Forza Amelia - Day One Amelia Island, Daytona, Mt. Dora

No pictures yet... I left my smartmedia reader in seattle! Doh!

Monday.

Left: Dad soaking up some rays.

I am sick as a dog. The cold I caught from Christopher has got me firmly in it's grip. I pack myself with cold medicine and gear up for the day. The first segment is our only timed one of the day. I take the wheel as I don't feel up to navigation duties with my sore throat... navigators do all the talking. The first part goes very smoothly as we follow long stretches of highway south along the coast from Amelia Island. The sun comes out and begins baking us... I've got Industrial Strength Sunscreen on (SPF 45) but you have to remember that I live at 48º N, and the sun seems a lot bigger, closer and hotter at 29º N! We spend the segment zipping about traffic with a few Ferraris. The segment finishes at St. Augustine. The route finding starts getting weird as we get into town, and we lose our way a couple of times. We finally find where the checkpoint is with about 5 minutes to spare. I park in the shade of a tree while we wait for our time to come. Right as our minute comes up complete chaos erupts as several of the Ferraris come flying in, obviously late, of course one of them, a 1966 275 GTB parks itself at the start of the final run... and it becomes obvious to us that they have not done the math right and plan on finishing on "our" minute! Crap. I do my best to squeeze to their left as we pass the finish line. Dad is firmly convinced that we zeroed, but the judges ding us with a 2 second penalty. There is no use arguing with them. Too bad I wasn't driving a beater, as I would have dinged the Ferrari two seconds worth! Oh well.

Left: The yellow Ferrari, hiding behind a blue Corvette.

Dad & I wander about St. Augustine for a while, stop and converse with a few other rallyists, such as David & Paula Fischer. After we have seen a bit we wander back to the car and take the transit stage to Daytona.

Left: St. Augustine, the 'oldest city' in North America.

At Daytona we head for the Racetrack for lunch. They have a nice buffet for us in a private room above the museum there. I suck down about six glasses of water and three glasses of iced tea... hoping to purge myself of this horrible cold. After lunch we take a guided tour of the track in a disney-esque coach. I'm not really a NASCAR fan, so I'm completely unaware of how big the track is. It is gigantic. They are cleaning up after a week of motorcycle racing, so we didn't get to do the whole tour, but it was interesting.

Left: Daytona International Raceway.

As we are preparing to leave I happen to glance up to see a car accident out in the street in front of the track. A blue Mustang rear ending another car. What was amazing was the 'pop' of the airbags deploying was louder than the 'bang' of the two cars colliding. One woman has a bloody nose from her close encounter with an airbag, but other than that everyone seems OK. We head over to the 'Klassix Car Museum' for a quick tour. It is obviously owned by a Corvette enthusiast, since it is filled with mostly 'vettes and other American muscle cars. After that we take a transit stage to Mt. Dora. By now the sun is literally baking me. Thankfully I'm wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and lots of sunscreen, but in my condition it seemed to be sucking the life out of me. When we arrive at the hotel I basically fall into bed and immediately go to sleep. I wake up now and then to drink some water or take some medicine, but I essentially sleep from 5 pm until 7 the next morning. Dad says they had a great dinner in a fantastic restaurant, but I was just too ill to get out of bed. My wife Sue calls and wakes me up at one point... I tell her that I'm sick and she tells me that I should be over it soon (I am the last one in the family to catch this particular bug. She had it a week ago.)

I'm sorry for not updating the website, but given my health, it was the last of my priorities.

Here are some pictures from the day:

High Fives from the guys in the '57 Jaguar XK120 MC... Russell & Jeff Glace.

Nice Lineup at Daytona.

Above & below: Pascal Gademer's 172 E-Type Series III V-12. Pascal is a great guy, he is the webmaster for the Florida Jaguar club, and sends me lots of visitors to my site. Thanks Pascal!

Go to the Next page: Tuesday.

--chuck

or...



		Monday. Left: Dad soaking up some rays. I am sick as a dog. The cold I caught from Christopher has got me firmly in it's grip. I pack myself with cold medicine and gear up for the day. The first segment is our only timed one of the day. I take the wheel as I don't feel up to navigation duties with my sore throat... navigators do all the talking. The first part goes very smoothly as we follow long stretches of highway south along the coast from Amelia Island. The sun comes out and begins baking us... I've got Industrial Strength Sunscreen on (SPF 45) but you have to remember that I live at 48º N, and the sun seems a lot bigger, closer and hotter at 29º N! We spend the segment zipping about traffic with a few Ferraris. The segment finishes at St. Augustine. The route finding starts getting weird as we get into town, and we lose our way a couple of times. We finally find where the checkpoint is with about 5 minutes to spare. I park in the shade of a tree while we wait for our time to come. Right as our minute comes up complete chaos erupts as several of the Ferraris come flying in, obviously late, of course one of them, a 1966 275 GTB parks itself at the start of the final run... and it becomes obvious to us that they have not done the math right and plan on finishing on "our" minute! Crap. I do my best to squeeze to their left as we pass the finish line. Dad is firmly convinced that we zeroed, but the judges ding us with a 2 second penalty. There is no use arguing with them. Too bad I wasn't driving a beater, as I would have dinged the Ferrari two seconds worth! Oh well. Left: The yellow Ferrari, hiding behind a blue Corvette. Dad & I wander about St. Augustine for a while, stop and converse with a few other rallyists, such as David & Paula Fischer. After we have seen a bit we wander back to the car and take the transit stage to Daytona. Left: St. Augustine, the 'oldest city' in North America. At Daytona we head for the Racetrack for lunch. They have a nice buffet for us in a private room above the museum there. I suck down about six glasses of water and three glasses of iced tea... hoping to purge myself of this horrible cold. After lunch we take a guided tour of the track in a disney-esque coach. I'm not really a NASCAR fan, so I'm completely unaware of how big the track is. It is gigantic. They are cleaning up after a week of motorcycle racing, so we didn't get to do the whole tour, but it was interesting. Left: Daytona International Raceway. As we are preparing to leave I happen to glance up to see a car accident out in the street in front of the track. A blue Mustang rear ending another car. What was amazing was the 'pop' of the airbags deploying was louder than the 'bang' of the two cars colliding. One woman has a bloody nose from her close encounter with an airbag, but other than that everyone seems OK. We head over to the 'Klassix Car Museum' for a quick tour. It is obviously owned by a Corvette enthusiast, since it is filled with mostly 'vettes and other American muscle cars. After that we take a transit stage to Mt. Dora. By now the sun is literally baking me. Thankfully I'm wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and lots of sunscreen, but in my condition it seemed to be sucking the life out of me. When we arrive at the hotel I basically fall into bed and immediately go to sleep. I wake up now and then to drink some water or take some medicine, but I essentially sleep from 5 pm until 7 the next morning. Dad says they had a great dinner in a fantastic restaurant, but I was just too ill to get out of bed. My wife Sue calls and wakes me up at one point... I tell her that I'm sick and she tells me that I should be over it soon (I am the last one in the family to catch this particular bug. She had it a week ago.) I'm sorry for not updating the website, but given my health, it was the last of my priorities. Here are some pictures from the day: High Fives from the guys in the '57 Jaguar XK120 MC... Russell & Jeff Glace. Nice Lineup at Daytona. Above & below: Pascal Gademer's 172 E-Type Series III V-12. Pascal is a great guy, he is the webmaster for the Florida Jaguar club, and sends me lots of visitors to my site. Thanks Pascal! Go to the Next page: Tuesday. --chuck
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