Yesterday’s season finale with the San Francisco F1 Group ended the year on a great note for our group of F1 fans here in the Bay Area. We had over 100 out for the flag drop at 10am (thank you, Dave at Go Kart Racer!) and everyone could feel the electricity in the air as a record number of drivers took the championship finale down to the wire.
Our group’s been going strong since 2005, and from a small gathering in North Beach way back then to the 100+ crowds we draw now, it’s been great to be part of such a passionate, knowledgeable and enthusiastic group. Much of our outreach to fans happens via our email list, Facebook, meetup.com, and in a big way this year, Twitter has helped get the word out on what we’re up to each race.
We’ve been DVRing most of the morning races and showing them at 10am, although for Brazil last week we did have over 70 out for an 8am flag drop. Fans drove from up to 1 ½ hours away to join us last Sunday, and the word’s been getting out on how the experience is to watch a GP in a room full of other fans – always much better than sitting at home!
After the race yesterday, we raffled off a pair of tickets to hear Peter Windsor speak this Saturday at a local car club, and a set of photos from our group’s sponsors, Paul-Henri Cahier and Terry Griffin. Paul-Henri’s work is featured around the world’s media outlets and important historic F1 collections, and he and Terry have been with our group as a sponsor for the past 4 years.
Much of the effort in putting these events on has been rewarded with the friendships and opportunities running a local F1 group has – something I encourage all to pursue with a passion for the sport. My friend Charlotte organizes our meetup group fans, and I recommend everyone try to co-organize rather than take on a whole season solo!
Recently, our group visited Vijay Mallya’s car collection, which included Giancarlo Fisichella’s VJM002 chassis from Spa – the one he put on pole last year. We invite all to join our group, and I’m looking forward to upcoming events and visits to collections, talks, and of course, the start of the 2011 season in March!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpoweN41j-s]
