Shanghai Formula 1

While Purdue was starting there Grand Prix week some of us were headed to the Shanghai Formula 1 qualifiers.

We took a shuttle bus from the indoor stadium to the track…it was about 45 minutes away. Then we had to walk ½ way around the track just to get to our gate (the track is over 3 miles long). When we got there it was early and some other races were going on. I don’t remember what type of cars they were but all of the guys seemed really interested!

I knew nothing about car racing, and I actually didn’t think I would enjoy watching it but I ended up loving it. Some of the guys that I went with are really into formula 1; they track it and know all the rules so they were able to explain things. I ended up learning a lot and loving it!

One of the things that surprised me the most was after the practice time…all the information about the cars and how they were driven is collected by the team and sent back to Europe to be analyzed. Then the results and changes that need to be made were sent back to Shanghai so the teams can make the changes; all within a very short time frame…the power of technology is amazing.

We sat right by one of the turns so it was awesome to hear the cars shift down really quickly to make the turn and then shift back up on the straight away. The sound was loud but honestly not as loud as I was expecting.

This is not something I would watch on TV but I would definitively go to another race in person. It was a lot of fun and great learning experience.