Weekend at the Races

Tom S.

Tom S.

#1
#1
I spent Saturday at the flat track races in Rainier, Wash. Nice little track, great people and lots of cool machines. Here are a few pics of the smaller bikes. The little Honda three-wheeler was fast!







 
Tom S.

Tom S.

#4
#4
Thanks. It is fun. Oh and there were lots of motorcycles. But sadly, there was no racing. These pics are all from practice. As soon as practice ended it started raining and wouldn't stop long enough for the track to dry off.







 
Tom S.

Tom S.

#6
#6
Thank you. I just use a little Canon SX10IS. It's about 5 years old and rubbed pretty raw from being carried around in the tank bag on my dirt bike. The 20X optical zoom is pretty substantial for a point-n-shoot camera. I think it takes pretty good pics and vid, but it doesn't do HD vid. I do like that it's rugged, and not so valuable that I have to worry about damaging it. It also records the audio in stereo. I'll prolly move up to something a little more sophisticated before the end of summer. It focuses slowly, especially when making vids, and it doesn't deal well w/limited lighting.

 
jesse8931

jesse8931

New Member
#7
#7
Tom S. said:
Thank you. I just use a little Canon SX10IS. It's about 5 years old and rubbed pretty raw from being carried around in the tank bag on my dirt bike. The 20X optical zoom is pretty substantial for a point-n-shoot camera. I think it takes pretty good pics and vid, but it doesn't do HD vid. I do like that it's rugged, and not so valuable that I have to worry about damaging it. It also records the audio in stereo. I'll prolly move up to something a little more sophisticated before the end of summer. It focuses slowly, especially when making vids, and it doesn't deal well w/limited lighting.

Click to expand...
I would check into the Canon EOS Rebel T2i its an amazing camera.
 
Tom S.

Tom S.

#8
#8
I spent last weekend at the National TT event in Castle Rock, Wash. It was a fun time. Amateur short track races on Thursday night, non-series Pro Twins race on the short oval Friday night, and the National TT race on Saturday night. Here are some pics. Tomorrow morning, my wife and I are going to Peoria, Illinois for the National TT race there this weekend, then to Indianapolis for the Mile race at the state fair the following weekend. We'll do some regular vaca stuff in Chicago during the week in between. I am so excited. We haven't been to that area in 10 years. Glad is sounds like it might not be so hot there now.









 
Tom S.

Tom S.

#9
#9
jesse8931 said:
I would check into the Canon EOS Rebel T2i its an amazing camera.
Click to expand...
I tried my pal's T3i the other weekend, Jesse, for some still photos and the vid I posted in another thread. It was quite nice, but more cumbersome for video than a bridge camera like the one I use now. I think I'm going to stay w/that type of camera. I looked at the T4i, too, but I've become so accustomed to an electric zoom and full-time live view. After a lot of looking, I'm leaning towards the Lumix FZ200. It will be available in a couple of weeks.

Panasonic Lumix FZ200 Release Date, Preview - Dslr Cameras Release Date

 
steven Durham

steven Durham

#11
#11
Hi Tom: I was close by at our BTW Tri State camp out over in Lacy at the Thurstan County Fairgrounds. I left about 4 and it was almost to the rain time then.
Even practice can be fun.
Steve :scooter:
 
Tom S.

Tom S.

#12
#12
Indianapolis Motor Speedway was fun. Toured the museum and watched motorcycles practicing on the road course. They usually have bus tours of the track, but not on this day because of the bikes.



 
Clayon

Clayon

#14
#14
Looks like fun Tom, those are the coolest little honda atc's I've ever seen. :thumbsup: Also it looks like the Indianapolis motor speedway tour was cool. :thumbsup:
 
Tom S.

Tom S.

#15
#15
I spent a little while poking at You Tube this evening, and found these vids from a couple of races I attended long ago. First up, the inaugural 1976 USGP West Formula 1 race at Long Beach, California. Clay Regazzoni won from the pole position in his Ferrari. Next up is the 1986 Winston Western 500 Nascar race at Riverside, California. Tim Richmond also wins from the pole, but it wasn't a sure thing. Dale Earnhardt and Geoff Bodine battle for 2nd place in the closing laps. Hot, dusty, loud, and an incredible smell of race fuel and hot machinery. I watched quite a bit of the race from turn 6 at the end of the esses where they pass by quite close. Back then the drivers wore open face helmets and you could see their faces. I remember seeing Richard Petty sucking on a wet rag as he went 'round. I was traveling by myself and had such a good time.

There are lots of race fans here. Let's hear stories about the great races you've seen or been in.

Formula 1 1976 United States Grand Prix West Highlights - YouTube
1986 Winston Western 500 - Finish - YouTube
 
Tom S.

Tom S.

#16
#16
Here are a couple of my pics from the Long Beach race. In the first photo, reigning World Champion Niki Lauda leans on the fence after breaking down during a practice session. He finished 2nd in the race, giving Ferrari a 1-2 sweep. In photo #2, Mario Andretti driving his Parnelli-Ford chases the Ensign-Ford of Chris Amon. Amon finished 8th. Mario was a DNF in what was the Parnelli's last race. He moved to Lotus in 1977 and won the World Championship in '78. I've got photos from that Nascar race around here somewhere, too. I'll have to dig through some boxes...



 
Tom S.

Tom S.

#17
#17
Rental karts this weekend. I'm really getting addicted to these things. We've been going about every 3rd weekend, while the dirt bikes gather dust in the garage. Most of the karts are 6hp Honda-powered (little kids get 4hp). Once you can consistently hit a specified lap time, based on your weight, you can move up to a 9hp kart. That 3hp diff doesn't sound like much, but it is significant on the small, tight track. The 6 hp karts are really underpowered, so it's all about momentum and thinking a couple of turns ahead to stay on a line that keeps the wheels pointed straight as much of the time as possible. Turning the wheel scrubs off speed that's hard to get back. Same goes for the brakes. Stay off 'em! It's appealing to me in the same way as bowling - easy to do, but hard to do well if you want that good score. The 9hp karts, on the other hand, are all "braap, slide, braap, slide". You get a nice printout of your times at the end of each session, and everyone's always anxious to see how they did. You get 4 sessions for $45.00, 10 minutes each time out, and lap times run between 26 & 35 seconds. That's about 80 laps total, and you feel it when it's time to go home (or to the tavern up the street). My buddy's little boy, in the blue sweater below, is still in a 4hp, but he inherited strong racing genes from his dad and runs times that are faster than a lot of the grownups. Here are a few pics of my pals, but none of me this time, followed by some vid from our outing at Thanksgiving.






Karts! - YouTube
 
Tom S.

Tom S.

#20
#20
This weekend's fun was the indoor clay short track in Puyallup, Wash. I love tracks like this. It's all wheels and elbows and frequently ends up kind of like a 5 or 6 guy boxing match.




http://steinthms.smugmug.com/Motorcycle-Racing/Puyallup-Indoor-February-2/i-895gB6q/0/M/P1030602-M.jpg[IMG]
[IMG]http://steinthms.smugmug.com/Motorcycle-Racing/Puyallup-Indoor-February-2/i-PTFL5ZW/0/M/P1030604-M.jpg
 
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