Hey any of the other SF Bay area guys or gals going to the races? Could be a fun event? Wish I could go, I was hoping for tickets from Fed Ex. If youare going take lots of pictures.

Going on Sunday only.

--DD

Just got my free General ticket for all three days, today. Will be taking the boys today at least. Sister n law working one of the events.

Here's a pic from walking the course with my boys last night.

Dont miss that Trans Am race

PLUS I saw they gave drifting 15 minutes today.

I'd like to go on Sun, but not without some cheap or free tix. Anyone?

I'm going tomorrow for a few hours. I was there yesterday and there were open wheel cars parked at parking meters. I kid you not.

not going to make the race, got to go to a wedding on Sunday in SJ, not looking forward to it at all......traffic is going to be hellish....

Went today, going tomorrow and Sunday. Aside for the late start (big lip on Lightrail tracks that the drivers were complaining about) had a blast today. The action is closer than Laguna and the sound of the Champ cars rowing thru the gears and resulting reverberation off the office buildings is something definitely never heard in San Jose before! I expect a lot of office workers will be "working" tomorrow to watch the race form their air conditioned offices overlooking the track. The track is fairly narrow in places with reduced passing possibilities but its still way cool to see. Looking forward to what Derek Daly and the guys at Speed say about the race on Sunday - they're covering it live. Highly recommend you take Lightrail/mass transit.

OMG, what a blast!

The highlight was definetly the DRIFTING! The drivers put on a show. Its amazing how in control the drivers are of their "out of control" tires. My 7 year old thought the cars were headed straight for us, but I reminded him they were professionals. What a blast. I know I have to show up at IHOP, but I think the wife will take the kids and the camcorder to the 9:30 drifting tomorrow.

MY SON MADE the ABC 7 news broadcast (4 year old CJ). Not much of an interview (says cool twice) but he made it. ( I'm in there will my facial hair too). To bad I don't have an 914club hat yet!

-Brent

Felix, will be out of town on Sunday and willing to lend you my General ticket, which is transferable. All I ask is it be returned for sentimental reasons. See you at IHOP.

QUOTE (Brent @ Jul 29 2005, 11:50 PM)

Felix, will be out of town on Sunday and willing to lend you my General ticket, which is transferable. All I ask is it be returned for sentimental reasons. See you at IHOP.

it is wishfull thinking on my part. I forgot I'm going out of town Sun too. How early does it open, I'll talk to you tomorrow. You a night owl too?

Yes I am a night owl too. I think my avg. post time is 2:30 am. The kids and wife are usually asleep, and time to get some serious browsing in. My boys only sleep about 6 hours a day, always have. If child energy could be harvested and sold for profit, I'd have one hell of a fleet of 914's.

QUOTE (Brent @ Jul 29 2005, 11:36 PM)

OMG, what a blast! The highlight was definetly the DRIFTING! The drivers put on a show. Its amazing how in control the drivers are of their "out of control" tires. My 7 year old thought the cars were headed straight for us, but I reminded him they were professionals. What a blast. I know I  have to show up at IHOP, but I think the wife will take the kids and the camcorder to the 9:30 drifting tomorrow. MY SON MADE the ABC 7 news broadcast (4 year old CJ). Not much of an interview (says cool twice) but he made it. ( I'm in there will my facial hair too). To  bad I don't have an 914club hat yet! -Brent

Isn't that drifting a trip? They demo'd it at this years Long Beach Grand Prix and it was really fun to watch....especially on the straights...if they are in tandom...they do like a little drifting dance between cars...very cool!

Wish I could go tomorrow...I love the Champ car series

Lisa

QUOTE (Mrs. K @ Jul 30 2005, 08:39 AM)

Isn't that drifting a trip? They demo'd it at this years Long Beach Grand Prix and it was really fun to watch.

They didn't really drift in tandem, it was kinda open class. You had up to 4 cars drifting into a corner, one right after another, then some hoping on the accel and blowing by the others. Its was pure demonstration, and the best crowd reaction of three events I saw.

That's what they did in Long Beach too, but maybe the track here is wider at certain points because they did the tandem thing and it was awesome!
Also a BIG crowd response!

Lisa

Lisa,
I can't believe we are not hearing more people chime in on this. I know there was no 914 presence at the GP, and very few Porsche (did see one 968 racing against Mini Coopers and loosing).

-Brent

I can't believe it either Brent; I would have liked to have made the breakfast this am but at that time I was walking down pit row. Anyone in the San Jose area even half way interested in CART should come out tomorrow - you have no idea what you are missing!

Grandstands are very impressive! Look like they're about 3-4 stories tall.

Saw this guy there too. My wife likes him for some reason; I think he was on Seinfeld.

Jason was there with friends, Britain may have scored some tickets, and Dave is going tomorrow...
Seems everyone is going with their non-club friends and family...

It was really cool to get Bruno to park my VW.

The folks at Ernst & Young had good seats! Slightly souped-up VR6 GTI going by.

Jimmy Vasser's ride in the paddock. He's the local favorite.

The Convention Center was packed with vendors and car displays. Good music and food too. The food was not exactly cheap, but what is in Sillycon Valley? About the same prices as Laguna Seca though.

Really looking forward to tomorrow. I think Sebastian Bourdais on the pole is an unbeatable combination considering his record to date and the fact that it's fairly hard to pass on this course. I'll be wearing my Club hat tomorrow, so all you folks watch out for the old guy with the s**t-eating grin on his face. I am SO glad I don't have to drive to Monterey or Sonoma for this great show!

Just finished watching the race on Speed Vision...WOW...looks like next year they have some real work to do to make the course more smooth! So many cars had to replace their push rods and had suspension trouble....some even had cracks in the chasis!

Again, Sebasian Bourdais won....he is cool...met him at Long Beach. However I wish my favorite Champ car driver could have won...the local favorite...Jimmy Vasser!

Hope all who attended had a good time...looked like it was a beautiful day for racing!

Post more pix, please!

Lisa

I saw the Speed Channel race as well.
The jump was insane. Watching the cars in the first lap from a head on view was like nothing I've ever seen in an auto race. Pogo Sticks come to mind. You could see where they tried to patch the road prior to the jump (tracks) to make it less of a launch. Didn't work.

Turn 4 (I think) also took out several cars.

Still I'm glad they got thru the whole race with more than half the field in one piece. I didn't think they would.

QUOTE (Mrs. K @ Jul 31 2005, 03:13 PM)

Just finished watching the race on Speed Vision...WOW...looks like next year they have some real work to do to make the course more smooth! So many cars had to replace their push rods and had suspension trouble....some even had cracks in the chasis! Again, Sebasian Bourdais won....he is cool...met him at Long Beach. However I wish my favorite Champ car driver could have won...the local favorite...Jimmy Vasser! Hope all who attended had a good time...looked like it was a beautiful day for racing! Post more pix, please! Lisa

Yeah I thought I had switched on WRC!

Here's some excellent pictures from another group.


http://imagenode.com/fh
http://imagenode.com/gh
http://imagenode.com/hh
http://imagenode.com/ih
http://imagenode.com/jh
http://imagenode.com/kh
http://imagenode.com/lh
http://imagenode.com/mh
http://imagenode.com/dh

(no jump picts...)

Yep - those shots of the cars going at full tilt airborne(!) over the lightrail tracks were incredible! I don't know how the cars could possibly be set up to take such a beating! Only half of the field of 18 finished; five dropped out for contact and four for mechanical.

However, considering that the three day race weekend attracted over 152,000+ (62,000+ on Sunday alone, more than the MotoGP at Laguna); it has to be considered a success by any definition and will definitely be back again in 2006 according to one of the main CART guys/team owners, Kevin Kalkoven. By then, San Jose and the race organizers should have all the "kinks" out, including re-routing or fixing the "pogo stick jump" and adding another (and hopefully) wider pedestrian bridge!

QUOTE (dan10101 @ Jul 31 2005, 10:06 PM)

Here's some excellent pictures from another group. http://imagenode.com/fh http://imagenode.com/gh http://imagenode.com/hh http://imagenode.com/ih http://imagenode.com/jh http://imagenode.com/kh http://imagenode.com/lh http://imagenode.com/mh http://imagenode.com/dh (no jump picts...)

Nice shots! Great wallpaper! Thanks!

Tom, great pics. You captured alot of the entire flavor of the event. I managed to get the wife out today. SHe had a blast. Since my camera is on the fritz, will be doing some screen captures from video I took during the day.

Carrera GT was in front of the Hilton.
Civic Center was the padock area for many race cars including the drifters. Did anyone else see all the tires that were being signed and given away to fans. Many slicks and even some with tread.

I also had a front row for the drifters salute of three cars doing donuts in synchronization, to the left.

Again, screen capture tomorrow.

-Brent

Here are my pics. Those CHAMP cars are fast motherf***ers, which makes 'em hard to photograph. Several of my OK pics were from yellow-flag laps--boy were there a lot of those!!

Second pic...

Third pic...

Pic four...

Pic five...

Pic six...

Crowd shot, looking down-track along the back straight, after one of the chicanes...

Same spot, looking up-track...

Pic nine--blurry, but an interesting effect I think...

Pic ten...

Eleven...

Twelve...

Lucky thirteen! A shot down into the "fair" in the infield. Or whatever the heck that was.

The only pic that even sort-of turned out from the chicane itself.

And finally, a pic of my new ride. (Don't I wish!) It was parked in front of the Convention Center, and for some dumb reason never got on the track that I know of.

Finally, impressions of the event:

It was very crowded, and not very well organized. They desparately needed to have at least one or two more pedestrian bridges, because the infield was just about the only place you could see anything! Getting a grandstand seat would have been nice for the view, but most of them were right out in the somewhat-brutal sun. I didn't really envy all of those people.

Viewing was tough, because it is difficult to get above ground level to look down onto the track. You wind up behind the Armco, and behind the second safety fence, and it's not easy to get a half-decent view of the cars. You also really only get to see one small section of the track at any given time, which makes it even tougher.

But the actual experience of being there, having all of those sounds wash through you, was pretty darned neat! The Champ cars are loud, but not as loud as the vintage NASCARs! The sounds and smells were at least as good as the sights, frankly. We were right by the braking zone for one corner for a while, and you could definitely smell "green fade" from some of the brakes! I wish we had gotten over to the light-rail tracks so we could see the cars jumping and hopping around--it looked pretty scary (but cool!) on the tube.

It was fun. I might even go back next year, if they have it again! Maybe...

--DD

Champ Car Web Site
From what I read, they will be back to San Jose next year....gotta few kinks to work out though!

Come to Long Beach next year....it's always beautiful....nice road course and they have been racing here since 1974! Had plenty of time to work out the kinks

I'll even buy a round of for the 914 club members who attend

Lisa