Behind The Wheel With Brett Smrz
Today was a fairly long day. We woke up early and went downstairs to get a bite to eat. After we were done eating, we waited for Josef to come and pick us up to head over to iSport.
iSport is a front running GP2 team. GP2 is the feeder series to the Formula 1 series. Seeing the car today was very cool. We were asking Paul all types of questions, and he was telling us exactly how the car worked, and all about its cool features. One very cool feature I found on the car was the hand clutch. I never knew that a Formula 1, and a GP2 car for that matter, had a hand paddle for the clutch. The actual car only had two pedals in it (the brake and the gas). Their shop wasn't very big, and it was in the middle of nowhere, but it still gets the job...
Yesterday, we competed in the Grand Prix Shootout. It was a pretty good experience to go and compete against other drivers from different countries in the same shootout. Every other shootout I have ever done is with just Americans.
The Grand Prix Shootout is a program they set up to find one driver to make it all the way to F1. Whoever wins the shootout will win a fully paid Formula BMW season for 2010. If you do well enough, they will put you into the Formula 3 Season in 2011. If you do well enough in Formula 3, they will eventually get you moved into Formula 1.
Both Connor and I did the shootout yesterday, and we stood out very well. We were driving an Abarth 500, which is pretty similar to what I am used to driving in the Mazda...
Hey Everyone!
Today was a very relaxing day. I got to sleep in, which was very nice. I am a bit sore from driving these cars. They are a bit old, so they aren’t as comfortable as the cars I am used to driving.
I woke up, and went to breakfast with a bunch of the team. We chatted about racing for a little bit, and when we were done we went down to the pits to say goodbye to the rest of the team. After we were finished there, Josef took us for a ride back to his apartment. We will be staying at his apartment for the remainder of the week in Oxford, England.
We walked around Oxford today, which was pretty cool. It is a nifty little town, and it was nice to see all of their buildings and streets. Their quality of living is much...
What a day! I started in the 2nd position for my semi final race. I had a bit of a bad start, and Connor got by me from 3rd position. I tucked in behind Connor, but in turn 2 I put a tire in the grass and did a full 360 on the exit. I put the gearbox into neutral and kept the car running. I kept the car in 9th position, but I started having some misfire on the straight away. I tried a pass for 8th place a couple laps later, but the driver turned into me and spun me around. I came into the pits from there, and my race was over.
After that performance, I had to start the last chance qualifier. I was a bit worried, because I would be starting the last chance from 17th position. They only take four drivers from the qualifier, so I had to...
Today was the day that Connor and I had to step up our game. It was qualifying and the heat race today. The weather was fairly well in the morning, so we were looking to have some pretty decent times in the qualifying session.
My setup came in a little slow in qualifying, and I was P7 for quite a while. Sure enough though, the setup came in, and I dropped 5 tenths of a second to put it on the pole. I held that lap for about 3-4 laps or so, and then Scott Malvern took the top spot from me by 3 hundredths of a second.
I was happy with that, and was ready for the heat race. I got a very good start, but got held on the outside of turn 1, so I came out of turn 1 in 3rd place. I was having some massive trouble getting around Fischer, as...
I am quite happy with my last day of practice. I am running times fast enough to win the main event. I was even quick in the rain.
It rained for the first session of the day today. I was very excited to be able to drive in the rain. Connor and I ended up being the two quickest drivers in the session by quite a bit. We were both dead even on the lap times, and we had 6 tenths of a second covered on the third place driver. After him, we were a second ahead. I would say we are in good shape if it rains here, but I don’t think it is going to rain this weekend. It should definitely rain at Silverstone, from what I hear. That track is much more slick in the rain as well. It should be a whole new experience again.
They are going to split...
The start of today was great. I had a great night of sleep last night, and after spending some time thinking about the track I dropped quite a bit of time. At the end of the day, I was only 1 tenth off of the pace.
We threw new tires on straight away in the first session, which was very nice. The car had much more grip than it previously had. Scott Malvern was running on old tires, and was still the quickest, but it turned out that his new set of tires didn’t make him any quicker.
Every single session I kept learning new things about the track. It is a very tricky circuit. I could compare it a lot to Infineon Raceway. Infineon has a bunch of little tricks that take some time to learn, and it seems that Brands Hatch is the same...
Today was a very, very, very interesting day. It was probably one of the most eventful testing days I have ever had.
The day started off a little rickety. The first session out, I got about 7 laps in, and then I started feeling the car surging. I came into the pits just for them to check the car out. They couldn't find anything wrong, so they sent me back out onto the track. I immediately felt the surging again, so I came into the pits a second time. They changed out all of the electrical wires to see if that was the problem, and they send me back out again. I made it a full lap this time, and the motor just cut out on the front straight away. I had to have the officials move me into the pit lane, and that is when the team had realized...
Hi everyone!
Yesterday was a very eventful day. I started work on Wichita (The Movie) at 5:00 AM Eastern time. It was a bit sad saying goodbye to all of my friends that I was working with. We had a bunch of fun working on the set together, and I look forward to working with them again soon.
I left work around 1:00 PM Est. and headed out to the airport. I went through the baggage and security with my parents, and then I said my goodbyes. Although I love having my parents with me at the track, it should be a great experience traveling to a foreign country and doing some racing on my own.
I met up with Connor, my team mate, after I went through security, and we waited at our gate until the plane was ready to take off. We both...
Today got going really quickly. We hopped into our cars, and started off with some of the usual stuff that we have been doing.
I personally got to meet Tom Cruise today. He is a very nice man, and to top it off, he even likes racing! We were chatting for a little while, and then we had to get back to work. It's always nice to meet actors, or a well known person in general, who don't act like they are better than you are. Tom has actually been doing all of his stunts so far, and it looks like he is enjoying it.
Ended the day watching Tom climb on top of a van as he was hanging on the side of it.
Tomorrow I am going in to work, but I don't know if I am doing anything. If I do something, I will update again.
Brett...
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