Ben and upstate NY

[aeronca65t]

It was an unexpected pleasure to meet Ben at Watkins Glen and chat about cars, silly Lucas stuff, banjos, guitars, Iroquois Indians, horse's heads and, as Arlo says, "all kinds of groovy things".
And upstate New York is very pretty right now....great leaves with lots of colour!

We also had a GREAT time at the races, despite the best efforts of the Watkins Glen track management (a looong story....let's just say they get an "F" for customer service. I think NASCAR has gone to their head).

And we met up with Ben later at the famous Seneca Lodge where we drank beer and ate too much. Perfect!

Here's a picture of Ben and his Grandfather (just kidding...that's me) /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif

I'll leave Ben to explain this one:

I have a ton of pix that I'll post on the Race Forum later (these are from the Sunday EMRA event, we also ran on Saturday with the VRG vintage club). I'll include these below so you can get an idea of the <u>amount of lead-swapping we had.</u>
Eventually, Bruce and I "tapped", he spun off and bend a trailing arm going over the edge-curbing. It was just a "racing thing...no hard feelings". We'll fix it for Lime Rock (next weeekend). My Spridget has a crunched fender but I don't care because I'm bringing the Escort to LR.

Cortina, me and Mini

Mini, Cortina, me

Me, Cortina, Mini

Here's a crappy video of me following an Abarth 1300 OTS Coupe (only about the first two minutes of this is racing...the rest is just the cool-down lap)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doXHUYpy0V4

And an equally crappy video where I pass a Sunbeam Alpine but get passed by a 911 and a Datsun roadster. I really need a digital camcorder for Christmas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgD_vLgmVTk

 

[DrEntropy]

Mahvelous! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif

 

[vping]

Cool. One day...one day.

 

[bugimike]

I miss the Glen this time of year!! Thanks for the reminders!! So many, many years spent there in October for the GPs...No place like it in the fall!!

PS: Ben, an explanation PULEEZ!! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

 

[Monkeywrench]

Nial,

That Datsun Roadster is actually a former Bob Sharp car. It's VERY fast (lap times in the 2.21-2.19 range).

The Triumph TR4 experienced a problem after about 4 laps Friday. So they were forced to bail out.

 

[Banjo]

Nial. What a blast! It was great meeting you, your wife, and Bruce. Sunday musta' been perfect. Saturday it was windy with passing showers, but sunday was clear, upper 70s.
Gotta do it again if your club ever tries to come back. If not, mebbe I'll have to hoof it down your was to join in.
Great pics.
(check out "long distance Lucascism" in the Triumph forum for details on that mystery photo) It seems to have worked too!! Dale has reported redline passes and many crypty -free miles added to Amoses odometer!

The evening at "the Lodge " was like living a page outta "The Last Open Road".(If ya haven't read it yet, you're missin out) What fun. That place just dosen't work unless it's packed wall to wall with racing folks.
Monkeywrench, Did you guys have the TR4 up there? I missed ya. hope you had as much fun as I did.

 

[Bugeye58]

Two of my all time favorite racers hangouts are Seneca Lodge, and Siebkens, at Elkhart Lake.
I highly recommend both.
Spent a long evening of debauchery with Burt Levy, David Hobbs and Brian Redmond at Siebkens. My ribs hurt for a week after laughing so much.
Jeff

 

[aeronca65t]

Here's a ~LINK~ to pictures from the Glen weekend.

Nial,
That Datsun Roadster is actually a former Bob Sharp car. It's VERY fast (lap times in the 2.21-2.19 range).
The Triumph TR4 experienced a problem after about 4 laps Friday. So they were forced to bail out.

M-R:
Yes...he ran in our Sunday EMRA event too. In fact, he just e-mailed me to say what a good time he had. Nice guy. And you're right...fast car!
For reference, I'm turning about 2.40 at the Glen.
I think one of the Z-cars was the real deal too...a former Sharp car.

Nial. What a blast! It was great meeting you, your wife, and Bruce. Sunday musta' been perfect. Saturday it was windy with passing showers, but sunday was clear, upper 70s. Gotta do it again if your club ever tries to come back. If not, mebbe I'll have to hoof it down your was to join in....

Ben:
It was great fun to meet up with you. Great story about the horse's heads. Bruce is a stitch with his stories about the Seneca cabins. One of my college students stayed in a Seneca cabin Saturday night too and he regailed us on Sunday about his accomodations...when he was done, we were crying with laughter. Our chief of flagging was at the Seneca bar all night and he got so well-oiled, he couldn't figure out which cabin was his....so he slept in his car. Typical EMRA.
VRG will be back even if EMRA doesn't return. So I'll be back to run the VRG event no matter what.

Two of my all time favorite racers hangouts are Seneca Lodge, and Siebkens, at Elkhart Lake.
I highly recommend both.
Spent a long evening of debauchery with Burt Levy, David Hobbs and Brian Redmond at Siebkens. My ribs hurt for a week after laughing so much.
Jeff

OK...Siebkens is on *my list*.
I chatted with Hobbs at a hotel bar in Daytona years ago. We were the only two guys in the place. A nice fellow. Levy is a huckster First Class. He comes to the Lime Rock Vintage to pawn his books. Still, I like him....he reminds me of a lot of EMRA guys. Brian's son, James, is one of the management guys at the brand-new New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ (aka "Thunderbolt Raceway"), so he and I have e-mailed back and forth. I just sent them a deposit for Summer '08.

 

[Monkeywrench]

Monkeywrench, Did you guys have the TR4 up there? I missed ya. hope you had as much fun as I did.

I didn't make it up due to school (mid terms /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wall.gif )

They only ran about half of the first session. There were some problems that came up that couldn't be fixed at the track. Next time.

Make sure you're at the Zippo next year! It's going to be an awesome event for Triumph fans.

 

[AngliaGT]

Nial,

OK,I'm jealous! And 3 pictures with a Cortina in them.
Why is it that evrything seems to happening on the other
end of the country?

- Doug

 

[Banjo]

Monkeywrench, Without a doubt I'll be at the vintage! I never miss it!
Next year's gonna kill me though.. My TR2 won't be done in time. Arrrrggggg!!!

Doug.. that Cortina is for sale too. It's one of Nials buddies. that's why he snuck into so many of the shots.

 

[AngliaGT]

Yeah - like I need more projects to take up my time!

- Doug

 

[Sherlock]

Doug...

Don't feel bad, NOTHING happens here in Calgary, big fat zero, we have one (very tiny) vintage race meet all year, we have very few truly interesting classic import cars, and I still live here for some reason... /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

I'd love to be at Watkins Glen for their big vintage racing events, silly me somehow never got around to it when I lived in Ontario, and now I'm too far away!

Looks like you guys had some fun...