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[OperaTenor]

He's an AMA superbike racer. The photo was taken at Sears Point.

You actually have two nephews who road race?
BTW, the technique of knee-dragging didn't come along until the early 80's, when Kenny Roberts used it to beat the Europeans at Grand Prix road racing.

I have a reputation for being fast on a bike, but I'm not in this league.

[Trumpetmaster]

Has anyone ever seen where the race motorcycles on ice. Think it's done over in Europe. The have spikes on the treads of the tires for traction.
This looks tame compared to that.

[OperaTenor]

Yes, outdoor ice racing is flat out insane. It's one thing to fall off a bike on the track, but it's something akin to suicidal to fall off when everyone's using buzz saws for tires! Those spikes they use for traction are 2" long!!!!!!

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Originally posted by OperaTenor:
You actually have two nephews who road race?

DuctTape Racing, Denver. Nephews Jason and David. My sister wishes they'd take up tatting, or something.

[Trumpetmaster]

OT,

Now here is a racer for you!!

Check it out




TM

[ScottB]

Well I figured I would bring this thread back since the Indy 500 is this weekend.

Who does everybody want to win?

[BigJon@Work]

The chick!

BigJon

[ScottB]

I definatly want Danica Patrick to win. From what it sounds like she has a good chance.

[Trumpetmaster]

That would be cool if she wins.
I'm rooting for her!!!!

[ScottB]

Well unfortunatly she didnt win but she did do extremely well.

[Trumpetmaster]

Scott,
I watched the race. How exciting!
If she didn't stall the engine and have that accident... she might have won.
She has a bright future.
Regards,
Howard

[ScottB]

Yes, if she hadnt had those troubles, she could have been close. She definatley had one of the fastest cars.

[BigJon@Work]

What did you think of Kimi's crash at the end of the F1 race? I think the teams should be allowed to change one tire per pitstop for any reason. Just the unbalance of having a worn tire and a new tire on the same axle would limit this to truly needy cases.

And yes, I forgot to mention that I picked Dan Weldon as my second choice for Indy. The guy is on a mind-boggling hot streak. Poor kid, he wins Indy and gets relegated to the back pages by The Chick's near-miss story.

BTW, Shap, where should I send the tape?

BBTW, in case you don't know, I'm joking when I call Danica Patrick, the Chick.

BigJon

[ScottB]

I wish i could have seen the F1 race but my cable provider doesnt have speed vision anymore, which was the only way i got to see them.

Did you hear some of the things Robby Gordon has said about the weight advantage? Not that he is bashing Danica in any way but his point is that she weighs much less then all other competitors thus has a major advantage. It must be true in some sense 100 pounds is a hundred pounds.

[mmichaelson]

Like that's her fault. If that is the case, then they would have to make the weights of all the people even. She is no exception. Some guys weigh a lot more than others, how is she different?

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

That's a thought. Let's turn some horse-racing handicappers loose on the auto racers. Should we go for even weights, or give the better racers a larger handicap?

Has the weight issue ever been an issue before?

[piqaboo]

I dont recall ever hearing "Bubba's gotta watch his weight, to keep his fuel efficiency high".
But Im not a devoted fan, so I just add my request that the Q's posted by Saxy & Selma be addressed.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Not a devoted fan, either. It's a car race. They go. Around. An oval. Five hundred times. This is exciting?

I mostly don't get it. Now, drag racing, that I get. Probably because a mile or less fits into my attention span.

[BigJon@Work]

The modern racing car is incredibly sensitive to weight and its placement. I read that a 100 lb difference in driver weight could be worth 1 mile an hour around Indy. Had she needed to carry 100 lbs more, she would have qualified 12th, instead of fourth. Over the course of the race, that one mile an hour diference would have left her more than a lap behind the leaders.

Roger Penske's cars could not qualify for Indy one year, they just wouldn't handle well enough to make the field. In a post-mortem review of the car design, they detrmined that if they could have shifted about 15 lbs of overall car weight to each front tire of the car they could have run fast enough to make the race. But they had made some design descisions on engine placement before the season that prevented them from shifting the weight frontward without radical surgery on the car. They purchased another car design that had shown qualifying speed, but ran out of time and did not make the race with it.

So Team Penske, with 10 prior Indy 500 wins on the books, could not make the world's biggest race for a lack of 30 lbs on the front tires.

Sports car drivers have been fired for gaining less than 30 lbs.

BigJon

<small>[ 06-02-2005, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: BigJon@Work ]</small>

[BigJon@Work]

BTW, weight hurts performance everywhere. It takes longer to accelerate, takes longer to brake. In the corner, more weight lowers the cornering speed. The limit of cornering speed is controlled by when a tire starts to slide. Given the same tires and suspension, the car carrying more weight will slide at a lower speed than the lighter car.

BigJon