Le Grand Prix de Monaco
The 69th Grand Prix for Formula 1 to be exact. At the same time, there are several other levels of races of which one rarely hears. But first – the basic statistics – the course is 3 km 340 meters long with a record speed of 305 km/h and 78 laps making a total distance of 260.52 Km. The program also mentions the 500 fire extinguishers, 10 cranes, ten fire/rescue vehicles, 13 ambulances and the thousand various assorted response and security people stationed along the track.
If you want the details of how many meters of barriers, kilometres of rail, distance of fencing along with medics, docs, AEDs, and helicopters – I have all that as well.
The course itself has 16 turns including some rather sharp bends, a hairpin roundabout and a downhill coming out of a tunnel that has brought more than one driver to grief.
Sat’s program included the Formula Renault 3.5 qualifying practice sessions, one of the Porsche races and the qualifying heats for the Formula 1.
I am providing you the photos in two sections (as soon as I finish posting them). The first (this entry) is of the track, the surrounds, the safety personnel (pretty obvious in their bright orange jump suits or red helmets) and the spectators. The second is of the actual races. All of the photos will enlarge if you click on them. They were all shot on my Canon EOS 7D at 1/800 – 1/1000 at f 8-11 with my 75-300mm lens. Other than some cropping or shrinking so that the webpages will load in this lifetime – I have not done any altering of the shots. What you see is what I took. As I explained to someone else with extremely high end equipment – I am taking photos and logging sights and memories. I am not doing art or looking for a “money shot.”
