Sunday, April 8, 2007

Las Vegas Gran Prix

Awesome. Yesterday, we went down and watched some of the qualifying/practice for today's Gran Prix race in downtown Las Vegas.



The corner of Bonneville and Grand Central Pkwy - television camera covering the longest straightaway in the race. Cars reach up to 150mph down this.

We didn't want to cough up the $30 it would have cost to buy a ticket, because we didn't intend to spend the whole day there. But once we got there, we realized that, if there's a next time, it's definitely worth the money.

Well, that's if you like seeing finely tuned machinery hurtling down city streets at speeds your average road-rager would beat his wife for. When they come up on a turn, they downshift violently, it sounds like some huge mechanical wolf barking. Truly an intoxicating noise. But then, I like things that go fast, make noise and shoot flames.

The sound on these videos is VERY LOUD . I'd turn the speakers way down before starting them.

The first video was shot here

I apologize for the short nature of the flicks (I need a larger memory card for my camera), but I hope there's enough here to give you a hint of the feeling.



The next two flicks were shot here



You can see the sign on the Nevada Hotel and Casino - "Peaceful Rooms for Less" in this next shot - well maybe not so much this weekend.



(I have not personally looked inside the Nevada Hotel and Casino, but based on the outside and the room rate, I would probably think twice about booking a room)



This last video was shot here



All in all, it was a great day.

The rest of the crappy photos I took. I swear. Just when I think I've got the hang of this camera, I come back with more lousy, underexposed, blurry images. Feh.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

fast, noisy, shoots flames?
Did you say F-14?


http://youtube.com/watch?v=OlqHqwT0md8&mode=related&search=


Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas ... with the music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.

-Hunter S. Thompson


Dedicated to the other side of Las Vegas, namely; the sprawling, mad, incoherent underpinnings of the world's favorite destination.

That, and the occasional ranting about nothing in particular.