Wednesday, October 24, 2018

2017 USGP: A Porsche GT3 Showcar Steals the Show!




No Fenders Head Scribe Tomaso behind the wheel of the iFly Porsche 911 GT3 Racecar over the 2017 USGP weekend at COTA. (The Tomaso Collection)
Yeah, that's Correctomundo Kiddies! So move over Formula 1...

First 'N Foremost, forgive the lack of Detail I'm providing in my yearly USGP Reports, as this one's floundered in thou Surf upon Nofendersville Isle the past year! Thus, I truly Don't remember very much from my latest visit to Circuit Of The Americas, nee COTA. Especially since Thar was so little for Us, The Fans to do during the racing weekend, which was partially the impetus for not returning this year...

Alas, that being said, the biggest Highlight of the weekend for Mwah had little to do with the Formula 1 machinery, even if they're the Baddest Landsharks on the Planet!

Yet for Mwah, being Blind, it was my tactile experience that brought thou most satisfaction, although being at a racetrack is always very therapeutic for me.

Claudio', my trusty Seeing Eye guy Racetrack Sherpa and I had arrived early at Circuit Of The Americas, nee COTA prior to the Formula 1 Free
Practice 1 session Friday morning, beginning at 10AM Central time.

It was misting then, so we skidattled towards some covered vendor booths, giving us
something to do out of the light rain, which hopefully would pass thru.

Approaching one of the myriads 'O unknown vendors to Mwah, this booth had a Free Spin A Wheel Contest, so Claudio told me to spin a wheel. NOT that hard Tomaso! And viola! I won the
chance to sit in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racecar!


Side view of Tomaso seated in the cockpit of the iFly Porsche 911 Showcar. (The Tomaso Collection)
A very nice lady named Veronica who was working the I-Fly vendor booth was super kind to me, being very patient whilst working with a Blind racing Aficionado.

As she patiently talked me completely thru how to wiggle my
bum atop the door's roll cage and slide bottoms first into the "molded" racing seat,
which is very tight fitting!

then she put the removable steering wheel on for me, let me play with the
paddle shifters Vroom-Vroom!

And after I mused out loud I wished we'd had a camera; Oh, I
can take a picture for you and send it to your Email Veronica immediately said...

SHUHZAMM!

Close-up view of Tomaso Hard at Work Carving Up the Field 'O Virtual Racecars behind the wheel. (The Tomaso Collection)
Like I said, Veronica was super nice to me, as the whole time I was experiencing this, I had ZERO Clue what the "iFly" company Veronica was promoting was? For which I wouldn't truly discover until returning home.

As I-Fly is a virtual Skydiving company with multiple locations worldwide, including one
in Tukwila, Washington, to which Veronica gave me a $10 discount for... And I was so JAZZED! Over this brief tactile experience that I totally wanted to do this upon returning home.


But Y'all know how life gets in the way, Eh? As who knew Tacoma Bureau Chief Mary Ellen, my trusty Chauffer, Cook and Uhm? Careful Mary Ellen, put that Spatula Down please; Hya! Would have a new "Puppy dog," the aforementioned "Marmaduke" for a solid nine months before finding Silk a new home Up North Eh! Or that I'd be moving out of state; Blah-Blahity-blah...

Upon returning home from Austin, I set about trying to discover what this mysterious Porsche GT3 racecar I'd momentarily sat in was? Since all I knew courtesy 'O fellow Florencian' F1 Spotter Jeannie was that said Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racecar on Showcar Duty was White with red & blue striping with Porsche motorsport(dot)com visible. ARSE-Sumedly this Deckle' atop the front windshield?

After digging 'N digging upon thou Intrawoods', nee Internetz', the closest corresponding thing I could come up with was that said Porsche was possibly a MoreSpeed team Showcar? As Will Hardman ran their No. 19 at Road America in 2016...

And that's how the weekend at the racetrack for the USGP began!

Whilst not surprising at the least, some Cat known here on No Fenders as "golden Child," aka Lewis Hamilton dominated both Friday Free Practice sessions...



(Photos C/o Veronica of I-Fly Company's Vendor Booth)