Sunday, October 30, 2011

The Dingo Races at Prairie City

This past weekend was the last race of the season for VORRA. The Dingo has been in first place for the entire season, mainly because we've been consistant in showing up to all of the races and we always finish (which is actually a big deal)! We finished the season with first place in Class 11. Yay!

VORRA Prairie City
Romy is ready to get in the car for the first moto of the day as co-driver.

VORRA Prairie City
These are the pits where everybody lives for the weekend. Lots of VWs in our pit!

VORRA Prairie City
Romy is getting strapped in the car before one of the races.

The race this weekend was a double header. Two full days of racing plus three fun races at the end. We came in the bus so that the camping would be more comfy. Since the race was a short track, we were able to sit in bleacher style seats and watch the cars race around the whole track. In the desert races, the tracks are many many miles long and go off in the mountains. You basically never get to see the cars except when they pull into the pits. It was fun to watch all the big trucks. We were the only Class 11 to race this weekend, so when we were "racing" they put us with other classes. Mainly other classes with VW air-cooled engines and funny looking Suzuki things. Romy got to be the driver for two of the 6 motos. He was co-driver for two others. I got to be co-driver for the 4th moto with Bob as the driver, and it was so much fun! It really feels like you're going super fast, but really you're not! Its just because you're going off road, ripping through all the bumps, skidding around in the muddy sections, and going over jumps. Nothing too bad happened to the baja except a weird persistent oil leak from one or sometimes both valve covers. Towards the end of the races, one of the drivers, Dave, overheated the engine by driving the car after the alternator belt popped off. The engine didn't sound very good after that, but it was the last race. Lots of work ahead in getting ready for the next season!

VORRA Prairie City
I look so funny in the racing suit and helmet. I look like a little kid!

VORRA Prairie City
Packing up the Dingo to take it back home (which is the Santa Cruz Mountains, south of the Bay Area).

Lynda brought her hula hoops which she made out of irrigation tubing. She taught me how to hula hoop and it was so much fun and totally addicting. Especially when the super decked out team next to us in the pits started blasting music. They were all drunk watching us hula hoop. We had a mini audience. Lynda gave me a hula hoop to take home. I got Romy addicted to it too! Watch out Burning Man 2012! Saturday night was a lot of fun because Bob brought an old drum out of a washing machine and it became our fire pit. The tiny holes punched in the drum looked so cool as the flames made them glow all crazy. Best fire pit ever. We told a scary story around the campfire, since it was right before Halloween. It was the kind of story where one person adds a sentence, and then passes it on to the next person. The story turned out really funny. One guy kept changing the weather every time it was his turn!


A video of Romy getting strapped in the Dingo for the 5th moto.