I am taking my son to the Baltimore Grand Prix.
I am not paying the extra dosh for the Porsche corral - we will be traveling in style on the light rail, trying to avoid the parking hell downtown.

Anyone else going?

http://www.raceonbaltimore.com/

Right now the plan is just to be there Fri - Sat, and skip the Indy race on Sunday. Not sure I could get a 4yo to sit still for 75 laps, and we will be able to see the ALMS race Sat ad the Indy practice sessions as well.


I'm super excited.

Oh hell yeah! lol!

Zach

I'll think about Saturday. No O's game on Friday night so it's a possibility for me.

That's neat you are taking Theo. make sure to take ear phones or other ear protection! Have Fun!

Im not going, but im working Friday and Sunday.

You guys should stop by the shop Friday

You mean ?
Don't you work at a tobacco shop?

I would love to go. Stay in touch and I'll buy tickets for the days other teeners will be there....

Dosh is a dosh ? Do I look in Websters or the " Urban " dictionary to find this word ?


Dosh indeed.....



pish posh

Dosh.
Money.
Bills.
Moola.
Ducats.


Dummy.

hipster doofus Why don't you grow yer fisticuffs handlebar back oot, get a manbag and a highride bike and join the steampunk brigade. Sheesh


Dosh

Have fun at Baltimore! After last year's race, its one I'd love to go to at some point. St. Petersburg is very similar. I loved when the ALMS was here, it was great having world class sportscar racing in my hometown. Ever since its only been Indycars, I haven't gone back. Indy is boring, IMHO. You'll get plenty of fun on Friday and Saturday and I'm sure your son will love it.

I'm more excited about the ALMS race Saturday than the Indy cars Sunday.


Scott, dosh was slang in your generation. Do you need me to define "rad" or any othe bits of 80s slang you may have missed? Granted I was a little late to that party, but could probably fill in the blanks for your generations slang if you need me too.

Zach

Thanks for the offer but no, I don't deal with street urchins and their bastardized form of the queens english

Guys, guys, can't we just settle this over some za?

We dont have to smoke tobacco!

I got other things too

Just don't smoke before you drive...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hNZmxHcCq0

Starts tomorrow. :-)

If I can get into the Porsche corral I'll be sure to get pictures. :-) Not sure my ticket will get me in there.

Zach

I got about 700 pictures Friday and today. I also shot several videos.

Found some NICE 914s, Panteras, BMWs and other stuff that I'll share. Downloading pics right now, then I am CRASHING.

The ALMS was fun. My 4yo LOVED it. His fear of loud noises also seems to be gone. We were maybe 30 feet off the track, and he kept pulling out his ear plugs to "hear the cars." They "raced" a good bit of the race under yellow, and there was a 4 or 5 car pileup right after the start. Within seconds of the race ending and the track closing down for the evening rain started falling and thunder started rumbling.

I'll post more tomorrow when I start posting pictures.

Zach

I watched live on ESPN3.com - Dyson car sure had problems

Of the 667 pick I took, here are the ones I thought were the best.

Few pics from the owners corral...


"I don't know what it is - maybe one of Porsche's old failed models..."


One of the rows of Porsches at the corral.


Nice white 6.


\m/


Coupla red ones.

There were also some really nice BMWs, tons of Vettes, and a DB9. I amy post some of the BMW pics I got.

Zach

At the end for Friday, walking around with a cute 4 year old kid got me a bunch of free shirts, and Theo a free 1/64 indy car model Which he carried around for the rest of the weekend!


Theo and Daddy. The camera could not compare with the cars on the practice session! Note, car in hand. Theo "walked" the track several times while perched on my shoulders.


Fridays haul. I bought Theo's little shirt, after the shop owner gave him the 1/64 indy car. The other were free. There are two Chevy shirts. Friday is the day to get SWAG!


Corner of Russell and Lee streets in Baltimore. Those folks had a better view then the bleachers of the back straight and corner (10? I think 10). And they did not pay anyone a dime to do it. Baltimore went out of their way to hang tarps to make seeing the race impossible for most General Admission folks. I gave serious thought of leaving the race way to go join the folks on the hill.

On to the paddocks!


This car had just been wheeled in from a practice session. The crew was super cool and asked Theo if he wanted to drive it.


He did. I rooted for this team Saturday.


An assortment of tires were needed this weekend. Saturday morning was wet and humid. The after noon was not as wet (unless you count profuse sweating) but it was just as humid.


Someone asked the kneeling tech "Where is the rest of your car?"

There were many mishaps on the track during practice and qualifying. Several cars got air born on the long straight when they hit the light rail tracks. A chicane was added to slow them down there, but that also sent cars air born. Theo saw his first wreck within 5 minutes of us parking our car Friday.

The ALMS paddocks were outside in the M&T Stadium parking lot.



This BMW sounded awesome! Just outstanding.

Here are some lined up on Pit Row, what is usually Camden Yards...


I'm unsure what series of cars these were. Not Indy, and I don't think they are the USF2000 cars ... Mazda maybe?


ALMS cars getting lines up. This 911 kept hitting turn 1 really hot and locking up his brakes during Friday practice.


ALMS cars getting ready to get ready. Friday ran way behind schedule due to all the smash ups.

One more set of pics inbound! :-)

Track time!

Heading into turn 1.







Russell street heading into the back straight.


Worldwide Pants!


Vette, as seen from my iPhone.


BMW. I was curious what my phone could do. So I played with it a little.


This car was fast. And pretty. But just sounded... wussy. Italians. ;-)





There.

Whaddya think?

Zach

I also shot some video. If I have time tomorrow I will edit it together and post it up.
It was a really fantastic weekend. Theo had a great time and has been talking about it all day today (we came home Saturday night, watched the Indy race at home).

Expensive, yeah. But even my wife had a great time watching the ALMS race, 30 feet from the track. She has insisted that we go back next year.

SCORE!!!
Zach

Tough angle to see, but I think StarMazdas

Your last set of pics were the USF2000s

AWESOME PICS !!!

Sounds like a valid complaint to me. If you pay your hard earned dollars, you ought to have some viewing options.

On the other hand, if you want to see the butthurt whiners come out of the woodwork, go to Facebook or the Baltimore Sun's website and look at all the people bitching about the noise etc. You want peace and quiet, a large city may not be the best choice for living arrangements. Just sayin.

I set out tonight to make a picture for the 2012 ECC that could turn into a T-shirt. Instead I made this poster for my office.

What do you think?



Zach

Very cool poster and some fine pics. Need more of the Testarossa and 308



hope you didn't lose too much dosh........

We had a sticker on #66, friends of the owner...he brought it by the plant last year...

bosses got invited up the the mayors booth...they had a good view..
sounds like you had a good time..

I was there saturday only. My pics are not as good, but I do have one
of the pace bus. I don't know why they had this, it only came by before
the race, and it somehow made it through turns 3 and 4 okay.

Click to view attachment

hi Mark, wish I had known you were in town...

Anyone else wonder where all the stickered tires came from? Every corner was protected with stacks of stickered tires.

I was going to get my son to jump out and throw a stack in the back of the truck. tire shopping on the race course. I drive it every morning at around 5:30 am..

The tires were bolted together. I doubt they would hold air ever again.

Also, you got two accounts Berwald? I'm confused. lol

Zach

I don't know...I guess I do? Pretty low member numbers though...you can get rid of the #553....must have tried a different log in on another computer?