The preparations for the start of the 2003 Formula One Season were well under way when I arrived in Melbourne after the great time I had in Tasmania. I'd reccommend it to everyone to get there eventually because I know I will go back! The Australian Grand Prix wasn't due to take place until the Sunday afternoon but after catching up with Eleanor out at Murrenbeena, I headed out to Albert Park track on the Thursday afternoon, to collect my bargain priced tickets and get a feel for the place! I managed to get a 4 day concession ticket for 92 AUS dollars, that is approximately 30 Pounds Sterling! I thinhk I would have to pay at least 3 times that to get into the British Grand Prix. As I arrived at the track, the V8 supercars were fairly tearing up the track as the muscled there way around the course like a raging bull!
Friday began with an early start so that I could enjoy the delights of the new 2 hour testing session for the teams that had agreed to take part! It also provided an ideal opportunity to find the ideal viewing spot for the race. The two hours passed without much ado about nothing, when the practice session began for everyone at 11 am, Kimi Raikkonen had a very close call, spinning the car through 720 degrees just metres from where we were standing before gettiung it back under control! Great stuff!
I just wanted to relax on the Saturday and see a few more of the sights that Melnourne has to offer the global traveller, after the delights of reading the "Sunday Times" like of "The Age" over breakfast I headed over to Queen Victoria Market place, just about 10 minutes north of the CBD! It always amazes me how it is possible to buy nearly everything from a kitchen sink to a Grannie if you needed one!
At the track for the course openling at 7.30am to get that spot, just at turn 2 where I would be able to see alot of the action! It had taken 4 days of walking around the course to come up with it! The first race of the day was the V8 supercars, Peter Brock, the legendary Australian driver had come out of retirement to compete in this event, having won the previous 3 races of the weekend, he did not disapoint although he was helped when the race was stopped due to a 3 car crash at turn 2, amazingly the driver walked away from the accident! Next up was the Celebrity Mini race, it was never really a race given the how mornings downpour had affected the track and after 6 or 7 collisions on the first 2 laps the race was completed under the supervision of the rescue car! Ah well, celebrities can't be good at everything! This brought up the usual pre-race shananigan's that involved many of the great drivers of the past, Sir Stirling Moss and Sir jackie Stewart to name a few, driving round the course in their winning vehicles! The race got under way as the track was slowly drying off, several of the drivers came in early to change tyres....after a few laps, I managed to get some dust in my eye's after some lame driving by one of the leaders, 25 minutes later...I managed to get it under control before much to my surprise, David Coulthard was in the lead and by some considerable distance! I was however waiting for him to screw it up be he managed to keep it together and finish in style! Melbourne turned out to be a good place to be for a Scotsman! Its amazing who you meet at times like this, a friend of mine at university was waving a Saltire on the start finish straight before I stumbled across Kirsten at a set of traffic lights...another Strathclyder...I knew this town wasn't big enough for me! That evening's barbecue was great fun and a great way to finish it all off!!!!!
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