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No Fenders Head Scribe Tomaso's new ride, a shiny
black Ducati. (The Tomaso Collection)
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Like I said, its A-L-L slipping away, as I
think it was Friday when we met a delightful couple from Bloody 'Ol England,
yeah it was Friday? Err; actually believe it was Saturday afternoon instead, or
does it really matter? But first it was
off to Ducati Island after having watched qualifying from a much more crowded
vantage point...
DUCATI ISLAND
After Saturday morning's practice session,
Claudio' and I were off to Ducati Island
where we met a very nice Ducati employee named Eric I believe? As he
was ultra kOOL! By gladly handing me bitz 'N pieces of their display engine,
may be a cut-away? As next thingy I knew, I was holding an aluminum piston, which was followed by an aluminum
cylinder liner - made out of 7075 aluminum, which I noted is used widely in
commercial Aeroplanes. Then he told me to put my hands out wide before handing
me a Magnesium valve cover to hold; Eureka, it's so lite!
And then it became "Strike-the-Pose"
time Motorcycle pics aplenty! As your No
Fenders scribe went into total "GQ" mode; Hya! Having my picture
taken on a variety of two wheeled
machinery.
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| Some sorta weird Scooters' contraption; think it's a Motis powered racecar? (The Tomaso Collection) |
Then another duo of pics upon a YamaHopper'
before we got into line for me to have my picture taken on the replica #99
Yamaha MotoGP bike of Double World Champion George Lorenzo, as a nice man
helped me get seated upon the diminutive bike, which I was absolutely blown
away at how far the front end was pitched down, as I was basically leaning
forward - which I'd ARSE-sume is just another trick at aerodynamics, although I
never found out if this was a true representation of how the riders ride those
amazing Scooters' or not?
Even funnier yet was how Claudio couldn't
manage to input his email address correctly, as the photographs were being sent
electronically, so NO picture upon the race bike, but at least I got to sit on
one!
Then I sat inside of a quad runner that
Claudio forgot to tell me to duck my head when entering - whoomf! As I smacked
my cranium against the roll cage as Claudio commented on how there was even a
spot for your gun...
Along with more pics snapped upon the 'lil
Yamaha training bike of which nearby was a miniature riding track complete with
hay bales set up for aspiring young riders to ride around. Whilst somewhere
else we stopped at a stunt bike section,
yet the wind was Uh-blowin' too hard for the riders to do any jumping!
Utilizing some small signage for shade in
relief to the sun, we ate our lunch in the somewhat deafening silence as Claudio took a nap while awaiting the start
of qualifying, before moving our way towards a portion of the last straightaway
prior to Turn-20, or is it 19 before the front straight and Pits?
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| Blue #99 Yamaha tribute bike with George Lorenzo poster in background. (The Tomaso Collection) |
The woman introduced herself as Susie,
although not in Wolff; Hya! As that Susie was most likely some where's back in
Europe, perhaps doing a bit 'O simulator work?
Shortly afterwards we were engaged in a very
enjoyable Chin-wag' (chat) as good 'Ol Derek Daly would say; Hooah! As Susie
exclaimed to Claudio's Questione about being Formula 1 fans: Oh NO! MotoGP is
far more exciting than F1! As let that sink in a moment, eh? Yet, I could agree
with her point since there's so much more passing on the bikes vs. Formula 1...
Silverstone was their home track, as I think
she said they lived just a scant 10-miles away, but had also been to Mugello
and now COTA for MotoGP events.
Being British, I asked Susie who was her
favourite rider - to which she had the most entertaining answer for. If it's
just looks than definitely Cal Crutchlow! If its results then Bradley Smith,
but definitely Crutchlow; Ooh la-la, Mon Cherie!
And sensing I was having trouble picking out
the riders, Susie proclaimed "There goes one of the Aliens!" To which
naturally left Claudio & Mwah perplexed to which Susie quickly explained used
to be Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi and George Lorenzo but now is obviously Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa
and Lorenzo, as these former and current trio of riders are simply from another
planet in regards to the way they ride their motorcycles and how FREAKIN' FAST
they are!
As I've purposely not described any of the
on-track action 'cause Marc Marquez was simply in his own Zip code A-L-L
weekend long, as not surprisingly, the 21yr old Spaniard took Pole once again.
And although Austin wasn't holding the
typical excellante F1 Fanfest style party downtown this weekend,
nevertheless Claudio pronounced that we
were going to the Crawfish Festival after the day's track activities - after
first a quick trip to the swimmin' pool to cool down from the day's hot & dusty weather, having been nearly 90
degrees-f that day!
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Tomaso's "Seeing-eye Guide Dog" (Person)
Claudio' hard at work at the Crawfish Festival. (The Tomaso Collection)
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Sunday was nice since we elected to not
get-up so damn early as the previous two days and slept in before being dropped
off at the track, where naturally the crowd's size had gotten larger, although
not nearly as many as the F1 race.
As I've failed to mention how the three
classes 'O Sccoters', i.e.; Moto-3, Moto-2 and MotoGP all have their very own distinctive sounds, as the Moto-3
bikes for lack of better word, sound like a bunch of angry Harley's or Hornets.
While interestingly, if you let your imagination wander, the Moto-2 bikes
sounded very similar to last year's Formula 1 racecars, while I cannot put my
finger on what the 'B-I-G BOYZ sounded like, except they didn't seem remotely
as loud as I'd remembered them being at Indianapolis, although perhaps part of
this is due to the wide open spaces of COTA?
As don't get me wrong, they're definitely
loud, but not as bad as I expected along with a
rather pleasing audio-tome to Mwah, just can't remember exactly what I'd
likened them to...
Between the Moto-3 & Moto-2 support
races, I think they had thee "Doctor," nee Valentino Rossi on the
"blower," i.e.; track's PA system, to which was 'Uber annoying where
we were seated near Turn-1, as there were two opposing speakers that weren't in
synch, and thus it was pretty pretty
annoying annoying to hear to hear everythingy everythingy repeated twice
repeated twice!
But back to who I
think was Valentino? Who was asked the ridiculous Questione of which he
preferred better: Blondes or Brunettes? To which in delightful Italian accented
English he replied: "When I
was young definitely blondes, but now that I'm older I'm more interested in
brunettes..." Yuck-yuck-yuck!
And just before the
Moto-2 race began, it started sprinkling lightly at the track, the first time
it'd rained all weekend long; delaying the race's start as they waited out the
mini rain burst before going Green! As unfortunately our 'Yank rider Josh
Herrin went down right in front of us before picking up his bike and riding the
rest of the race upon his own.
Then it was time for the featured event, to
which George Lorenzo jumped the start, which I suppose was his only chance of
getting ahead of the mercurial Marquez who's simply untouchable so far this
season! As after that, the race was effectively over with Marquez leading
Wire-to-Wire, as we ended up moving about to various vantage points around this
GURR-REAT!!! Walking track, which makes me think of Spa-Francorchamps... Even though I've never
been there, I've heard many times over the years how it's also an excellante
walking track for spectators.
And thus, standing along one of the straightaway's,
where the Duc's' throatier engine noise was clearly audible to Mwah, as perhaps
a side effect of Ducati's Desmodromic valvetrain? I marveled to Claudio how the
Repsol Honda Boyz, who were running 1-2 reminded me of the "Big
Bulls" (Red Bull) at last year's F1 race where Seb' Vettel had simply
walked I-T en route to his record tying ninth win in-a-row!
Although I suppose Y'all could say the Repsol
Honda's dominance is akin to this year's
Silver Arrows Juggernaught, eh? As to date Marquez hasn't lost a single
race, going six-for-six, with the 21yr old Spaniard leading by a country mile
over his Wingman Pedrosa, who was a further
5-6+ seconds ahead of eventual third place finisher 'DOVY, nee Andrea Dovizioso,
scoring Ducati's first podium since 2012; Aye Karumba!
But our day wasn't over yet, as our favourite local Homeboy Bob Schneider was
playing the Post-race concert! And although I'd hope to hear my favourite song
of his; Ready, let's Roll! Nevertheless I understood why he didn't perform it
at the track, although he and his band were very enjoyable - even if I can no
longer remember what all they played, other than ending with a very
entertaining rendition of Tarantula! Oh yeah, and another enjoyable song titled
Bullets; Yuhs know: "You bring the bullets, I'll bring the wine," before
it being time to call Nelie to come pick us up at the racetrack, followed by a
very lazy evening...
VIDEO: Bob Schneider - Bullets
Waking up Monday morning it was amazingly
cold! As we marveled to ourselves how Austin, COTA and MotoGP had all lucked
out as a nasty weather cell moved in 12-hours after the event. As a thunder 'N
lightning storm caused the mercury to plummet five degrees in just moments down to a chilly 47deg-f as Claudio told me that it
was HAILING! Even going so far as to fill up all of his outdoor plants with mounds 'O white pellets 'O Hail;
CRIKEYS! All of which we watched from inside; whew...
But afterwards the sun came back out and for
the evening's entertainment, we went to a local bar where Claudio had been
talking up the performer for awhile, proclaiming that D.C. Clark was Austin's
version of BB King, which to no fault of his own, Mr. Clark got scored as my
fourth favourite act out of the four groups we attended over the weekend. And
then it was all over as it was time to fly home Tuesday afternoon, as I can't
wait going back this Halloween for the Formula 1 race! While I wouldn't mind
attending another MotoGP race there either...
Kudos
to Claudio & Nelie for the GURR-REAT!!! Weekend + pictures...
Tomaso