wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
I've just now completed the sorting and uploading of images from this past weekend's excitement at Barber Motorsports Park. Just like DMG on Speed, I'm bringing delayed coverage of the event. Where possible, I've used available light images indoors rather than flash, and as is my habit, the images are clickable thumbnails to slightly larger versions. If you're interested, the full set of pics can be found here and here.
My brother (Motortoad) and I went up Thursday in Big Blue (my '89 Grand Marquis) because we packed like girls and brought everything we owned. That's not quite true, but with two tents, bedding, clothes, and him not coming back to P.C. but continuing on to North Carolina, we just logistically could not take the bikes up this time.
So we went up Thursday, set up camp in a space inaccessible without worker credentials, at the top of the hill west of the motor home zone. It's so far up there it's not even visible from anywhere else at the track. But here's the campground. Mine is the second on the left, with no rain cover. (You see where I'm going already, don't you?)
Here's a stitch of two frames showing the view from On High. The street passing underneath is the exit road from the motor home park. The part of the track you see is the short downhill to the left onto the front straight. You can also see the fan zone tents off in the distance to the left.
So after some beer, some food, some more beer, and some sleep, we awakened before dawn to the call of nature. Not that call, the real calling of the damn birds! Noisy bastards those things are! We greeted our fellow corner workers for their morning meeting, but since we weren't working Friday, we watched them leave and carried on with out own plans. We had a day to be regular track visitors, something we've not had a chance to do before.
First: the museum. Saw this in the lot outside and wondered if my fellow 2003 owner is one of our Brotherhood.
It had this sticker which I found amusing. Probably old news to many of you, but I'd not seen it before.
Before you even pay to get in, you see a wall of several bikes, inluding this 1912 Indian Twin. Bicycle power or motor, and I really like the throttle linkage; apparently cables hadn't been discovered yet. B)
The number one baddest-ass motorcycle that exists, as far as I'm concerned: 2008 Bimota Tesi 3D:
A nice exhibit for the Ferrari 158 in which John Surtees won the 1964 World Championship. Semi-monocoque chassis (copying the previous year's Lotus 25) and a 1.5-liter V8. They also had some bits on display in a case near the car.
There was also a large display for Dan Gurney, featuring the modified Lotus 25 used at Indianapolis in 1963. Also featured are a couple of his Alligator motorcycles with thir unusual recumbent seating position: a bodied 2002 model and a bare frame prototype from 1988.
Around the corner from Gurney you'll find a large display of Morbidelli motorcycles, from a 50cc to this 500, with its monocoque frame.
There is also one of the four prototypes of Morbidelli's 847cc V-8-powered "superbike." (I would probably pay good money to hear this running.)
The sign says the bike was poorly received because of its controversial styling, and thus not produced. I thought it looked rather nice. That is, until I Googled it and found the original color scheme:
The other side of the entry level of the building is devoted to Lotus, from cars more ancient than the Model 7, to the last of the Lotus Formula One cars. The video projected on the wall is the Lotus episode of Victory by Design. 10 of the 23 cars in that episode were Barber's cars, shot at and around the facility.
The car on the right of this display had inboard rear brakes, like most formula cars of the era, but they were drums on this car!
Motortoad covets the aluminum car:
We crossed the bridge over the center and went into the main motorcycle displays. My brother took us straight to this and continued the salivating and slobbering he started over the Lotus Seven. This is the Britten V-1000, from New Zealand, number 7 of 10 that were made. They were developed in the man's back yard, with limited tools and equipment, and occasional assistance from some friends. The bike carries a 60-degree 1000cc V-twin in a carbon fiber monocoque frame, with the front end carried by a pair of A-arms (much like BMW's Duo-lever system), and the radiator lays flat in a ducted area under the seat. Some of these bikes took on the world's major manufacturers in several V-twin series, and won! Now that's back-yard engineering.
That's the rear shock behind the front wheel!
The headers have a pipe for each valve, not just each cylinder:
Here's one for ya: a water-cooled parallel-twin 2-stroke Harley-Davidson! The RR350. Actually, it was built by Aermacchi, an Italian stablemate under the AMF banner at the time.
Motortoad got a woody for this bike, which is odd, since he sees one just like it every time he walks out his front door. Well, almost just like it; his is maybe not quite as shiny. . . . Honda VTR1000 SuperHawk.
Say you're sitting at a light, and this goes across the intersection in front of you.
Correct! The Ariel Square Four, with 2-seat sidecar! Here's the other side, and an engine shot.
I stupidly failed to get a shot of the sign for this bike, and now I don't remember what it is. Love the mechanical detail around the engine and controls, though, including the hairpin valve springs.
Continued in following post . . . .
My brother (Motortoad) and I went up Thursday in Big Blue (my '89 Grand Marquis) because we packed like girls and brought everything we owned. That's not quite true, but with two tents, bedding, clothes, and him not coming back to P.C. but continuing on to North Carolina, we just logistically could not take the bikes up this time.
So we went up Thursday, set up camp in a space inaccessible without worker credentials, at the top of the hill west of the motor home zone. It's so far up there it's not even visible from anywhere else at the track. But here's the campground. Mine is the second on the left, with no rain cover. (You see where I'm going already, don't you?)
Here's a stitch of two frames showing the view from On High. The street passing underneath is the exit road from the motor home park. The part of the track you see is the short downhill to the left onto the front straight. You can also see the fan zone tents off in the distance to the left.
So after some beer, some food, some more beer, and some sleep, we awakened before dawn to the call of nature. Not that call, the real calling of the damn birds! Noisy bastards those things are! We greeted our fellow corner workers for their morning meeting, but since we weren't working Friday, we watched them leave and carried on with out own plans. We had a day to be regular track visitors, something we've not had a chance to do before.
First: the museum. Saw this in the lot outside and wondered if my fellow 2003 owner is one of our Brotherhood.
It had this sticker which I found amusing. Probably old news to many of you, but I'd not seen it before.
Before you even pay to get in, you see a wall of several bikes, inluding this 1912 Indian Twin. Bicycle power or motor, and I really like the throttle linkage; apparently cables hadn't been discovered yet. B)
The number one baddest-ass motorcycle that exists, as far as I'm concerned: 2008 Bimota Tesi 3D:
A nice exhibit for the Ferrari 158 in which John Surtees won the 1964 World Championship. Semi-monocoque chassis (copying the previous year's Lotus 25) and a 1.5-liter V8. They also had some bits on display in a case near the car.
There was also a large display for Dan Gurney, featuring the modified Lotus 25 used at Indianapolis in 1963. Also featured are a couple of his Alligator motorcycles with thir unusual recumbent seating position: a bodied 2002 model and a bare frame prototype from 1988.
Around the corner from Gurney you'll find a large display of Morbidelli motorcycles, from a 50cc to this 500, with its monocoque frame.
There is also one of the four prototypes of Morbidelli's 847cc V-8-powered "superbike." (I would probably pay good money to hear this running.)
The sign says the bike was poorly received because of its controversial styling, and thus not produced. I thought it looked rather nice. That is, until I Googled it and found the original color scheme:
The other side of the entry level of the building is devoted to Lotus, from cars more ancient than the Model 7, to the last of the Lotus Formula One cars. The video projected on the wall is the Lotus episode of Victory by Design. 10 of the 23 cars in that episode were Barber's cars, shot at and around the facility.
The car on the right of this display had inboard rear brakes, like most formula cars of the era, but they were drums on this car!
Motortoad covets the aluminum car:
We crossed the bridge over the center and went into the main motorcycle displays. My brother took us straight to this and continued the salivating and slobbering he started over the Lotus Seven. This is the Britten V-1000, from New Zealand, number 7 of 10 that were made. They were developed in the man's back yard, with limited tools and equipment, and occasional assistance from some friends. The bike carries a 60-degree 1000cc V-twin in a carbon fiber monocoque frame, with the front end carried by a pair of A-arms (much like BMW's Duo-lever system), and the radiator lays flat in a ducted area under the seat. Some of these bikes took on the world's major manufacturers in several V-twin series, and won! Now that's back-yard engineering.
That's the rear shock behind the front wheel!
The headers have a pipe for each valve, not just each cylinder:
Here's one for ya: a water-cooled parallel-twin 2-stroke Harley-Davidson! The RR350. Actually, it was built by Aermacchi, an Italian stablemate under the AMF banner at the time.
Motortoad got a woody for this bike, which is odd, since he sees one just like it every time he walks out his front door. Well, almost just like it; his is maybe not quite as shiny. . . . Honda VTR1000 SuperHawk.
Say you're sitting at a light, and this goes across the intersection in front of you.
Correct! The Ariel Square Four, with 2-seat sidecar! Here's the other side, and an engine shot.
I stupidly failed to get a shot of the sign for this bike, and now I don't remember what it is. Love the mechanical detail around the engine and controls, though, including the hairpin valve springs.
Continued in following post . . . .
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