's nothing in the world like being up close to real F1 cars!

[Mitch14]

i hope one day i can do something like that

[Ian]

You should have gone to F1 in Regent St, SUPERB it was. 

[Mitch14]

glad you had a good time

[SennaMan]

http://www.crash.net/motorsport/f1/news/165084-0/f1_hits_manchester.html

BMW are taking their Pit Lane Park to the Trafford Centre in Manchester on 4th-6th July.  Admission is free and there will be all sorts of interactive entertainment.

yeah SR - I think BMW are on to a winner here. Nothing like bringing the sights, sounds and smells of F1 to the citiies.

Good PR that must make a lot of people have a warm regard for the BMW brand but also attract new people to F1.

To actually get up close and personal with a modern F1 car is an awesome experience as the technical excellence of the cars and the sheer applied intelligence they have is so obvious and very impressive.

[Steven Roy]

If you get the chance to see Pit Lane Park don't miss it.  They were babying the F1 car today so its run was a bit short.  I think that was because it has to last all weekend and they had technical problems with it before it was started up.  It didn't help that they decided to wet the tarmac to help it do donuts and it nearly went off backwards because it had no traction.  Even without live action it is worth going to see.  Lots of toys to play with and no-one saying stand back don't touch.

Aside from the F1 and F BMW cars doing the displays they let you play with everything else they had. They had two cars for pit stop challenges. First thing Friday morning before the place had been open an hour they had three guys changing a wheel in 4.3 seconds. There were at least a couple of school trips there. It was really funny watch 8 year old girls changing wheels including using the air hammer to slacken and tighten the nut. Those rear wheels are so light it is unbelievable. Much lighter than the alloys on any road car. Even with the tyres on they are feather light.

They had yet another F1 car where you could go and get photos posing with their models. BMW supplied the photographer and printed the pictures. They had a ‘glass’ F1 car that you could re-fuel. Those fuel hoses are heavy and awkward even when they are empty.

We have all seen exploded diagrams of F1 cars. They had an exploded F1 car that you could go a poke around. Absolutely nothing was off limits and the staff(dozens of them) encouraged everyone to go and do the things you always get told not to touch.

They had a pitlane stand complete with monitors displaying data from one of this year’s races and head phones so that you could listen in to the discussion between the pits and the drivers.

They had three simulator racers where you could go and race the other 2 for 2 laps of the Turkish track. They also had a load of driver fitness stuff including this weird concentration competition thing. You stuck two fingers into a clip(I assum it measured pulse or conductivity or pressure applied) and in between the two people was a metal track with a 2 inch metal ball. The person with the most relaxed concentration moved the ball towards their opponent. I need to try to read up on it because I don’t understand it at all.

The had Vicky Butler-Henderson and some bloke I didn’t recognise doing the commentary.

[Mitch14]

wish i was in that turkish track simulator

[Steven Roy]

One other point I forgot.  The whole Pit Lane Park thing is free including taking and printing photos.  The only thing you paid for was food and drink in the cafeteria.  How can a Scotsman forget to mention it was free?