Making up for lost time (more automotive art)

Ferrari - the name alone brings all sorts of images to mind... In a lot of
ways, some of the most beautiful cars on the road. And the older Ferrari's
can be more stunning than the current ones...
Here's one that was sitting in the pits over our last race weekend. It's a
1965 Ferrari 365 4 cam LWB (long wheelbase). Unfortunately, the owner
wasn't around and I wasn't about to open the hood to take shots of the
engine. I did speak to one of the Alfa Romeo guys pitted nearby who knew
the car and the owner - evidently he's had it for a while, and it gets driven
pretty regularly (notice that it's got regular plates - not collector plates).
The plaque on the dash is great- "Remember, you are not Niki Lauda"

What happened???

Wow, it's been a whole week.... not quite sure how that happened...

Maybe I've just got a boring life?? Or just too much stuff going on? Yeah,
I'll go with that one. Home computer's been down because I'm remodeling my office -
but with the new storage space and the larger work area, I'll be able to work on my
photo projects a lot more efficiently and quickly (yeah, right...). Some construction
projects this weekend - a new floor for a neighbor and cabinets in Joan's office.
Caught the new Indiana Jones movie earlier this week, and while I'm not as negative
on it as my friend Marty ( http://renzntzman.blogspot.com/ ), I thought it was a little
too long and a little on the weak side. "Hellboy 2" looked good from the previews,
and "Hancock" looks like it could be good as well. Something to look forward to.

Automotive art

Blower Bentley

Some people.... make that a lot of people - view cars as mere utilitarian
conveyances for getting from one place to another (not as often now,
what with gas prices being what they are. But that's a rant for another time).

I look at a lot of cars as rolling sculpture - a moving testament to the metal
workers art (or fiberglass and composite as the case may be). As somebody
who likes to think of himself as a fabricator - not great, but better than serviceable,
cars like this really just blow me away.... And to leave it in the polished aluminum.
You can hide a lot of flaws with paint, but a polished body shows ALL flaws.

This is a replica, built by Bob Petersen (http://www.bobpetersenengineering.co.uk/peterson6supercharged.htm).

A race fans favorite weekend...

As a racing fan, this is probably my favorite weekend of the year. And
with a big screen, a DVR, and a REALLY understanding wife, I'll get
to watch even more of it (it's gonna be hard to top last year - I watched
the Monaco GP while standing in one of the garages at Indianapolis - with
some ex-Williams team guys).

Friday there's the Indy Lights - a family friend owns AFS Racing and has
2 cars in the Freedom 100. Saturday there's the Craftsman Trucks and the
Nationwide cars, Sunday is the Monaco F1 race, Indy, and
World 600 Nascar race, and the Rolex GT guys from Lime Rock on Monday.

Maybe Indy and Nascar will figure out a way to time the starts so that
somebody can try the double again-makes sense from a TV standpoint if
nothing else. Cross pollination of demographics, etc.

And our own car to get ready for the Historics over the 4th of July....
Man, I love this time of year.

Racing again... the Spring Sprints

The last time we ran, we finished up with the right front corner covered in duct tape, but we were really quick in the clear cold weather. Fast forward to the past weekend, it was almost 100 deg at the track on Saturday, and 75-80 on Sunday. Needless to say, the hot weather and a greasy surface made everybody 2-3 seconds slower. So, here’s some shots of the car going back together, and the racing from the weekend. They did something a little different and ran a race group that was reminiscent of the Under 2 litre Trans Am from 66-69. We qualified top 10 on Saturday morning. Ran 6th in the first race on Saturday, won the 2nd race Sunday morning, and finished 6th on Sunday afternoon. All in all, a good weekend. And we've got the new tires dialed in for the Historic races over the 4th of July.

Nostalgia....

Found this in one of my photo archives.... built it from bits and
pieces salvaged from various junkyards... It was a great truck - got
HORRIBLE mileage (maybe 8mpg), but it was the right vehicle for
me at the time....
And I will be building another one... ;-)

Still life....

The Pike Place Market is a great place for a photographer.....

No words necessary....

How our kitten "Pit Stop" sees himself......

Busy few days....

So I broke one of my vows about trying to blog something everyday-
and it appears that I've failed miserably ;-)

Last Tuesday (the 6th) was a great day - spent all day out at the
racetrack going through a high performance driving school with
Proformance Racing (http://www.proformanceracingschool.com/).
It was a gift from Jeff- the owner of the race car I maintain.
High speed braking and avoidance maneuvers, and instruction in
the correct line around the track, and extended lapping time with an
instructor in the car - It was a blast.
Now, since my daily driver is a pickup truck, I used one of the school
cars. There was a photographer there - here's a shot, and I've ordered
up some more. they'll look good on the wall with the diploma -
(http://www.redmistphoto.com/gallery/4881487_Gp5ZC#291117806_kLip4)

Other than that, finished another photography project for our church
for Pentecost, did a little work around the house, put in a new front door
for a friend of ours - her house got broken into this past Friday night...
Did some more work on the race car over the weekend - we've gotten the
body panels back from the painters, and are just scrounging up a couple of
more bits for the suspension, then it goes back together for this weekend.

And if the weather holds, I might even get one (or both!) of the vehicles
washed after work....

Finally.....

Well, it appears that the nice weather is finally here. Still rainy
on Saturday, but it looks like the sunshine we got on Sunday is
going to stick around for a while..... 'bout time!
Quiet couple of days - grilled steak outside last night, went to see
"Iron Man" with Marty and Sarah on Saturday night, got some
projects around the house done. Just waiting to get the race car parts
back from the painters, then start reassembling it for our next race.
All in all.... life's pretty good right now.....

And now for something completely different...

So it's the first Thursday in May, and while I'd love to go review yet more craptacular art, it would appear that all the dispossessed and impoverished workers of Seattle, will be marching through downtown to celebrate that most American of holidays.... May Day. Yes, brought to you by the same folks who protested the WTO and demanded free trade and equal wages for Guatemalan Nike workers while wearing their $300.00 tennis shoes... downtown Seattle will be a parking lot for several hours tonight.
I, on the other hand, will be taking myself down to Renton to go work on the race car, thus sparing myself the several hours trapped on a bus with 50 other sweaty, pissed off people just trying to get home.