Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Road America

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't updated this blog in ages, other than to post updates on our trip into the hell of Hurricane Sandy. Some of you may also have realised that stuff has happened in the last couple of months - most notably, getting married!

Before I get into that though, I have something to catch-up on from before the wedding - the Run Offs, at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin - where my future brother-in-law was competing, amongst many other races. Finally, I have sorted the picture and put them up, so let's complete the job with a blog update!

Racing, especially at Road America, has been a big part of Laura's family's life for decades; indeed this is how her parents met, and still meet with friends today. Her brother, Ethan, competes in Formula F (currently) and made the whole family proud with a win last time out. Now, it was time for the National Championship Run-offs, and we went to support him, meet said friends and family, and enjoy 2 of the many-days of racing this event had to offer.

Upon arrival, I was put to work - to help Ethan work out the weight distribution in his car. Cue comical readings of my weight, gasps of amazement, and then the equipping of lead shot to make me weigh more like the real driver.

In a Racecar

After the work was done, we went to hang out with some of Laura's family friends and watch some qualifying. First up were the T2s.

T2 Car 2

We stayed until sunset, but the F5s were still qualifying.

3 Cars Go By

But eventually we headed off to a nearby town for a night in a hotel. The track looked so pretty at dusk!

Moon over the Racetrack

The next day, there were more races before Ethan's Formula F - we watched the SRFs (Spec Racer Fords), a number of which took a couple of nasty knocks!

Had a Bash

Before some super-charged Mutangs and the likes in the GT1 class.

Line of GT1s

But then it was on to the main event. Laura, her Mom, and I took our place in the stands at turn 5 - one of the best apparently, to watch Ethan. He qualified in third, but some unsporting manoeuvres from his competitors near the start saw him drop a few places. Still, every time he went past, it seemed he was about to overtake on our corner.

Overtaking?

A couple of drivers ahead of him spun, and a great overtaking move saw him get up to third on the last lap. Sadly, it wasn't to be, as a more powerful car overtook him on the final stretch; but fourth was a great finish given the issues at the start. We knew he gave it his best shot, and he has a proud family (new brother-in-law included!) no matter where he finishes.

Ethan Zooms By

Shippert Racing

A great couple of days out and the opportunity to spend time in Wisconsin are always welcome by me. Of course, just to add more weight in its favour, Wisconsin once again provided some amazing scenery and a dramatic skyline on the way home, to accompany us on our more timid drive home.

Sky & Fields

The full set of photos from Road America can be found here.

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Mission NJ: Home!

We made it!

A little before lunchtime we made it to Jersey City after stopping for breakfast and a couple of wrong turns. The apartment, for me at least, was unscathed - though the basement had flooded about a foot, meaning it had to be pumped out before we could have power and such. But when we arrived our landlord and 6 different PS&G (Power Company) vehicles had our street blocked and were at work.

After only an hour, and help from neighbours, the truck was unloaded and by that point, the awesome power guys had electricity running again - and as a bonus our Internet kicked back in immediately  Score! Running water isn't a problem either, though we will boil it before drinking it.

The guys are still outside trying to do whatever needs to be done to get gas back online - meaning we can cook. We have a microwave in the meantime, so that's a plus. They don't reckon we'll have heating for a couple of days though as the basement needs to dry out before they can provide power to the boiler that gives us hot water and heat. So cold showers until then, and Laura is off with her parents looking for a space heater in whatever stores are open around here. I'm catching up with work a bit before we start trying to make home more like home, and huddle up for the night!

Mission NJ: Penn in the Dark

Quick one: we reached the very edge of Pennsylvania and tried to find a hotel. Oops. The first town had no power (thank you, national news for not telling us PA was having power issues) which made negotiating intersections with no lights a bit hair-raising. Our next move was to head back into PA as we knew NJ would be worse off. We tried a bunch of hotels who rudely told us they were full and unhelpfully dismissed us rather than finding something else nearby. Thankfully, a combination of mobile internet, map reading, and cellphone service booked us a hotel 35miles away. It took a while to reach it but after eating (Crackerbarrel, again!) we got there and are all about ready for sleeping.

Tomorrow we have to get back on the Interstate and then it's about 90 more minutes, maybe 2hrs if power is still affecting traffic, to the apartment and next assessment of the situation.