European Le Mans Series opening round at Paul Ricard 1st April

[Nordic]

James Hunt's McLaren M23 perfectly suited to the long straights and fast sweepers of Ricard,
Fax

http://p.twimg.com/ApvjiSdCQAE910Z.jpg

Speaking of which, the film 'Rush' is well into production now.  

[Martini...LB]

All this Paul Ricard conversation reminded me that I have a copy of the 1976 French GP on VHS tape.  Broke it out tonight and watched it, with a good bottle of wine of course.  It really hit home how lovely F1 was back then.  A bright sunny day in Provence, huge crowd, James Hunt's McLaren M23 perfectly suited to the long straights and fast sweepers of Ricard, dominated the race, helped by both Ferrari's having their engines scatter, while at full chat on the Mistral (obviously the Maranello engine dept. tried to squeeze to much grunt for the passes down the straight).  Really the beginning of James championship charge.  Also great drives by Patrick Depailler in the P34, and Wattie in the Penske.  Ricard is probably much more manicured now, but it was also a hell of a GP venue back then.
Fax

Nice one Faxy, I am having a glass at the mo and it was good to read you message, memories yeh, that it is the future (?). Trust me...

>Martini...LB

[adinsen]

Gentlemen,
Back home again after a nice holiday with family. The race last sunday was nice. It lacked a bit of intensity, but judging from your comments, it was far better in real than on TV
Richard must be one of the worlds best located race tracks, even the drive there through the mountain roads is fun
Facilities are nice and new - nothing like what I'd expect from a french site: Even the toilet buildings are perfect and clean. On the other hand, it does lack some atmosphere.

The race was rather eventless, but the Provence way is very relaxed, so... We had a great time

Photographers love the place. I think the density of large DSLRs and lenses was even higher than at Le Mans! Even I got a few good photos - Flickr album here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62832941@N05/sets/72157629723576845/









Cheers,
Anders

[Fran]

Lovely pictures there Anders.

[termietermite]

I agree - Ricard is photogenic.  So why does it look so (relatively) cr*p on (moving) film?

It's four years since I last went.
One specially for you, Fran:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97986095@N00/2316825484/in/set-72157604054725901/

[Fran]

Ahh - happy days!

Thanks for that.   

F

[Jack the Hat]

Some lovely shots there Termietermite

[adinsen]

I agree - Ricard is photogenic.  So why does it look so (relatively) cr*p on (moving) film?

Long straights, fast corners, open areas, too safe, no hills, which is ironic, since it's situated in a mountain area. It all boils down to too little action. Plus the stripes look great on photos, but disturbing on film.

Saleen at Richard, wonderful!

Lovely pictures there Anders.

Thanks

[Boorish Grobian]

I don't get the complaining about the stripes, doen't really bother me at all.  I didn't get a chance to see the LMS race, Speed dosen't carry the LMS, but watched the FIA GT race from last summer, and the circuit tends to look like most of the other contemporary "Tilke" tracks, except it does have fast corners and long straights.  Ricards painted runoff areas date way back to the eighties when they painted the runoff areas blue.  I suspect the bland feel to it probably had more to do with a poor car turnout and lack of on track action than the circuit itself.
Fax