PT's Autosport Article

61 Risi is dead for the weekend.
Of course, our favorite Risi crew member is in the first picture.

Manning 6th in IRL practice 1, otherwise no suprises.

On the mariantic site they show the Autocon Lola for sale, my bet they are replacing the old Dysons with the new old Dysons.

PT has a new article on Autosport... just need a way to read it.

Here are my predictions for this weekend. Some are who I want to win, others are not but will.
IRL: Wheldon again

P1: #1 Audi as if it matters which one wins
P2: #16 Both drivers are good. Shorter race should help them.
GT1: #3 Johnny O can drive. Again as if it matters which one wins.
GT2: #31 Watch for the Porsche teams to be screaming for an adjustment if a Ferrari wins two in a row. I am not against the Porsches, they are all very strong teams #45 Flying Lizard is likely to do well. I just want to see PWL win a race.

Nascrap: Harvick. I almost picked Gordon again. AJA better hope he doesn't qualify. Even if you want to run conservative, you will get knocked around. There is nowhere to hide on that track.

Here is a quote from a Nascar show Paul and I saw. Question from host "What driver is most likely to fall out of the top 35 in owner points?". Answer from guest "Kyle Petty". Host response "good choice!".

The Times Union ran a huge alomst one page AP article on Sarah Fisher yesterday.

Phil, We have not seen your blue shirt at the blue house.

Remember last week when Bill Auberlen won the Rolex race? That is still really awesome! I can't believe Joel was there.

Noah, not jerk like at all really

My predictions:

IRL: Castroneves
Overall/P2:#6 Porsche, Briscoe being new to ALMS is going drive in an unorthadox manor which could be what is necessary to beat the Audis.
P1:#2 Audi, I am sure they already have their post-race statement of ALMS disapproval written explaining how they took away the 5% P2 restriction rule (even though it was never taken away because it was new to ACO this year, and wisely not adopted by ALMS)
GT1: #4 Corvette
GT2: #31 Ferrari

This is a dirty Evolution with new clean BBS MR wheels and Yokahama Advan tires. The old tires are competely worn out. I washed the Brembo brake calipers since I had the wheels off. I might get the Falken RT-615 for the old wheels. Which leaves me with a new set of Enkeis with new Yokahama Advan tires. I am having Omilin garage do any alignment on friday.
The kids and I were watching a muskrat swin around in the stream at the bottom of the lawn. The river is very high today the island is completely under water right now.
I will make my predictions for the race weekend on friday.

Noah

Champ Car:

NHL: Bourdaisy, Rahal
Forsyth: Tracy, Buddy Rice/Martinez
Conquest: Halliday
Minardi: Doornbos, Clarke
PKV: Jani (jonny), Gummy Bear
Coyne: Junky/Legge/Heylan/Dominguez/Servia (2 cars)
Rusport: Wilson, Dominguez/Servia
Rocketsports: Tagliani
Team Australia: Si Pag, Power
PCM: Dalziel, Figge

Expect another great field for Atlantics

Ranger is going to CASCAR this year.

12 confirmed drivers, 16 confirmed seats. Add second cars at rusport, forsyth or rocketsports or third cars at Australia or PKV to make 18.

Fully Sponsored Rahal announcement coming very soon, Tagliani sponsorship about to be announced. Pastorelli says he has a ride too.

St Pete Entry List
25 Entries, Still no Gunnar

This Weekend:

IRL: Kanaan
IPS: Stephen Simpson
P1: #1 Audi
P2: #7 Penske
GT1: #4 Corvette
GT2: #62 Ferrari
Nascrap: AJ does not qualify

Here are two photos of the '94 Civic EX. The other picture is Kate's christmas cactus.

Noah

Just got back from Homestead-Miami Speedway. Overall I was very impressed with the racing. I showed up for the Grand Am race expecting there to be a small crowd but that was not the case. There was in fact a really good crowd for the Grand Am race, despite robin miller's statement that Grand Am attracts nobody. By the time the indy cars were on grid the grandstands got pretty full.
In the grand am race, the infield section was difficult to see from the grandstands, unlike at daytona. The infield section at homestead drops down in elevation and barriers run close along the track, also the grandstands arent as high as at daytona. I was happy with both winners, Auberlen put on a great display as always but this time I saw he had gotten to the lead and there were just 15 minutes remaining... it took me a while to comprehend that he was finally in a position get a prototype win. In the gt race i was happy to see the local team Speedsource win.
For the indy car race the sky looked like rain might become and issue but in the end it did not. It was amazing to see in person just how fast the indy cars go around that track, they make that 1.5 mile oval seem very small. The ethanol fuel gave a distinctive smell that i wouldnt compare with anything else.

The Homestead Rolex race was great. Of course the right person won. Bill Auberlen can drive the wheels off a race car and does not give up. That was a great braking move that is not easy to do on Max A.. Give some credit to Matthew for not wrecking the car in the first stint and handing the car over in the lead group. He did his job well. Almost all the teams were fast which made for great competition. Luckily the last laps were green and let the GT race playout. If only Andy Lally had 5 more HP I would be 1.000 for my predictions for this race weeknd so far. RVO finished ahead of Dyson and were running at the end. Grand Am racing so far this year has been great to watch. I hope the rest of the season is this competitive. The track at Homestead had lots of good passing corners and seemed similar to Daytona but better. VIR is next and that is a good track as well. I did not get to see the IRL race because we were eating lamb chops. They were excellent. Mom also made Key Lime pie that was good.
The roads up at camp are snow free, but the woods and trails have snow on them. There are is some snowmobiling in the area, but it is very near the end.


Not jerk like Noah

I think the 10 Suntrust and 75 Braun/Papis combo are going to be tough to beat.
Jonathan needs to learn how to spell just like all the other Red Sox fans. Jeter, Jeter, Jeter. Better yet Damon, Damon, Damon.
Speed GT and Touring from Sebring will be shown on Monday.

DP: 05 Auberlen
GT: 66 Lally
IRL: Wheldon
Nascrap: 24 Gordon, AJA 75 laps.
AJA is in way over his head at Bristol. That place is a mess if you're not fast.

DAD: please record the Rolex Miami race at 2pm on Speed channel!!!!!!!


Jerk

Noah, thank you for the baseball cards.

SCHILLING! SCHILLING! SCHILLING!

Jonathan

Jen's blog was "best of our blogs" again today in the TU.
Dyson and RVO both practiced today at Homestead. RVO and Bill Lester will always be my underdog favorite since Daytona. I hope they have enough success to run more races and again next year. Ganassi car either did not practice or hasn't arrived yet. Lola to build Daytona prototype for Krohn in 2008. There was rumor about a new big name manufacturer before Daytona. I will assume this is it.
Paul is IRL and Joel there whis weekend? Joel? If so any IRL drivers going to run DP?

Noah

Paul, you need to fix the link for pitpass. There is a comma in there.

Noah

Everyday the Times Union has a "best of our blogs" sidebar on the front page of the local section. It gives a brief summary of someone's TU blog page and the address. monday Jen's was the featured "best of". It even had a photo of her.
Dad's un-named fish died this week. The kids haven't noticed yet. I will get it out of the tank tomorrow. It is cold here tonight on the official first day of spring. It is single digits, thursday it will warm up to the 50's.
How can Joel say we are weird when I had to look at pictures of everything He ate in the month of february. What about Emily and the squirrels?

Noah

Jerome

I realize the blog has always acted as an outlet for people to express their weirdness, but lately things have gotten weirder than normal. I attribute it to winter lasting too long in the northeast. Perhaps I suffered from this myself in the past, but now that I have an outside perspective, I can clearly see what I believe are the psychological effects of winter.

Tim, Cyndy and Paul at camp :)

3-11-85

Grandpa

Vaquero

We had 6in of snow Friday night and Peter got everything plowed and off we went to the quilt show in Sackett's Harbor. This morning, surprise, we woke up to another 8 in. Because the Black River people don't do weekends, Peter has plowed the road all the way to town and the garbage dump both times.

Today we went to a Brunch at the Arts center. Our 1st activity since becoming members. Very nice. Good food and bloody marys. Met some people.

In the 60 person basketball pool Peter is 2nd after the 1st round and I am 2nd to last. Joel's strategy isn't working out for me.

As a reminder- time to make your donation to the Epilepsy Foundation in Austin's name. And have you seen Jen's new blog site? Nice but I'm gonna miss those dots.

Here is a little then and now for Peterson White Lighting racing. The one picture is of the new F430 in the garage at Ferrari test track in Italy.

The Sebring race was excellent. With the problems the R10's were having you were never sure they were going to win. They managed to fix the problems quick and take the win. Everybody was surprised by the problems the Porsches were having. especially the yellow ones. Mazda still broke, but we will give them time to sort out the new motor. Dyson, we won't go there right now. Yeah Ollie Gavin!! Two years ago they were the second team car. The are the ones winning everything now. Wait just for the record why was the #3 car white? Paul is right the new Ferrari teams are going to make GT2 the closest class this year. Couldn't have been a better finish. Melo did a triple stint to the checkered flag. Boo Jorg Bergmeister, I might need to add him to the list of whiney Porsche drivers. Wolf Henzler is on that list now Boo Boo. It was the last lap at Sebring after 12 hours. Did he want Melo to just lay down after he got passed? He didn't wreck Jorg just did what needed to do. Panoz has a big challenge to compete with the 997's and 430's. They are lucky they have the best driver in the 21 car. Hopefully PWL will have better luck next time.
We went to church this morning and Grandma Brownsey was not there. Do we still collect the 5 bonus points for attending?
I watched the first 4 laps of the F1. Onboard in an F1 car is really cool TV. It is amazing the acceleration of the cars.
AJA has not started in a race this year. Reutimann is in the Atlanta race. In another bonehead move Nascar is not allowing anymore cell phone company sponors on race cars. Robby Gordon was asked to remove a Motorola decal from his car. Jeff Burton may not be allowed to change his car to AT&T wireless colors. Cingular was sold to AT&T recently. Way to go Nascar, hard enough for teams to get sponors.

Noah

Fun snow on Friday ~8". I tried to take the commuter rail out of South Station to go to Cyndy's parent's house(Speed Channel) that night. I got on the train at 8:20 it was scheduled to arrive at Worcester at 9:40. I got off the train at 10:00(all PM)at South Station. It hadn't moved yet. They lost power to all of the signals and switches at the station so no trains could go in or out. They kept saying that the train would be leaving in a few minutes. At one point they said, "we should be moving between five and... minutes. We apologize for the inconvenience." The ... indicates a pause in which the conductor realized he had no clue if they train would be moving. Eventually, people had to take the red line to the orange line to Back Bay to take a train that eventually left for Worcester after 12:00. I'm glad I went home. I tried again Saturday morning with no problems except that I had to wade through 8" of smoothie on the sidewalks since it had started raining.

Yay...

All that was made better by the fact that from 9:45AM-1:00AM I was watching(or listening to on the radio while Speed had to fill their daily quota of Nascrap) Sebring followed by F1 at Sebring. Two of my six predictions this weekend were correct. I should get bonus points for getting the overall winner right. Really good GT2 field this year thanks to the influx of Ferrari's to deal with the Porsche.

Hopefully, all the P2 guys can get their stuff together and give us better races this season.

F1: As Joel said, after Sebring it was hard to be mildly entertained by that race. Happy with the result of the race but nothing happened, I guess that's Melbourne.

Things heard on the Sebring broadcast (Speed and Radio Lemans)

ALMS offering travel package for LMES teams to race at Petit and Laguna before going to the race in LMES race in Brazil

Possible third factory corvette for mosport
Rob Dyson, 'I don't know what the hell is wrong with the Audis. The series would be better off without them, but that's another story.'

Briscoe rumor for possible third Penske for I500.

These R10s will be going to europe, last years will be run by Champion in ALMS until after Lemans (when, I guess, they are sending these two chassis back here)

The R10s will do another 12 hours on their own on Monday.

Adrian is 'calm for a Mexican.' Speed Channel later apologized for that comment.

One possibly two new LMP1 teams this year in addition the two new LMP2 porsches this season.

Good enough

Happy Birthday to Barbara and Sharon! I can hardly believe you are 18 now.

LMSR is slowly coming back to life:

Two more Porsche P2 cars starting mid-season.

Audi done broked last night, better this morning:


The F1season has barely started and already I want to kick Bob Varsha in the teeth. From his Speed article,

" Down the pitlane, Ferrari will try to cope with the considerable loss of Michael Schumacher. The seven-time world champion has been replaced by the Britney Spears of grand prix racing, Kimi Raikkonen, who won 9 races in 5 seasons at McLaren-Mercedes and kept the tabloids humming with his partying ways. "


Beck Motorsports will have a Dallara(former Fernandez) at Homestead with Alex Barron(Toyota Atlantic Champion turned Mazda Atlantic reject).

Two Ndinjas is MIA.

For anyone not paying attention David Richards(owner of Prodrive) bought Aston Martin.

Take the HO Champ Car slots car off your list. They are just going to be decals on generic bodies with air boxes. Though Champ Car is looking to get a 1/32 scale DPO1 soon.

F1: Hamilton
P1: #2 Audi
P2: #16 Dyson Porsche
GT1: Aston Martin
GT2: #31 PWL Ferrari
AJA DNQ for Altanta, Qualifies for Bristol

That post was inappropriate. I had no idea grandpa was going to have surgery, so what am I supposed to think when I see that picture with no explanation provided.

This photo is of Cameron in my Reggie candy bar T-shirt. I was 6 or 7 when I got this. Chris had one too but he probably threw it out. He doesn't like to save stuff. The ice went out of the river today. It melted down to about 4-6 inches so it was uneventful. We are supposed to get snow tomorrow, maybe a lot.
Sebring race is saturday. I predict that both corvettes will have podium finishes. Here are my predictions for the classes. P1 Audi R10, P2 Penske Porsche, GT1 Gavin Corvette, GT2 Van Overbeek Flying Lizard Porsche. Here is who I want to win. P1 old Dyson car, P2 new Dyson car, GT1 Gavin Corvette, GT2 toss up between Auberlen Panoz and PWL Ferrari. Why doesn't Chrysler run a Viper in GT1. It would be the best competition for the Corvette.

Noah

The Win Shot, cupcakes from Rosie's Bakery.

Cyndy

Patrick Racing-Lola-Ford Cosworth with Oriol Servia from Cyndy for my birthday.

Knife, Garlic Press, and Cooling Rack from Cyndy

Cooks Illustrated subscription from Cyndy

Me, Jerk.

Just some pictures off an old CD. Thought they would be of some interest.
Noah

Happy birthday Paul!

Here is a photo of what will probably be the last snowmobile ride for this year. It was in the 50's here today and the kids played out without mittens.
The picture of Cameron and card is the now famous 2007 Topps Derek Jeter card #40 with President Bush and Mickey Mantle added to the photo. This was in no way an error card. I don't care what Topps claims. There is no mistake that they have probably tripled card sales from this point last year. This was carefully planned by the company to create a buzz. It was a great marketing tool and it is working well for them. Card is still selling around $25-$40 on Ebay. If you really want one wait two years and buy it for a $1. I bought some packs at Target today and got two of these cards, so how rare is it? Anybody want one for $25?
Paul, Cyndy, and Tim passed the checkpoint at 8:00pm. They were not in the lead.

Noah

72 and sunny. wow. No snow in sight. I had to change into shorts because it was too warm.

Snow is melting!

Viva Ex Dyson Lola

Jos the Boss to Champ Car 2007 rumor part two has begun.

Maybe this is right? I took out this coming weekend which has Champ Car testing at Laguna Seca. Champ Car's China, and European dates may move around some.

You may be able to print it here or something.

Cyndy wrote a bunch on the blob but decided not to mention that I had a stomach virus all weekend. Cyndy and I did have a lot of fun in Brazil... it only consists of a couple blocks and about a three blocks away from us. We've never walked through it because the railroad tracks make it so it's not on the way to anywhere. The supermarket there had lots of fun stuff like pigs ears and stuff. Across the street was Brazilian Used Tires, pneus usados.

Trip to the west coast of florida. We decided that Naples, located at the end of alligator alley, was good enough. We soon discovered that Naples only consists of people 70+ years old. Emily flies back to school tomorrow, so home cooked food will become a thing of the past.

almond baked chicken. Our last home cooked meal of spring break.

Sorry that this is so late Donnie....but here it is, some pictures from my architectural tour of Boston with my Fine Arts of Boston class :)















Symphony Hall, which is an example of classical design. The columns are ionic style with double volute capitals. Not that decorated though.















Horticultural Hall, across the street from Symphony Hall. Symphony Hall and this one are supposed to complement one another, so to do this they are complete opposite designs. Horticultural Hall is an example of Baroque style, which means that its decorations are hugely ornate and overdone. It has freehanging double volutes between the windows, false balcomines, and if you look over the windows you will see marble medallions with fruit and vegetable sculptures between them. Very whimsical.















New Section of the Christian Science Center. It's design is a blend of Gothic and Renaissance styles. The dome and Corinthian are reminiscent of classical Rennaissance architecture. The grand scale of the church is similar to the scale used in Gothic times, when churches were designed to make people feel the power and scope of god and religion and to make them feel that they were going to heaven.





















Old Section of the Christian Science Center. It's main influence is the classical Renaissance period; the use of dark, rough looking stone and its less ornate decoration than the new Church put it more in this category. The stained glass in it is made of lead.

















Pineapple on the top of the new Christian Science Church's dome. The pineapple is a symbol of friendship and welcoming.
















I.M. Pei was commissioned to build two new (mainly administrative) buildings for the church. He was told to make them complement the beauty of the church. The way he chose to do this was by designing his new buildings in the "Brutalist" style- the total opposite of the church- in order to make the churches beauty stand out more. To tie the two new buildings to each other, he used a "gutter" design. In the above picture, notice that there is a section sticking out of the top all the way across that looks like a hugely oversized rain gutter (like one you may have on your house).




















In this picture of the 2nd I.M. Pei building, the "gutter" design is used again, only vertically.













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This is the top of the Boston Public Library. If you look slightly above the arrow, you will see a molding that looks sort of like teeth. This is called dentil molding! (I'm probably the only one that finds that funny....oh well).

This is the atrium in the Boston Public Library. The perimeter consists of vaults and columns, and between the columns there are medallions. The atrium style is classical; it was used by the Greeks (especially in cities) because when a place is built in this design, much of the outside noise is muffled and unpleasant smells from the street are not as strong. The Greeks also slanted the roof around the perimeter so rainwater would fall into the pool in the middle...however, the BPL did not do that.

Sorry that she's sideways....I didn't know how to fix it. Anyway, this is the statue that is in the middle of the BPL atrium. McKim, the architect who designed the library, liked doing the project so much that he wanted to give the library a gift. So, he went and had this greek wine imported. However, when he gave it to the library, they refused it because she is naked. The MFA ended up taking it, but then later on the library said they wanted it back. So, a second one was bought, and now both the library and the MFA possess this statue.
















This is the reading room at the BPL. It's architecture is a blend of Baroque and Roman classical influences; notice the use of arches for the windows and it's coffered, barrel vaulted ceilings. A barrel vault is when there is a row of arches placed together to make a room.















This is the hallway outside of the reading room. Here you can see a better view of the coffered ceilings. Coffered ceilings are ceilings that have had chunks taken out of them; this makes the ceiling look more decorated and makes it a lighter weight.
















World's coolest/creepiest wallpaper at the BPL.















This is the outside of Trinity Church, which is next to the Hancock Tower and across from the BPL. The two really big statues are resting on top of the churches columns; they are called pedimental sculptures I believe. By their feet are reliefs of the last supper and the evil and the pure; these reliefs are called a frieze. The last supper image is in between the pedimental sculptures.














This is a picture of one of the 4 pyramid pilings that hold up Trinity Church. Since the Back Bay was originally water that is now filled in, all of the buildings had to be built on top of wooden pilings. Currently, the original pilings are still there, and they still have to be kept wet or else they will get dry rot. In the past, someone would actually have to go down to the basement of Back Bay buildings and check to see how wet the pilings were, and if they were too dry they would have to re-wet them by hand. Now that is done electronically, but things like these pyramids still exist out of necessity.

Today my class went to the MFA. There is a special exhibit there called Fashion Show, which was really exciting. A bunch of the haute couture designers sent the museum their 2006-2007 designs that went down the runway, and visitors were able to get up close to the outfits. The clothes were really intricate and were more like textile art than actual clothes. I think Donnie might have liked seeing them- there were lots of unique fabrics and sewing techniques used to make them :)

Paul and I also went to Brazil on Thursday. We went to a supermarket that had mostly imported Brazilian food, and we ended up getting soda that tastes like watered down Red Bull and some banana jelly. We are planning to go back soon to get more fun food--maybe some quail eggs :)

**Cyndy**