Formula 1, 9Sept, Day 28,

I wanted to sleep in on Saturday because I was feeling a bit drained toward the end of the week, and I woke around 11, and could hear the buzz of the F1 racecars doing practice laps a couple miles away. I spent some time tidying things around the house, scrubbing white film off dishes, and some experimenting with some more laundry. You never quite know what you’re clothes are going to come out looking like…

Around 3 I put on my sneakers, and hit the road in search of a shower curtain at a shop recommended to me -which was on the way to the race track. The shop was closed for the weekend, but from the looks of things, they wouldn’t have a shower curtain anyway.

The autodromo (racetrack) is in the middle of the park of Monza. I would describe the park as a patchwork of hardwood groves and grassy fields segmented by winding white pebble paths. There’s a river dividing the park from east-west, and a number of villas scattered about; with the most notable being the former home of someone important.

I walked north towards the race track against a rather continuous flow of people garbed in bright red, with some carrying large flags bearing the Ferrari insignia of a stallion rearing up on it’s hind legs inside of a golden shield. Formula 1 races are much shorter than Nascar, and people were already leaving after the race.

When I reached the track, I met with a dozen scalpers trying to hawk tickets to tomorrow’s race. I would’ve liked to see it, but was not prepared to pay 55 euros for thw worst seats in the house, or more for a better seat, or take my chances with a bogus ticket from a scalper. Upon trying to enter complex, I was told I’d have to wait until 5 before entering. By 4:45 I was on my way in. After getting rejected by several sets of guards and then being ignored by others, I found myself standing on the asphalt where the cars race. I looked out though the fence, and saw a number of other spectators lined up on the outside looking as though they would’ve liked to be in my shoes. I continued on to the pit area where one of the teams was revving an engine in their garage. It was loud enough that it hurt my ears, but luckily they stopped after a minute. In one of the other bays there was a model shoot with a handful girls posing around the Torro Rosso car. I managed to take a quick movie before my camera battery died. What timing! A number of the guys in orange suits who work at the track were also gathered around with the professional photographers also snapping pictures. None of them said anything to me, but I felt strangely out of place without an orange suit. I cruised along the pits where the other pit crews were practicing changing the tires, or making some small tweaks to their cars. When I reached the BMW pit I felt inclined to say something encouraging to the team, but I was at a loss for words and decided not to disturb them. There were a number of other track workers clustered around the Ferrari garages, but I didn’t see much activity here, so continued on to the end of pit-row and made my way back. Now on the racetrack there were 40 or so models lined up 2x2 across the center of the roadway. I leaned against the guardrail with some of the vested workers for about a half hour before getting tired of watching the girls standing around waiting for the shoot to begin. To be honest I was more interested in the cars than the girls. I’ve probably seen hundreds of model-caliper girls over the years, but this was the first time I was able to behold some of the fastest land vehicles in existence today. I wished I’d forked over the cash to buy a ticket to the race, but I think I got closer to the cars and saw more than all the people that bought tickets and had to watch the race from behind the fence.