insouciance

Last year San Jose held its inaugural Champ Car race by setting up a temporary street circuit along its downtown area. Being the race fan that I am, even though I am partial to F1 I really wanted to go and check out the action streetside. So I was pretty disappointed when something at work came up and I couldn't attend.

Well the Champ Car World Series comes back to the streets of San Jose this weekend, with the likes of Sebastien Bourdais, Paul Tracy, and A.J. Allmendinger clashing in the ongoing battle for championship points. I haven't been watching the series this season, but I did watch the televised race from Edmonton last weekend and it did seem pretty intense, with several guys still in close contention for the championship. So you'd think that I am pretty psyched about going to see it this year.

Strangely, though, I'm not. Maybe it's because I've gotten a little bored with open-wheel racing. I still watch F1 races whenever I can, but the races themselves tend to be somewhat undramatic. Very little overtaking seems to actually take place once they all get through the first turn, and position changes only occur when someone breaks down or someone spends a second or two longer than they should in their pit-stop. It's always the same guys up on the podium, Alonso, Schumacher, and either of their #2 drivers Fisichella or Massa. Usually someone is fastest at practice, fastest in qualifying, and when the race starts, they take off and hold their lead for the duration of the race. Yawn. But in Champ Car they're all running the same engine, same chassis, it should be more about the driver or team's abilities, right? So they should have a more exciting race.

Last week I started talking with my coworker about going to the race. He's up for it, and so am I. But then I start looking at tickets online. Yikes, it's been a while since I had to pay full price for a ticket. Usually I know someone or find a decent bargain online. These tickets are $45 for race day, and that's for General Admission which means you don't get a seat -- you stand around and watch the race from the side of the track wherever you can find a spot to see. I heard last year the GA crowds were 3-4 deep around the whole track and you couldn't see squat. Ok, so maybe cough up a little more dough for a grandstand seat? Sorry bub, you have to buy a 3-day pass to get a grandstand seat, and the cheapest ones are $80 for seats near what appears to be one of the least exciting corners on the track, a 90 degree turn from one street to another. Well that kinda stinks. Throw in the fact that you're either springing $15 for parking near the downtown area or we have to take some mass transit to get into the area, and it's getting less and less attractive.

So screw it. I'm going to sit at home and watch the race from my couch. Invite a few friends over, have a beer, and relax in the cool breeze of our luxurious central AC. It's been insanely hot this past weekend, with temps up in the 100s all over the bay area and I'm sure next week won't be much different. So rather than get stuck in traffic, hunt for parking, bake in the sun, get my eardrums pummelled and fight the crowds for a spot to view the racing action, I'll just take it all in on my bigscreen TV. And if the race action gets a little boring, I've got some ALMS and touring car races recorded that will offer up some exciting racing.

http://www.sanjosegrandprix.com/
airs at 12:30pm Pacific on Sunday 7/30, NBC

vindication

Stalwart readers will recall my post discontentment, in which I chronicled the near-epic tragedy that befell pizza-lovers J. and myself when we ordered a combo pizza from Vito's Pizzeria in Newark. Well after some time had passed to distance us from that little fiasco I was ready to give them another chance, and so last Thursday I stopped by on the way home from work and picked up a large cheese-and-pepperoni pizza, being sure to specify that I wanted it thin-crust. And this time, they did not dissappoint. Very thin crust, and just the right amount of cheese and tomato sauce. I brought it home and within minutes J. and I had devoured nearly all of the pie. We left like two slices for V., who came home late from work. Ya snooze, ya lose!

Well after that small tasting we were all hankering for some more this week, so I visited Vito's again last night after work and picked up an extra-large this time. When I got home both V. and J. were eagerly awaiting the delivery. Moments later we were all in pizza heaven. "So thin, so perfect", J. praised. V. and I nodded in assent, mouths full of cheesy goodness. After about half of the pizza was gone, we started nitpicking ... the crust could be crispier, the edge crust could be smaller ... but man, we couldn't deny that it was good. Seems like the key is to keep it simple, by just ordering cheese or cheese and pepperoni, and to ask them to make it thin crust. So now I can definitely recommend Vito's -- we might just have to make every Thursday night pizza night at Vito's.

I am going to have to watch my intake of pizza though -- looks like I am up this week to -4.5 pounds from start weight.

aspiration

You can't imagine how disappointed I was when I heard that Porsche was halting production of their Carrera GT supercar. I certainly don't have the dough to spring for one right now, but if they kept making them I might have the scratch for it around, oh, 2036. Now what am I going to drive when I'm uber-rich?

So my faith in mankind and in Porsche was revived when I came across news that Porsche was working on a new supercar, based on the Carrera GT chassis. This one is going to be a hardtop coupe instead of a convertible, as it is going to essentially be the street-legal version of a racing coupe for their LeMans racing plans. LeMans is changing their rules to require all their prototype cars to be closed-roof coupes, so we won't be seeing open-top cars like the Audi R8 or Audi R10 after next year. They've set some lofty goals for this supercar, informally dubbed the GT1. 950 horsepower, and the ability to outspeed the top dog in this class right now -- the $1.3 million Bugatti Veyron which can reach 252 mph. Details available in the Speed TV/Autocar article linked below.

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/automotive/newmodels/28090/

reversion

Well my 2 and a half week vacation sadly has come to an end, and it's time to go back to work. But I did have a good time, and I tried to make the most of the time I had left on monday and tuesday. On Monday after my follow up visit with the periodontist I went for a little backwoods drive in the Spyder and then headed to GoKartRacer in Burlingame with my racing pal for a little karting challenge. Every Monday they combine their two smaller courses into one large one, dubbed the Supertrack. At speed it's about a minute to complete one lap, which is pretty long as karting tracks go -- at LeMans Karting, the other karting place in the Bay Area, a lap is over in 30 seconds or less. For about $35 you can do a 15 minute practice session where you and about 10 other drivers get to do laps and try to get the fastest time around the track. It took a few laps to learn the layout but soon I got familiar with the course and was able to get some consistent lap times in the 63-64 second range. Unfortunately some more experienced drivers were lapping down in the 58-59 second range, and they were kicking our asses. My buddy and I brought our own helmets and thought we looked the part with our slick gear, but we got schooled by the regulars. He finished 9th and I finished 10th out of 16 -- squarely mid-pack. We both agreed that more practice is definitely needed. One cool bonus from GoKartRacer: they lend you helmets and racing suits, but the headsock they give you to wear is yours to keep. Much better looking and ostensibly more sanitary than the ones they give you at LeMans, which you give back and they (presumably) wash and reuse.

And on Tuesday we wrapped up the July 4th weekend with you guessed it, a BBQ. After spending a fair amount of time working the propane gas-powered grill, I grabbed a plate and had my fill of beef, lamb, chicken, crab, etc. I have probably put back on all the weight I've lost at this point, but I will wait a day or so before I step up onto the scale again...

tenderness

Last night we went out with friends and checked out a restaurant in Burlingame that serves prime rib, very similar to House of Prime Rib up in San Francisco. This place is called Broadway Prime and they are on Broadway Ave in Burlingame. And as you might guess from the names, these restaurants specialize in serving some of the juiciest, most tender cuts of beef prime rib out there.

I was very impressed with Broadway Prime, and how similar it was to House of Prime Rib. The menu is just as basic, you essentially have one page listing different size cuts of prime rib, and the option of having steak or a fish of the day instead of prime rib. Other than that, you pick a side of either spinach or corn, and baked or mashed potatoes. All dinners come with salad, and a little piece of bread-pudding. It's all good stuff, and I chose the Broadway cut, their largest offering of prime rib. (At the House of Prime Rib they call it the King Henry VIII cut.) When they brought it out it was a huge slab of beef, probably about 16 oz. of meat on a bone. I was able to finish it, but just barely.

V. ordered the fish instead, which was grilled sea-bass. It was a pretty large serving as well, but I had a taste of it and it was a little too dense, and maybe a bit overcooked because it was somewhat dry. Just goes to show that you shouldn't go to a steakhouse and then order fish! Well some places do fish well even when it's not their specialty, but this wasn't the case this time.

Well, it was a very good meal overall, and I would recommend this place to anyone interested in some good prime rib. Just don't get the fish.

For every action, there is a consequence. Having indulged a bit this weekend, I am back up a few pounds from last week, so I am now at -5 lbs from start. I have to watch myself as I get back on the good eating bandwagon.


(photo courtesy of jatbar.com)

friday

Well the much-anticipated day had come, it was time to test my skills and endurance at the Thunder Hill racetrack up in Willows, CA. The racetrack is located up in Northern California, about 1 hour north of Sacramento on Interstate 5. Since it is about a 2.5 hour drive from the Bay Area, I had to wake up at the crack of dawn, leaving the house around 5:30am. Thankfully traffic was light and I got up to the track just in time to make the driver's meeting at 8:00am.


[Photo copyright Dito Milian (gotbluemilk.com)]
I met up with an assigned instructor who gave me some tips and advice about how to get around the track. One interesting tip that he gave me was to not worry so much about shifting, just leave it in 3rd or 4th gear most of the way around the track and instead focus on working on my line around the track. I already knew my way around the track having done several events here before, but I found his advice to be very helpful and found I was smoother and more precise in my driving when I didn't have to also think about downshifting and upshifting at every turn. In each session I found myself keeping up with and passing plenty of other cars, but there were also others that were definitely faster than me, and I waved them by when it was safe to do so in the passing zones.


It was a hot summer day and temps were probably in the 90s. As the day went on the temperatures kept rising and I was getting pretty sweaty in my helmet. Good thing the track had a nice air-conditioned driver's lounge area that we could relax in between the sessions and plenty of water and drinks to keep us hydrated. I must have chugged 4-5 bottles of water and a few cups of juice or iced tea during the day.



Of course since it was a track day you get to see all kinds of fantastic sports cars and dedicated track racers -- this event was no exception. Here are a few photos I took of some of the more interesting cars. In particular there were several Lotus Elises and one sweet looking orange colored Lotus Exige.





There was a professional photographer at the track who snapped great shots of us from various corners of the course, and I bought a CD of the photos from him. You can see some of the photos he took from his site: http://gotbluemilk.com/web060630/28/


To sum it all up I had a great day at the track, had lots of fun and got to drive my car at 9/10ths of its potential in a safe environment. I was amazed at how well the car and tires performed on track, without a single mechanical problem despite the hard day of driving. At the end of the day I put the top back up, powered on the air conditioning, and cruised on out of there.