[Originally posted to http://on10.net/Blogs/bjeans/day-1-at-the-toronto-grand-prix/]

Every year I spend a few days down by the lake to enjoy the Champ Car and support series races.  Every year they seem to tweak the name in some way – so this year it is the “Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto”.  For the last couple of years I have had media credentials which means I have access to the media centre and a wifi connection so I can post this stuff real-time.  Unfortunately shooting video in the pits isn’t an option unless you are one of the broadcast outlets (fair enough) so I’ll resort to telling the story with photos, and besides, it’s a great first outing for the Nikon gear that I’m trying out – I’ll post on that later.

Given that I can’t shoot video, one of the things I have been on the lookout for is the interesting use of technology and specifically what the teams are running on their laptops in the pits.  The good news is I have yet to see a machine that isn’t running Windows.  While every machine I saw in the pits was running Windows XP, almost every PC I saw in the photo lounge was running Windows Vista – very cool.

 

At the end of the first day – here is the provisional top 3

<td align="middle">
  Car #
</td>

<td>
  Driver
</td>

<td>
  Team
</td>

<td>
  Lap Time
</td>

<td>
  Speed (KM/h)
</td>

<td align="middle">
  1
</td>

<td>
  <a href="http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Drivers/Driver.asp?ID=310" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sebastien Bourdais</a>
</td>

<td>
  <a href="http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Teams/Team.asp?ID=12" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">McDonald's Racing Team &#8211; Newman Haas Lanigan Racking</a>
</td>

<td>
  58.783
</td>

<td>
  172.972
</td>

<td align="middle">
  7
</td>

<td>
  <a href="http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Drivers/Driver.asp?ID=23" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oriol Servia</a>
</td>

<td>
  <a href="http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Teams/Team.asp?ID=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">INDECK &#8211; Forsythe Championship Racing</a>
</td>

<td>
  58.801
</td>

<td>
  172.919
</td>

<td align="middle">
  9
</td>

<td>
  <a href="http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Drivers/Driver.asp?ID=320" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Justin Wilson</a>
</td>

<td>
  <a href="http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Teams/Team.asp?ID=288" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CDW &#8211; RSPORTS</a>
</td>

<td>
  59.099
</td>

<td>
  172.047
</td>

 

If you are in Toronto and at the race send me an email if you want to connect, or if you have a questions you would like to see if I can get answered, let me know.

All of my photos are online at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/barnaby_jeans/sets/72157600689404182/