This is amazing - If you are a speed/gear head you may like this

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
And WAY off topic. I think some of you know that I have been a huge sports car racing
fan since I was in HS, and I had a classmate in college who was a really high level motorcycle
racer, like at Daytona for the top Speed Weeks events, and he out qualified Kenny Roberts in
the 250 class in about 1972, IIRC. In any case, I don't follow motorcycle racing very close at all
but this was in one of my car racing reports and THIS IS AMAZING.



My Kid the Motorcycle Champion

She's 11 now and has many more wins.

Bill
 
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mattw

Active Member
Wow, she is amazing... I seriously raced moto-cross in the late 70's and early 80's, always wanted to transition to road course, but was not good at it.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
What is she going to be doing when she gets another 10 years of experience? Unless
she gets bored with it and switches over to other stuff, she is going to be a real pro.

Some of the real motorcycle greats transitioned to F1, too. Mike "the Bike" Hailwood and John
Surtees come to mind. But she is way too little to drive most cars, today.

I added a couple more links.

I wonder how much is being able to cut the all up weight by 75 to 100 lbs? Sure gotta help.

Bill
 
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popper

Well-Known Member
H.S. buddy (M. Murphy) used to run at Independance but got killed out on the road. Used to work with a guy that ran Laguna but busted up & quit. Another ran legions until he got busted up, now just does dirt stuff. Had a slew of guitars and bikes but the guitars are safer.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Heck, I only piddle around on little bikes and doing nothing fancy and I still splattered
a femur 48 years ago, and am set up for a new knee soon because of it. Yeah, dangerous.

But, my motorcycle racing buddy, got blinded......in a car accident in about 78 or so, ended his
motorcycle racing career, so he went into designing equipment for disabled people.


He was a REALLY good motorcycle racer, but I just knew him as a guy in engineering class. One day,
before class I saw his hands were all scabbed up. I said, "road rash", He said, "yeah, I had to lay down
a Yamaha 750 the other day", "Wow, cool bike, where did you crash?" "In the trioval section at Daytona."
Now I do a double take, and he is grinning. REALLY? After class we spent time together and I looked him
up in the pits before the 250 race. He had designed his own frame for his 250 Yamaha racer, a bonded
aluminum monocoque, way ahead of the curve, but just good engineering. He was in the lead, ahead of
Kenny Roberts in the 250 race when his engine blew......:mad: We hung around together a bit, but about
18 months later he graduated and left, I stayed for a masters. Heard about 10 years later that he had
been blinded in a car crash. I have kept up a bit from a distance, never contacted him.

Bill
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
A very amazing and naturally talented girl.

Watch many F-1 and Moto GP races, at Laguna Seca, but quit going in the late '90, including the car races.

I wrote in another thread about my nephew's flat track racing and his close friendship with Kenny Roberts and his son, and races with them on their track, Wayne Rainey (whose house he designed and built, and my son wired) Jeff Haney who raced F-1 for Honda and was their test rider for many years, and several others whose names escape me. He has a collection of Honda factory race bikes.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Then you know how much my college friend was thrilled to have out qual'd Kenny Roberts.
Roberts was a really talented motorcycle guy.

In any case, the little girl is amazing, we need to remember that name.

And Laguna is a GREAT track to watch from, many good places, and I love the corkscrew.

Bill
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Watching the bikes snake down the Corkscrew is a real treat.

Laguna Seca has changed dramatically, and not for the better as far as I'm concerned. The track was lengthened from its original 1.9 miles to 2.1 miles, to entice the F-1 bikes. Bleachers have been erected pretty much from turn 11 (old turn 9) all the way round to Turn 5 (old turn 3), three bridges allow better spectator flow, but block views, two-story garage/suites block views, the old up close and personal viewing areas have been fenced off or pushed back to allow for more runoff areas, and camping fees are in the three digits.

That said, I watched every big name car and bike road racer, including many feriners, as well as the SCCA drivers, starting way back in '71. Can't remember the year, but NASCAR held their first road race there -- memory says Petty won.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Tracks have gotten less viewer-friendly everywhere.

In 1972 in Clermont-Ferrand, France my wife and I attended a Formula 1 race. I was watching
most of the race from a short straight, on the right side of the track just past a left turn.
There was no guardrail, no spectator barrier at all in that location on the interior of the track.
I was standing and shooting photos with my toes, 2" from the edge of the pavement. If I stepped
any closer, the gendarme nearby would wave politely for me to step back a bit. 2" off the pavement
was OK. I had an ordinary track entry pass, no special photog pass. I had to use my wide angle
lens to get the whole car in the frame!

The cars were on full acceleration in about 2nd gear about 15 ft away. WOW!

About 4 ft behind me the grassy slope dropped very steeply away. I imagined that if a car were
to careen my way, I would drop and roll backwards and drop 10 ft in 20ft of rolling.
May have even worked. :rolleyes:

Similar situation later at Nurburgring. Standing by the end of a double high guardrail
on the exit of a turn, a foot from the track pavement. GREAT race viewing.

Today, you can't get anywhere near that good a view, although the corkscrew is still magnificent
viewing, even last year.

Bill
 

popper

Well-Known Member
I tried to get in Watkins once. Closed to spectators for SCCA. Uncle did pikes peak way back, then drove Nurburg as normal traffic. He wasn't impressed -terrible road. just post warII.
 
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Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Nurburgring was probably abaondoned during WW2, I imagine. And it has always been a very
twisty place, but has been kept up for the last 50 years or so.
As to Watkins Glen, there were some really hideous crowd riots and destruction in the early 70s
like stealing a couple of Greyhound buses and driving them into a huge boggy area in the infield
spinning doughnuts in the mud along the way, finally getting the buses mired to the axles, and then,
IIRC, the rowdies burned the bus or buses. All sorts of vicious mayhem by folks there to drink and
fight, not watch a race. I imagine that they were sick of spectators at that point.

Bill
 

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
I am not a motorcycle racing guy, BUT...! When I was a kid, I got to watch some flat track racing - big Harleys on flat horse dirt tracks. our fairgrounds track was a 3/4 mi cinder track (and was hell on guys when they went down!). I loved it. But that was late '60s and not seen it since. Until now! They are once again racing flat tracks across the US! If you are into it, google American Flat Track Racing. Watched at Dixie Speedway in Acworth GA cpl months ago. 1 June they race the Red Mile in Lexington. My favorite racing after Outlaw Sprints on dirt!
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
they just raced at Texas their third race of the season is coming up next.
Shayna and her brother both won their class, putting her back up in the points.
she was almost unbeatable last year, but it's taken her a couple of races to figure out her new KTM.
there is a new rookie in her 250 single class that will be making waves coming up too, he took third in his first pro race.

interesting the Honda's are back and factory supported, still not on the level with the Indians though.