Just in from the photographer… Click the images for full size versions.
These shots were donated to us by Brian of caliphotography.com. He and his crew shoot high end photographs at lots of tracks in the SoCal and surrounding areas, and they can hook you up with photo sets and prints of your race days or track events for ane excellent price.
Brian Reynolds
www.caliphotography.com
brian@caliphotography.com
Tollfree: 866-515-2112
Local: 951-992-2488
Thanks Brian!
A few random shots from last weekend.
The mighty Subaru Outback 2.5 Legacy Limited, our tow vehicle. Can you believe that? The trailer is bigger than the Subaru! And it’s filled with about 500 pounds of tools, gear, and crap. Yet somehow it just goes and never complains at all. It manages to happily chug up the grapevine at 55 to Willow and the temp gauge never bothers to get above 1/2 way.
We stopped by We All Ride on our way out of town to pick up some Repsol chain lube and other stuff from Jocelyn. She’s helped us out a bunch, and used to race AMA 125gp. She talked me into bringing the rig to the WaR Motofest and talking to people about sidecar racing.
Our modest pits at Willow. Doesn’t take much actually since Mike does 99.9% of the prep work before we load the bike on the trailer. Some day we’ll have that 40 foot RV with a workshop in the back, but for now this will do just fine.
Relaxing in the morning before first practice is called. (and the wind kicks up)
And after the first 30 minute practice session. The racers grin.
~Sarah
We pulled a 7th place finish at Willow Springs this weekend. Picked up speed in several spots on the track as I lined up some reference points through the Omega and turn 9. We’re going to skip out on Road America and concentrate on getting ready for Thunderhill in early July. The rig is doing great, and we got the Penske dialed in. The body needs to be stripped and rebuilt in spots where the kevlar is starting to crack, we have enough time between now and Thunderhill to get that done finally.
Mike mounted a lipstick cam and DVR on his spare helmet and shot a couple practice laps on Saturday and put it together.
Here’s the video on YouTube ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEGh4hCpguQ
I was going to wait till we had some better shots of on-track action from last weekend at Willow, but the photographer is lagging. We pulled two fifth place finishes at the AHRMA Corsa Motoclassica event at Willow Springs last weekend.
Willow springs is a fun track, it looks simple, but it gets technical when you start picking up the pace. The Omega is tricky, it’s almost like a roller coaster. I know I was losing time there the first day because it took some time to train myself to stay on the power all the way through and over the top to keep my momentum. If I got off the power the tires would bite instead of drift, and the rig would just fall to it’s knees because the top of the Omega is deceptively steep.
You can’t actually get off the power and drop a gear till you’re clear of it, 100% flying downhill and ready to flick into six. Tricky but fun. Reminded me quite a bit of 3a/3 4 at Sears Point.
The rig gets light over 7, but not much. There’s so much downforce and ground effect that it just sticks to the track. I was drawing a straight line right through 7, and Mike was sitting in about the middle of the rig tucked in behind the intake for aerodynamics before he’d pop over the right hand side to set up for 8. Even the fast guys were sticking to the track like glue through there.
We had a good weekend, the rig ran perfectly, and we’ll be back down at Willow in two weeks to run another two day event hosted by the WSMC. Then it’s off to Wisconsin for Road America at Elkhart Lake. My only complaint about Willow was the heat, it was 100 in the shade, and my all black leathers, black helmet, and associated gear were not helping me stay cool on the grid.
No woman looks good in race leathers. It was hot. But we had fun, and can’t wait to get back out on the track.
I set up a PayPal merchant account to help fund some of the expenses of running a full Superside season. We’re coming up short on funds for making the trip out to Wisconsion for Road America to run at the AMA Superbike event. We have a spot for the CSR secured in an enclosed trailer that’s headed out to Elkhart Lake, WI but plane tickets are over 1000 bucks for a pair, even in the cattle seats. Help a girl out and get us to Road America to kick ass on the big four mile circuit.