Super Aguri F1 Team - Fan BBS

hootie · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:53 am Post subject:

wat an awesome race today
lots of overtaking, plenty of unpredictability
perfect conditions for Super Aguri to steal positions ahead of the field
maybe not today, but yes, in races to come

big up to Taku-san
P10 in the opening laps
brilliant stuff
as he said, he cant wait to get to malaysia
me too!

hi roko, winfield

thanks for all the on track goods
lovely lovely reading all tat report

hi mark
was that you on the SA webchat earlier
i was the one in the pub with the mango salad

hootie

Mark Talbot · Moderator Joined: 06 Apr 2006 Posts: 1133 Location: London

Hi Hootie ... yes, that was me Laughing

I love green mango salad ... from North Thailand with lime juice .. yum! Goes well with PadPhed Gai Laughing

I love Thai food. (is it the same salad?)

Good to see you there. I hope you join us next week too - or will you pop over to Sepang? That is one of my favourite tracks I have been there four/five times.

Next week I will be away from home, but I will have my laptop with me, so I should be online.
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El Presidenti

Toku · Super Member Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 134

Mark Talbot · Moderator Joined: 06 Apr 2006 Posts: 1133 Location: London

Ahem, (regains composure) ... Hey James! Well? We are all dying to hear what happened on Saturday and Sunday - and see some piccies ... you with Danni Minogue etc.,

Were you jumping up and down like we were when Taku was P10 ?!?
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El Presidenti

James BE ON EDGE · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:26 am Post subject:

hi mark. weather's getting a bit too much here, our summer was awful with practically no beach weather and we get a week full of it when f1 rocks in town. i'm just regaining my composure now because i accidentally deleted a photo taken on friday night at the pits with me holding taku's helmet... i was seriously throwing all my toys out of the pram and very very angry... this is my first digital camera and i had to learn how to use the "protect" mode the hard way... not happy...
_________________
04: The Rising Son Cometh
05: The Son has Risen
06: THE REAL RISING SON
07: Got to be the BEST, NEVER GIVING UP, Cream of the crop, RISING TO THE TOP!!

BORN IN JAPAN, MADE IN THE UK, KEEPING THE HONDAS HONEST and making our dreams come true...

Mark Talbot · Moderator Joined: 06 Apr 2006 Posts: 1133 Location: London

I have seen that mood, so I am happy to wait LOL Laughing

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El Presidenti

James BE ON EDGE · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:24 am Post subject:

now then... weekend report.

considering the week we had so far, saturday and sunday seems like a bit of an anticlimax as the team has much work to do to catch up and they obviously need to prioritize things to be done. however, going on the on track performance on the weekend, it seems that their hard work has paid off and sets a good precedence for the rest of the year.

Saturday morning, Yusze and I met up at the Marriott to wait for Ant and ask him to sign our banner. I had a conversation with Emma, a Chinese TS fan who is studying in Melbourne and made her wish come true by having her meet face to face with Taku. Ant was down shortly after matthew and taku showed up. He signed our banner and we had a small chat to carrie and ant.

we rolled up at the track and almost straight away... into pete's bar for coffee just before practice started! but i had to do the "usual" first! and as mark would remember... bodypaint!! on Saturday i only had the arms done as i wanted to get sunburnt and have the kanji on my arms sorta like a temporary tattoo after i wash the paint off. i also had the saf1 logo painted on top of my hand in red. thankfully this year i didn't get as burnt as last year (last year my skin was coming off...) although i was almost red everywhere that's exposed... and as usual, everyone's asking me: "tomorrow's going to be 37, are you going to do full bodypaint!?" should I?

I had the banners up for practice and qualifying and the rest of the weekend as usual, as seen on matsumoto-san's photos on TS' official website, and guess what!? a change of security company contract that provides guards and event staff to the AGP meant that nobody's hassling us for putting banners up anymore!! yay!

as mark will recall, last year (and also in 2006 and 2005) we had nothing but trouble from the event staff and the security guards from Wilson's about putting our banners up on the grandstand. last year the bunfight was escalated up to the AGPC level and they decreed that our banners can stay. a local fan wrote a 5 page letter with precise detail the complaints and gripes he had about the event in 2007 and the useless overzealous security guards from wilson's treating fans like terrorists and with nothing but contempt (and a female friend of mine was even bashed by one in 2004 for minding her own business).

With the security and event staff contract up for tender, Wilson's did nothing to help their cause of renewing the contract, and Chubb was selected. Unfortunately, that also meant we didn't get to see familiar faces on the Fangio stand this year from those guards and supervisors that helped us last year and stopped the overzealous ones from cutting our banners up. This year, all the guards asked was: "the contents of the banners are all for your team and driver?" and "it has no commercial advertising?" and as long as it has no ads then they're happy for you to put it up as long as it doesn't block the view of row 1.

However, the event was much more relaxed than last year, autographs are easy to get, banners can go up without a hitch, and public can walk through FIA personnel car parks and everybody was all smiles and pleasant to deal with... with exception of 1 guard who had to stand in front of SAF1's section of the pitwall who had a disagreement with Yusze with a very offensive and racist remark to the effect of "we'll get arrested and deported" for putting our banners up along the pit fence after the race... this dude has no idea who NOT to pick a fight with!!

Qualifying looked good for us, i expected us to be at the back but i certainly didn't expect Nelsinho to be joining us at the back... and i suggested to Matthew that we should put a Renault F1 logo sticker upside down slashed in half like Japanese WW2 pilots did every time they shot a US aircraft.

I ended up walking over the pontoon bridge and have a quick look at the back of the circuit for the merchandise stands and support race paddocks. they had a ex mark donohue porsche 917 from the porsche museum doing ontrack demos and i managed to get a close look at it when it was in the pits and i must say it looks mint and still able to be driven at serious speed after all these years. the aussie racers was a concept started originally in the US as midget racing with scaled down 1930/40s ford and chevy and willys coupe body shells over tubeframe chassis as a beginner's and grassroots class powered by motorbike engines which has increased in popularity worldwide and adapted to suit each country's local tastes. In our case the cars are similar to the US but has a choice of other shells besides the US options: 1950s FJ holden and VY Commodore and AU Falcon shells which are scaled down V8 touring cars. Matthew in particular was fascinated with the Aussie racing cars as well as the V8 utes which he saw last time as a support race catagory when he was here as these you don't find in Europe and they're not shown on TV unlike the V8 supercars which is on eurosport and other channels europewide.

The other support categories are of course the V8 supercars, celebrity race with Fiat 500s, and historic parade as well as Australian GT championship cars (Ferrari F430s, Aston Martins, Lambos etc) as well as Carrera Cup Australia. As usual, there is also the speed comparison made between a BMW road car (this year is a Z4), V8 supercar and a BMW Sauber which is driven by Christian Klein this year.

After qualifying we ended up at petes as usual and drinks all around, and the piano bar was roaring and as usual, some ladies jumped on the piano (which has a pole attached to it) and did plenty of bump and grind and lots of teasing... and i thought of texting Matthew and ask him to come on out for a drink or 3... but! work before pleasure...

i also managed to catch up with matsumoto san over Friday/Saturday and he gave me a copy of his latest book, the takuma sato photo book volume 2. (domo arigato) and there are some excellent photos inside and some awesomely raucous photos of taku and some seafood and him in a hot spring bath in hakone near mt fuji. and towards the back of the book... WOWWWWW!!!! yusze and i are on the book again!! not one photo but TWO photos!! 1 was of taku signing for all of us at autograph alley on saturday morning 2007 where I was asking him to sign our banner and the other was of us with all of our banners at Melbourne 2007 (as you may have read in my report, mark was missing that day at the track thanks to a egg and bacon roll... and there was a stand selling egg and bacon rolls behind fangio stand this year... is that the same one!?)

Matsumoto-san also told me that Matthew passed photos of my car to him and he will publish them on F1 sokuho (1 of the premier Japanese F1 mags). I offered to write him a short article about it and I gave it to him on sunday after the race. let's see how it goes!

sunday morning began with more paint on my arms and i had a suriken logo painted over my left eye with the fangs sticking out over my forehead and rest of my face similar to the kiss makeup, plus i had "TS" and "AD" painted on each cheek of my face. first things first though, banners has to go up asap, and off to pete's as usual to meet our little gang, have a drink or 2 and gasbag a little... and it's almost driver's parade time already!!

the race, as we all saw, almost worked out perfectly for us if not for taku's clutch problems and ant getting shunted into when he was just minding his own business. but it was also a sign of things to come. things can only get better for our beloved team who's worked so hard over the last few weeks with a big black cloud over their heads. now that the threat of the team closing down has eased, it's time to put in the hard yards. they know, and we know that all of them as a team can deliver results. and we have confidence and belief in their ability to achieve their best using all possible means.

there was a huge concert after the race with vanessa amarosi warming up and kiss doing the main show. the concert was not bad but there was just too many people and all sitting on the grass! so i sashayed back to autograph alley and waited for Matthew, Taku and Em to come out (looks like Ant's already left) and said bye to them. Taku held his hand out and we shook hands and he thanked me for my support. Hopefully for the first time, i can save up enough $$ to go to Singapore GP to see them again this year for a second GP. I managed to catch Aguri-san after the race and got him to sign our banner so it is completed.

I also managed to get a laugh out of Em by putting "FREE BEARHUGZ: EMMA BEARPARK FAN CLUB" on the back of my ticket holder to get her attention on the grid... and i gave her not 1 but 2 huge bearhugs to say bye... bye gorgeous, I'm so going to miss you... have a safe trip to KL.

This week was very fulfilling. we got the open house pits on Wednesday afternoon, i spent some quality time with TS and AD as well as Matthew and Emma; and to top it all off, my Jazz has finally been signed by TS/AD; Yusze and I had a chance to go in and we could choose 4 friends to come in and visit with us as offered by Emma. If there was a world championship for the most friendly, hospitable and down to earth team, Super Aguri F1 team would be world champions by a country mile. We need teams like SAF1 not only to keep the grandees honest, but also to provide a human touch and a dose of reality and common sense to the F1 fraternity. No other F1 team or drivers are as down to earth as Super Aguri F1 Team and its wonderful drivers. TS and AD are both able steerers (unlike some members are led to believe otherwise) and both are super blokes out of the monocoque, and are both very down to earth and has none of the prima donna attitude that is common with fame seeking young people these days. Emma and Matthew, what can I say about you both? some of the favors that I've asked for over the years probably sound like a madman demanding a ransom but you both have been amazing and are always very accommodating and willing to help within reason and your ability as well as staying within the professional line. I’m very thankful that all of you always have a little time for me when you’re in Melbourne.

I have enormous respect for the lovely people that make up Super Aguri F1 team not only for their ability to make a lot happen with very little resources, but also for accepting me and looking after me every time they’re here. Whenever they need help I’m more than happy to drop everything and help out. I am proud to be wearing my SAF1 team wear and carrying Super Aguri F1 Team livery and TS/AD logos on my Honda, and I’m not ashamed to say that I support Super Aguri F1 team, Taku and Ant, and I’m proud of it.
_________________
04: The Rising Son Cometh
05: The Son has Risen
06: THE REAL RISING SON
07: Got to be the BEST, NEVER GIVING UP, Cream of the crop, RISING TO THE TOP!!

BORN IN JAPAN, MADE IN THE UK, KEEPING THE HONDAS HONEST and making our dreams come true...

Kirsten · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:45 pm Post subject:

Aww wow fantastic report! Sounds like you guys had a smasher of a weekend Very Happy

I can't wait to see pictures!

I would love to got to the Oz GP in the future, apparently Australia & New Zealand take on lots of junior physios from abroad as we can't get jobs in the UK atm as the job situation is so bad, so maybe in a few years once i'm qualified I might move over to Oz and be able to join you guys!!!
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Taku's No1 fan in Scotland - Future F1 physio in training (I hope!)

Mark Talbot · Moderator Joined: 06 Apr 2006 Posts: 1133 Location: London

Thanks for a fine report again James. Good to read about the security mob changing.

As for the plonker abusing Yusze, I would certainly report him. Did someone get him on a photograph perchance?
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El Presidenti

billylui2308 · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:13 pm Post subject:

Very fine report James.

maninwhitecoat · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:38 am Post subject:

another great report james! fantastic read Very Happy

hrvoje zecevic · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:42 am Post subject: