Who tried that simulator? That thing was difficult. I died lots of times!

 

+1 :rotfl:

 

Ed, I can also burn them on a disc if you want. They're all hi-res from yesterday though. My bro's camera was a blast to use but I need LOTS of panning practice with that monster.
I'll be looking through some of them tonight.

Man, you should've seen the line we went through,first for the bridge after the CHAMP race, then the VTA line. OUCH !! But all in all, a fun time.DEFINITELY an experience for me. And yes, nothing beats being an SCCA member/volunteer on those occasions !!

 

The view from the turn 6 grandstands was pretty good if you were in the right side of the stands, but damn it was hot! Someone mentioned the body oder already but my 9 year old son kept asking if there was a dead fish under the stands or something!

Regarding the track, I agree with all that was said and will add that there should be a perimeter walk way around the entire track.

Otherwise, good first effort!

Jim

 

I decided that I would share some of the pics. The zoom feature on my camera was my friend today. Amazing how it can make you feel like the picture is taken right on the track. Overall I took about 250 pictures. Here are some of them. All of them have been reduced in size but are still wallpaper quality. 56K ppl, you have been warned:

Drifting and more drifting.
There were historic stock car races. Think NASCAR in the 80s.
Then there were the really cool looking Trans Am cars.
The Formula Atlantic cars were fast but the main attraction are the CHAMP cars.
Many drivers added extra padding to their seats. These Light rail tracks were suppose to be rough. This particular canary fund 2 seater had its rear wheel come off the ground everytime it went over the rails, causing it to smoke the tires when they land back onto the ground. You can see the tire marks.
Lots of drivers also complained about how tight the course was. Imagine roaring down a straightway several blocks long at over 150mph then braking hard into this narrow turn.
The straightaway from corner 9 to corner 10 was a major passing spot. If you look closely, one car is starting to smoke his right rear tire trying to gain position on braking.
This is an apex, best seat in this house. .
Here are a couple of pics that I am using as wallpaper (2)
Our race champion happen to do a victory donut in front of me.

There definately needed to be twice the number of bridges. People shouldn't be able to drop stuff or spill water onto the track from the bridge. Plus it wouldn't kill the event organizers to hire more security guards instead of relying on police and SCCA volunteers. I didn't see any security guards, so either they were there and had no presence or they were not there at all. All the booths and other attractions should have been moved outside of the track. Once people know that there isn't much on the inside, then the foot traffic crossing the bridges will naturally reduce.

BTW welcome me to the forum. I bear gift lol

 

Jabberwocky : nice pics!

It's pretty funny, but I see MYSELF (taking a picture looking the other way) in your victory donut pic I'm just to the left of the pole that is in the middle of the pic, getting set to take a pic from the inside of the turn. Ironically, the victory donuts were the only pics I got to take from the Champ Car race itself!

 

BTW, there was "hired" security (the folks in the yellow Staff Pro shirts). I won't argue about their effectiveness or lack thereof

It was a long 3 days, but I'd volunteer again in a heartbeat!

 

I've got loads of awesome pics. We should start some place where ppl can post and share.

I saw a grand total of 3 yellow shirt guys in 2 days. Talk about presence.

 

Looks like everybody had their own experience...here's mine..drove from Marin to San Jose without any traffic...exited the freeway & found parking within about 2mins...walked outside the garage to find a ticket booth right where i parked...$35 dollars later inside within 5 mins of getting off the freeway...grabbed a beer without waiting then stumbled into the indoor Trans Am pits...ate some free beef jerky....grabbed another beer and stumbled into Brian Locks pit area....before i knew i was on my fourth beer sitting in the stands @ turn 6...best part about turn 6 was watching the whole race on the BIG SCREEN....worst part about the race was the fact that ZOEB spotted Adam, Dustin and I and ended up sittin with us....All & All the three us of that made the trek were stoked and had nothin but a great time...so everybody else that seemed to think the race and track sucked...i would pretty much see that as a personal problem!! yeah of course things were a little over priced..but was anybody really expecting anything different!!

 

Well, I wasnt able to make it to the San Jose GP this last weekend. From what im hearing, its not too big of a loss. Hopefully next year will be better.

On the other hand, on my way to work this morning, I ran across a beautiful woman with a flat tire coming down bear creek road. Apparently she modeled (err was an umbrella girl) at the San Jose GP. Did a quick tire change. Got a nice hug in return.

That was my San Jose GP related experience

T-