What’s with the LED numbers?
Thursday night, Erika and I went to see Pink, who was performing in San Antonio on her Beautiful Trauma tour.
She was amazing. If you get the chance to see her on this tour, then I highly recommend doing so.
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That was a fun race to watch today on TV.
The cars position at the start of that lap. For practice it’s based on who has turned the fastest lap. For quals it’s the drivers position at the start in their heat based on time (not overall grid position, as that’s not figured out till quals are over since they run 5 heats).
It’s quite handy during the race, and a lot of series are starting to do it. For multiclass racing like World Endurance Championship, or the various Le Mans series it’s even more handy. Is that car that’s about to be lapped a back marker, or the lead car of a lower class, etc. In Indy car it’s not as much of a help, as the cars are a lot closer to each others times, and only the back driver or two is at risk of getting lapped. It was down right confusing after the race went to yellow, as suddenly the pack was all jumbled up with the numbers WAY off until that got straightened out.
It was a good race to be at. I’ve done all the major races at COTA (living in Austin has its perks), and this is definitely one of the better ones to go to. They had plenty of stuff in the common areas to do between races, and some great support series. The Indy Lights racing was awesome, and the Stadium Super Trucks is a series that desperately needs to be its own video game. The free paddock had plenty to see with the above to series along with the Mazda MX-5 cup series. The IndyCar paddock area was not near as “exclusive” as the F1 or MotoGP pits are, so it was well worth the extra $75.
Did they show the crowds on TV?
Reason I’m asking, is that it was not a particularly big crowd compared to F1 or MotoGP. I think the Muse concert last night drew more people. They overpriced the race, near F1 money, for a non-F1 crowd. I paid a bit over $300 for tickets, parking, and a paddock pass. That’s about what I’d paid at MotoGP, which has a much bigger draw being international. The stadium complex was at best 1/2 full, and the turn 12 stands were at maybe 2/3rds. I could actually see grass (a lot of it) by the bridge at T2, which on F1 or MotoGP is solid people almost to T9/T10.
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I’ll be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to the crowd so it would be hard for me to definitively say how things looked on that front. I could certainly see why the crowd wouldn’t be as large as MotoGP or F1 though as both of those events would draw more folks from around the country as the opportunities to see those series in NA are pretty limited. With Indy Car you can go to many different areas of the country to see a race as it’s a US based series. (I can see them both at Indianapolis and Mid Ohio for example.) You are correct however in that ticket pricing can certainly affect crowd size as well.
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Awww, that’s a beautiful one!
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That livery that Iguana sports looks like it’d look wicked on a Warthog!
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Georgeous!
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I’m beginning to suspect you’re not in Essex anymore Mr B.
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5 ship of b52’s leaving RAF Fairford yesterday morning on the TV…
Me and the boy were in the car in 7 mins flat.
What a sight. What an amazing thing to see. I’m so pleased! Obi was terrified at first but after the 2nd flyover he went from screaming in terror to screaming WOW!
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Nice, I once had a guest at the B&B who designed the B52 flight simulator for the USAAF
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The last pair to go took off less than 30 seconds apart. It was some sight!
I would imagine they would do it closer together during a crisis or a scramble but it was as close to a MITO that I’m ever likely to see. The smoke and the sound was something I’ll never forget. Obi’s face was a wonder as well. Him seeing a typhoon or Atlas 10 or 15 times a year at shows is not likely to top a thousand tonnes of freedom for a long time
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Aluminum Overcast! 
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I also had five B52s once.
Not such a great idea.
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I’m not going to lie, looking at your B-52 pictures brought back alot of memories of seeing them at Anderson AFB in Guam many years ago. Took this shot during one of my visits. Not sure if it was a MITO take off, but if it wasn’t, it was damn close.
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Not within 30 seconds I’ll bet 
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