Mega pi**Ed off withTrump

Have a 3 week Holliday in 2 months with my brother and his family in Hamilton Ontario - nothing wrong with that is there? However, part of the trip (from the UK) was to be 2 days at Pocono raceway to see some good ol' NASCAR racing. Except now apparently the bloated orange one has started having people crossing from Canada detained for kicks - the other day a Brit traveller was arrested and jailed, just for coming from Canada without the "right" papers. Along with some apparent bad feeling towards Canadian travellers...
So now my brother and his wife don't want to go to the States, don't recommend we do either, we'd booked and paid for the tickets already.. Was really looking forward to this too...
Sorry if this breaks forum rules, if it gets deleted I understand.

 

Don’t believe the nonsense
Live your life @Minimutly

there are over 200 countries on the planet, each with fascinating things to see, some quite dangerous. If you’re worried about visiting the good ole USA then you should probably stay home, sorry

 

Ya I dont know if you noticed but we have several MILLION more people than we should so we are closed for INVENTORY.

 

Believe it or not, NASCAR (actually almost all auto racing, along with pro baseball and football) is much better viewed on TV., unless you have some special access passes (pits, etc.). Sure, the first 20 minutes are interesting and exciting, but after that it's just one long droning experience in my opinion.

The only exceptions are events where the venue is small and spectators are very close to the action......drag racing, small circle tracks, perhaps Bristol for NASCAR, hockey, basketball, probably tennis.

At pro drag races they let you stand right in the racer pits, 10-feet away from the guys stripping and rebuilding the engine and clutch in-between rounds, and then for test-firing. Nothing quite like a blast of nitro exhaust in your face to really make you feel alive.....

 

I used to go to Knockhill circuit in Scotland. It was good being able to see all the machines and race. Its a small circuit.

 

Don't let your TDS get the best of you. With 3 weeks available to be with your brother and family you could take the 2 days and go without them.

 

Took the words right out of my mouth. Sprint cars are the GREATEST, but their new problem is keeping both front wheels on the ground.

 

But that's also what makes it so exciting to watch!

I'll also add, especially for our US visitors (since it's rather uncommon in the rest of the world).......if you've never been to a pro drag racing event where they're running the top fuel (nitromethane) cars, put it on your bucket list. It's an experience you won't soon forget......

P.S. up close-and-personal even at non-pro drag races....the infamous Yello Belly venue in Texas........the ultimate in "spectator participation"....note the crowds lining both sides of the track in front of the cars!!:

 

Last year Larry Spiderman McBride ( Fastest Drag Motocycle in the WORLD) was in Brainerd MN, I talked to him and his crew for an hour, never met him before.

 

Snow Outlaws 160 mph in 500ft on hard packed snow, INSANITY. This was takin at the 490 ft mark, I think he blew a head gasket, all the smoke comin through.

 

Oh were life that simple @Simmy , family involved - inlaws, wife etc.. If it were just me I'd go anyway.

 

More Yello Belly action from last night, also known as:

a) why it's not such a good idea to stand next to or in front of a drag car (the red Camaro in the near lane)
b) why you don't keep cranking a flooded engine

Go to 8 hours, 32 minutes, 30 seconds mark (8:32:30) and watch for a minute or two......

 

That had to be a Nitro leak. LOL WOW

 

Note how it blew the hood SKIN (which is metal, not fiberglass, as one might think for a "custom hood" like that) right off of the hood FRAME........exciting! Probably quite deafening to those nearby, too.......

 

Minimutly, I think you should scrub the plans for Pocono and book a flight to Dallas TX and take the rental car to Yello Belly and do a couple of passes down the strip. I think it would be much more memorable than the few (mostly annoying) hours at a Nascar track.....

 

10 miles from Dallas to Yellow Belly.

 

That's just 40 1/4-mile passes.......


Bristol racetrack in TN (a/k/a "Thuner Valley", and that's pretty honest; because of the shape of the facility, it's a big, steep "cup" and it's loud...)....anyways, a number of years ago I was there for a special event, and one of the activities was to (for a fee....) get 10 laps in an ARCA car (these are slightly tuned-down versions of "real" NASCAR vehicles) and the instructions are: stay as close as possible to the (pro) "rabbit" driver in front of you.....hit his bumper if necessary, at the speeds you'll be going, it won't bother him and besides he's watching you and won't actually let you do that.......so, just stay on his bumper.

Okay, easy enough, right?

Wrong. For one thing, because of the enormously steep banking, and also the fact that --- except for maybe one short straightaway --- you are always turning left. And due to the seating position, the most you can see ahead of you while on the banked portion (about 3/4 of the track) is maybe 70 yards......maybe. It truly is like driving in a fishbowl. To say this is unnerving...while driving at an almost-45* angle---is a gross understatement.

AND, the banking is really steep, almost 36* from horizontal, and even if it doesn't sound like much, trust me it is. It's quite hard to just try and walk up the banking. And because of this, when you're coming off that short straighaway (at maybe 130+ mph), there's just NO WAY the car is going to turn into the transition....or so you think....it actually will, but the emotion "fear" becomes predominant in your mind when you're doing it the first few times.

So you're supposed to stay on the guy's bumper, you're really unnerved, you can't really see anything much further ahead that the car in front of you, it's loud and the steering is loose, and........

After 5 laps (which doesn't take long; it's only a 1/2-mile track), they bring you in to review your performance, etc.

Track guy: "How you feeling?"

Me: "Okay, really exciting."

Track guy: "Okay you're doing okay, especially coming off the banking and onto the straightaway, but you've got to close the gap on the front car."

Me: "What do you mean? I'm right up on his bumper.........."

Track guy: "Uh, actually you're about 2-3 cars lengths behind him....."

Me: "You're kidding. I feel like I'm about to ram him and lose control and and and....."

Track guy: "No, you got lots of space. Don't worry about hitting him, he won't let you do that."

Me: "Ummm.....okay."


So away I go for my next 5 laps. I'm going to try, but I'm still quite "un-easy" (understatement.....), and I'm trying so hard that I guess I was clenching my teeth against the side of my tongue or my inside cheek, because after the 5 laps.......

Track guy: "You're bleeding from your mouth, are you okay?"

Me: "I am?"

Track guy: "Yeah quite a bit.......here's a rag, you should get that checked".

Me: (rag is really bloody) "Didn't realize it. How did I do?"

Track guy: "You're still about 2-3 car lengths behind him........"


So later that day (actually, evening) the people from Roush Performance were there with their new supercharged Mustangs, and for a fee, you could get 10 laps (uninterrupted) with a passenger. A friend has his wife who wanted to ride along, so....okay.

The fastest part of the track, as mentioned, is the transition coming off of the high bank into the (almost) flat straighaway.....in the ARCA cars we were getting up to about 140+ (no speedo in those cars) by the end of the straightway (you hammer it coming off the high bank and go from 3rd to 4th gear.......the high bank area you're always in 3rd gear.....did I mention that it's quite loud inside the car?), but I had learned (and watched on TV) that coming off that banking you nail it, and drift out towards the retaining wall to gather as much speed down the straightway and thus you're able to "slingshot" yourself up onto the high banking at the end of the straight --- which is one reason, as mentioned prior, that you just say to yourself "no way is this car going to make that turn into the corner at the end of the straightway", as you're hauling ass (and still accelerating) at that point.....

So we're going thru the first lap and come off the banking and are drifting out towards the wall, and she start getting very nervous and making injured-animal sounds; on the 2nd lap she starts freaking out at that same spot, so I tell her "look, when we come off the banking and into the straight, I need you to watch my speedometer and tell me what speed I'm doing, so I can improve my driving"..........of course, I didn't need to know that, I just needed to get her eyes off of the rapidly-approaching retaining wall and keep her distracted.

It worked.

BTW, those Roush cars were fast, and handled beautifully; I felt much more confident driving it than I did the ARCA car, plus it was quiet although I'm sure my recent previous experience in the ARCA car improved by ability (and confidence) in the Roush car.

All in all, probably the most exciting 8 hours in my life so far.......

 

You need a feeler gauge between your car's bumper and the one in front . I would crash most likely .

One of the presenters on the programme Top Gear in the UK tried driving a formula one car. He couldn't control it, the car was spinning round. Those drivers make it look easy. Those banks on the American race tracks are steep l have watched them racing, nerves of steel. Must be one hell of a drive.

 

People can be mad at him all they want, however, he's doing exactly what we voted for him to do.

 

Brittany Force 341.9 in 1000ft record

 

May you have the day you voted for.

 

Reminds me of going to the TT races at the old Peoria M/C grounds. They'd let you get within a few feet of the track as the bikes went by at 80 or more mph on dirt... which you'd occasionally end up eating. Great times! Haven't been to such a race in years... I wonder if they're still out on that track at the bottom of the natural bowl, with no grandstands, just sitting on the hillside or leaning on the fence...

 

May the Force be with you..........


BTW, if you ever wanted to understand what a top fuel driver does, clay millican gives a great overview of what goes on in the cockpit....interesting that since the engines don't use any coolant, the amount of fuel flow is used to regulate engine temps during the warmup/burnout phase. Air bleed plugs (sorta like the intake manifold vac nipple caps on our bikes) are used to regulate idle speed and final "tune" (on the starting line). He has a lot of other interesting, very detailed videos about the intricacies of these machines.




Rob Wendland also has some great videos on the machining/technical aspects of drivetrain prep/repair on these monster engines:

https://www.youtube.com/@robwendland/videos


P.S. Mimimutly, I'm upgrading my recommendation, instead of going to Yello Belly try and go to a pro NHRA race (where they run the top fuel a/k/a nitromethane cars), it's actually an experience that everyone who is curious about all things mechanical should try to attend at least once.....the activities and sensory overload is something you certainly won't get on TV and can only be "appreciated" in-person.

 

I have been. And it's been fantastic. Every day has been like Xmas and New Years Day.

 

Fun Facts LOL Total Insanity The curvature of the exhaust pipes adds 800 pounds of downforce at full throttle