For the next four days I would be at the 2004 Forster's Australian Grand Prix. Four days of high speed, loads of action and a lot of noise. The GP was one of the main reasons for coming to Oz. I have been a GP fan for over ten years and haven't seen a live race. So to be at the first race of the season in Oz was a dream come true. This season the format of the race weekend had changed. Thursday was just a track day for other formula's such as Formula Ford or V8 Touring Cars. Friday had two Formula 1 practice seasons and Saturday had the two back to back qualifying sessions. This leaves Sunday for the main event, the race.

Travelling to the GP was very easy. We just caught a free tram from one of the stations and had a short walk at the other end.

My four day General Admission ticket allowed me access to all areas within Albert Park apart from the pit straight, pit lane and corporate areas. We spent Thursday working out the best place to watch the action from. After walking all around the circuit for about six or seven hours and watching various races and stunt riders we choose the exit of turn two. It had a bank to sit on and two large tv screens. Also we could see the cars come round turn two on the edge of adhesion and then scream past us on the way down to turn three. Turn three is amongst others known for incidents and accidents because the cars arrive there at high speed and try to overtake by out braking each other. If they get it wrong they could end up in the gravel.

Friday was practice day for Formula One. This was one of the best days as the cars would not be at full speed after exiting the pits and therefore we would be able to get some great pictures. My digital camera is not the newest piece of equipment and the F1 cars are travelling very fast. These two facts explain why I have so many pictures of bare track. For every three I took only one had a car on it and not always the whole car.

When the first car came out the noise was incredible. At this stage I was about sixty feet from the tracks edge and had no ear plugs in. I was able to get a spot right next to the inner fence which was about twenty feet from the tracks edge. A few cars went by at race speed, the noise was amazing. Also the sound hit you in the chest. I estimate that the cars were doing between 125 - 130 mph twenty feet from me. As I looked back to turn two to see the cars coming round it was very easy to spot the new cars to the track. As they were two thirds round the corner the car would start to slide and over correction would cause the car to skid. This was entertaining because of the speed they were travelling at and how close we were.

Saturday was Qualifying or Qually as it's known. This is a crucial day in the race weekend as it determines the start positions for every race car. This year the qually is different with two back to back sessions. Saturday was a memorable day for me, but not for good reasons. In the morning we walked into the city and boarded our tram. It was an express tram which went straight through to the gates we needed. The doors shut and then I realised that I had forgotten my ticket. I pressed the buzzer and banged on the door while staring at the female tram conductor. She just stared back at me as if to say idiot. It was to late the tram moved away and I was trapped. I had to ride all the way down to the track, get off and catch a bus back. But the bus didn't go all the way back to the tram station. This meant I had a long walk back to the hostel and a slightly shorter one back to the tram station. In the end I only missed the first practice session. The two qually session in the afternoon were great. I went and sat near the big screen amongst the Ferrari/Shoemaker supporters or " Glory Supporters" as they are known. The second qually session was an eventful session as during Shoemakers final lap he made a mistake and went on the grass to my approval. Shouting "Yes yes" amongst a group of his supporters was not a good idea as it was only me that could be heard. He finished his lap just beating Juan Pablo Montoya (Monster) http://www.jpmontoya.com by a couple hundredths of a second. Yet again Shoemaker was on pole. Earlier that afternoon we had watched the V8 Supercars. This is Oz's version of our touring cars, basically road going cars which have been tweaked for racing. The Oz's love this, they think it's better than sliced bread or XXXX. I myself think it's a load of rubbish. The V8's make alot of noise, weigh alot and don't go very fast. You can either support Ford or Holden (Vauxhall), two great Oz cars I was told by one supporter. I think says it all. There was also Formula Ford racing and this is great. These are basically smaller F1 cars without a rear wing. They don't mess about, wheels and nose cones are always banging, which makes for a great race. Later that day we made for the pub and sampled a new variant of amber nectar and at the same time tried to look on the bright side for tomorrows race.