Manhattan FOTA Fans’ Forum
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Are any other F1 Fanatics going to the FOTA forum in Manhattan this afternoon? Sergio Perez, Paul Di Resta, Charles Pic, and Alexander Rossi will be answering questions, and last I saw on Twitter Nico Hulkenberg and Maria de Villota will also be there to sign autographs. Very excited…! :-D
I’ll be attending. If you can find me, introduce yourself, tall, white shirt, glasses, blue messenger bag.
@gene Great! I don’t know how packed it will be, but I’ll keep an eye out for you. (Me: short, jeans, tank top, waist-length reddish-brown hair.)
@aka_robyn they said to arrive early. I’ll be there about 2 and look for you.
@gene No way I’ll be able to make it there that early, unfortunately. :-| Still waiting for the friend I’m going with to get here from PA…
@aka_robyn, @keithcollantine. Got here so early just walked in and met Ollie from FOTA, asked if needed a hand with anything and he sent me back outside to the line. LOL.
Caterham just Tweeted the following:
Brian Sullivan has seriously done his homework as FOTA Fans Forum host. His questions demonstrate that he has the heart of a true F1 fan.
Really good event. Decent turnout for a Monday afternoon and feels like the start of something rather special.
http://twitter.com/MyCaterhamF1/statuses/212287691608436737
Do those who were there agree?
@keithcollantine I agree with the first statement. Brain Sullivan stated he started out in carts in California up through the ranks until high school and then decided to go to college instead of pursue a racing career. I believe he said he still races SCCA. I don’t think he had to do much homework, seems to be very knowledgeable about a variety of motorsports other than F1.
I have only been watching F1 for about 3 years but I felt that the event was good and informative and glad that it stayed away from press conference type questions about the last race. I especially like that Graeme Lowdon, President and Sporting Director, and another team member of Marussia who works with driver development took the time to come outside to the line and talked with us for 15 minutes or so. It was great to listen and talk to Charles Pic and Alexander Rossi, Speed here in the US never has coverage or interviews with them.
I think the turnout was disappointing at about 70 people, if that.I thought it was a lot of fun, although there were definitely fewer people there than I expected. Still, it was a good crowd, and they were not wanting for audience questions. In fact, a lot of people (like me) didn’t get a chance to ask theirs. Too bad, because mine was brilliant, I assure you. ;-)
The host was kind of hilarious, and definitely more knowledgeable than I realized he would be. That was a nice surprise.
Graeme Lowdon and Bob Fernley were there answering questions before the drivers came out, and I thought they were great. In fact, everyone there was great — friendly, witty, and generous with their time — including those two, the drivers, and other team members (mainly Marussia that I saw), all coming off a long weekend.
The thing that really surprised me was the autograph session afterward, which was very informal and basically amounted to mingling casually with the drivers! Never expected that level of access.
I should point out that we did catch a glimpse of Nico Hulkenberg on stage before the forum, but then we never saw him again after that. I asked Paul Di Resta about that (!), and he said he had to leave to go to another event. Hmmm…if you say so, Paul. ;-)
I should also point out that Maria de Villota is a thoroughly lovely person, and now I’m a big fan.
As for the substance of what was discussed, I think the whole thing is going to be online in a few days, I heard? Anyway, I’ll be trying to write a blog post about it soon, as well. Need to gather all my thoughts first.
(Sorry for the disjointed nature of this post, but I’m recovering from a massive headache I had the whole time I was there!)
@gene I think I saw you in line! I was way back from where you were, but I did see a very tall man with a messenger bag and glasses toward the front. You really are quite tall! ;-)
Olly from FOTA seemed really nice — too bad he didn’t take you up on your offer!
For anyone who’s interested, there is now video of the forum on the FOTA site:
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