4am is not normally a time I like to be au fait with, but today, rocking up to the media centre, a handful of people here, slight murmurings and stirrings around the race track of television companies setting up, it suddenly hits you its race morning. Having been here since the Wednesday before the Grand Prix, all this build up and lead into this day has been an amazing blur of fun, emotion, friendship, community and somewhere in the mix... a race. It is very hard to say how this whole experience has been, apart from friggin' awesome, it has been such a special event to be part of a share with those of you who have been following along with this diary. But enough of the sentimentality, here's some pictures from this morning, one of the few times you can sneak onto the track and breath it in...

Move along to 6am, and something traditional is about to happen

After a few failed attempts finally found Brit corner, organised by Nick Garside, if you are a Brit, at Indy, go check them out on the Plaza. And to the Indy fans tweet up, we were joined by Pippa Mann, Victor Franzoni and Max Hanratty. A great chance to meet fellow Indycar fans through twitter.

A final stop to the garages to take in a little more of the atmosphere as the crowds grew (a lot)

And to Pit lane.

To back to the media centre for all the pre race ceremonies.Which were above an beyond, can't say that Back Home Again in Indiana 'moved me though...

​Drivers to their cars, start your engines and away they go.

500 Miles Later...

That winning moment, thankfully Rossi was driving so slowly that for once my picture wasn't a blur!

I'll need to re-watch the race before I give my thoughts on it, but watching the action and international feed made for some breathtaking moments, 3 wide overtakes sweeping into one, even side by side through 2. Seriously this was a fantastic race, as for the winner, Alexander Rossi, for the maoning about him being only interested in F1 and getting back, I had his team radio on and the coaching by Bryan Herta was fantastic, and hearing the emotion at the end followed by the tears and shell shocked face, this meant everything to him.

Time to sit back and take it in, and art some point finally make a break for it and try to get back to somewhere close to 38th Street! Then party...

My first introduction to Carb Day came back in 2012, it was described to me as the best people watching day of the year, the sights, which basically leads to 'the horror, the horror', it's the day race fans watch a little car action on track, then drink beer, more beer, listen to some 25% remaining has-beens and drink... more beer. Then pass out. But in all seriousness, the action ramps up today, we have the final practice for the Indy 500 for the main series, the Freedom 100, the main event for the Indy Lights cars, Ed Jones and Carlin start on pole thanks to points standings after qualifying was washed out yesterday. Followed by the Pit Stop competition.

But first, the launch of the new USF-17 USF2000 car, which will début next season.

One of the advantages of this new car, not only will it serves as a USF200, strip it down, and you have the tub which will then form the shape of the PM-18, the new Po Mazda car which will hit the track in 2018.

Now to practice, and for those watching on TV, yay NBCSN...

But first... a trip to the fan village and the Honda tent. Back before I bought a house and became extra poor, I had a few holidays this side following Indycar around all the odd little places in the US, but I became really good friends with the guys who ran it, I met Brian in Chicago last week and after four years, the then emcee Trevor Anthony, Im not going to lie, my day just got better.

Head down to Garage 21 for a book signing of the new Lionheart book with a special guest...

Now for the Freedom 100, the highlight of the Indy Lights season

After a hectic few weeks in Indianapolis, came to St Louis, pronounced Lewis, not Lewie, like Lewisvilles, sorry Louisville. I was going to give the diary a few days off, no Indy 500 you just won't stop. I went to Busch Stadium to watch the Cubs-Cardinals game. With thanks to Dan who saw I was coming sorted me out with some great tickets, plus a spare that fellow media centre captive Matt Weaver gladly snapped up! Lo and behold, media day is announced and how fitting, JR Hildebrand was going to St Louis to throw the first pitch, at the game I was going to, so with added passer by heads, here is the first pitch, which for a change from what I have seen before, was actually pretty solid!

As for the game, yep, that was great a 12-3 win for the Cubs, gets me back on track after a disappointing defeat to the Pirate last weekend, but I digress... 

The best thing about social media for me, and has been for some time, meeting people and people meeting you, this Californian guy came up to see an Englishman, an Alabamian (if that's a thing) supporting the Chicago Cubs in St Louis....

And a finally shout to Lynn who I have know for a few years, met up for lunch at the Boathouse in Forest Park, it's always good to put faces and twitter handles together! If you ever find yourself this way, check the park out, it is stunning. now to go up and Arch. Back in Indy tomorrow, looking forward to the return, and what has ow been a confirmed sell out. So take the population of Bristol and drop them inside IMS, yeah crazy right?

Here we are sat in the media centre, only a handful of people remain from yesterday, you would never have guessed what had happened just over twelve hours ago. In terms of a story in the lead up to the 500 on Sunday, other than a young American in Josef being close, James Hinchcliffe's story is one that will hold steady on the front and back pages, well supplements, however it works here. Next stop after practice today will be New York for James a few other drivers as they hit the roads to promote the 500.I hit St Louis (lewis not lou-ey, as I have been told off for many times this past fortnight) for some tourism stuff and a Cubs game, which hopefully goes better than my last visit a week a go! 

As mentioned there will a practice for Indycar and Indy Lights today before the track in effect shuts down until Thursday when the Lights cars kick back into action, then Friday for Carb Day, booze, fast cars and loose... morals.

Indy Lights take to the track and with a tow, Zach Veach hit 201mph...

My latest feature, Part Six of A British 500 featuring Dario Resta, Sir Jackie Stewart and and Interview with jack Hawksworth is now live, you can check it out HERE. Also had a great chat with martin Plowman too this afternoon, which will be shared before Sunday! 

A few final shots from Indycar practice.

That's it from me today, and the next few, off to St Louis for tourism extravaganza and Cubs, back to Indy on Thursday... out.

Good morning from Indianapolis, Day Two of a qualifying weekend that had bumping yesterday (albeit the wrong style) and today we set the field. There are some practice sessions after noon before we set positions 10 through 33, then a final session for the top nine fastest drivers from yesterday battle it out for the pole position, a lot of money, £68,922.75p to be precise, and 42 championship points. 

I may have missed it before today, I don't think so, but anyway, the glamping tents appear to have arrived, situated in the infield. I'll try to get over and take some pictures later on as I know many back in the UK have asked about these as options in coming year, I'll just say they sold out very quickly this year!

My Get Involved stuff arrived too, signed Pippa Mann mini helmet. You can see what else is still available by clicking the here.

A final chance for cars to head out on track to make those final tweaks and preparation before qualifying. Some teams only running a handful; of laps before calling it for the session.

Practice happened, cars were tweaked, Rossi was fastest continuing his great form this week, No looking back now, but time for something special on track, Sam Schmidt ran a specially adapted car which he controlled through head movements and with his mouth, an amazing story, but his fastest lap... 108mph

Qualifying, well what a story, positions 10-33 were filled, not without incident, Alex Tagliani had a spin off of turn four and smashed his nose into the attenuator bring a halt to proceedings, all was ok. but onto the fun stuff, the fast nine shoot out. Temperatures dropped, only slightly, the wind picked up and the times increases, we saw genuine pole speeds from first Carlos Munoz, Josef Newgarden and Ryan Hunter-Reay before the the star of Saturday, James Hinchcliffe rolled out as the last driver a set the fastest time of the day, sending the tens of thousands of fans all over speedway into raptures, even fellow drivers ran up to congratulate James, a comradery that has been in Indycar for some time, and long may it continue.

So how about the crowd, the noise level was just amazing, from the moment Hinch crossed the line, the place held its breath before the times appeared on the screens and the fans erupted.

A funny yet slightly more subdued James fielded questions from the media, I think he was still in shock at what happened, his life had gone full circle from 12 months previous. It was a special moment to be part of.So a quick run upstairs to collect belongings, then onto Union Jacks pub with someone who had plenty of behind the scenes stories to share...

Good night...

Anyway, whilst we are on a go slow, back to last nights restaurant, Dawsons on Main, Speedway. I can wholeheartedly recommend the Cajun beef tips, they were awesome.

The track is looking a whole lot drier, the skies are clearing, sort of, well it's not racing any more.

​To save me typing it, here's the new schedule, just add 5 hours

Practice eventually started around 12:20, in two groups, Rossi topped the times but the session was brought to a temporary halt after Max Chilton spun his car coming out of turn two and hit the wall. He climbed out of the car, waved to the crowd, off to the medica care centre, checked and cleared. The back up car will likely be the one to qualify after a hard crash. Qualifying starts at 2:20 local time

At this point I add some shameless plugging, have a read about the British drivers who attempted to qualify for the 500, but never made it right HERE. Also a big thank you to Verizon who have hooked me up with a Samsung Galaxy S7. As someone who has only had iPhones for the past god knows how many years, I'm looking like a technophobe, but I am getting there, slowly...

And finally, having spoken with the main man himself, John Menard has said that they are in discussions with Greenlight... I like the sound of this.

Qualifying starts, speeds a little down, but this is all about spitting the grid to set positions 10-33 and for the top nine shoot 1-9 which will take place tomorrow... I'll explain then.

Driver motor homes are amazing. No other comment.

Bit of practice, and then Aleshin jumps back into the car, this prompts a lot of action from other drivers looking to get back into the top 9.

I will always be an advocate of trying to fit the qualifying weekend into your holiday / vacation plans, there is a lot more access to the drivers, and see the cars close up, plus you get a magical last hour, ok, it wasn't a real bump session in the true sense, but seeing cars line up for another run, pulling their time, and hanging it out there just to make it into fast nine qualifying places. An important side note, the championship has gone down to the wire for a number of years no and the bonus points for starting on pole 42, 33rd...1. It really is great drama, I hope it played out well on TV screens at home. The fastest time was set by James Hinchcliffe, the noise from the stands was fantastic, several came close to beating his time, but failed. Hunter-Reay came close as the gun sounded, but Aleshin pulled out onto the track just in time to be able to set a time. And a time he did, pushing Marco Andretti out of the top 9 down to tenth place.

You can have all you fancy apps, press releases, print outs, here's how the guys at Indianapolis show the results, and times have not changed... 

I'll slip back to last night now with a review of SIK, Speedway Indoor Karting owned by Sarah Fisher. The venue has both road and oval courses, both very challenging, the road course has some very satisfying corners that you can just clip the barriers to nail. Unfortunately for me it was the rest of the lap that let me down. Butt considerably kicked by Jimmy. Onto the oval, this was my first ever time racing on an oval, a little one but still. And it is serious fun. Took a few laps to find the right line, and watching the 'battles' that took place, provided much hilarity. You can race both tracks for $30, with a joining fee of $10, if you are in Indy, check it out, great fun. As you can see, post race refreshments are available. 

I suppose at this point I talk about today. It's Fast Friday at IMS, they turn up the boost, trim it out and get in the final prep for qualifying over the weekend, which I will add is on BT ESPN for the first time ever live in the UK from 9pm! Missed marketing opportunity, why don't Fuzzy's sponsor today? 

Talking of sponsors, and new liveries, we have a new one with the #98 of Alexander Rossi, NAPA Auto Parts as a primary sponsor on the Andretti/BHA car.

Returning to the media centre, you see an email from Ganassi PR, Dario will be ready in the trucks in 20 minutes, 30 minutes ago... (thanks lack of email pushing!) to the golf cart full speed sir! I'll be honest, I don't think I'll be able to top those 20 minutes with Dario this month, it was a good chat about his personal career at the 500, but when it came to talking about Dan Wheldon and Jim Clark, his eyes lit up, it was special to his his stories and thoughts and I look forward to sharing them with you this month.

After far too many hours in the media centre it was nice to eventually venture outside, until you experience it, the noise, smells and atmosphere on pit lane when the cars light up, top stuff. It was also a pleasure to finally meet Andy. 

Qualifying tomorrow, a couple of Chevy cars ended up fastest but the rest of the top ten was filled with Honda, so we could be in for a very close battle. Sadly though, no bumping, just the fast nine shoot out on Sunday afternoon. So from a slight damp Indy, let the real fun begin tomorrow. 

Today's diary starts with an early morning drive up the 465, off at the wrong exit, then correcting myself to Guion Road, home of former Indycar driver Darren Manning and his new simulator venture iAdvance Motorsports.

You can check out our chat below, as we talk Darren's career, Rockingham, his US break, Indy 500, current day Indycar and his new venture. You can find Darren on Twitter @darrenmanning14 @iAdvMotorsports and on his website iadvancemotorsports.com

Off shortly to a media launch of a new  book on sale now IMS, and shortly on Amazon, Lionheart: Remembering Dan Wheldon.

Media packed out the hospitality tent as drivers, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, former team mate Dario Franchitti and team boss Bryan Herta shared some memories and talked about their time with Dan Wheldon over the years in Indycar. The full talk will be posted on YouTube later today so will add to this post when it appears. 

​Practice resumes for the day, majority of the cars have ventured out for some early laps, warm, blue skies and a slight breeze, perfect day.

For those in my fantasy league, I have been on the scrounge and have picked up some great prizes so far, more to add by the end of the month. how does a flag signed by the field sound? Well, I'm nearly there!

A few shots from the pit lane, today, Its been hot, fast and ferocious. That'll be a wrap from me too today, I'm off to chat with a three time winner, the karting at mom's place, for those not in the know, that's Sarah Fishers new set up on Main Street

​Well lets get this restarted, back at the track today and hopefully the clouds will break and we will hit a few higher temperatures, and more importantly the roar of engines, not blowers (not Henry, track driers). So news wise today, what we know, Grace Autosport have announced that they will not be competing at this year's 500, things were moving along nicely until around the time of the Long Beach race when deals did not fall into place. It was a very ambitious effort and one which is not going to end thankfully, Beth and her team are committed to bringing their dream to a reality, but for 2016, they still sleep. 

​In the meantime, here's a thought from last night...

Well 10am arrived and the press conference room filled, in comes Dale Coyne, Conor Daly and this guy called Pat McAfee, apparently he is a hand egg player, yeah I'm not a NFL fan. It was announced that Conor Daly will be sponsored at the 500 by shirtsforamerica.com honouring military veterans. It was a hilarious press conference, so enjoy the next 17 minutes of your life.

12 o'clock rolls around and the green flag flies to start practice, cars pull away from their pit boxes and the sound, and smell is glorious. It's my first time at an oval since 2012 at TMS, I have missed it.

The first car in trouble this week was the rookie Spencer Pigot, coming out of turn one lost the back end and caught the last section of the SAFER barrier, thankfully. No flips and all the parts of the car stayed attached, good work teams. Spencer was checked and cleared from the medical centre.

It is said that at Indianapolis, there are only those who have crashed, and those yet to crash, welcome to the club Spencer. 

And some pit lane action shots for you to peruse.

During the afternoon, I had the chance to chat with Jack Hawksworth, driver of the #41 AJ Foyt car.

I will be catching up tomorrow with more Yorkshire Indycar history so look forward to sharing that with you later. As for on track activity, another good day for the Honda cars, particularly Hunter-Reay topping the speed charts. 

One final note for the day, Ryan Hunter-Reay kids provided some laughs in the media centre, with their take on the Indian500apolis. That's a wrap on the day, more good weather tomorrow please, and more speed, always more speed. Out.

 I had a couple days away in Chicago and have only just arrived back, so typically British of me I managed to avoid the sunny day with on track action and rock up to the Speedway with cloud and an excessive amount of atmospheric water vapour. So I wouldn't expect much in the way of on track reporting today, but will be live with Downforce Radio in a hours time talking all things 'Murika. I also have an interview or two with drivers today so look forward to sharing those soon through out feature 'A British 500'. So if anything of note happens, I will get back to you with it, possibly the opportunity for a few Periscopes from the garages so be sure to check them out! Failing that I'll tell you what I got up to in Chicago...

Well that was it, 14:45, practice has been cancelled for the day, we will try again tomorrow at noon, hopefully!