Area 53 - 2011 - Photo #34

I'm a little late this week. But here is my photo for the week. I shot this panorama lastnight after the races at FOG Speedway.

Area 53 - 2011 - Photo #18

We finally made it out to the track yesterday for the first time this year. I shot just a handful of photos because we were busy getting our own kart ready for the season. Also, there were only about 10 karts so there wasn't too much action yet.

End of the Season

Monday night was the final points race of the season at the kart track. After four months of racing many drivers were still close in points. I myself was just aiming to keep a spot in the top ten. I haven't seen the final point standings but I figured I ended up tied for 8th out of about 45 karts.


I was happy with my top ten finish in my first year back in a kart in about ten years. Almost all the karts in the top ten had much more horse power then our modest near stock Honda clone 6.5hp engine.


I shot more photos than I usually do on a Monday. I enjoy taking photos at the track but I usually don't have the time to do a lot of photography if there's work to be done on our kart. But this week the kart ran great, and I stayed out of trouble on the track.



As the season went on the word spread about the track and each week more and more spectators showed up. This week there had to be at least 300 people in the audience and that's not including the people in the pits.





After the drivers meeting we had all the drivers assemble on the track for a class photo. I set the 10 second timer and jumped into the photo at the far right.


Now we move to Saturday afternoons until the end of October for fun racing and testing for the 2010 season.

Debris

There was something wrong in the world of racing this last week. Seems there was dangerous debris falling all over the place. First, on July 19th Henry Surtees was killed in an F2 race in England when another car crashed, sending a tire across the track that struck him in the helmet as he raced past. Here is the video for as long as it lasts before Youtube removes it for copyright.


Then during Saturday's Formula One qualifying Felipe Massa was struck in the helmet by a spring from Rubens Barrichello's car. The impact knocked him out sending him straight into a tire barrier and fracturing his skull in at least two places. After being air lifted to the hospital and undergoing emergency surgery he is well underway to recovery. He is expected to walk out of the hospital as early as next week.

I can't seem to find a good version of the video on youtube because they keep taking them down. But of you search for it, I'm sure something will come up.

So I wanted to share a few photos from the Kart track on Monday night. Seems parts just don't want to stay on the cars this week...

A loose side pod that was hit once by another kart.


Another side pod being carried back to the pits by the owner after being torn off the kart.


This wasn't debris related, but just a mildy violent crash that I happened to capture.

No one was hurt in any of these incidents, and I'm not comparing these to the dangers of Formula One racing, but it's still dangerous. After what happened to Henry and Felipe, I immediately cringed when I saw a side pod with a big metal bar in it tumbling down the track with 16 karts racing past.