Design, create, fabricate… learn
We’ve been having some incredible thunder storms in Colorado. Yesterday in fact the rain was so intense that my commute home consisted of a uturn that I had to take to avoid submerging my car! I really enjoy a good thunderstorm and it has been nice to have some interesting ones to watch.
Today after the rain let up I set up a GoPro outside to see what I would get. Fortunately the storm created a nice rainbow and the whole thing was caught on Time Lapse! Take a look!
Each year we try to make it out to the Golden Super Cruise. It is just a huge gathering of people with their car that they have been slaving over for years. This year we got out to this first cruise with beautiful weather and of course with a full belly since it was also the 3rd annual Crawfish Broil at my friend Andrea’s house. Anyhow, there isn’t much to say about this one, so check out some photos from the day.
Be sure to check out photos from Last years Super Cruises here too (click here for a link to 2010)
It’s all part of building a race car. Nothing works perfectly the first time around. Ask Rhys Millen. They built a million dollar car for Pikes Peak last year and without enough testing they had issues with the wing, the transmission and on and on. Well, for the Kern’s it isn’t that different. Each test has revealed a problem. The first showed some issues with the diff. The second test showed some issues with the suspension and between those tests we had some issue with the oil pump.
Yesterday we headed out to CORE and we tested again. 11-2:30 with only a few stops that were each under about 10 minutes. About 3 hours of running at 80-100% (except when I was driving that was probably more like 50%!) This thing is proving itself! The engine runs strong, very strong! The transmission is working nicely and the suspension is nearly dialed. One more switch around with valving and possibly a bit of a change on the rear spring rate and this thing should be ready for whatever you can throw at it.
Check out some video from the day and don’t forget to check out RaceKern.com for updates from the Kerns
Wow, it has been quite the week. I have decided to help some friends not only with their car build but also in setting up a new site.
The Kern’s! They are a husband and wife race team and wow are they fast. Dave is the driver, Allison the navigator and they are quite the duo. At Pikes Peak I ran a camera on their car a couple years ago and they broke the record in their class. That record stands today. Every year since then they have had some mechanical issue. Nothing that can’t be fixed with Time or Money, but of course they don’t have unlimited resources and they work full time! So I decided that helping them not only with their car build (which is maybe a bit more selfish cause I am learning a ton) but also with their web presence is crucial. I talked to them and they gave me free reign. So now I am finishing off their site and it is turning out nicely! ALl they have to do is drop in writeups whenever they can and it will constantly be updated. With new content comes new visitors and repeat visitors. Their content is awesome too so it should be pretty good for them. check out their site! racekern.com
In addition, this week I have been setting up a blog for work as well. This content doesn’t come as easily! With the Kerns I had to copy and paste, with the work site I had to wrangle people, write posts and just pour over the site for hours. It turned out great and our new designer is doing a great job of opening up functionality. Check out that blog here excelsportsblog.com
Lots to do and little sleep to do it with, I am making progress on another project that I am not ready to announce, but soon…we will blow your doors off!
This year has been quite the year for speed on the ice for me. I have raced nearly the entire season at Georgetown and now I have had the chance to run up at Bridgestone Winter Driving School as well!
Georgetown is a pretty amazing thing to have nearby. The Our Gang Ice Racers provide very affordable racing very nearby. Heading up there takes an hour and the racing usually lasts all day. For only $20 on the race days and $5 on the fun days, well it is pretty tough to find any racing that comes close to that type of affordability. We’ve been having a lot of fun getting to know the crew up there as well, attending meetings and just basically hanging out with the guys and gals that run the racing up there. What a great group! I’ve had a great time getting to know them, racing with them and working with them on new ideas. With Jon’s suggestions they have started making some longer tracks which everyone seems to be enjoying. So now we have half to 3/4 mile tracks to run rather than 1/4 mile tracks, combos of sweeper corners and tight hairpins and man they are fun! Check out a video from the last race of the year.
Since I know some people in the racing world I happen to know some instructors at the Bridgestone winter driving school. Since I attended the school back in 2007, I was invited up there by Dave Kern. We headed up with two sets of studs, one car and a closing day at the track.
Bridgestone is a pretty cool place. They create the same ice tracks each year with the help of Gordon Speck, their track manager. It is all laid out by GPS and it is an amazing site when seen from the air. Unfortunately I don’t have access to that video to share with you, but hopefully I can dig something up for you in the future. In the mean time check out www.winterdrive.com for their information.
Bridgestone teaches winter driving skills to students that are novices up to advanced drivers. They do their entire school on bare rubber with Bridgestone’s Blizzak tires. They also do truck and trailer driving classes which are pretty incredible to see as well. We were fortunate to be able to try out the studded tires on the track. From what I understand this is either the first or one of the very few times a studded tire has ever been run there. I can tell you that it was an incredible experience!
We bolted up the tires on my car and we bolted up Jon’s set on Mitch Williams rally car. WOW what an awesome time. The studs hooked up like crazy, the track has big walls of snow which provide a bit of intimidation, but man, when you nail a corner it is just an incredible feeling. The studs scuffed up the track a bit and combined with the temperatures make the Blizzak’s hook up even better. HERO GRIP! So I bolted my studs onto another car to let others have fun with them then ran my Blizzak’s and had a blast as well!
In addition to driving the track it was incredible to be able to ride with some awesome drivers. Dave Kern took me for a spin in the Rally car and what an awesome experience. We hit 90+mph on the ice and the confidence and control that these guys have is amazing. Matthew Johnson was out in the rally car as well and it was amazing to see him tearing up the track.
I am sure you are wondering, where is the video from Bridgestone… well look no further! Click play and enjoy. Keep your eyes peeled for some rally cross videos this summer.
Another weekend in Georgetown and another fun time. We headed up there to compete on the ice with the Our Gang Ice Racing club and had a blast!
I always feel as though I finally have the course dialed about 2 hours after my race. But I love going out there and doing lap after lap to go play on the ice. I am also glad that I haven’t gone out in the first round yet this year which at least gets me a second run. Hopefully at some point I will have some familiarity with their course setup and be able to start visualizing the fast way a bit sooner so I can be more competitive!
It has been great getting to know these guys too. It is a bunch of people who are basically just looking to have fun. I can appreciate that because that is my whole motivation for going out there. I just want to have fun! Sideways action and “fast” speeds always bring a smile to my face!
This time I made another video. I am fortunate to have a friend in the film world. I chatted with him last week and he gave me a few process ideas, pointers from a guy who uses Final Cut Pro for his job. “Naw, don’t use that format, use this format,” was how the conversation went. Use this format, do it like this, it will turn out awesome. So I did and I did a bit more research in color correction in FCP and a few other things and I am really psyched with the progress. I love making these videos because they all help me learn the program and the motivate me because I am so excited to actually work with this video. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this weeks installment on Youtube.
Yeah, ice is cold. Maybe too cold… But wow is it fun!
New years day we headed out to Georgetown to go racin’! The Canadian Conti Ice tires we have spec’d out to fit into the mens pro street class and we were able to race with the big boys. The day wasn’t without controversy, but Jon and I were, eh, less than impressive on the ice this time out. Maybe it was the recorded -20 degrees, maybe it was all the hairpin… Maybe it was the pressure. Who knows, but I ended up with 5th place and Jon, well I don’t know what he got. I did win $5 though with my certificate of AWESOME.
The day was very cold, we were able to get out and race however and unfortunately there were no practice runs on the course. It was a fun course however and definitely challenged me. The course was what they refer to as a “coke bottle” which should describe the shape well. At each end there was a hairpin and this was pretty tough. Without using the handbrake we had to rotate the car around this pin and I can honestly say that this isn’t something I have tried to do before. My first round I was doing horribly, but the guy I was racing hit a cone so I won by default. My second round I did fantastically, my turns were perfect and as I crossed the line I let the back end get away from me… and I hit a cone! My racing day was over, but we waited around and once the Pro Street class was done everyone moved to the Cheaters course. Jon and I spent another hour and a half driving the course. We got lap after lap on the course and had an amazing time. We are a bit competitive, but we mainly just want to go have fun, go sideways and just play! Of course, as you are aware, we will take a GoPro everywhere we go…
Another fun day on the ice, we are looking forward to more races soon!
I don’t know how so many fires can occur in one season, it seems very dramatic with the smoke billowing up the foothills and the slurry bombers flying overhead. Today was a unique day in Boulder. People were roaming the streets in costume. Witches, ghosts and zombies all out in the daylight and they were out as the foothills looming overhead were on fire.
Walking the neighborhoods today that were being evacuated, I didn’t want to be in the way. So I stayed clear of the people who were frantically packing their possessions. there were cars lining the streets and they had hatches open or they were already packed. People were sorting through their belongings deciding what they could live without and what needed to come with them. I walked along and just observed them. It is a strange feeling, especially walking with a large camera in this condition, I feel as though I was marked as an outsider, though it is possible that nobody noticed me at all.
As some of the residence packed others congregated in the streets, they watched the slurry planes fly overhead and dump their payload only a short distance away. The air was thick with smoke and the sun was very warm considering how cold it has been over the past week. The fire tourists were out in full force and when I realized that I was probably one of them I had to turn back. At least I wasn’t clogging the road with my car, but I was there and I felt like that may be too much.
Sprinklers were on all over the place. Some had put portable lawn sprinklers on their roof in order to make sure that embers from the fire didn’t get caught up on their house. the constant sound of planes flying over, swooping and dumping became normal and the uncertainty of what was going to happen was part of the atmosphere. After I had felt like I had taken up to much space I left and headed back home.
It was interesting to see the array of things that were left behind in some people rush to leave. Other people were taking their time however and I believe they were hoping that the evacuations would be called off. It was also interesting to see how different the atmosphere was when I crossed from 7th st to the next block. Cars filled up and people scurrying around on one block and no action on the next. (7th st was the evacuation border)
I hope that everyone I saw today has a house to come back to. It seems surreal that their homes could be destroyed since they are mostly in some of the oldest portions of Boulder. I guess only time will tell.
I spent the day working on my friends shop. Installing soffits, grouting steps and basically doing light construction on the place. I had no idea what was going on north west of where we were. When I was driving home I could see this huge plume of smoke that was coming from Boulder. It looked pretty intense. When I finally got home I looked it up. 4 mile canyon is on fire. 3000 acres burned and hundreds are being evacuated.
I waited till the sun set and then headed out to an overlook about a mile from my house (about 18 miles from the fire) and took a few photos.
Last night I went home afterward and realized that many of these shots were a bit out of focus, but I went to bed anyhow. This morning I woke up to the smell of smoke. The wind had shifted and the smoke was now going in the general direction of my house.
Driving into boulder today I stopped and snapped another quick photo.
The drive into work was pretty normal, but the haze and scent of smoke got more intense the closer I got. The fire is still going strong and the slurry planes are doing drops according to the news. I am curious to see what happens. If the fire is still going this evening then I will shoot more photos and post them up.
**UPDATE**
I shot some photos from the roof of my work today, It is pretty crazy watching all the slurry planes fly overhead. It is very hazy from our direction so it is tough to get a clear shot, but you get the point.
As the final rivet went into the front aero package at around 3:00 in the morning on Dave and Allison Kern’s Evo I was anticipating heading out to the track the next day to see how my wing mounts held up. Dave was planning a test session out at the track and I decided to tag along and see if everything went as planned with the wing that I had just modified to work.
After a late night it was a bit difficult to wake up in the morning so I didn’t actually get started until about 10:00 and I didn’t end up getting to the track until after noon. That wasn’t all that important however, the important part was the Evo was heading out on its first laps. Dave was going to run the first laps with just the front aero setup to see how the car felt before he put the big wing on. On his first lap he had some clutch issues so he came in to diagnose them. Everything that he could think of was not working and I am no help in that department…so I began wandering around. There was plenty to see the place was packed so I figured I’d check out a few cars.
As this was going on a big race trailer showed up. The wrap on the trailer drew everyone in. Classics, old school racing cars, formula cars etc. I was really curious what was going to roll out of that thing. as the rear door went down they didn’t disappoint. This thing had a 30’s Bugatti and a 50’s Talbot Lago! Combined, assuming these are pretty original cars, these two cars were worth in the neighborhood of $4 million dollars. I can assure you that all the other cars that were there that day (probably 40 more cars) would not have added up to the value of these two.
They rolled out the cars and began prepping for the day and their little pit spot was a magnet for car guys. I stopped by and chatted with the guys. They were very cool and very interested in showing off the cars. The guys were from High Mountain Classics, which is a restoration shop primarily for Vintage French vehicles. The owner of the shop was there, one of their fabricator/restorers and one of the vehicle owners was there. They were testing the vehicles in order to head to Sears Point next week.
I had a chance to chat with the guys for a while when another trailer pulled up and a 1960 Ferrari 250 SWB emerged from the back of the trailer. Wow! Another half million dollars in car just showed up!
I had a chance to chat with the owner for a bit and he was very interested in talking about the car. It sounded as though he did all his own work on the car as well which is definitely pretty cool with a car like that as well.
My day was balanced between spectating the cars and checking in with Dave to see if there was anything I could do to help, but at one point a small blue car rolled up… I had never seen one of these before.
The owner said that it was a British sports car and he even said the name, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was. I do know that it starts with a G and if you can tell me I’d love to know. This car was so small but the lines of the car were beautiful! It made me reconsider my Seven idea and consider building something like this instead!
Out on the track these cars were great to watch as well. Seeing a 1930’s Bugatti mixing it up with some guy in a Corvette that is blowing every turn was just a strange sight to take in. When you see an 80’s camero following a 1950 Talbot Lago Formula 1 car…well that is pretty interesting as well.
It was a fun day out there, unfortunately Dave never got the car running so he had to head home to pull the motor and trans out of his car… Next week hopefully, the evo will be ready to tear it up again!