Post #11,000
9/30/01 1:36:57 PM
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Auto racing
Q. What's more boring than an auto race?
A. Watching the damn race on television. Even televised golf is more interesting.
Who knows how empty the sky is
In the place of a fallen tower.
Who knows how quiet it is in the home
Where a son has not returned.
-- Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966)
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Post #11,001
9/30/01 1:46:02 PM
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Clarification
Do you mean the watery rubbish that masquerades as racing under the names of CART and NASCAR, or do you mean actual racing, as exemplified by F1, the BTCC and GT racing?
If you're talking about the former, I'm in complete agreement.
Peter
Shill For Hire
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
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Post #11,002
9/30/01 1:49:12 PM
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Even some of the latter...
...I find that the F1 broadcasts are becoming more and more boring as well.
And for all of them...there is NOTHING like being there. Going to races, especially road races...is boatloads of fun.
You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! Laurie Anderson
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
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Post #11,011
9/30/01 4:44:10 PM
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Even better - Isle Of Man TT (cycle) races!
(At least I presume that Douglas folk are smart enough not to have let it become fatally Muricanized. Peter?)
Just visiting the beautiful island - is a worthy trip in itself. Seeing the "closest man-machine interface ever invented" up close and personal, is unparalleled in motor sport, IMO. (Short of doing it, natch)
You are (or were, when last I attended) feet! from the riders, not hundreds, can choose your fav spot (Bray Hill?) and stand close enough to actually *see*. I wouldn't attempt the foolishness of 'comparing' the skill-set of cycle piloting VS F1, except to point out that on a 2-wheeler, occasionally airborne - it's a 3D event.
I've never understood why this isn't televised, and from vantage points inaccessible on ground - on even Murican Tee Vee. (No idea what is seen nowadays on UK telly re the IOM)
As to this thread.. yup, b o r i n g - and agreed - at least golf sometimes shows nice views of the countryside and 1:100 -- an utterly Impossible shot magically tunneled via Quantum mechanics, into that little hole... if you have nothing else to do, waiting.
Ashton
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Post #11,107
10/1/01 12:51:03 PM
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heathen, would agree until you said golf!
Watching golf on tv is like taking a dump by proxy.
thanx,
bill
why did god give us a talleywhacker and a trigger finger if he didnt want us to use them?
Randy Wayne White
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Post #11,184
10/1/01 8:58:56 PM
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Hey.. it's the only brain exercise a PHB gets
Keeps him from doin more harm. While he's tryin to figure out what number comes after 9, he isn't orderin upgrades n' Growin the Enterprise.
Why without golf.. you'd be installin' AD all of next year and the next and then --
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Post #11,192
10/1/01 10:07:00 PM
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I'd kick Ashton
but with a small grain of humor, is often truth.
But golf *is* more interesting than racing. Watching a Tiger Woods or even a Jack Niclaus in his decline setting up a putt, and stroking it.... vs. cars running round and round and round and round and round (repeat 400 or 500 times). The only excitement with auto racing is the pit stops and the crashes.
Who knows how empty the sky is
In the place of a fallen tower.
Who knows how quiet it is in the home
Where a son has not returned.
-- Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966)
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Post #11,208
10/2/01 7:24:37 AM
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Hey.. ya won't have Ashton to kick around anymore.
or was that Nixon? I forget.
I'll concede Tiger - almost exciting! How could a human do that kind of physics flawlessly !?
But you are confused if you think Murican 'round in a circle' stuff is other than a Disneyland dumbed-down ersatz form of motor racing.
True road racing, like the Nurburg Ring, Mille Miglia, other European races on actual roads - are nothing like that boring crap. (Dunno how many of the great Euro courses have survived)
A.
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Post #11,209
10/2/01 8:13:52 AM
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grudging teeth gritting admission of possibility
The courses you describe (real roads, with real courses and not 2 or 3 miles of circular ... ah.... mechanical self-mastu um I mean mutilation....) may have more promise than the type of race I usually see on my US television.
Who knows how empty the sky is
In the place of a fallen tower.
Who knows how quiet it is in the home
Where a son has not returned.
-- Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966)
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Post #11,234
10/2/01 10:16:13 AM
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As with anything, rare exceptions
The 1985 Indianapolis 500. Danny Sullivan dueling with Mario Andretti for the last dozen or so laps. Andretti's car clearly outmatched, but blocking Sullivan with a masterful display of driving. Sullivan finally went down onto the apron to pass, spun in front of Andretti at over 180 mph, recovered, and tried the move again on the last (second-to-last?) lap to get the win.
Two hours of dull round-and-round leading up to it, but without a doubt the most exciting finish I've ever seen.
We have to fight the terrorists as if there were no rules and preserve our open society as if there were no terrorists. -- [link|http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/05/opinion/BIO-FRIEDMAN.html|Thomas Friedman]
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Post #11,270
10/2/01 1:31:17 PM
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ya never watched a race with me
every inch of those cars in the 500 miles is closely watched as to shifts, imaginary steering wheel in one hand thirstaid in the other, leans to the curves foot tapping etc.
thanx,
bill
why did god give us a talleywhacker and a trigger finger if he didnt want us to use them?
Randy Wayne White
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Post #11,326
10/2/01 6:42:16 PM
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Ha ha, + I used to do that too
ya never watched a race with me [writes the BOx] every inch of those cars in the 500 miles is closely watched... ObPrescientLrpd, out in the forum page where your headline was the only new one: " Mandatory cayenne enemas would have the same effect." Heh, heh... :-) ...imaginary steering wheel in one hand thirstaid in the other, leans to the curves foot tapping etc. I used to do that when I played my kid sister's Nintendo (Super Mario Bros, Zelda, and a little Tetris, IIRC), years ago... But it didn't help, and they only laughed at me. Christian R. Conrad
The Man Who Knows Fucking Everything
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Post #11,343
10/2/01 8:48:13 PM
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LRPDLives!
What rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs.
Cackle.. Cackle.. Cackle.. Cackle.. Cackle.. Cackle.. Cackle.. Cackle.. Cackle.. Cackle..
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Post #11,340
10/2/01 8:29:23 PM
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24 Heures Du Mans
Its a race, carnival, camping trip, unique experience all in one event. Spots like the Mulsanne Curve (full speed -> slow to a crawl -> 90 degree turn -> full speed) are a blast. Glowing brake rotors at night. Noise! I was lucky enough to go in 1998, 1999, and 2000.
Watching races on TV doesn't hold much interest for me either, but I'd recommend attending a race at least once in a lifetime just for the experience. Try something like the American LeMans series.
[link|http://www.lemans.org/course/acocourse/acocourse/main/une_unelemansseriesgb.shtml|Official LeMans Site]
--
Chris Altmann
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Post #11,342
10/2/01 8:45:07 PM
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Closest I got..
A fine perch all day for Monte Carlo GP. Only hassle - my friend having to 'save' spot for me, as we went on bladder control breaks.
Nothing like these - in any stadium, methinks. Wish I'd caught a Le Mans.. (then there was 1955 + magnesium :(
Ashton
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