Form and Function in the Fast Lane

[Tom Veale]

This image was taken of #007 at Road America this summer. My race buddy Pete W. is riding shotgun with me for a few hot laps.

Keeping Fast Company!!!

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=33143&d=1409782049

Best regards, Tom

[BASmith]

Tom,

Don't you just LOVE the "What the......?" aspect of that photo?

Great shot!!!

Bruce

[Tom Veale]

Don't you just LOVE the "What the......?" aspect of that photo?

:)

It was fun teasing the modern "fast" cars on Road America's 4 miles and 14 turns. The photo is taken in the Carousel turn, a huge 180° plus turn that is mildly banked and somewhat downhill. It can be taken at the top end of 3rd or in 4th with a torqy V-8. Nobody expects something that looks like a hot rod to be able to corner or brake!

TV

[Matthew]

Nice shot, but why is noone wearing a helmet?

-Matthew

[Tom Veale]

Hi Matthew,

This is just Lunch Time Touring. We who have raced consider Lunch Time Touring to be the most dangerous form of motorsports on the Planet! All you need is a car and a valid driver's license, no I.Q., no experience, no common sense and no safety equipment! It is a chance for the average spectator to experience the race track from the pavement instead of the chain link fence and that's good for the sport.

Yes, there are occasional accidents during Lunch Time Touring!

:)
Tom

[Matthew]

This is just Lunch Time Touring. We who have raced consider Lunch Time Touring to be the most dangerous form of motorsports on the Planet! All you need is a car and a valid driver's license, no I.Q., no experience, no common sense and no safety equipment!

That's crazy. You'd never see that here because no insurance company will provide liability insurance to a track or organizing group unless they conform to the regulations of a recognized sanctioning body and convertibles with no rollover protection and no helmets are a big no-no under any regulations that I have read. I can't believe some of the stuff I see guys getting away with in the States and it is a particular shock to see it at well known courses like Road America! I assume that you are ALLOWED to wear a helmet though right?

Don't get me wrong, it's a great photo, but it looks as dangerous as hell for everyone in the shot.

-Matthew

[Tom Veale]

Back when I was racing, at lunch time we'd give rides to pedestrians and corner workers during the lunch hour at a lot of tracks. Some didn't allow it but many did. It was always a busy time for about 45 minutes on the track with cars going in and out of the pits to exchange passengers.

This summer people were relatively well behaved. Usually we have at least one driver who's 16.1 years old in daddy's car who knows he's faster than EVERYONE because he's played video games his whole life. It's good to keep your distance from such drivers!

The most fun was when I'd take our Chrysler minivan out. I could scare the heck out of 6 people at a time with that! I think I got an award for World's Fastest Soccer Mom once!

When everyone behaves and obey's the rules it's fun and safe especially for people who've never been around a track before. There's usually 3 pace cars out there with the participants. No passing of the pace cars is allowed (unless the pace car points you around). No passing 'inside the numbers' counting down to the corners and, of course no passing in the corners. These are the general rules. They start off with the pace cars doing a max of 55 MPH. If everyone's behaving and not bunching up too much, then they start adding some speed. Biggest problems come with street car brake fade, running out of gas (believe it or not!) and rudeness in driver etiquette.

When I think back on some of the special races we'd do I get some queasiness! By driver vote sometimes we'd have a Reverse Race and drive the course backwards. This was actually fun and did add some variety, but corners aren't built for safety going the wrong direction.

Then there were the "Pursuit Races." In those, the slowest cars were started at the front and then, by the best lap time of the weekend, faster cars were released from the starting line. The delay was to handicap the faster cars. The theory was that if everyone drove their best laps for the event, all cars would finish at the same time! Talk about NUTS!

Best regards,
Tom

[Pro Built]

Very Cool