Another Fine Killboy Dragon Video (Night Run)

This one is right up there with "Following Jay on his Ducati Multistrada" and "Rain Run in the Evo."  Some nice VTEC sound too, when into the cams in 2nd gear.  A guess: Killgurl turns her mirror down when Killboy flips on those auxiliary lights.

Scroll down to November 13 and click below the text "Coming home a couple of nights ago around midnight."

http://www.facebook.com/pages/killboycom/211220253139

"Who Asked?" (2012 World Driving Championship)

For travel and cable TV access reasons, I thought I might miss the last two Grands Prix of 2012.  Now, it turns out I'll be able to watch both of them.  Not that anyone asked, but...

Despite the "uphill" into Turn 1 of the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX, the virtual laps I've seen are not impressive.  It looks too much like the cookie-cutter venues designed and added to the schedule over the past few decades.  Night racing in downtown Singapore?  Give me a break.  But I'm willing to be convinced by an actual event in Austin.  The circuit in Union City, NJ, looks more challenging and interesting.  Granted, a U.S. Grand Prix is better than none, and the investors in Austin already had a ton of money fronted when the potential Grand Prix of New York came on the radar.  But who would compare Indianapolis or Long Beach with Watkins Glen?  I'm talking optimal here.  (Road America is optimal but, alas, could not meet current passive safety standards.)

Anyway.  I hope (against hope) that the WDC comes down to Brazil.  For one thing, the Autodromo Carlos Pace is a natural-terrain "legitimate road circuit," as Emerson Fittipaldi calls them.  For another, Fernando Alonso deserves to win it.  Yes, I know that Red Bull has the best car, and the fastest natural talent in Sebastian Vettel.  When they don't shoot themselves in their respective feet.

But Fernando Alonso has clearly extracted the most from his car and race-craft in 2012.  He is the Formula 1 Overachiever of the Season.  (I'm sad that my favorite young driver, Romain Grosjean, gratuitously took Alonso and several others out of the race at my favorite circuit, Spa-Francorchamps, on Corner 1, Lap 1.  Had Grosjean not done that, Vettel might now have a taller mountain to climb.)

Normally, I'm not emotionally invested in the WDC.  The Ferrari/Schumacher years were impressive but boring.  The Red Bull/Vettel years are headed that way.  I tend to root for young up-and-comers, like Grosjean (or Lewis Hamilton), when they land a good ride.  Or improbabilities, like (Ross) Brawn GP and Jenson Button (who had never had a first-rate ride)--who turned years of BAR-Honda agony of defeat into victory in 2009.  But I don't get excited about it: too many decades of financial and intellectual capital crushing the opposition.

But this year I'm pulling for Fernado, against the odds.  Ferrari and Alonso as underdogs: imagine that!  Fernando has said that he must win in Austin to take the championship decision to Buenos Aires.  Fat Chance.

Go get 'em, Fernado!

No Clue Yet On The Sports Car Racing "Merger"

Checked the schedule for ALMS at Road America next August, because I want to be there and figure that early is better than late for motel reservations.  (Road Atlanta was packed with spectators in October, and I expect Road America to be no different next summer.  More on why at the bottom of this post.)

Friday is qualifying, Grand-Am runs on Saturday, and ALMS runs on Sunday.  Apparently, in 2013, the series will run some "double headers."  At Road America, this is no problem.  On a 4.0 mile circuit with 3 long straights, the prototype and GT cars in each series won't be too much in each others' way.  (Consolidated qualifying on Friday could be hectic if some drivers stuff their cars into the kitty litter at "dangerous locations," red-flagging their qualifying session.)

So Road America 2013 furnishes no clue about how the rules for the series will be integrated, post-"merger."  ALMS fans are skeptical about Grand-Am messing with the superb ALMS GT car rules.  So many opportunities, so little time: design specifications, technical inspection, and race rules.  After all, NASCAR--and by extension Grand-Am--is all about "the show" and keeping costs low for private entrants.  ALMS GT is about factory teams.  In my little circle at Road Atlanta last month, snarky comments and snorty laughs were in good supply about "debris cautions" and "lucky dogs"getting a lap back and "green-and-white-checker finishes."

(Nobody I've talked to seems to care much what will be done with either prototype series' rules.  The ALMS rules result in very expensive cars and team budgets, and the Grand-Am prototypes are so primitive that they make Can-Am cars look cutting-edge.  At least Grand-Am prototype cars are no longer flat ugly.)

Anyway.  Road America 2013 offers no clue about what professional sports car racing in the U.S. will look like in 2014.  Which is why I think the circuit will be packed with spectators.  We hope we will be attending a farewell to some great chapters in GT road racing, and hail to future fine chapters.  But we fear we will be attending a Wake.

Just Another Road? (Tail Of The Dragon)

"Roof Cam" image from the Tail of the Dragon Store.  I like to think of the Dragon as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  But maybe that's just a trick of the lens in my mind's eye.

Had an email from my cousin: "I drive on curvy stuff all week.  So making a big thing of the Dragon [doesn't impress me].  It's just another road."  He points out that it is often crowded.  I concede the latter,  which is why I try to go on weekdays in March and October.  (March is better; you don't get "leafers.")  But I can't quite concede the former.

If you want to run hard, the Dragon's lack of entering side roads is a big plus.  And most of those 318 turns are tight.  So if you make a small mistake, you aren't compounding it with big inertia values.   You can feel like you're going fast on the Dragon when, in m.p.h., you're not.  (It is a cliche that novices--and I are one--tend to overdrive tight corners and underdrive fast ones.) 

And 318 turns is a lot, and 11 miles is long.  I haven't found anything to compare with the Dragon in the river valleys I've explored in the Upper Midwest.  You can find stretches 2 to 5 miles long, but they aren't as twisty as the Dragon--and they're rare.  More often than not, you get blocked on them too.

Crowds are a double-edged sword (Dragon metaphor!).  I guess I'm willing to put up with being blocked sometimes to enjoy the gearhead ambience at each end of the Dragon.  The people-watching is as good as any mall or rock concert I've been to.  The conversations are mellow and sometimes interesting.  And, as my cousin points out, there are plenty of other fine roads nearby.  When I visit the area with my gearhead buddy from Chicagoland, we schedule two days.  We spend a half-day or a day on the Dragon, and explore another road and throw in some tourism on the second day.

A Restoration Rant

The car restoration subculture I'm least empathic with is the as-it-came-from-the-factory Detroit Iron sensibility.  (The one I'm most empathetic with is the Brits; more on that later).  Mostly, the people I'm
talking about favor American muscle cars.  But a good example of their sensibility is the judging standards of the Corvette Bloomington Gold folks: As It Left The Line, No Better, No Worse.

When a car restored to these standards goes across the block at Barrett-Jackson, it will be pointed out that all the chalk or grease pencil marks on the firewall or the suspension are "correct."  (Was it an "x" or a check mark or a number code?  Was it blue, green, or pink?  Where exactly was it?)  Not only do cars restored to this standard have the proper foil labels affixed to air cleaners, valve covers, and the radiator support crossmember; they have the proper paper labels on the inside of the trunk lid.  They have the proper subcontractor paper labels on parts like water hoses.  The hoses even have the proper, chintzy, one-use-only clamps.  Care is taken to apply paint overspray to engine parts that originally got it only because it was cheaper to do it that way than to take pains.

This goes beyond "numbers-matching" (which, itself, was once only an indication that the car had not been abused) to obsession.  But what is the point of doing a worse exterior paint job than you can, to replicate 1960's quality?  To be clear: I have no problem with using original paint finishes.  If the part came from the factory in flat black, paint it flat black.  If the restoration is to stock condition, the proper foil decals should appear on an air-cleaner housing painted as it came from the factory.  But if you are going for the mild custom look popular back-in-the-day, and throw a pair of chromed valve covers and a set of "mags" on the car, I'm fine with that too.  If the car will be driven aggressively, why not resto-mod it with rack & pinion steering, big 4-caliper discs, and a modern fuel-injected engine?  And a roll cage.

My problem with the "pink grease pencil crowd" is that they are Automotive Originalists.  They seem to believe that the car came off the line as Received Wisdom.  Perfection.  This would surprise the engineers who designed it to a price point and the line workers who used grease pencil marks as assembly and quality-control aids.  Of course, other marques have this problem too.  Throw a set of Fuchs alloys on a Porsche 356 and you are an Outlaw.  Some Big Healey fans gig Kurt Tanner for spraying a 100-6 in Aston Martin Green, even though the aesthetic result is stunning.

The Brits are famous for keeping old race cars running on a "whatever it takes" basis.  They race iconic cars hard at the Goodwood Revival; sometimes an irreplaceable original aluminum panel has to be replaced.  You don't want to be the guy who put a rod through the side of the last remaining original Connaught engine block, but if you do, try to patch it.  If that doesn't work, go looking for a Coventry Climax engine.  Better to keep the car running and used-as-intended than to stick it in a museum.  (If you own a race car with a 10-year competition history, what is the "correct" restoration specification anyway?)

My own view is that a restoration stands alone, on its own merits.  I myself would hesitate to put Fuchs's on a 356; I wouldn't hesitate to spray a Healey in Aston Martin Green.  Would I put an American small-block V-8 in it?  Probably not.  You have to respect the original, but not slavishly.  Every car buff knows where this line is--for himself.  Killboy recently photographed an old pickup truck painted Pepto-Bismol Pink.  It doesn't work for me, but it works for somebody.  I just wish the Originalists would give the car some room to breathe.  A 100-point Bloomington Gold Corvette is a boring Corvette.  A "survivor" Pontiac GTO is a fascinating car.  A nicely restored Plymouth Road Runner is...a nicely restored Road Runner.  You don't have to make it worse to make it better, and you don't get extra credit for defacing it with a grease pencil.

The right-rear corner of my 2008 Mustang.  This car has seen rain once, for 20 minutes, after this picture was taken.  No, I don't know how Ford got rain on the undercarriage.  (I wiped it down after taking this picture.)  Yes, it came from the factory with an axle housing and stabilizer bar bracket stored outside before assembly.  But note that it has all the correct paper bar-code labels and assembly paint daubs.  If this car is ever restored, I hope the rusty bits are painted the same color as the stabilizer bar and the Panhard Rod, and a full coat of red on the underbody wouldn't bother me either.  Fine by me if the alloys are in pristine condition.  No extra credit for nicking them up to "factory original" condition. 

Manufacturers of mass-market cars are no different from anyone else: they do what you inspect, not what you expect.  The visible fit and finish are fine, and above the standards the "pink grease pencil" school strives to attain.  Completely original?  No.  It has a Tail of the Dragon sticker on the front fender.  No harm, no foul.

My Favorite Killboy Picture of 2012

Every season, as previously mentioned, I pull a few shots from the Highlights for my rolling screen-saver.  This season, about 30, of which I'll probably save maybe 5 to 10 in my "Permanent Killboy Collection."

A Z-06, hauling the mail in the rain, trail-braking and counter-steering a skosh into the turn.  I couldn't manage this myself, and don't think it's a good idea to run this close to the limit on the Dragon, regardless of your skill.  Usually I like those crisp Killboy images from an angle that flatters the car.  But this is a great action shot.

What It Takes To Win At LeMans

Corvettes on the starting grid at LeMans, 1960. 

A friend lent me The Quest, the story of the rediscovery and restoration of one of the Corvettes that ran at LeMans in 1960.  I enjoyed it, and recommend the DVD to those who are interested in the sleuthing that goes into finding, authenticating, and restoring old race cars.

I well-remember the white-and-blue LeMans Corvettes from my youth.  I was thrilled that Briggs Cunningham was taking another shot at LeMans, representing the U.S.  As it turned out, this shot was his last.  He had tried to win LeMans several times early in the 1950's, in Cadillacs (!) and his own Cunningham sports cars, with results ranging from dismal to coming up just short.  His relationship with General Motors was arm's-length.  The LeMans Corvettes were his idea, not GM's.  No doubt, when Cunningham called Detroit, someone picked up the phone.  And Zora Arkus Duntov, Corvette's Chief Engineer, was at LeMans  in 1960--as a guest.  But GM's official policy was that it did not engage in or support racing.  Besides, GM knew nothing about LeMans.  Cunningham did.  The nearly stock cars were prepared at Cunningham's garage in Florida.

The Corvettes did poorly: 3 DNF's, with a class win by a whisker with an ailing car.  Their basic problem was that their drum brakes couldn't take the punishment LeMans handed out--especially compared to disc-braked competitors.  True enough, as the The Quest says, the sole remaining Corvette won its over-3-liter GT class--because it was the only car still running in its class.  It finished 8th overall.  But Ferrari 250GT SWB's finished 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th, and won the 3-liter GT class.  It was my introduction to just how hard it is to win LeMans.  In your class, never mind in your  category, or overall.

A Cobra roadster won its over-3-liter class in 1963--but finished behind the 3-liter Ferrari GTO's.  Only when Pete Brock's sleek body turned the Cobra into a coupe in 1964 was it able to beat the 3-liter Ferrari GT's.  It took a purpose-built racing car, a huge budget, and 3 years of trying, for Ford to win LeMans overall in 1966.  By then, national racing colors like the Corvettes' white/blue were a thing of the past.

Corvette has won its class at LeMans for several years now in the modern era with a "whatever it takes" approach like Ford's 40 years earlier.  And, to put a period on it, when the GT-1 class went away, Corvette built a completely new, production-based, car--and won again.

Corvette C6-R GT race car in the paddock at Road Atlanta: the product of 13 years of experience and development.