The Australian Grand Prix: March 25 -28

The Australian Formula One Grand Prix is a world-class attraction held each year at Albert Park in Melbourne. Since I am a race fan, I purchased tickets for all four days of the event. Crowd numbers grew slowly from Thursday through to the huge turnout for the twilight race on Sunday, April 25th.Typically for Melbourne each day's weather was different from the next: sun, cloud, rain, heat and humidity and cool dreary race day. Security was tight. These people know how to practice crowd control and everything ran smoothly, including the shuttle trams from CBD (Central Business District). Naturally the screaming F1 cars were the star attraction, but equally entertaining were the production GT cars like Porches and Ferraris, the Formula 5000 cars and the new class of V8 super cars. The latter are Australia's version of NASCAR cars. It was fascinating to see these cars up close in the pits, to see the repairs, and watch drivers go about their race preparations. Most teams were more than happy to dialogue. Albert Park provides a scenic panorama of the city skyline. The world's elite beautiful people come to see the race as well (although most come to be seen instead). Karin joined me on race day…and enjoyed the glitz and glamour as well! Can you pick out John Travolta in the photos? Good luck. Our ears rang for several days after the event even though we used the mandatory ear plugs. There’s nothing like a live F1 race for the sights, smells and sounds of fast cars and huge crowds.