[mobike008]

Things I loved about the race :-

1. Surreal Environment of that world class race track, people and world's best racing drivers entertaining you for a whole of 2 hours

2. Roar of engines revving at 18,000rpm

3. Slipstreaming; A manevour wherein the driver tailgates another car at 300+ kmph speeds and overtakes him in one quick motion. Simply Breathtaking


Things that could have been better :-

1. 60 Lap race finishes a little under 2 hours, you feel it ended just too quickly

2. Even though large screens are installed to watch the progress, it's insufficient and not possible to keep track of who is leading and lap numbers of the race

3. Exorbitant cost of tickets and not to mention the costs of the food and beverages at venue were equally sky-highl

Force India Car- Looked great in person with our national flag tri-colors



I loved the gurgling sound of the cars when they brake and downshift

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl4fBQwp1QA

[mobike008]

My fascination with Grand Prix/F1 Racing was right from the time when I gathered my senses as a teenager and used to read about them in awe and also dreamt of seeing those exotic and high flying race drivers in action if not the ultimate dream of driving an F1 car.

Plenty of times in the past had planned to witness my first race outside India. Closest venues were Malaysia and Singapore but, those plans never materialized and then finally in 2010, F1 came to India and it was a dream come true. However, a physical presence eluaded me for 2 straight years as something or other would come up at work that wrecked plans to enjoy the race LIVE.

This year, I decided to plan much ahead and thanks to push from another Team-BHP'ian ( Rajesh Rawal) who kept prodding me to book the tickets so we cannot back out of the plan at last minute.

We booked our tickets about a month and half in advance and this was going to be a team-bhp meet-cum-racing event. We picked up the Rs.5000/ticket "Star East Stand 3" ticket that gaves us a lovely vantage point of enjoying the thrill of F1 cars racing at 330kmph on straights, decelerate with that lovely gurgling sound when they downshift and take the right before accelarating fast to 300+ kmph speeds

Following was the team that witnessed this event together
1. Mobike008 + Wife + BIL
2. Rajesh Rawal + 3 friends who flew down from Mumbai
3. Himanshu Goswami (Delhitee)
4. Spadix (He bought the ticket a day in advance and enjoyed the race from Star East Stand 1)

It was very sweet of Spadix to offer us a ride, he picked us up from Dhuala Kuan in his Civic (Which incidentally is bought a day apart my White Annihilator) and we proceeded towards Greater Noida towards the Buddh International Circuit (BIC).

I was overwhelmed with the infrastructure and beautiful roads of UP (Thanks to Mayawati) and we were met enroute in HimanshuGoswami in his SX4 with rest of the folks

We reached the venue around noon and we could hear the roar of the engines on the main highway (those F1 engines are indeed loud and powerful). The next 5 hours were one of the best in my life with the roar of those engines and it so happened to our luck that it was a tight race for Vettel who came from behind the grid at 12th to win the race. I was warned before the race that the sound gets so loud that I may need ear-plugs to keep my eardrums from shatterring but, honestly speaking if you dont enjoy the roar of those engines, then its not worth going to the race.

It was a fantastic experience and according to me all of us should experience the true grit, unbeilevable speeds, screaming engines, potent driving atleast once in their lifetime. Time to share a few moments as view through my camera of the entire race. Have clicked well over 200 pictures but, sharing just a fraction of it due to repetitiveness.

Hope you enjoy this photolog and makes you all relive the moments that we all enjoyed in person

Spotted this BUSA on the way to BIC



Enroute BIC on the Greater Noida Expressway. Great Infra by UP Government



BIC parking area. Huge parking area to accomodate two times more than the actual crowd how came for the race



Chopper shooting from the top. That's how you get to see the top-down angle


Soaring flags at the venue



BIC Track



Racers Passing Parade. Great close-up view we had from our stands

[mobike008]

Most of the pictures are taken when the cars are zipping past as I didnt have a long zoom lens.

Sorry if the pictures seem repetetive but, hope it gives the feeling of speed as I tried to capture most of them when they were at full throttle

[Vihari]

Mobike008, first congratulations on realising a 'dream'.

The photos of the parking stand and certain other ones, show the enormity of the topography of BIC. It is an achievement that you were able to 'catch' those arrows, darting at 330 kmph! For enthusiasts, those are not repetitive! Even many more will not bore them!

May be one day we will also get a chance to be part of the wonderful event.

- Sai

[bullrun87]

Great job on the pics. I witnessed the first edition of the Indian GP at BIC and will probably never forget the wonderful roar of those engines. What camera did you use?

[vasanthsm]

mobike008: Excellent photography.

The race will sadly be missed next year. Hopefully, we will get a chance to hear those turbocharged engines in 2015.

[Rajesh Rawal]

Lovely pictures avi!

Small correction,We were in star stand east 3 not 1.(That's a different story we later moved to the 'v.i.p' seats of the same stand

+1 on the infra in noida/greater noida( was equally impressed)

We should do the moto gp now (whenever it comes to bic)

[parrys]

mobike008,

Firstly, thank you for that amazing braking video.
Also, I am glad you captured the Iceman in one of his last few races in that lovely looking black & gold Lotus.

About the race, how comfortable was it to be there? Was it hot?
I agree to the amount of fun one can have just looking at those cars zooming past, but I cannot imagine myself standing there leaving my HD TV and a glass of beverage.

[DocRock]

Nice pictures!!! This was my first time at BIC, i was at the grandstand and the experience was simply awesome.The sound of the roaring engines still echoed in my ears that night after the race.
I posted a small video on another thread.The tickets buying decision was a sudden thing and i was unable to take my dslr, but my iphone did a ok job.
Do check out the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSqOFdlT9NI

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Vihari

The photos of the parking stand and certain other ones, show the enormity of the topography of BIC. It is an achievement that you were able to 'catch' those arrows, darting at 330 kmph! For enthusiasts, those are not repetitive! Even many more will not bore them!

Thanks Sai. Indeed, the entire track is built on such a humgungous area its difficult to fathom the enormity of the space used for BIC

Catching those darting arrows indeed was a tough deal as by time camera comes into focus they were out of the viewfinder

Originally Posted by bullrun87

Great job on the pics. What camera did you use?

It's my humble Nikon D5100 with a 18mm-105mm lens. I forgot to carry my 70mm-300mm Tamaron which may have got me slightly better/closer pictures

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

Lovely pictures avi!

Small correction,We were in star stand east 3 not 1.We should do the moto gp now (whenever it comes to bic)

Thanks for the correction RR. I edited my post accordingly. You know I love Motogp more than F1, so you can count me in

Originally Posted by parrys

Firstly, thank you for that amazing braking video.
Also, I am glad you captured the Iceman in one of his last few races in that lovely looking black & gold Lotus.

About the race, how comfortable was it to be there? Was it hot?
I agree to the amount of fun one can have just looking at those cars zooming past,

Thanks Parry. I have a couple of more videos to share. Took plenty of videos from my DSLR but, its painful to upload them on YouTube as size of each file is simply too large.

As a matter of fact, it was an extremely pleasant day and we spent nearly 5.5 hours inside BIC and didnt sweat a drop. We sat on the chairs for a few laps and then retired to the lawns which was shaded and had a better view.

Team-BHPians at BIC (L-R) Mobike008, Himanshugoswami (Red Tee) & Rajesh Rawal (Black Tee)



Ferrari. Poetry in Motion, eh?



Parry, a better picture for you of the ICE-MAN



This is the 1st Lap of the race ( if i recall correctly)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riG8R3ckck4

[getsurya]

Hi Avi & RR,

That is an amazing experience! The pictures can never do the full justice to what you have seen.

It is good to see Himanshu after a long time(in the picture).

Glad that you guys had fun and it was worth the trip from Hyd.

[mobike008]

Here are a couple of more videos to give you an indication of the speed and sound at the racetrack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHNNZ11Kpow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOSV7rKZ7JE

[mobike008]

We mistook this for a RED BULL car so many times during the race



Overtaking at its best





Merc CLS AMG doing a post match run



Love this car from Merc. Looks retro and classy



Hey, Adrian Sutil has ran out of petrol. Can we find him a bunk?





Force India F1 Car Craned out of the track



Our hero in true Indian style uses a Honda Activa to go back to driver's arena

[supertinu]

Thanks for starting this thread Mobike008, I have been thinking of starting one but diwali vacation kept me off computer and now I am just gonna hitch on yours . Hope you dont mind.

My journey or interest in F1 really peaked in 2003 when I went for my 1st live race at Indianapolis in US. Thanks to my room mate in UNiversity who was a big time fan I really had a time of my life. I always knew what F1 was but the real appreciation for the speed, sound, sheer power came after watching it live. since then I have been a avid follower. So it was no surprise when F1 came to India i was all excited but the real surprise was that I ended up missing the 1st 2 years due to some or the other reason. Finally this time I knew it was now or never especially since there was no race next year and future of F1 in India is a bit uncertain.

Here's my impression of the circuit

• Truly world class circuit. Very professionally managed event. Support staff from parking to inside.

• Roads leading to the circuit are just great. I was staying at Noida and left really early to beat the rush, going by my Bangalore experience but it turns out there was not a single traffic jam. Even when we left after the race, we reached home flat out with no jams again. Rocking NCR infrastructure . Unimaginable in Bangalore

• I did feel that event was under sold and it was about ~75% full. I was at the star stand east3 and got amazing view of the cars coming in at 330kmph. The whine of the engines at that speed was just music to my ears.

Without any more words now, let the video and pictures do the talking.

This is the opening lap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srEOHYxdzDE

1st three pictures are of the circuit




Safety cars doing final inspection


2nd lap


Love the tricolors on Force India car