Practice Serendipity: Wild Rides!

I went racing with Frank! Three times I rode with him in his Mustang. Very exciting. Here's a video of him driving the track we were at, to give you an idea:

Of course, what you can't get from the video is the feeling of your body being pushed around in the bucket seats with the g-forces with the decelerations and turns at the highest possible speeds. Frank races time trials, which means he is racing against the clock, not for position against other cars. And, it's not a race to see how fast he can go, or how fast he can accelerate, it's about how fast he can travel around the track. Since it is a very curvy track, how fast can he drive around the corners is a big part of it, and makes for a very wild ride!

Frank's mom came on Sunday and took some pictures of me in the car (Thanks, Susan!):

The hood is not actually white. It's aluminum. Very lightweight, so good for racing. Frank is all about dropping weight to be faster.

On my first ride with Frank, we had a flat tire--the eventual diagnosis was some sort of puncture wound. Unfortunate. But fortunately, we'd brought his other set of wheels in case it rained and he needed the knobbier tires. It didn't rain, but it was good we had them!

After we get off the track and take off our helmets, Frank is always super sweaty and hot looking. Driving like that with no power steering and a very difficult clutch to push in is quite a workout!

On his third time out, he cracked a rotor. The rotor is the metal disc that the caliper clamps onto in order to slow and/or stop the car.

I felt like I was in an iPhone commercial at this point--looking up and calling the nearest Autozones, Advance Autos, and Napa Auto Parts stores on the way into town. There was a huge time pressure because Frank is an instructor and had to be back relatively soon to instruct.

Here is Frank quickly installing a shiny brand new rotor:

What these photos do not capture is the attention Frank's Mustang attracts. Most (all?) of the cars out there look very pretty and expensive and fancy: BMWs, Porches, Corvettes, Lotus' (my personal favorite, based on looks and name alone), pretty new Mustangs, etc. People spend time polishing them and putting on stickers and whatnot. Frank's car does not look pretty or expensive or fancy, it looks somewhat homemade. But it's fast! and inspires in other drivers something along the lines of respect and awe and curiosity. Frank seems to have a reputation for being a crazy or daring or aggressive driver, but not in a bad way, in a fun way!

We camped at the racetrack, which I prefer to staying at a m/hotel. It was basically uneventful aside from some mole (I've decided it was) that was poking around on the edge of the tent.

The sun setting Saturday night over Autobahn:

Camp fires aren't allowed, but I speculate we could bring a little grill or fire pit and cook on and stay warm with that.

Last weekend we went to Springfield for a friend of mine's farewell to the United Arab Emirates Party. She took a teaching job in Al Ayn. Here's is the cake another friend made for her. Isn't it spectacular? A very good map of the area, on a very tasty yellow cake!

We spent the afternoon out on the boat on Lake Springfield. It felt wonderful to be out on the water, in the sun.

For the first time, I went to a show at the Riverfront in Peoria. See the bridge in the background? It was a performance of Hairbanger's Ball, which I did not know, is local to Chicago and plays at the Cubby Bear or something? It was fun. I like the Peoria-size of things. There is breathing-room. Everyone is not completely on top of each other, like they are at most every event I'd go to in Chicago.

There's been a neighborhood thief stealing stuff from people's cars in their driveways. So, as Frank is in charge of security, he's moved all the cars into the garage. Amazingly, there's room for one big truck...