My friend V, works at Adobe, and they have a magnificient high rise building right in downtown San Jose. This year, something new happened. San jose got a
Grand Prix.
Most of the downtown routes were barricaded and converted into the race track. The roads of the racetrack were repaved and all the manholes were welded shut.
V invited me over to his office this afternoon as there were time trials going on for the Formula cars ( They were not F1. F3, maybe? ). The company had designated public viewing area from the garages, and we got to view a pretty good stretch of the race that contained a long stretch, where the cars accelerated to about 180 to 190 mph and then a Uturn, followed by a stretch where they could accelerate almost upto 150 mph and then a sharp 90 deg turn.
The first sign that the race was starting was the thick smell of burning tyres and smoke rising from behind a building .. and within a few seconds, we saw the first of the cars, making its way down the stretch, accelerating to a 190 miles an hour. Woooohoooo! and the floodgates opened. Wave after wave of cars, hit their accelaration stretch as the first crash occured at the 90deg bend. Not much damage as the red flag was waved and the tow truck pulled the car outta the mass of tires as the yellow racer sped away again.
15 laps or so as the drivers kept getting comfortable on the track as the speed getting faster and faster , the 90 degree turn taken on only two wheels .... exhilarating stuff.
I didnt go to the finals .. the actual race .. but this was exhilarating for me!