Renault Roadshow - A Marshal's diary

[tsk1979]

It all started with a mail from Sudev, asking about volunteer marshals for the event.
With the opportunity of witnessing close up action! who would pass this up!

Day 1 - Practice day: - The Logans run

Saturday was the practice day.
We were handed our jackets, and the flags.
Red flag if someone jumped on the track, or if a dog came, and green otherwise.
It was very simple, ditto for the radio.
Here are the naughty pics, before the event when the paragliders were doing their stuff.
But after radio instructions... no more pics.


The whole practice session went off uneventfully, and was awefully boring, because after every five minutes of action, three silly Logans would come, their drivers accelerating at full speed(0-100 in 1000 seconds or something?), and then executing a handbrake turn.
For 3 hours they did that. And we were actually fearing that it will turn out to be logan roadsow tomorrow also.
After that it was time to head to the paddocks, and click some close up pics.
Us with the trophy cup car

This F1 was being revved up by the laptop. Idle - sharp burst - Idle - Sharp burst. I recorded the audio, but when I play it back it seems like a F1 car on idle and a dog barking.

The Other F1 car


After that it was time to get back to the KG road parking, and head home. It had been a long and tiring 4 hours on the track, and it was time to eat and sleep

Day 2 - Late Latif
As planned we reached India gate around 12:10, but unfortunately instead of KG road, came up from the Purana Quila side, planning to loop around.
This was a disaster. The whole area was cordoned.
Had to get to Lodi road, then to Bhagwan D road, then onto KG road!
Took 1 almost an hour, and when we took up our marshals posts, it was already 1, and the event had started.
Anyways, the first event, the Logan parade was about to end and action was about to start.
No pics of this part.
The trophy cars and the toon cars were the fun part, and it was a bit scary too.
You see, they were going left right on the track, drifting continously, so every time they passed us, the car was almost touching the side barriers, and we marshals were right next to the barriers on the other side.
After a few stunts the F1 run was announced.
And boy, what a run!
I did not have ear plugs, so had to use fingers. A couple of time I did not block my years, and it appeared as if earth was shaking. I put my phone on recording mode, and I think this will be a nice ringtone to scare people with!

F1 car did a lot of runs, and donuts at designated stunt areas, but unfortunately we missed all that action. But we saw the F1 car do near top speed. It may not have been 300, but it was around 270-280 atleast!

Finally the event came to an end, delayed due to some "VIP runs" in the torphy cars.
I have a the end of run pic, when we asked to head back.
Our position on the track!

After that it was time to head to the paddocks, for photo session with the drivers, etc.,
The security guys tried to shoo us away, but why worry when Sudev is around
Toon car

F1 cars stripped down


Vandeep getting Autograph

Me getting autograph

By now the F1 car is totally stripped down!
I have never seen F1 car internals from so close, ever!



After that it was time to pose with the Trophy car

The car

And last but not the least, a pic with the man of the show, Nelson!!!!


So that was the end of a very hectic weekend!
So how was the experience.
Well I would say a mixed bag.
1. Missed out lot of the action
2. No pics of the event.. Thats very bad for someone who is a photographer at heart
So for the next event, I would try to get a press pass, and do job as a photographer!

[Stratos]

Nice pictures. Love those trophy cars. Seems to be a good event if, good cars are featured.

[ported_head]

No droop in suspension at all? Do they fly off every slight bump?

Great opportunity, hope I can get a chance to be this up close to F1 car someday. The closest I have been to a nice sounding car is being 4 feet from GS' Skyline on his 9 sec run.

[tsk1979]

Ported.. There are no bumps on Rajpath.... Only smooth Tarmac

Stratos, the stunts were awesome, Its just that no pics here, I guess the meet thread will have the pics of cars in action.

[m4ugr8]

I agree with tsk1979, with marshaling you missed the event, the stunts most importantly.

I was seated in the Renault Area, which was just opposite the VVIP hold up, so most stunts were performed in front of me, which was truly breath taking.

Though Marshaling would also being an experience in its own.All in all it was something very different are surely worth the watch. Lets hope we get to see a real F1 race soon in Delhi.

[aZa]

awesome experience tanveer. loved the pics!! Lets just hope F1 comes to delhi or Greater noida.

[Rehaan]

Really cool "calm before the storm" type pics that set the scene.

Heres a crosslink to some more pics and videos : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor-...how-delhi.html

cya
R

[tsk1979]

After this event, I have become even more doubtful about the future of F1 in India.
Imagine a free event with real F1 stars and F1 cars running.
You expect a riot.
But the stands were empty.
Where I was standing, there were about 5 people in the audience behind me.
At the end of the track where stunts were taking place, there was crowd, but it was not static, it kept moving in and out.
So even the "free entry" audience were on the fence, as there was just one layer of people!
There was hardly any cheering... Rather nobody to cheer.
I guess only the VVIP and Renault Stands were occupied.

[akash_m]

@ tsk1979, here are some action pics. Took lots of videos. Shall uplaod them soon..

[esteem_lover]

Nice pics tanveer & akash. The trophy car looks great, wish Logan would get that kind of front someday.