I just realized it has been over four months since I updated anything here. Sorry for letting things get so stale. I updated a lot of the sub-pages last week. Here’s a roundup of what I’ve been up to.
I bought another bike back in May after selling one of the Kawasakis. Its a 1998 Yamaha FZR600R, and was in perfect shape with street and track bits. I did a track day back in early August with
Ed Bargy Racing School and got competition certified for
WERA. I don’t plan to compete for a while yet, but there are a LOT of track days coming up.
Alex and I took a trip to
Deal’s Gap at the end of August, and I slipped up and high-sided the FZR. Bike came out OK (needs upper fairing and some touch-up paint), but I managed to shatter my wrist in the process. I had surgery at Vanderbilt to reconstruct it, and I’ve got an external fixator on for six weeks total (three weeks more). That’s keeping me off the bike, and making me mental. I am getting rather quick at typing and tieing my shoes with my left hand, however. I’ve been driving the Jaguar since I can’t shift the BMW.
I’ve become interested in this new
podcasting fad, and there are three podcasts in particular that you should check out.
I saw a segment on the British motoring show
Fifth Gear where Jason Plato test-drove one of the development cars for the
A1GP. I didn’t really think the series would get off the ground, but when you have the financial resources of the Dubai royal family at your disposal, I guess anything becomes possible, eh? The first race is at
Brands Hatch next month, and at least 20 teams are ready to race. For a primer on A1GP, check out the
Wikipedia article or the
podcast linked above. The main thing that interests me is Scott Speed driving for the
USA team. It also looks like he has a certain seat in F1 next year with Red Bull just announcing the purchase of Minardi. Best of luck to the American driver in both of these race series. Hopefully some US fans will take interest in something besides NASCAR.
Back in February I posted my predictions for this year in F1, MotoGP, and WRC. Well, I never actually got into WRC past the Monaco round. Sorry. I know rally is awesome, and I’d love to get to drive a rally race, but I can’t follow it on TV like I can road racing. Anyway, here’s a little-past-mid-season update to my predictions:
- MotoGP – Of course I was dead-on about Rossi. Who could miss that? Too bad he posted his first DNF of the season today at Suzuka, or he might have clinched the championship. Gibernau has really put me off; I can’t stand his attitude, and I hope Rossi makes good on his promise to prevent him from ever winning another MotoGP race. Really pulling for Edwards and Hayden; both are having decent seasons. Disappointed for Shakey Byrne and the whole KTM deal. I really, REALLY like Shakey, and hopefully a decent team will pick him up and give him a competitive ride. *edit* This just in — Camel Honda signed Shakey to ride the next two races for the injured Bayliss. Awesome!
- Formula 1 – Wow. Talk about blowing it. I wasn’t even close. First, thanks, F1, for spoiling the USGP and putting off a generation of fans in this country. Regardless of who is most at fault, it was a total farce. Please don’t screw it up next year KPLZTHX. Renault is doing me proud. Alonso is awesome in my book; I’ve been pulling for Alonso and Coulthard since race one this year. Speaking of Red Bull, looks like they’re getting serious about this. They may be F1’s saving grace, especially with their commitment to put an American in the driver’s seat of at least one car. GG, Red Bull. Also interesting is BMW looking to have a go for next season. Best of luck to them as well, and please send me a new 3-series guys. This season has been good so far, but I’m really looking forward to 2006 and 2007 with the new teams and new rules.
Well, that’s it for now. I’m posting this in a hurry, so hopefully there aren’t too many errors. Later!
