I'm seriously considering making the 2.5 hour trip to Indy for the Indy GP this May. General Admission is 25$. A seat in T1 area (T4 of oval) is 51$. Which is the better deal, or does it depend? I'd be taking my GF, so I guess the question is if the 52$ more is worth the reserved seat for the both of us. Neither of us would object to walking for the entire day.

In other news, I've made a pretty serious commitment to trying to follow this series more than ever. I'm hoping (since the racing is better in IndyCar already) that I will like it enough to forget about the crap that NASCAR's national series' have become

From what I remember of the 2004 US GP, T4 seats are great. Depending on how high you go, you can easily see the whole front straight and the entire first turn complex all the way to the back straight. There's a small hospitality building on the inside of turns 3 and 4 that will block either the straight between turns 4 and 5 or the 5-6 chicane if your seats are low and and you're really far north, but other than that you can pretty much be guaranteed a view of almost half the race track. When I was there, at least, Stand J was packed to the gills because of the viewing opportunity.

The main advantage of general admission would probably be proximity. While grandstand seats in Turn 1 are quite a ways from the track, the spectator mounds (aka golf course) between turns 7,8,9, and 10 can be really close to the track. Same goes for the inside of Turn 1.

Power has to win this year seriously.

On a side note looks like Montoya should be right up there from the get go, I think he still has that epic talent within him and it will be unleashed at some point this season.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Onboard with Josef at Barber.

Very impressive footage, you really get to see how fast this place is, despite the non-stop turns and huge elevation changes. Something you do not always realise from the outside shots. Very underrated track IMO.

Yes, this is the track V8's should visit instead of the Austin nonsense.

@Cornys: Even if you get a reserved seat, you probably won't want to spend all day at it - you can also still access the GA areas. A reserved seat that's under cover is nice for protection from the sun when it's midday, and also any precipitation that falls. But, if it's windy and chilly, it gets COLD quickly. It's a trade-off :P

When I went to the MotoGP race back in August at IMS, I only was at my seat for the first 10-15 laps of the MotoGP race - after that I went to the paddock and podium area for the podium bit.

Looking at the calendar, I notice they have multiple races at a same track in a number of locations (Houston, Detroit, Toronto). Having two in Indy is good as it's not the same track (grand prix track which is nice) nor same weekend, but the others are. Any reason for this?

Quote from Knight_Atack :

Looking at the calendar, I notice they have multiple races at a same track in a number of locations (Houston, Detroit, Toronto). Having two in Indy is good as it's not the same track (grand prix track which is nice) nor same weekend, but the others are. Any reason for this?

Double headers?

Yeah, the double headers. Any reason other than helping the markets and giving out more points? Having more races in the same number of weekends? First time I notice this.

Thanks for the help guys. I think I'll got to the Road Race with general admission. I might consider attending the Indy 500 on the same ticket (general admission) if my work remains steady.

Quote from Knight_Atack :

Yeah, the double headers. Any reason other than helping the markets and giving out more points? Having more races in the same number of weekends? First time I notice this.

It happened last year too.

Iowa had a format that involved multiple races, don't know they it will happen again. However imo the more races the better!

Very cool onboard cam with Simon Pagenaud: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdJ5nHSwZrc

Probably a tougher course than it might look at first. I'm almost surprised we don't have more crashes, since almost 2 hours of this(including cautions, granted) at full grunt must take quite a toll on the drivers(no power steering mind you).

Quote from Knight_Atack :

Yeah, the double headers. Any reason other than helping the markets and giving out more points? Having more races in the same number of weekends? First time I notice this.

I believe it first started as a way for IndyCar to meet the IZOD contract obligation of having 18(IIRC?) races by season. At that time(late 2012) IZOD was already looking for a way out, so IndyCar couldn't afford to disrespect the contract if they wanted to keep the IZOD-bucks for one more year. But then the race promoters liked it. It gave them a much better value for money(I believe I've read somewhere that they get a double-header round for only 10% more money than a single-header), so it has stayed for 2014, even with IZOD gone. Of course, understandably it's not super popular with the teams and drivers, but that's another story.

Great onboard!

Gg power gg

Missed the first race for the Cup race in Martinsville which I attended in person. I should be on board for the rest though

I've decided to skip Indy (this year) and go to Mid-Ohio since it's only a 90 minute drive vs. 4 hours. Has anybody been there before? Advise? (My family didn't follow road racing, so I've never attended a road race before.. I'm determined to change that ).

The last chicane complex is the most interesting based on iRacing :d

Why the actual hell...

http://www.indycar.com/News/20 ... 10-Lazier-enters-Indy-500

Quote from Gougoodthing :

Why the actual hell...

http://www.indycar.com/News/20 ... 10-Lazier-enters-Indy-500

He did it last year

why not? more cars the better imo

Agreed. How many cars are expected to show up to Indy now?

Quote from Rappa Z :

Agreed. How many cars are expected to show up to Indy now?

You'd be quite a courageous man to bet on anything more than 33...

Interesting race at Long Beach right now. Tons of contact.

Quote from Rappa Z :

Interesting race at Long Beach right now. Tons of contact.

I think Hinch called out RHR there. Also... Dixon putting Wilson into the wall was extremely stupid. Hawksworth had a excellent run and I think he will be quite promising in races to come.

Did Dixon get a penalty in the end? He and Wilson were at it for a couple of corners before so it's not like Dixon wouldn't expect him to be close by.