buckle-up

Finally, the weather has turned, and it’s a return to backyard BBQs – two to date with more planned. The grass has greened a lot, but we are still waiting for the trees to blossom. Alas, with the heavy spring snowfalls of the past three weeks, the buds looked burnt, so I am not sure what we will see. Perhaps nothing at all! Ouch -- and we look forward every year to the snowberries that look so cool even as they festoon our driveway with the remains of their small white flowers. We were making plans for   our 2013 track events well in advance – the idea was to mark our calendars and plan other activities around them, so that when we get the chance to drive fast and meet with our friends and business colleagues, we can do so without affecting other plans and obligations. It worked well in the past few years,   and   we were able to carve out time to play. Not so much this year … …. In the fall of 2012, our daughter invited us to lunch. This is not something we had ...

It was a little over a week ago that I truly believed spring had arrived. Out of the garage came the roadster, with its ragtop folder out of sight, and the motorcycle. Under a bright blue sky we found time to take a drive through the mountains followed by a quick trip along familiar back-roads on the bike. The smells, the temperature, familiar noises of spring – yes, spring had finally arrived. The picture above was snapped just after I returned on the bike, and it’s clear to me that I need to wash and polish both, the car and the bike. Missing from the picture is Margo’s bike, which I also rode and now it too has to be cleaned, but it’s not altogether clear to me that there’s any further interest by Margo in adventures on her bike. After a nasty spill the year before, that took an inordinate amount of time to heal, she isn’t all that keen to step back on the bike, despite the wonderful set of leathers she has. Something about it being not the grandmotherly thing to do – althou...

We were all ready to take the car to the track; our first outing in 2013, car all prepped, the Pyalla Command Center (our motor home) all filled with food and drinks, but then I found out that my son-in-law had a commitment and would not be home Saturday night. The important part was that my Granddaughter, Ella, is about to arrive – there are still three weeks left to the doctor’s estimated due date, but baby is growing fast and by my own estimate could decide to arrive at any moment. I find it very strange that not only do we know that it is a girl, we know her name, and we know what she looks like! Same time of year, some years ago, I was waiting for my child to arrive – she did, April 27, and only then did I find out she’s a girl! Technology has advanced … so, here is Ella, captured just a few months ago: Yes, I have always been an overprotective mother, so why should I change now? It wasn’t even a choice; of course I stayed to keep an eye on my very pregnant daughter an...

From the very first time my Australian former colleague, Terry Bishop, turned up the volume to “Opportunities”, a song by UK group, Pet Shop Boys, the lyrics are never far from my mind. Terry and I were working in Raleigh, North Carolina, and it was 1986 and we were both coming to terms with working in America. The company was a start-up, and so expectations were high that something promising would happen. The chorus to this song featured the lines: I've got the brains, you've got the looks Let's make lots of money You've got the brawn, I've got the brains Let's make lots of money Anyone who gave either Terry or me a quick look would quickly conclude that there was a possibility that we both had brains; looks? Not so much! And I will leave further comments to others more qualified. Fast-forward, many decades, and this tune made it into the playlists of both Margo and myself and now is determining which one of us has the looks and which the ...

As predicted in the last post, this month saw Margo and me on the road again. Work we left unfinished back in January still awaited us, and this necessitated a return trip to the Bay and to Silicon Valley. While those we met were clearly over their colds we unfortunately managed to fall victims to yet a second strain of flu – our previous illness had clearly started with us both catching a cold, but this time, running a fever and exhibiting a couple of other symptoms, it was definitely a case of the flu and more than likely, one of the bad Sydney strains that had worked its way to the US via the UK, we were to later find out. Being under the weather as we were hasn’t dampened our enthusiasm for jumping back into the SUV having put together a two week business-focused program. Not for one minute did we regret it as we get a kick out of winter driving despite the challenges the highways present at this time of year. Our journey would take us to the Bay before turning southeast for...

There was no RV this time just as there was no racecar in tow. The sports cars and roadsters were all feeding from trickle chargers, more or less leaving the garage spaces a web of crisscrossed power chords. Snow had already fallen, more than once, in Boulder and with the onset of the holiday season, temperatures had fallen. As expected. Winter was an undeniable presence and somehow, even as we took the occasional side-glance at the winter landscape surrounding us, we were already getting a little stir-crazy. It was time, after all, to get back on the road again and as the picture above depicts, this is always an occasion to pull out the maps and shake a much needed martini. Business necessitated a weeklong trip to the Bay area and to Palo Alto. We had elected to spend the days following Christmas in Palm Desert, so all that was required of us was to head west, through Los Angeles, and then a run up through the San Joaquin valley, cutting across to Gilroy before pulling further ...

When I wrote my final post for 2011 “ Memories? Fuggedaboutit! ”, you could be forgiven if you came away thinking I was about ready to give up on track weekends. After all, we had a dismal run of luck and as much as we prepared for every event, it turned out to be nothing but one frustrating session after another. However, as we really looked under the hood of our wonderful, supercharged Corvette – the C6 Z51 “auto” coupe, the more we came to realize that, perhaps, this wasn’t going to be the car that would allow us to progress any further. While we had tamed it somewhat and pulled horsepower and torque back from earlier levels, even at the altitude where we most often ran, it still wasn’t a satisfying car with which to tackle track days. The picture above? From a tuning day, just as 2011 came to an end. Today, the C6 ‘Vette, or Big Blue, as we fondly refer to it, has undergone a remarkable transformation under the watchful supervision of Curt at Corvette Spa, in nearby Longmo...