YouTube video of Ron at the Flats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUPjXe5Y57g
Here's a link to some Video of Ron being pushed off at the start line by Chuck and Joe.

Day Trip while waiting for the flats to dry

Instead of sitting around feeding the slot machines we dediced to pack up and head for Bryce Canyon, figuring it was the closest thing to see within a days driving distance. We got there near dusk and found a camping spot just inside the park. We made supper on the grill and sat around the fire afterword, burning the dry as a bone firewood Chuck bought from the campground attendant.

It was a cool (downright cold) night and I woke up at 2am to stretch outside the camper. It's true that you can see many more stars at night and I wish I'd taken a few pictures. But it was a beautiful campground and the scenery was other worldly.

In the morning we packed up and toured much of the rest of the park where most of the following photographs were taken. Like everyone else we wished we'd had more time to spend there. Maybe someday.

Slideshow with Announcer audio

This slideshow has audio taken from the track during one of Ron's runs, along with some photos.

Some Random Photos at the Flats

Kathy finds the shade.












Let 'er rip !







Ohio State hydrogen fuel cell car readies for their run.








OSU pushing off.














Tight squeeze.












Waiting in line.













Team Austin streamliner









Kawasaki 1400









???







The guys talk it over.












RC 51 just like my brothers. Well almost.

We'd been waiting at least 15 minutes for the track to be ready for Ron's run. Once he got the ok, he took off so fast we barely had time to ready the camera.

Video from the Flats

This is the first run on Friday and one of the runs needed to aquire a license. No nitrous used.

What sounds like the engine missing is not. For some reason I was dropping frames and getting poor quality when downloading the video from the camera. Don't know why this was happening. You can also hear a generator running in the background in some shots.

First run using the nitrous bottle. You can hear the revs go up on the bike after it passes by and nears the third mile. It was also extremely hard to keep Ron in frame. The sun made it difficult to see the viewfinder and we decided to try and use the digital zoom in order to get a closer shot. Excuses... excuses...

Jerome shot this video since almost everyone else was either at the start or finishing lines. The audio is really interesting. If you turn it up you can hear the motor sputter and fail shortly after passing by and everyones comments as it does.

Ron says "Bummer, man!" when coming back from the first run on the nitrous, when the bike actually ran slower than it did without it.

At the starting line waiting to run. Talkin to The Man.

Finally at the Track

We finally had a day where the weather allowed us to get on the track. Although there was still standing water near the entrance, we were able to drive through it and make our way to the pit area.
We arrived before sun up and were able to see the sun rise over the track. It was cool but would not remain so for long once the sun was up and beating down. There was a nice breeze and the weather was great if you were in the shade. But the glare of the salt made it hard to stay focused when taking photographs. Straw hats and bottles of water are mandatory.
Ron was able to make 4 runs for the day and 1 run the day before when the track opened late for a few hours. He was able to qualify for his license but Jerry didn't run the bike since time was short as we lost a few days of track time due to the rain that almost caused the cancellation of the event.
The first 2 runs were great, with the bike pulling hard without the nitrous. On the first nitrous run, the bike actually ran a few mph slower. Once the nitrous kicked in, revs went up and caused some tire spin.
On the final run the motor blew about half way down the track and Ron was forced to pull off the track and coast to a stop. Everyone involved was disappointed and talk of coming back next year to try it again began.

Flat and Wet

We've been waiting for a couple of days for the flats to drain. The bike passed tech inspection on the second try when they fabricated a cage with several metal straps to hold the nitrous tank and cover the fittings on the bottle.

Here are some photos of the track and the guys working on the bike. Since we had some time to kill, we drove down to Bryce Canyon yesterday and spent the night at the Red Canyon campground. I'll try and get some photos off the camera and put them up asap..

But hopefully we should get some much better photos finally at the track most of the day tomorrow and we'll update when we can.