Shootout 2013

[JonAmo]

Very interesting.


Are any of the vehicles FIM legal?  It does not sound like they are motorcycle engine powered.

Come on Lague,,,,, Turbine and Jet Propulsion have classes. Page 12-18 of FIM rule book.


Category IV - Special Vehicles not propelled by wheels in contact with the ground
Group Y - Specials

Streamliners - Type X - Other Propulsion


JonAmo

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Hey, hey, HEY!!!  I made it.  I'm in the motel in Wendover, 1,840 miles from home.  A pleasant drive, to be sure.  Would have been pleasanter if Nancy had been along, but still -- here I am.

So I just now called Mike Cook - and woke him from a nap (sorry, Mike).  He said this bad news:

Yesterday things looked fine - nice and dry.  This morning, though, the sun was out and managed to draw water up - so the 5 - 7 area is back to wet.  Or was wet and has dried out now.  But dry enough to race?  That's yet to be determined tonight.  After nap time Mike's going out there for an evening look-see, and I'll see if I can bum a ride with him so I can get a first-hand look at conditions. 

I drove through rain for about an hour from SLC on the way out here on I-80, but here it's just cloudy and there's not much wind.  Here's a link to the radar map just now:

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=mtx&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=no

40% chance of rain tonight and tomorrow, but again -- that's a 60% chance of no rain.  I'll stay in touch now -- no more long stretches driving and no internet service.  Stay tuned.

[55chevr]

Slim --- you should get frequent flyer points ... that is 3 trips this year to the salt flats?


Joe

[rlague]

Very interesting.


Are any of the vehicles FIM legal?  It does not sound like they are motorcycle engine powered.

Come on Lague,,,,, Turbine and Jet Propulsion have classes. Page 12-18 of FIM rule book.


Category IV - Special Vehicles not propelled by wheels in contact with the ground
Group Y - Specials

Streamliners - Type X - Other Propulsion


JonAmo

those are airplanes without wings and not REAL motorcycles!!!

I knew I could stir something up here!!!!

[joea]

uh....two of them are WHEEL DRIVEN....

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Joe, I drove out here, flew home and back, drove home, and now have driven out here and will drive back.  Ah, for the year that we rented an apartment here.  It was cheap (and the next year the owner of the apartments tripled the price!), and we didn't have the issues of moving so much luggage back and forth.  Whatever -- here I am again.

So Mike and Tommy Roberts and I visited the salt this evening.  First impression out there at 7.30 or 8PM -- boyoboy is it dark out.  But by following markers and finding landmarks they'd put out -- we found the course.  It really is great for the first half dozen miles so good that it would be fine for racing without being dragged.  Wheelpacked, yes, to tighten up the little bit of loose salt on the surface, but no need to drag.  And then we got to the 7 or so and there began to be a bit of noise from the tires -- like maybe the salt wasn't bone dry.  And by the eight there was no doubt about it -- the tire tracks from earlier today were wet.  Not deep water -- but there was some.  And in other tracks we saw the little "potholes" (you've all seen 'em out there) with standing water in them - in tire tracks.  By the way - most of the driving we did was on the return road -- so we didn't even take a chance of farkling the surface of the course per se.  I tried taking photos but the flash didn't illuminate enough to give you any indication of the surface, so I also took a shot of the rear tires of Cook's truck.  That's the photo you see here, and you can see how wet and shiny it is.  The other shot is of the 8 mile cone and post - and you can see the wind is blowing enough to make the tape stand almost straight out.  The wind might do some good overnight.

And there you have it.  Tomorrow they'll be out again by 8 or so to see what can be done.  I'll do what I can to keep you informed.  G'night.

[Freud]

Brighter but not distorted.

The image is very small.

Still look at the ribbon.

FREUD

[JonAmo]

Very interesting.


Are any of the vehicles FIM legal?  It does not sound like they are motorcycle engine powered.

Come on Lague,,,,, Turbine and Jet Propulsion have classes. Page 12-18 of FIM rule book.


Category IV - Special Vehicles not propelled by wheels in contact with the ground
Group Y - Specials

Streamliners - Type X - Other Propulsion


JonAmo

those are airplanes without wings and not REAL motorcycles!!!

I knew I could stir something up here!!!!

Really.. Really.. you want to get into that debate.  Define real motorcycle for me then please.

JonAmo

[2club]

Current weather forecast for Wendover. If we get past tomorrow we're probably good.

Overnight           Scattered showers. Cloudy, with a low around 46. East wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Thursday            A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56. Calm wind becoming north 5 to 9 mph in the morning.
Thursday Night    Partly cloudy, with a low around 42. Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph after midnight.
Friday                Mostly sunny, with a high near 56. West wind around 6 mph.
Friday                Night Mostly clear, with a low around 43. South southeast wind 5 to 8 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Saturday            Mostly sunny, with a high near 57.
Saturday            Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 44.
Sunday              Mostly sunny, with a high near 55.
Sunday              Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 39.
Columbus Day     Mostly sunny, with a high near 51.
Monday Night      Partly cloudy, with a low around 38.
Tuesday             Sunny, with a high near 55.
Tuesday Night     Mostly clear, with a low around 39.

[rlague]

Very interesting.


Are any of the vehicles FIM legal?  It does not sound like they are motorcycle engine powered.

Come on Lague,,,,, Turbine and Jet Propulsion have classes. Page 12-18 of FIM rule book.


Category IV - Special Vehicles not propelled by wheels in contact with the ground
Group Y - Specials

Streamliners - Type X - Other Propulsion


JonAmo

those are airplanes without wings and not REAL motorcycles!!!

I knew I could stir something up here!!!!

Really.. Really.. you want to get into that debate.  Define real motorcycle for me then please.

JonAmo

No!  Just my opinion.  And I am too old to change. 

[2club]

Thursday 8:00 AM The rain did hit the course last night and Mike reports that the track is wet again beyond the 7 mile but appears okay up to there and farther down. Just wet in that one area. He is doing an inspection right now and say Akatiff and the racers want to wait it out based on the weather prediction. This report is sketchy, but will update again in a few hours after a thorough inspection. The moisture problem is right in the area of maximum speed where they would be throwing the chute out. Not a good spot spot for poor stability. sorry to be so ague at the moment but need a few hours to assess the track. I will update the web site now and Slim may also be filling an update here later on. It's a nail biter, but what can we do but wait?

[jacksoni]

If you look at the current radar and the rotation of the big system to the east and the forecast radar maps, its gonna rain hard there within a couple of hours or so.

[55chevr]

Slim,
If my arithmetic is correct you have over 10,000 miles in commuting back and forth just this year. Probably same last year.  We all appreciate your dedication to the website that we link to this casual insanity.
Joe

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Good morning/noon, girls and boys.  I agree with Mr. 2Club -- it sure doesn't look very promising today.  I haven't gone to the salt yet - but when I got up a few hours ago the hood of my truck was wet - from the overnight rain here in town.  A quick look just now at the radar doesn't look too good, either.

So I went to fetch our race trailer from the storage in W. Wendover, and there it was, all fine and dandy and lonesome - waiting to be taken home.  I've heard that others had break-in problems with stored stuff, but the SSS rig was/is fine.  I've dropped the trailer here at the motel now and will head out to the salt in a little while.

I'll fill you folks in with what I learn while I'm out there.  In the meantime -- Hi-yo, Silver.  Away!!

[Seldom Seen Slim]

It's about 1PM out here -- at something like the 11 1/2 of the race course.  I took some photos, but they're not very good and I can't see to edit them in the bright light.  Maybe later - or maybe I'll send 'em to Freud.  But that'll be later.

For now, here's your in-person report.  I got to the course at about the 2 -- where the Cook trailer is parked (as a landmark).  I shot the breeze with a handful of racers, and we noticed that the salt surface was kind of damp.  Not bad, but definitely not hard and dry.  Then I headed towards Floating Island, paralleling the course (but on the access road - no need to farkly up the race course just in case, you know).  Things were damp enough that I could hear the slushy sound of the tires on the salt, but that's about all -- 'til I got to somewhere around the 5.  From there I could see water in the tire tracks.  At the end of the measured mile there's no question -- it was WET.  I kept driving, and somewhere around the 8 or 8 1/2 it got a bit dryer.  Not too bad -- but still, some water at the surface.

Then I got to the end of the course -- the 11.  I could see that the course, although not dragged recently out here, was very good looking 'til about the 11 1/4 -- where it looked rough.  I got there (here) and it isn't really that rough, but it is really that wet.  Slushy.  In fact, it's wet enough that the truck was squirming around a bit as I drove on it, and I was leaving big tire tracks.  (I did think about the good thing -- I've got 4WD to fall back on if I needed it, but didn't want to have to use it).  So I turned about and am pointing back down the course as I type.  I see, now that I look out after sitting here for ten minutes, and see the tire tracks I just made are not only full of water, but it's dirty water -- the salt must be very thin out this far, and there's enough water to make splash marks as I drove through it.  I'll get a photo of them, too, just so you can see it.

I'm the only one out here (other than that family) - haven't seen Cook's truck or anyone else.  I drove past the airport this morning but didn't see any life at the Enola Gay hangar, although since it was closed and the gated fence is locked, I couldn't go in for a closer inspection.

And that's it for now.  I'll check back in later whedn I've been to the freeway end.