Sebring

[wfooshee]

Well, I've arrrived at Sebring, and cars are running for night practice, but I can't go in yet because my ticket is Friday/Saturday only. 425 miles riding in 8 hours, 6.5 actually on the bike. Called RadioHowie as I crossed I-4 'cause it was getting on dinnertime, and he said he and his buds from the radio station were throwing a St. Patrick Day shindig at a place called the Shamrock. As luck would have it, I could see the place from where I stopped to call him! Had to wait a half hour for him to show!

The Shamrock:

My man shows up on his ZX1200, says the Feej is down for front brakes.

Party is out back, Irish music, radio dudes giving stuff away, and a group of girls in a dance club performing. These girls are the National Champion Irish dance troupe, and gave an excellent performance, then passed the hat for help with their trip to Ireland to compete at the international level!

The crowd enjoying the festivities:

We enjoyed special hospitality in the VIP seating area at the back. I'm not sure what was special about it, but it was roped off and marked, so we were special. Oh, I remember: the station picked up the food and beverage tab for the VIP section. So it was special hospitality!

Pics of actual racing activities coming soon, I promise. Assuming I can find a plug and keep the elctronics charged.

 

[RadioHowie]

Just finished having a great brunch with Walter.

He lived through the weekend and is heading back home.

He'll post-up pictures of the race and such later tonight or tomorrow. He won't get home 'til around 8-9pm EDT tonight.

Great getting to see one of my forum "buds"!

'Howie

 

[wfooshee]

Got home a lot sooner than his prediction, and found that I had shot almost 1100 frames!!!!! It'll take a bit to go through those and find the good ones. I have showered, unpacked, done started some laundryy, and had supper. Meantime, breakfast news!

Called RH on the way through as I headed north from Sebring. The phone woke his lazy *** up. At 10:30!!! Of course, he was hungry, not having had any food for over 12 hours (the last time he was awake, probably.)

He directed me to an easy to find meeting place, and then led me to this fine establishment in Winter Haven, the Southeast Eatery:

Here he shows off his plate, with eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns with something going on, making sure his Los Robustos qualification stays in effect.

I will be bringing pictures of very cool race cars, and I might have even made it by the bikini contest just as it was finishing up, but it's gonna be a bit before I go through all those pictures and toss the junk and select the good 'uns. For now, just these from Friday morning. I awoke to tremendous bladder pressure, and got out to brave the fog and chill (less than 60 degrees!!!!) for the 300-yard hike to the porta-potty. On the way back I was presented with this sunrise. By the time I got the camera out I'd missed the best of it. The sun was still below the horizon when I first saw it, but glowing fiercely orange through the fog.

And home sweet home for three nights:

As for the trip, 425.8 miles down, 425.1 miles homeward. The meet-and-eat was farther off the track than on the trip down, but I didn't remember to reset the GPS trip computer until I was 5 or 6 miles in, so it's weird that it evened out so close. Anyway, 6.5 hours seat time to get the miles, with about 90 minutes stopped for gas, water, food, etc. So far the furthest from home I've been on the bike.

 

[MotorToad]

Pics, jerkface!

Also, you need a new front tire.

P.P.S. Your rear tire is squared off.

 

[wfooshee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1100 pictures to sort through. I'm about a third of the way through.

That job **** keeps getting in the way, but I find eating to be a necessary habit.

 

[RadioHowie]

Okay, bud...you've had a full week. Time to post up!!!

 

[wfooshee]

I've got the pics done, but now I'm at work. It's lunchtime, though, so I'll get the important ones posted:

As I was walking across the infield from the hairpin back to the main straight I came across the end (so to speak) of the bikini contest. To think, I almost missed it completely. I was standing there all blank and stuff when I remembered I was carrying a camera. So here:

 

[user 6393]

babies in buttfloss

oh my!

 

[beemerdons]

babies in buttfloss

oh my!

+100, thousand times Gunny! Tight Butts Drive Me Nuts!!!

 

[wfooshee]

Drive your nuts where?

 

[beemerdons]

Drive your nuts where?

Come on Walt, at age 62, I'll follow them wherever they want to go!

 

[wheatonFJR]

babies in buttfloss

oh my!

Those pics were needed to offset the previous RH shots. Actually, I think a few more photos are needed to cleanse those brain cells exposed to the images recorded by the optic nerve. Holy Crap...you need some more filters on that camera.

:lol:

Looking forward to the photos...your 15 minutes are up.

 

[Crash Cash]

I'm always a softy for an Eddie Lawson Replica, those are some nice lookin' bikes.

 

[RadioHowie]

I'm always a softy for an Eddie Lawson Replica, those are some nice lookin' bikes.

Will this do? ELR GenII --

 

[Crash Cash]

Will this do? ELR GenII --

Only if I can take it home with me! (and love it and feed it and pet it and call it George!)

 

[RadioHowie]

Will this do? ELR GenII --

Only if I can take it home with me! (and love it and feed it and pet it and call it George!)

I might consider a trade....my Gen II for your Gen II. Not a permanent one, mind you, but I REALLY should get some Gen II miles under my *** so I can denigrate them fairly. :rofl:

Oh, his name is Rex....calling him George might confuse him.

 

[Crash Cash]

Get thee away, spawn of Satan, and stop tempting me so!! (boy, I did have to consider it for a day, though... must... plan... trip... to Arizona!)

 

[RadioHowie]

Get thee away, spawn of Satan, and stop tempting me so!! (boy, I did have to consider it for a day, though... must... plan... trip... to Arizona!)

Yeah, I withdraw the offer. A fully modded ZRX is WAY too much bike for a Gen II Feejer pilot! :rofl:

 

[wfooshee]

OK OK OK!!!! Pictures! (Finally!)

Been busy, been sick, been having to do other stuff, but finally a selection for your perusal and (hopefully) enjoyment.

In the interest of load speed I've posted as 288-pixel thumbs. Each picture is a clickable link to an 1024-px version.

My first exposure to the track was the outside of turn 17, Sunset Bend, the last turn onto the front straight. The background is not very interestings, just stuff n the paddock area. The pics weren't great, either, as it was morning and I was shooting into the sun. Still, I wanted to show the Panoz from this angle, if only to prove that I was mistaken in something I said somewhere before. I stated earlier that the Grand-Am Daytona Prototypes were the ugliest imaginable racing cars on the planet. . . . .



A little oopsie, the Porsche GT3 #030 lost it in Sunset and hit the tire wall pretty hard.



I headed into the interior of the track, and on the midway was a Chevy tent with motors, Corvettes, a Volt, and this: a cutaway ZR-1!









Now a few shots from the paddock on friday:









Motorcycle content: this custom-built bike is being taken around on tour, and will be auctioned (I think) to raise money for a charitable cause. Google it to get details.





The Oreca team running one of last year's Peugeot diesels as a "customer" car.



One of the LMPC cars (LeMans Prototype Challenge). These are a spec chassis with sealed engines, sold to the teams to run. Less expensive than the upper classes, they are dimensionally the same as the faster cars, but less powerful. "Entry level" prototype racing.



Also found, some of the cars in the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association event later that day:







Now we move to the grandstand (bleachers, really) on the inside of turn 16, leading onto the long back straight. Thes are from qualifying on Friday afternoon, GT first, then prototypes.















Aston-Martin V12-powered car. Holy God, did this thing sound good!!!!!



Turbocharged Mazda 2-liter 4-cylinder in LMP2:



This car went on to win the P2 class, with Honda power:



The SVRA action. They had two races, the first for "Historics" which I watched from Turn 16.

BMW M1:





I went to the approach to Turn 7, the hairpin, to watch the "Vintage" cars.









And that was the end of Friday. Off to the tent, gather a towel and shampoo, and find the shower trailer!

Another post under construction for Saturday's pics . . .