Event Car Hot Laps from 2022

 

 

If you are a member of the IndyCar fan club (IndyCar Nation),you can enter a lottery to win a hot lap around the track. I won a lap last year and it was a great story. Initially, I was given bad information about where to meet the VIP driver. So I lined up in the wrong place. By the time I figured it out and went to the right place, I was last in a long line of about 50 people. No worries, they had two cars and they were taking three at

a time. So, I noticed that the two guys in front of me in the line were Japanese-looking and were covered in Takuma Sato clothes and memorabilia. So I asked them about it and quickly discovered that they did not speak English. This became important because, when we got to the front of the line, the greeter came over and asked the three of us who wanted to ride shotgun. I actually hesitated (I am so polite), but because I had actually understood the question, I was able to speak up first. So we piled into the "event" car, a souped-up Honda HPD Civic Type R with a radical striped red paint job and a stick shift. I was in the front seat and my two Japanese companions were in the back. And we were off, like a rocket ship. Full throttle off the line, tires spinning in the dirt, swing way out to the right side of the track, jump on the brakes, hard, for turn 11, make the corner, tires screaming, and wham, full throttle! It was like riding the Wild Mouse, only wilder. At the end of the lap, our driver introduced herself; her name is Ayla Agren and she is a European formula car race driver. But she had a big wreck, so now she drives IndyCar "event" cars. It was an absolute blast. But wait, there's more. After I got out of the car, I was milling around, and the greeter came over and asked me if I wanted to go again, but I couldn't ride shotgun. So I got another lap, this time from the back seat; even wilder. Good times.

Overhead Shot of Our Seats

How lucky is that? I went to Google Maps to get an overhead shot of our
seats and it just happens that there was an IndyCar event going on when the
Google satellite went over. You can see the IndyCar Tech Inspection trailer
just above the bottom center. That's where Agnes and I worked as tech
inspectors at the 1989 race. At the very top is turn 11, the last turn on
the track. After the cars come around turn 11, they accelerate at full
throttle down the front straightaway (double yellow arrows). They do that 95
times during the race. And plenty more times during practice and qualifying.
Just below the straightaway is where the hot pits are (single yellow arrow).
And just below that is where our balcony seats are (yellow circle). Behind
our seats, under the silver roof, we find the air-conditioned suite where
they keep our food and drinks (and our bathroom). It's a wonderful way to
experience a race. In the olden days, we stood outside in the early morning
freezing fog, drinking coffee from paper cups, and trying to stay warm. Or,
later in the day, we would walk for miles in the blazing sun, working in the
pits during the IndyCar race, watching other races, and looking for more
food and drinks (and bathrooms). On the far right of the photo (red star),
is where the VIP rides start. I'll write a separate post for that story.

What Band is This? AM? or FM?

Neither. It's a Rubber Band. Since we will be wearing ear defenders during
the race, we will need to use earbuds to listen to our radios. So, it
occurred to me that I should test the earbuds that came with the radios.
Well, a few seconds into the test, I was suddenly reminded of an old, but
well-known deficiency with Baofeng radios: The extremely poor quality of
their connectors. Yep, the earphone plug won't stay seated in the radio
unless it is held in. Fortunately, Agnes keeps a good supply of rubber
bands, so we have an interim solution at least. In the old days, we would do
a little surgery on the plastic faces of the plugs to help them go in
deeper, but these plugs have a metal face. Thus, an alternative solution
will be required. Sigh, . . .

My Radios Are Ready

One of the problems we discovered while attending races last year is that
you can't hear the track PA system over the roar of the cars. The audio is
fine during the opening ceremonies, but, once the cars start blasting around
the track at full throttle, it's hopeless. So, the standard solution has
been to buy or rent a scanner that has the track PA audio channel, plus all
the race team channels, pre-programmed into the scanner. But, for semi-techy
people, another solution has emerged. You program all those channels into
your ham radio and use that as a scanner. Well, I did that, but then I
realized that my hand-held ham radios are heavy and bulky. So, Plan C is to
buy some teeny-tiny Part 90 (commercial) radios and program them. So I did
that. And then Agnes 3D-printed a pair of custom trays to keep the radios
from flopping around in the little attaché case. She added a felt lining and
glued the two bins together end-to-end, and you can see the results in the
picture above. BTW, did you wonder how I found out what frequencies to put
in my radios? That information is published in the spotters' guide
https://www.indycar.com/-/media/Files/2023/NICS/10-TOR/indycar-spotterguide-
printable-V2.pdf_. But, I hear you say, that's a lot of very tedious work to
copy all that information into your radio. Well, troo dat, but a greater
IndyCar fan than I has already done all that work and published the radio
programming file on his website. So, wham, bam, thank you ma'am, it's all
downloaded and "gas-pumped" into the radio with very little labor on my
part. Thank you "The Mann."

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This is a panorama picture of Laguna Seca from 2010.

Time to Start Keeping Track of our Road Trip

We are in the very early planning stages. The race is on Sunday, September 10th, with practice and qualifying on Friday and Saturday. We have our race tickets reserved, including VIP parking, and we have our hotel room reserved in Salinas. The current plan is to arrive in Salinas on Thursday night, stay over Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, then shove off for Scotts Valley on Sunday after the race. Salinas is a two day drive from home, so, on Wednesday, we plan to overnight in a hotel in Barstow, California.