After a week rushing around England I’m in the way home, by way of the Eurotunnel. It was a joy to once again be on the open roads of France without the endless traffic one gets in the UK. You could spot the cars that had been at Silverstone by the mud-splatters. I was still seeing them all the way to Calais, where finally the Dutch F1 fans turned off my route and headed north.
There was an unexpected pleasure as coming the other way were literally hundreds of exotic cars on the way home from the Classic Le Mans. They ranged from fancy modern Ferraris to muscly US beasts from the 1970s. I spotted endless Austin Healeys, Rileys, Jaguars, MGs, Bentleys, Astons, Lotuses, Caterhams, Morgans, you name it. Some had obviously been raced. It brightened the drive…
Hey Joe, love the blog. You got a mention during the SPEED qualifying coverage here in the states, you were spotted talking to a couple of team personnel, Sauber I think. Something was said to the effect of “that’s veteran journalist Joe Saward, been covering F1 for nearly thirty years, but still doesn’t have a driver’s license” but then they corrected that after a commercial. I’d heard you talk in the past about winning the prius in a trivia contest, and I’ve read most of your travelogues here on the blog, so I at first thought “hmm, not sure about that…”
Spotted this same moment very briefly during qualifying on BBC – chatting to Monisha Kaltenborn – the was also a shot of her comic wellies
Nothing to do with the post, but I just ran into Emerson Fittipaldi and had to tell someone.
You could fit quite the front wing under that nose-cone
Having retired ten years ago I have often remarked, what a joy it is to hear traffic reports nowadays! The M42, A38 the Newbury bypass, the M25 still after 10 years in constant and never ending repair or widening. In Lincs the traffic is much like that of europe in it’s density and there are always the long straight B roads (straight but very far from flat, or even and bounded by deep dykes) I wonder what time one has to be within a mile of Croydon now in order to be parked and in an office by 9am. (I used to work in Green Dragon House)
Have you muddled cross-country routes, i.e. the A34 around Newbury, or the A38 not-properly-around Tewkesbury?? As for the ex-Newbury traffic, certainly a case of better out than in [town]!
Not muddled no, I used to live in Liss Hants and most customers were in the midlands or further north. I used a cross country route via Lasham aerodrome (gliding) to reach the A34 up to the M40, then M42 to the A45 juct then a secret road that runs parallel/under the M6. (Auckland Drive A452) Back double under Spag juct up past new Jag factory to A38, (Fort Dunlop on left) then all points north. The M6 toll has been built since I retired, but the A38 used to be a terrific road to the A50 which led to several customers.
Some bits I miss and not others, falling asleep on the way home was always a major danger. Once mistaking one junction for another on the A34 led to a bit of a shunt. (the long sweeping off-ramp with two bends I always took flat, suddenly turned into a staggered crossroads that shouldn’t be there, took me a good ten minutes to realise the fuel cut-off had triggered on impact.)
Ahh, apologies, my misunderstanding — deceived by the lack of a comma I might just as easily have read-in as noted an absence of.
To pick-up on shunts, my nearest miss at speed would also be the A34, but deep south: beware of its unfortunate lack of a proper interchange with the M27… the approach to the traffic-lighted roundabout sees tailbacks of varying lengths which can consolidate at somewhat short notice.
So Joe is there any news? I mean about the Concorde agreement, or the possibility of having rules for 2013?
We are past the deadline and Red Bull say they do not recognise the extended deadline of 28th July.
Berne was there we saw him on telly refusing to answer Luscious Lee and hiding in the Kremlin.
Merc’s mainstream financial position would not suggest they have money to put into F1 any more, making substantial losses ought logically to reign in the spending. Or does the F1 operation make a profit? Does the engine supply turnover get included in the team figures or does the factory claim it? Is the engine supply even profitable?
F1 is one of the few marketing tools they wouldn’t kill, look no further than Mr Rosberg’s win (specifically the location) for reasons why.
Joe….what’s up with the dig at Dutch F1 fans’ driving? Were they “Verstappen” your progress?
There was no dig. There were Dutch fans driving home. I don’t see how you turned this into a dig.
Well, being a dutchman myself, I know that the Germans translate our country sticker – NL – with ‘nur links’…
(obviously referring to my fellow countrymen who stay in the fast lane of the Autobahn, instead of pulling over to the right, which is customary here in Europe – as opposed to NY or whereever in the US)
Joe, It’s good to be back where the heart lies, but there has been some twittering to the effect that Pastor Maldonadono less is furnishing a residence for himself somewhere in Passy.
I don’t know which location you call home, but it could be your paths will cross sometime, maybe en route to Hockenheim later in the week.
I doubt it.
But just in case watch out for “priorite a Maldonado”