Race of Champions

[Smitty]

Is anyone else going? I'm taking full advantage of my current home location and not missing this one. :D

I particularly excited that Lewis is going to be in attendance but I really think that it will be proven that he's not the fastest guy on four wheels.

I think the drivers who could win it are Schumacher, Loeb, Prilaux and the winer of the last two years - Mattias Ekstro.

I'll be cheering on Lewis and DC - just don't think they are the best out there. :frown:

My moneys on Loeb :yes nod:

[Gismo]

When is it??

[Mini Ecosse]

14th December :thumbs up:

[Gismo]

14th December :thumbs up:I'm at home, is it on the telly then?

[AndyP & Lenore]

When is it??

Where is it?

[euan]

It's at Wembley, and it's on Eurosport 24 hours later (Sky Sports had it live last year).

I went last year and it was awesome. It was bloody freezing though!

[Smitty]

Questions all answered by others before I got the chance!

For all that don't no what it is visit the website (www.raceofchampions.com) or YouTube footage from previous years.

Opinions on an overall winner?

Not looking forward to the cold :moonie:

[euan]

Yeah, it was so cold last year that Wembley sold out of hot drinks!

It's a great day out, I'd recommend going if you can. Seating is all important though, you want to be able to see the screens for the close up stuff. Higher up gives allows you to see more of what is going on, lower down means you get close to the noise. We were in the top tier, about a corner flag at the end beside the jump and had a great view.

We can't go this weekend as we've got a Christmas party the day before and won't get back in time.

I'll try and upload some pics later.

[Smitty]

Yeah, it was so cold last year that Wembley sold out of hot drinks!

It's a great day out, I'd recommend going if you can. Seating is all important though, you want to be able to see the screens for the close up stuff. Higher up gives allows you to see more of what is going on, lower down means you get close to the noise. We were in the top tier, about a corner flag at the end beside the jump and had a great view.

We can't go this weekend as we've got a Christmas party the day before and won't get back in time.

I'll try and upload some pics later.

Well by chance our seating is pretty much identical to yours. Top tier, about the corner flag. :cool:

I'll be making sure to take plenty of layers and a big zoom lens for the camera!!

[euan]

My advice by the way - don't even think of trying to park at Wembley.

It can take 30 minutes to get a tube out of stadium but it's well marshalled and managed. If you do want to drive, I'd park up somewhere like Ickenham which is just of the A40 at the foot of the M40 - there are some residential streets near the station that you can park on for free. You can then get the Metropolitan line in, otherwise I'd just train it from Leamington as you can get in direct to London from there which may be easier.

When I went to the American Football the other week it finished at 7, I got home at 9:45. I did it on the way over in about an hour, so expect it to take a while to clear!

[Smitty]

Thanks for the advice Euan - we were always planning on getting the train anyway for multiple reasons:

1. I guessed it would be manic for parking.
2. I don't have a clue where anything is in London.
3. If I drive, I'll want to be like Lewis Hamilton on the way home and end up putting my poor MINI in a ditch or barrier!! :frown:
4. It means I can have a sneaky few beers/drams to keep me warm ;) :yes nod:

Can't wait for it already!! :D

[Smitty]

Just away to head of in an hour or so.....

Will report back tonight with some pictures hopefully :thumbs up:

Come on Sebastian Vettel (and DC of course ;))

[Gismo]

Will be watching on Sky :thumbs up: nice and warm in ma hoose :hand:

[euan]

Tell you what, it's much warmer in London today than it was last year, so it should be a good day.

[euan]

Also - it's on a live stream online for those without sky -

http://www.raceofchampions.com/

[Gismo]

Well, the racing was pretty good, but, very hacked off with the multiple advert breaks :ragin:
Be interesting to hear Euan and Smitty's opinion cause the racing was dictated by the breaks.
Felt like a long day sitting at home watching.
Hard luck on DC, would have been a nice send off for him to have won it

[Smitty]

Apologies for the late review, but here it goes.......

Started off very well, arrived at Wembely via Public transport on time and I must say the stadium and all the transport links put in place are very impressive. The English did something right for a change :p

As for the action on the track - it took a little while to get going, but once we got into the Race of Champions the atmosphere really picked up, especially when the Brits were racing.

Hard luck to DC - the guy drove his heart out, crashed 3 KTM's but still battered on through to the final only to be beaten by probably the most talented driver in the world right now.

2 amazing moments that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up:

1. Loeb crashing out on the first corner in a KTM X-Bow - 5 seconds down on his oppentent only to then hook up every single corner absolutly immacutely to take the win. Incredible skills.

2. ROC Quarter Finals - Markus Estralom vs Andy Priluax - Stobart Ford Focus WRC's - Fastest cars on the track all day, purely for the amount of grip they seem to get and Priluax sneaked it by 3 tenths of a second - crowd went mad!!

And as a sneaky surprise - Lewis and DC both made appearances in F1 cars for some burnouts and dounuts. The sound of those F1 cars reverberating around the staduim was bone shuddering - the crowd was silent. Excellent demonstration of the best racing machines ever built :cool:

All in all an amazing (and cold) day out, and well worth the £33 for the ticket. Recommend it to anyone :thumbs up:

[Smitty]

Bit late, but some pictures of the track and the outside of Wembely in the evening

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y293/smitty_350z/P1020456.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y293/smitty_350z/P1020459.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y293/smitty_350z/P1020472.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y293/smitty_350z/P1020483.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y293/smitty_350z/P1020487.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y293/smitty_350z/P1020488.jpg

Can you tell i've just plugged the camera into the computer for the first time in a while tonight with the amount of pictures i've just uploaded!! ;)

Enjoy :smilewinkgrin: