Bad Cat Racing

Separate us from third place overall in the Championship Points Standings for 2008 with three rounds remaining in the season.

And second place honestly isn’t out of reach.

The Miller Motorsports round in Utah was a spectacular four days of non stop fun.  We were treated like royalty by the fans and our wonderful hosts at the Miller facility.

We had a great weekend, AHRMA is great, the crowd was huge, everybody loved the sidecars… The press day on Thursday was great, we ran tight formations around the track for the cameras and gave lots of taxi rides to the media and willing victims who talked to the media afterwards. We were interviewd by a couple different ‘hot rod/motorhead’ type shows…

The racing was intense, Miller is an amazing track. It’s our little slice of heaven for sure.

Sarah’s first race on Saturday she was scraping the paint off the ass of one of our faster rivals the entire race. And if the race had not been incorrectly checker-flagged a lap early we’d have thrown our pass on Sean on the last lap on a part of the track where we knew we had a clear advantage and pulled away to the checkers and finished 9th instead of 10th out of a 16 bike grid.  But, that’s racing and it happens.  Sarah and I have decided to forgo the ‘pass on the last lap’ strategy in the future and just go with ‘pass right now and stay in front of them’ in case a administrative error occours in the future.

Sunday’s race Sarah got the best launch of her life at the drop of the green, and we shot out of the box like a top fuel dragster going into turn one right with the pros. Sarah learned how to effectively powerslide the rig through corners this weekend at high speeds and held of a -very- fast competitor for nearly two laps playing some rather dirty pool with a game of high corner entry speed, late to no braking, getting sideways on the power to make us wide, and getting in his line when he thought he was going to sneak by on the inside or outside. He finally got by us on a front straight drag race on pure motor, but Sarah proved the point that she was all over him in the corners. Our very -very- fast rival came over after the race and told Sarah, “You are -definitely- getting a lot faster, girl.”

Losing that position relegated us back to 10th as we were not able to catch back up.   All that drive blew Sarah’s energy reserves.  There was no threat from behind and 9th was slowly walking away as we physically started to fizzle out after four days of hard practice and racing came to a boiling head in our fatigued bodies.

Another well earned 10 out of 16. And another milestone. All laps run, and none of the ‘pros’ came close to lapping Sarah at the end. At this stage in our racing life we’re to the point where we see the 1/2/3 race leaders go by us on the last lap or close to last lap. Our regular 1/2/3/4 finishers came up after the race to tell Sarah, “Where were you? You were gone girl… What bit you in the ass?”

A satisfying weekend in Utah, a good show for the crowd, an impressive professional display of high tech new gear from the SRA… And Portland PIR is this coming weekend.  A new track to us, a shot at some more points, and a shot at third overall in the Championship standings.

-Mike-

Reposted from BSN

By David Miller

Isle of Man sidecar hero Steve Norbury has been killed in a crash in Germany. We have no official word on what happened. Passenger Rick Long is in hospital with suspected broken legs.

The pair were competing in the German F1 Sidecar Championship at Hockenheim.

Our thoughts are with Steve’s family.

Gerd Prilipp, who was at Hockenheim with his son, witnessed the crash and got in touch with us via email.  He said: “We were sitting in the grandstand above the Sachs Curve. Steve came into the motodrome very quickly and at the braking point, the rear wheel locked.

“At the same moment, the sidecar broke sideways and Steve had no chance of catching it. He had nowhere to go and went across the gravel and into the tyre wall.

“One of the two was thrown clear of the sidecar as it went two metres in the air. The stewards were on the scene immediately and straightaway called for medical staff.

“Another rider with a beautiful outfit (who we believe was World Champion Tim Reeves – DM)  stopped and tried to help but there was nothing he could do, so he returned to the paddock.

“After around 15 minutes, the doctors called for the riders to be put in the ambulances to be taken to the helicopter. I think the passenger lifted his head to see how his friend was, which got a round of applause from the audience.

“After the re-started race was finished, none of the riders opened the Champagne on the podium. I would like to pass on my condolences to the family and friends of Steve Norbury and his friend in the boat to get well soon.”

Our condolences to the friends and family of Steve, and heal soon Rick… you have lots of sidecar family who will tend to you as you recover.

~ Mike & Sarah

We’re heading to the 2008 Bonneville Vintage GP at dark-30-AM Wednesday.  We hope to make it to the track Thursday at Noonish for the Media event with all the TV/News people.  If you want to come see sidecars, vintage bikes, supermoto, Doug Polen tear ass around a world class racing facility, beards, lunatics.  All kinds of hotness.  Come to Miller!  We’re even getting press. “Miller Motorsports Park hosting ‘Cycle Fest’ September 5th-7th”

So first off, we’d like to welcome two new sponsors to the Bad Cat Racing team.

VholdR produced Twenty20, LLC.  The -best- personal digital A/V recording device produced today.

Simple, elegant, high tech.  And… my freaking -favorite- feature of all.  ONE BUTTON OPERATION.  The rest of you hear that?  ONE BUTTON.  We currently have a DVR rig with a nice high end lipstick cam.  It never gets used, we used it once at the beginning of last season and it was such a pain in the ass that it’s been sitting in the bag unused ever since.  Why?  Well, first there’s about 20 wires all about six feet long.  Second, a battery pack to drive the camera, gotta hope that doesn’t come unplugged or any of the six AA’s pop out… so gaff-tape that up.  Third the DVR is mounted in a shock proof case with buttons you nearly need a jewelers screwdriver to operate and a menu system that is similar to the Nintendo Contra unlimited free replay code  just to start recording video.  Oh yes, that’s totally easy to do when you’re in leathers with Kevlar gloves on and it’s 100 degrees and Girl Wonder is screaming at you that they’re on third call for your practice session.

Again, the VholdR camera?  Slide the big button one direction… Recording.  Slide the big button the other direction, Not Recording.  Praise the God of Speed, someone understands!

Supposedly it has lots of other very cool features as well, and we’ll get into those quite a bit more as we use the product and update the blog with videos and details.  But the biggest and most important feature is can you simply turn it on and off in a panic situation quickly and easily by tactile sensation?  And the answer is a resounding YES!  Thanks go to Kelly and the team at Twenty20!

Challenge Auto Racing in Scotts Valley, California.

 Challenge Auto Racing is one of only two facilitates in the United States to offer full six degrees of freedom (DOF) auto racing simulation platforms.  To quote directly from their website. http://www.challengeautoracing.com/simulators.htm

For the ultimate in seat of the pants sensation, nothing beats a six DOF(degree of freedom) motion platform.

Six DOF motion platforms are an aerospace standard used in multi-million dollar fighter aircraft simulators.

Not only can you achieve six distinct types of motion, but when they are combined simultaneously, just about any desired effect can be had.

One of the most satisfying aspects of a 6-DOF motion platform is the absence of any perceivable pivot point. The motion platform lets you feel what the car is doing.

When you lose traction at the rear wheels and the back end begins to comes around, you’ll feel it. Without motion, by the time your eyes tell you the back ends coming out, it’s usually too late.

Motion also gives you a good indication of how smoothly you’re driving, you can feel the even the most subtle weight transfers from left to right, or front to back–something that’s almost impossible to see.

 Our stockcar racing simulator is built from a modified, scale race car capable of 200+ miles per hour. The driver is surrounded by a full steel roll cage and sheet metal interior. The body is proportionate to a full size NASCAR® stock car and 2/3 scale for ease of transport and space conservation.

The force-feedback steering gives the driver a real sense of g-force, and tire slip. This is not the watered down stuff found in other racing centers, arcades, or at home – your arms may experience fatigue.

Another key sensation in racing is vibration, and we’ve got it. We have a real, dynamic mechanical vibration, not a little sub-woofer under the seat.

The stockcar-racing simulator has authentic construction and styling. It features a steel frame and full roll cage with a fiberglass body. The stockcar is also equipped with Goodyear racing slick tires and Basset wheels. The interior is equipped with sheet metal panels. You sit on a Butlerbuilt racing seat, then in front of the seat is a high force feedback steering wheel and the shifter is a B&M Pro Ratchet.

On the panels are working gauges: oil pressure, speedo, tach and a shift light. Then on the dash panel is where you find our engines start button, aux 1-3, temperature light and gearbox select. The racing simulator has a THX 400 watt, 4-Channel surround sound system.

But you’re probably thinking to yourself, “But guys, this is a NASCAR simulator, and you drive a F1 sidecar, how is this going to help you?”

Well the neat thing is with hardware this advanced they make it so you can flick a few switches and (poof) you’re sitting in a Formula 1 car.  Which is of course exactly what we’re going for.  And, with Portland International Raceway loaded up on the Simulator.  It’s time to get to work for our mid-September PIR race.  Thanks go to Eugene and the team at Challenge Auto Racing!

~BCR

Yes, it actually is… stay tuned!!!