senor honda

Tonight on the Chevrolet Motorsports Hour, Vauxhalls! I guess GM thought all those young men in the military might want a GM product once they were shipped out. Hey, a Cavalier is a 'Cavalier', right? Except when one's an Opel. And GM still wonders how they badge engineered so many marques around the world into the ground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbUB0Qy-0_E

Hi, Tiff! Yeah, Mr. Needell is here to explain proper motor racing. Later in the broadcast, he even explains to dumb Americans that road racers run in the rain, and shows folks WTF an intermediate and a full wet tire is.

Bonus coverage: Highlights of the previous round at Donnington Park! Commentary includes footage of the Volvo 850 Estate (wagon).

Everyone I knew at the time knew Johnny Cecotto and Derek Warrick. Some also knew David Brabham. I was actually trying to keep racing back then, the names that leap out to me are guys like Rickard Rydell, TIm Harvey, Mr. Radisich, and David Leslie!

Believe it or not, some of here in the US knew who they were. At the time, I was driving SCCA Improved Touring, and I cared about who were the best tin-top guys in the world. Mario said go buy "On Track" magazine, and I did. So did about 70% of the guys I was on the grid with. And my friends buying Tamiya 1/10 RC were curious when they discovered the models were of real cars..

I should also mention that shows like this helped me explain stuff to my non-racing people. I'd point to it and say, "This is the professional version of the same kind of racing I do". Suddenly, they understood. Even stick-and-ball fans realized I was in a summer softball league, instead of trying to get into Major League Baseball, once they had a clue about my sport. That might actually explain why I never recorded over this tape!

As far as the races themselves, I can't really crack 'play-by-play" descriptions this time. It's such a mess when it starts raining that I lost track of who was on or off the circuit.

I have to ask what on earth TWR was thinking, though. No defrost (demist) in a tin-top? I mean..yeah, getting rid of weight is a good thing - but if the damn cars are supposed to be modified street cars in the first place, why not retain it? Oh well. Perhaps my own club class had minimum weights so high that it wasn't even worth unplugging the heater core. I *do* recall that some of my fellow racers' cars were so old that they couldn't find a core without a leak. And they cursed. Golf Mk.1 past RX-3, just because I could see.

I have to admit..I'm pretty stoked that I can now actually pretend to drive on that circuit on the damn video games these days.