Day Five - Yello
Given we retired sometime close to 4:00AM this morning it was no surprise that the planned early start didn't happen. We left the hotel at around 10:00 to head for Denny's and a hearty breakfast that was mainly comprised of pancakes.
Parking at the circuit costs something ridiculous like $150 for the weekend, luckily some enterprising locals rent out their paddock space for a more reasonable $20 per day. It has become a US GP tradition to park in Billy-Bob's back garden. Today this was made fun by the fact it rained a lot overnight so it was possible to slide the car around in the mud quite a lot.
The race (Yello reference) started at 14:00 by which time I had applied a more sensible quantity of suncream and got some bottled water. On race day the grandstands are full with a full spectrum of people, we were 'lucky' enough to be sat close to a loudmouthed self styled expert pundit. The only problem was he didn't seem to have been to or watched a race before or even know what one was. In keeping with 100% of the other races I have attended in Austin the victor was Lewis Hamilton meaning we got to sing God Save the Queen.
Post race we watched a band for a while with a couple of beers then headed to the main stage area for the Stevie Wonder concert. Thanks to a kind gift from Rahul, Alistair and I had stage side tickets which put us very close to the front, any closer and I would have been able to duet on some of the songs. Stevie started the concert by saying "I didn't go to the Formula 1 because I can't see.....yet." He then played all of his best known songs including that one which he copied from Wild Wild West by Will Smith. Apart from a couple of boring slow songs it was an excellent performance and highly enjoyable.
Post concert we said goodbye to Billy Bob's garden / car park for the final time and headed back to Austin for the evenings entertainment.
I had planned to save time by suggesting reading one of the previous day's posts to describe the evening as the entire group were exhausted so I was expecting a low key outing. That was a mistake. Following the concert we got back to the hotel at around 22:00 and got ready to hit town. An initial attempt to find a decent BBQ restaurant was unsuccessful, almost as if they don't cater to a late on a Sunday evening crowd. Then I decided we should go to the fashionable W hotel, having done that I wonder what the W is short for, let's just say it was full of a certain type.
Given time was marching on we needed an insurance venue so for a change we went to Pete's Piano bar. This time it was rammed full mainly with the Mercedes F1 team who were celebrating their constructor's title that they had clinched that day. I 'quite like' Mercedes cars so was glad to see them. The problem with it being busy was a huge queue to get in, luckily Pete (our Pete, not the Piano Bar) was able to give the bouncers a substantial bung as we got straight in.
I then ran into Anthony from Cambourne who I had last seen at the Airport, we were able to compare notes on the weekend and send a picture to our mate Dan who sadly couldn't be with us / was NFI:
I think I was supposed to be flipping Dan off but it looks like in my excited state I got my finger the wrong way round, something I am sure we have all done. Another cracking night at Pete's followed culminating in meeting fifth place finisher Valteri Bottas:
He was a lovely chap and at no point told us he would not pose for a photo. The compromise we reached was taking a photo which he was mainly oblivious of, although his wry smile suggests he was just teasing and we are now best mates.
Given the previous two late nights 2:00AM would have seemed a sensible time to call it a night, but given it was Pete's last night we thought we would have a quick one for the road in the Voodoo bar. This lead to us talking to the owner which in turn resulted in a lock in followed by a road trip to a club owned by his mate. I was lucky enough to get a free t-shirt from the bar, it doesn't quite fit but perhaps it will stretch with washing, either way it is a keeper because the colour matches my eyes.
I was also befriended by a Texas state trooper who insisted we take a quick picture.
Pete had a plane back to LA to catch at 7:00 which meant he needed to be at the airport no later than 5:30, which was the exact time we got back to the hotel. The hotel is not really that near the airport. I think he made it but not sure.
The plan for the rest of the day is to start the roadtrip possibly via Dennys and a throat lozenge shop as I am in a bit of discomfort mainly caused by laughing so much this weekend. Anyway next stop New Orleans.
Why not follow me on TWITTER even though I have run out of celebrity endorsements for today......
Parking at the circuit costs something ridiculous like $150 for the weekend, luckily some enterprising locals rent out their paddock space for a more reasonable $20 per day. It has become a US GP tradition to park in Billy-Bob's back garden. Today this was made fun by the fact it rained a lot overnight so it was possible to slide the car around in the mud quite a lot.
The race (Yello reference) started at 14:00 by which time I had applied a more sensible quantity of suncream and got some bottled water. On race day the grandstands are full with a full spectrum of people, we were 'lucky' enough to be sat close to a loudmouthed self styled expert pundit. The only problem was he didn't seem to have been to or watched a race before or even know what one was. In keeping with 100% of the other races I have attended in Austin the victor was Lewis Hamilton meaning we got to sing God Save the Queen.
Post race we watched a band for a while with a couple of beers then headed to the main stage area for the Stevie Wonder concert. Thanks to a kind gift from Rahul, Alistair and I had stage side tickets which put us very close to the front, any closer and I would have been able to duet on some of the songs. Stevie started the concert by saying "I didn't go to the Formula 1 because I can't see.....yet." He then played all of his best known songs including that one which he copied from Wild Wild West by Will Smith. Apart from a couple of boring slow songs it was an excellent performance and highly enjoyable.
 |
| Stevie Wonder - Playing some keyboards |
 |
| Stevie Wonder - Playing a piano |
 |
| Stevie Wonder's shell suit - did he get dressed in the dark? |
I had planned to save time by suggesting reading one of the previous day's posts to describe the evening as the entire group were exhausted so I was expecting a low key outing. That was a mistake. Following the concert we got back to the hotel at around 22:00 and got ready to hit town. An initial attempt to find a decent BBQ restaurant was unsuccessful, almost as if they don't cater to a late on a Sunday evening crowd. Then I decided we should go to the fashionable W hotel, having done that I wonder what the W is short for, let's just say it was full of a certain type.
Given time was marching on we needed an insurance venue so for a change we went to Pete's Piano bar. This time it was rammed full mainly with the Mercedes F1 team who were celebrating their constructor's title that they had clinched that day. I 'quite like' Mercedes cars so was glad to see them. The problem with it being busy was a huge queue to get in, luckily Pete (our Pete, not the Piano Bar) was able to give the bouncers a substantial bung as we got straight in.
I then ran into Anthony from Cambourne who I had last seen at the Airport, we were able to compare notes on the weekend and send a picture to our mate Dan who sadly couldn't be with us / was NFI:
I think I was supposed to be flipping Dan off but it looks like in my excited state I got my finger the wrong way round, something I am sure we have all done. Another cracking night at Pete's followed culminating in meeting fifth place finisher Valteri Bottas:
He was a lovely chap and at no point told us he would not pose for a photo. The compromise we reached was taking a photo which he was mainly oblivious of, although his wry smile suggests he was just teasing and we are now best mates.
Given the previous two late nights 2:00AM would have seemed a sensible time to call it a night, but given it was Pete's last night we thought we would have a quick one for the road in the Voodoo bar. This lead to us talking to the owner which in turn resulted in a lock in followed by a road trip to a club owned by his mate. I was lucky enough to get a free t-shirt from the bar, it doesn't quite fit but perhaps it will stretch with washing, either way it is a keeper because the colour matches my eyes.
I was also befriended by a Texas state trooper who insisted we take a quick picture.
Pete had a plane back to LA to catch at 7:00 which meant he needed to be at the airport no later than 5:30, which was the exact time we got back to the hotel. The hotel is not really that near the airport. I think he made it but not sure.
The plan for the rest of the day is to start the roadtrip possibly via Dennys and a throat lozenge shop as I am in a bit of discomfort mainly caused by laughing so much this weekend. Anyway next stop New Orleans.
Why not follow me on TWITTER even though I have run out of celebrity endorsements for today......
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