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100-S in its Element

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dougie

dougie

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Here's something everyone should enjoy, the view most club racers must have had in the mid-fifties...... the rear end of an Austin-Healey 100-S. This video is taken from a 1957 Elva MKII during the 2010 HMSA Coronado Speed Festival. The Elva desperately tries to chase down Greg Johnson's beautiful '55 BRG 100-S with little success. This airport track really has a Sebring feel to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f59RrbTVOyc

Dougie
 
Thanks, nice clip. I don't mean to hijack your thread, but maybe this is a good opportunity to observe that this clip highlights something that I don't quite fully "get" about racing.

It seems like all of the cars are similarly powered and so no one is pulling their competition on the straights (unless there are wildly differing classes on track at the same time, or some are cheating), so passing becomes a matter of a timid competitor braking early, a gutsy competitor braking late, and/or someone making a mistake (wrong line, shift too early or late, miss a shift, etc.).

I guess it just seems like the whole race is decided by the tiniest of differences, and one tiny mistake - say, a missed shift - can more than negate far superior skill, giving the outcome a large random element.

I kind of enjoy watching racing for the sheer speed and noise, but as a "sport" it strikes me as determined more by the car and mistakes than by the driver and his skill.
 
Reid -

Your right with many of your observations. Part of thrill of vintage racing for me is forcing or "encouraging" my competition into making a mistake. The chess game with the cars your dicing provides another layer to the race. Most of our vintage races here in the U.S. are 20-30 minute sprints. Unless your car is poorly prepared it should make it through the event, but your brakes can fade, your tires can let go and most of all when you're pushed hard driver fatigue can create serve problems. It's a totally different event in the drivers seat then the bleachers seat.

Dougie

P.S. Is your Sprint going to see the track in 2011?
 
Nice video. It seems all the cars in the front of the grid ran away and hid, with the exception of two slow cars that the pair in the video caught up with. Did you notice the needle on the tach in the Elva. He had a little bit of bounce there.
 
If you don't "get it" about racing, it reminds of the song by the Lovin Spoonful, where they sing "it's like trying to tell a stranger bout rock-n-roll".
 
I *think* I get it, I just haven't yet come to terms with being able to walk away from my car if I wad it up into a ball.

There's that to overcome (mental issue) and then the financial burden.

Oh sure, event fees and travel/lodging aren't all that high, but I <span style="font-style: italic">just know</span> I'd want to run a little better than mid-pack, so I'd be building the car to the limit of the rules, attending numerous driving schools, and just generally spending every dime I could get my hands on. I watched me do it a couple of times with just autocrossing.

Oh, but if I win a lottery, I am so there!
 
In many ways I think racing is like a drug. For some of us, it takes hold, and it's like there is no cure. Over the years I've tried to analyze the hold it has on me. I'm not an adrenalin junkie (just a type "A") but there is something about being in that "zone" when you are going wheel to wheel with other racers. At that point there is no fear - just this intense concentration and exhiliration. I like the term Mr. Spock was known to use - it's "pure energy". Paul Newman said it was the closest thing he had ever come to "grace". I've always said it's the most fun you can have with your cloths on.

Racing a Big Healey is expensive, but I do all of the work on the car myself so that cuts costs. Other cars are less expensive to race. Many guys race Sprites on modest budgets and have a blast with their new found friends on the track.

So Randy - I say just DO IT!! Come out and play with Dave, Doug and me.

You know what really scares me is driving down the Interstate in heavy traffic.
 
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