It would be a bold claim to suggest that one motor racing event trumps all others, but to witness the start of the Indianapolis 500 from its fabled ‘yard of bricks’ is like standing next to a swirling tornado. It’s not just the sight of 33 cars rushing along at over 220mph, which is almost overwhelming in itself, but the rush of air and visceral noise that arrives with them – many running three or four wide – comes close to taking your breath away.
Move on to the exit of Turn 1, and it’s the change of direction that lowers the jaw. If you blink, you miss it – quite literally. Each car is there, then it’s suddenly not, like some trick of the eye. Watch from a distance, however, like from the banking inside Turn 2, and it’s another illusion – the cars sweep past with such hypnotic regularity that it’s hard to believe they’re going quickly at all.
