Yas Top Fuellers FTW!

[thb]

Anyone make it down to Yas Marina at the weekend for the Drag Festival? I went down yesterday and was mightily impressed.

The sheer amount of energy expelled by these things is insane! I was up in grandstands in line with the Christmas tree on all three runs yesterday and the noise and vibrations were something else. I think i'm a closet redneck!

But seriously, running the quarter mile in 3.898secs with a terminal speed of 499.97kph is not to be sniffed at. Shame Rod 'Hot Rod' Fuller and Tommy Johnson Jr missed out on the magical 500kph mark, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

Check out this vid - and wait for the 0:54 mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIefN64XrR0

[Harris_I]

Hi Tom. I feel kind of awkward for saying this, but it bothers me that a big crowd turns out to watch drag racing, and yet circuit racing (ref the recent Aussie V8s and GP2) were poorly attended. Without wishing to denigrate the obvious courage, skill and sheer spectacle of the dragsters, for me there's a big difference in top class circuit racing or rallying.

Am I being unfair? Maybe it was the ticket pricing at the Aussie V8s that put everyone off? Or perhaps it's like the difference between test cricket and T20? One is so much more accessible and viewer friendly than the other.

[yorky500]

Sadly, here in the UAE as in most GCC Countries - its all about the straight line speed and not the cornering aspects of Motorsport.

You can see it by what people here do to their cars/4x4's. Twin turbo's on Patrols, Souped up F150's and the like, they want to race you off the line, yet you push them when cornering and they immediately back off.

Shame really.

[thb]

Harris_I said:

Hi Tom. I feel kind of awkward for saying this, but it bothers me that a big crowd turns out to watch drag racing, and yet circuit racing (ref the recent Aussie V8s and GP2) were poorly attended. Without wishing to denigrate the obvious courage, skill and sheer spectacle of the dragsters, for me there's a big difference in top class circuit racing or rallying.

Am I being unfair? Maybe it was the ticket pricing at the Aussie V8s that put everyone off? Or perhaps it's like the difference between test cricket and T20? One is so much more accessible and viewer friendly than the other.

I think the ticket pricing had a lot to do with it - 50Dhs for a ticket was quite a bargain, especially considering kids got in free. Compare this to the V8s where tickets started at 350Dhs a head, plus you had to pay for kids - it's a big difference. For a family of four you're looking at a prices of 100Dhs for the drag festival compared to 1400Dhs for the V8s - and that's just for tickets.

I'm a huge fan of circuit racing, however as a spectator you're never fully aware of what's going on - who's where etc. It's quite telling that many spectators at F1 events also hire portable TVs so they know what's going on.

I didn't get a chance to get down to the Autodrome at the weekend as I was stuck in the office, therefore I'd be interested to know how many people were in the stands - especially as the tickets were free. Also the timing helps - drag racing started at 6pm and went onto until around 11pm with action pretty much all the time (except for when the strip was closed to recover cars etc.). On Saturday I managed a day in the office, plus the drag racing (left Downtown Dubai at 4:50 and was at the gate in Yas an hour later).

Compare this to the Autodrome where things kicked off at 9am and went on until 5 or so - plus you only get to see the main straight or a couple of corners if you want to hike up to the fence or drive around the perimeter. No matter where you were at the drag racing you got to see all the action and what was going on.

As an event the Drag Festival was well organised with plenty of access for everyone to get up close to the cars in the pits, chat to the drivers etc, catering was good and the volunteers/security were helpful and accessible. Of course it helps that everything is contained in a very small space around the grandstands, but this is a bonus when taking along non-petrolheads to these kind of events.

[Asterix]

yorky500 said:

Sadly, here in the UAE as in most GCC Countries - its all about the straight line speed and not the cornering aspects of Motorsport.

You can see it by what people here do to their cars/4x4's. Twin turbo's on Patrols, Souped up F150's and the like, they want to race you off the line, yet you push them when cornering and they immediately back off.

Shame really.

100% agreed.

I think the reason are the original road systems - same in the great open expanses of the US as well. When it is quite flat and featureless, A to B is often a straight line without the twistyness of rolling hills, valleys and other contours.

Then go to somewhere like Iceland and they have those crazy drivers hoofing it up siea of mountains! Why? Because it is what they have

[Dunk1982]

I hope these come to Bahrain! Being used to drag racing and hot rods back in the UK when i saw the ad here for the Bahrain championships i couldnt wait! 5BD to sit anywhere or 3BD to sit from about the halfway point of the 1/4 mile (is Bahrain a 1/4 mile strip!?) Well i was gutted to say the least!! It was all Jap crap with massive turbos, inline 4's and 6's making horrible noise! I think i saw two V8's go up the strip! Didnt stay long, with fuel being almost free here i was expecting a orgy of V8 big block blown supercharged madness and lots of old yank metal! Oh well....

Also, how much for Yas aussie V8 tickets!!!??? No wonder no one went! The round here in Bahrain had a bar (cheapest pint on the island too!) tickets were 10BD each (about 100DHS) kids were free too i think? And if like me you bought F1 tickets you got V8 ones for free! Bargin!

[Harris_I]

thb said:

I didn't get a chance to get down to the Autodrome at the weekend as I was stuck in the office, therefore I'd be interested to know how many people were in the stands - especially as the tickets were free.

Very few, in fact none by the end of the GT race. All the action was on the paddock side. The car park was chocka, but then again that's probably just family and friends of the racers themselves, since there are four separate championships.

Granted, we're not talking about F1 glamour or anything, but there were enough thrills and spills this weekend to attract the casual viewer (including a helicopter airlift of injured bikers, not that the racers want to be seeing that sort of thing, and a multi-car pile up on the main straight in touring cars).

The grandstand is a bit crap, to be honest. No big TV screen on "ordinary" national race days, and no view of any corners whatsoever. The smart spectators are either on top of the hill at turn 14 (which the Autodrome has stubbornly left unpaved) or at the end of the gravel car park opposite the race school (where you get to see the turn 1 melee at the start of the race).

Oh well, we plough our lonely furrow...

[yorky500]

^^^^^^^^

And yet there are new Grandstands at turns 1 - 3 being constructed as part of the Sports City complex - who the feck is going to fill them?

DA are seriously lacking in the PA side of things - always have

[Hitch78]

thb said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIefN64XrR0

Amazing footage. I would happily have paid 50ds to see that.

The pricing of the V8s was a massive issue. A race series virtually unknown to the local market trying to charge 50 quid a head for entry smacks of someone getting something very wrong on the promotions side. I know the series is big news in Oz but do they even manage to get Yas capacity level numbers in the stands at home circuits?

Edited by Hitch78 on Sunday 21st March 18:14

[Chilli]

Harris_I said:

The grandstand is a bit crap, to be honest. No big TV screen on "ordinary" national race days, and no view of any corners whatsoever. The smart spectators are either on top of the hill at turn 14 (which the Autodrome has stubbornly left unpaved) or at the end of the gravel car park opposite the race school (where you get to see the turn 1 melee at the start of the race).

Oh well, we plough our lonely furrow...

Harris, I feel your pain....albeit slightly less!
I dunno what it is. When I went to the 24hr race, I thought the facilites were first class. Free entry as well. But, the fact that you can walk around the entire circuit, and peer through the fences and see these cars go round no more than 6 feet away was fantastic.
The downside was that the cafe closed at a silly time, so I couldn't find anywhere to get anything to eat!
Their advertising of these events is pretty dismal too.