| Saturday, August 07, 2010 11:38AM |
August break came at a nice time, and even better having won the last race in Hungary.
I love the racing life and all that it entails, living in Europe, experiencing different cultures, but nothing is like home. I have not been home to California since January. The first thing to do, is say hi to my buddies and to catch up with everyone.
Its sometimes funny when they ask me about my life because most of them have no idea what its all about. Most of them think that the motor sports world begins and ends with what little they know about NASCAR. I try to explain to them what I'm doing in sort of NASCAR language, as in the 17 car or the back end was loose. As my NASCAR dictionary is also pretty limited, we end up going round in circles. No pun intended, oh maybe a little! In the end we change the subject and talk about bowling or tennis, RC cars. Stuff like that.
The last race in Hungary had its typical ups and downs for me this year and a very difficult weekend. Considering the overall challenges for the weekend, a win Sunday was Mega. Friday practice was pretty much washed out by a turbo problem and then in qualifying more problems limited my effort to 11th on the grid. Yes, all frustrating but no one to blame. The good news is that I managed to work my way up from 13th to 8th in the race. I drove the daylights out of the #1 in this race. The car was difficult in all the high speed corners, once loaded, bottoming out and trashing the floor. This was not good for overall speed and grip, but I managed to pick up 3 spots and pole for Sunday.
Sunday race was pretty straightforward and good to win by 5 seconds. After the race, I stayed at the track for a while to take in the GP2 race. I love GP2, it is the most competitive racing on the planet.
The F1 event was dramatic. Ive always been a bit of Sebastian Vettel fan. He and I have a lot in common, since our father's our both contractors and our career accomplishments are based on grit and merit. I have a lot respect for Sebastian. I could feel his pain when he got that drive-through for the safety car violation while leading. Without that, he was an easy winner.
We relaxed on Sunday night, celebrating a little bit in a quiet restaurant in the old part of town near the Danube River. Monday I flew to Paris for a Tuesday debrief with the team. I'm getting to like Paris quite a lot and have some good connections there.
ART Grand Prix are in great shape for the GP3 championship but I'm still looking for that elusive something from the car as we prepare for Spa and Monza. I have not been the quickest guy this season, somehow we need to turn that around. I've never been more focused, fit and determined about my career, and car physically is a cake walk to drive, nothing like a GP2 or F1 car. So it all is a bit of mystery to me, but Spa and Monza are left to impress.
In California I have an extensive training program the next two weeks with my home trainer, Scott Jackson. He and I will doing a lot of outside running an mountain biking, along with core and strength training as prepare for GP2. I've have some media and sponsor work as well, but going to mix in some shifter karting next weekend and attend the Monterey Historic's and say hello to Dan Gurney and Sir Sterling Moss.
Thanks for logging on, I hope you like the new site. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity as an American to race at this level, closing in on F1.
Glad you are along for the Ride as Well. Thank you for staying in touch and sharing the journey with me.
AR
