Anyone Make it to the San Jose Grand Prix this Weekend?

Anyone here make it to the Grand Prix in Downtown San Jose this weekend? How did it go? Anyone have photos? Was it worth the money? How were the side events?

It was fun to see but I would not pay for it. Since there is no place where you see any stretch of road beyond say a block, You don't see any racing, just a blur. I could not even read the side of the cars when they were racing. If you are a step away from the second fence, two classes of cars don't even appear above the concrete barrier (toyota atlantic, and the champ cars). Therefore, a bleacher or fence view is absolutely necessary.

The track took so much of the road, in some places the fans were sharing half a sidewalk. One place, I had to turn sideways to walk thru. I went on Friday, the least busiest day and it took me three hours to go all the way around and in the middle. I didn't mind that as much as when I finished my loop there was no way to get back to my car without backtracking completely around the track again.

They didn't complete the circle for spectators to walk. I was not going walk the whole track again so I had to slip between barriers to get to the river and wade thru until I came up at the Almaden/Vine exit off 280. I then had to hike back to downtown (reed and 1st) to get to my car.

Lastly, it is neat to have something special like this but you could not convince me it was good for business. I think only the hotels benefitted. Every downtown business was cut off from their normal clientele and then their competition was increased threefold. Everyone reported that business was way down.

I think the idea is great. The execution was astounding. Everything is portable and will be in Denver in two weeks. The city layout for pits, grandstands, concessions was well thought out. Maybe next year it will be fan and business friendly.

I give it an 8 out of 10. I was there all three days. I had seats near the top of Gold 2 and could see the cars as they passed the by in front of the big empty building. But, I agree with previous writer that the site lines were not that good. I scoped out what would be the best seats next year, if they leave the track the same. The other problems were the pedestrian bridges. One was narrow, and I was told that Saturday there was a 45 minute wait to get across. The problem was the sidewalk was narrow where it went over Almaden, so the people walking along Almaden got caught up in the wait. The people coming from the inside had no where to go, so everything stopped. The other, wider bridge by the Plaza Ceaser Chavez wasn't finished until Friday night. They ad to open the barricades every so often for 5 minutes allow for traffic to cross. And I think they are way understating the attendance. They said 40K on Friday. and it was kind of crowded, so I believed the 40K number. Saturday, there were more than twice as many people, and they said attendance was 51K, Sunday was even crowded and they said 63K. I don't know how they counted.
That's the bad. The good was there was a REAL BUZZ in town. The fans were great, the drivers were cordial, you could see the cars in the paddock area, You saw Paul Newman on is moped going to and from the trailers to the track, right next to where we were walking. Jimmy Vasser on his BMX bike waving to anyone who said HI. The event in the convention center were cool. The other classes of cars were paddocked there. My nephews are Subaru fans, so they found the Subaru that is in the Touring Car class, and talked to the driver and the mechanic, for awhile. Then they asked if they would like to sit in the car, so they got to get in and strap in. They were jazzed.
I walked around most of the track and saw the cars from different turns. The sound and the power of the cars going down streets that I drive, is difficult to describe.
From my perspective, it was a huge success. This was a world class event that was put together in a very short time. They will make improvements for next year. They announced that they would out in 2 more bridges. They will improve the track and heard they may take it out to Santa Clara street and down market. It would add a wider portion of track for more passing, and get those restaurants north of Santa Clara involved. There would be more room for stands. The stands could be higher for better site lines. So great success, but room for improvement, that will come.

This post has been edited by andy on Aug 1 2005, 04:27 PM

I enjoyed my Sunday at the races -- the feel of the event, the excitement and all.

I would give the overall event a B+

BUT -- I had general admission tickets. TERRIBLE! Could only see a tiny portion of the race cars only for a brief second, and only if you stand jam packed together with 30 of your closest friends! One also would have to endure 10-20 minutes of the 'Sardine Shuffle' in and out to get to this spot...

The power of the race cars and the general excitement overcame the flaws and it was fun. I asked at the restaurants and bars that I visited and all reported busy times!

General Admission was not worth it. You could see a lot from the grandstands with tickets for $20 more each. (But the general admission was already $55 for Sunday with all the service charges.)

From the grandstands, you could hear the cars, and watch the parts of the track that you couldn't see, too. We watched the coverage on TiVo from Speedvision, we saw a lot more of the race that way, but 140mph is not the same when it's not in front of you. The chicane though, that they put on Almaden took away the only passing area in the entire course. Next year, they have got to figure out something different for the light rail tracks (unacceptably bumpy at San Carlos), no more last-minute cement full of sand to make it set up quicker (what they did Saturday night, was like marbles for the drivers Sunday), and no chicane. No fun for anyone if there is no passing going on. The drifting and other races that went on earlier were actually more fun to watch.

The pedestrian access and bridges were really a problem. Sunday, from entrance by De Anza up one block, it took 30 minutes, I was pushed into a mailbox, people just should not be left to themselves to figure out how to navigate that anyway. Laguna Seca has the same bridges, but not the same overcrowding problems. We were also told no chairs, but all kinds of people were let in with chairs.

Also, people in the trees really PO'd me. I hope they weren't San Jose residents, that residents take a little more pride in their city. There were adult men in the young trees by the Adobe building and also by the Marriott, and I think some irrepairable damage might have been done to one or two. Some deformity might be a problem for others. That really bums me out.

I do hope they fix this stuff next year, because I'd like to go to an improved venue next year.

I was happy for San Jose to land such event, however, I was very turned off at the start watching it on T.V. to see those very expensive race cars slamming over the light-rail tracks. And it seemed that it was hard to view from the stands?? Next year should be better - re-position course not to have cars go over light-rail tracks, correct problems . Also, watching ESPN the next day at the gym, I was hoping to the highlights - nothing, need to make event ESPN worthy as well.

hey, we got to see the race from the Adobe towers, here's the link to my gallery of media:

http://sc-fa.com/url/?u=NDg=