allure of the automobile

a taste of Southern Hospitality

Southern hospitality is a phrase used in American English to describe the generalization that residents of the Southern United States are particularly warm and welcoming to visitors to their homes, or to the South in general....and last weekend, i had a taste of that and bucket loads of that !!

Rodney Jacobs, my Manager where I work lives in a 25 acre property which is actually in the middle of nowhere. yupp. its woods everywhere and plonk in the center is the house.

He had been talking about his fishing trips and all the hunting and generally about the things he keeps doing. I just mentioned that I need to see his house. and guess what, there came up the plan to meet at his place for dinner. he asked if i was ok with that plan..hell ya...what better job do i even have on a saturday in a lazy town. 

So I picked up a bottle of white wine and drove down to his place which is 18 miles away from where I live. pulled into the mudpath which is his driveway only to get jolted by a speeding go kart.WTF. It was Rodney with his characteristic smile who just did his levels best to scare me. Then he sped along and took me to his home. 

now his house is something everybody will like. a complete resort of sorts. calm, silent,serene, no noisy neighbours, no traffic noise. cool climes. swimming pool to dip in, pool table, gym etc.

phew..when i'm still soaking all this , Rodney suggests we tour his property. I thought we'd be walking in the thick woods but no..hes got other plans. go kart !! 

this machine (made by Maxxam)  is monstrous I tell you. very very torquey. those tyres will grab anything like a leech. awesome grip. that roll cage ensures no branches come and hit you in the face. We then blasted across the woods. and then, after the tour is over with, its time to see more of the go karts capabilities. we go across the highway to a mud road and thats where it shows different colors. Rodney goes drifting in it and powersliding et all. it was just awesome and I could not have gotten enough of it. 

after all  this adrenaline rush, we went back to his home and picked up his truck with his boat tagging along and went to a creek where we would get the boat into the creek and then into the river.The flint river. The river looked rather dirty but i was told it is muddy coz of the rains.

The boat was a Grumman fishing boat with a 50hp Mercury marine engine. Now, down here, they take fishing very seriously. after a car and a truck , boat is the next valid important investment of these southerners. Various types of boats are available depending on the purpose of usage. this was a fishing boat whose purpose is to just cruise around the river/lake and get perched up in some corner from where one would fish. does that mean this is slow? no way..this is quite fast too.fast enough to be lethal. lethal coz this boat cannot handle the big waves that get generated as 'wake' caused by other boats. 

the other types of commonly bought boats are the water skiing boats which are rather fast and have wider hulls to handle wake and cut thru them coz skiing needs speed. 

yet another type is called pontoons. these are not hull based design. they have two huge air filled  long tube on which a flat body is attached. this is made for a relaxing cruise around the lake/river. it usually has a big sofa and a bed for sun bathing too. its a lounge mobile of sorts. seen people make a barbeque while on a pontoon. 
The ways of having fun. 
enough of digressing. by now, we had got our boat into the creek (which is more like a cross road) which leads into the river. I was taken aback by the vast number of people who drive up in their RV (campers) along with boats, park alongside the river on timeshare properties and just lounge around. its their fave activity. we then reach the river. interestingly, these guys don't use the river haphazardly. they use all their road manners on rivers too. LHD. yupp. they ride along on the right side of the river with oncoming boats to the left. I like that kinda sense and sensibility. River is where all the action is. this is where i see all kinds of people water skiing, jet skiing or lounging around on pontoons. some people even dock on the side and go swimming and diving. all this in a river which has alligators. wow. the 2nd last creation of GOD that I'd like to avoid at all costs. snakes take the 1st place. 

this river feeds into a lake called lake Blackshear  and we rode the boat till the lake and turned around at the marina. the marina is like a big parking lot of sorts for boats. there is a small man made beach of sorts out there, a club a resort etc to hang around. We then turned around to get back to the creek where we started out from. passed by many such creeks. now this creeks also serve for stopovers for people to buy stuff for fishing and stuff for fishermen..mostly beer and fuel. Returned to home base and in time to start cooking.Rodney made fish fry and french fries and coleslaw. after a sumptuous dinner with wine,we went around and toured his touring bus.it is  a fantastic ride to have. it is perfect to go holidaying in with place for 6 people.its got a refridgerator, microwave, 2 Audio video setups (for the front and rear lounges), dining tables,shower , toilets and a place for six people to sleep and closets,

  Rodney pops a surprise. takes me to the truck we've been riding in and opens to rear door. HOLY QUAKERMOLY !! there were a dozen guns in the back !! all types of them. pistols to rifles to shot guns...

phew. that sight was something else. but then, thats not the whole deal. we went target shooting !! He lives in the woods and has no neighbours to worry about. Him and I started shooting at a Target. I got to fire from all the guns he had and boy was it fun. It is really not that bad to focus on a target. i did not hit the bulls eye but i got close. all that from a novice. the best of them all was the 12 gauge shot gun. the target board would not serve the purpose. he had a spare plastic hood of a lawnmower. set that up and he fired once. half the hood gone. then it was my turn. to my surprise, i blew it to pieces. man..i could not believe it. guess what, i think i'm hooked onto it. I may go back for more shooting soon. I'll have to buy ammunition though. 
after it got dark, went back home for desserts and then after chatting around for a lil while longer, ended my day.got back home.phew what a day.

see picture slideshow below

Formula Drift 2010 @ Road Atlanta

 was always curious about Drifting and had seen enough and more videos but when i got a chance to see it, there was no way in hell that I'd miss it. 

Drifting refers to a driving technique and to a motorsport where the driver intentionally oversteers, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels through turns, while maintaining vehicle control and a high exit speed. A car is said to be drifting when the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle prior to the corner apex, and the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa), and the driver is controlling these factors. 

the above is obviously not the stuff that i can type out. pulled it out from Wikipedia. 

Formula Drift is a championship which is held nationwide and features some top notch teams and privateers. its very much like INRC that we have. privateers who impress the sponsors get sponsorship deals. Need For Speed did sponsor one such privateer. 

enough of digressing. This event that i went to was held at  Road Atlanta which is a motorsports park. 

they have a calendar of events covering all types of track races. This is known to be one of the best racetracks too (they claim). The days events actually started in the noon with free practice for all participants starting at 2pm. I planned my travel such that I'd reach there by 1pm just so i could get to see these cars up close. I parked up and walked towards the Paddock/Pits area.passed by some nice cars on my way...

went ahead to the Paddock area where all the participating cars were being worked upon. I wanted to get a close up look at these cars coz there has to be something magically different in these cars to make them go sideways.Just as i entered, my attention went towards to the far corner of the area where i saw tyre smoke and rumbling V8's. it was the dodge stall !!

and those V8's rumbling were Challengers and Chargers in SRT 8 HEMI's. they were drifting in a track made specially by Dodge. this had nothing to do with the actual competition. stood and watched it for a while and then i saw this..a board which said FREE THRILL RIDES .
  
oh yes. thats when i realized that the passenger seat was part of the thrill ride on these drifting 425HP V8's. left the rest of my paddock visit to air and got in line for this ride of a lifetime.this is where my eyes where stuck on all through the wait for my turn. 

and when my turn did come, what a ride it turned out to be..watch this video and esp the 2nd half which is just phenomenal. must watch

guess what , i got greedy and went again  :) while i was waiting for my 2nd turn, this is what this guy with the charger did...he did this super awesome burnout...!!

after all this adrenaline rush, i went to the track coz the knockout session had already begun.i walked up to the viewing area and marked up my space. it was gonna be at the spot where i could get as close to the cars as possible at a turning. no zoom zoom on my camera (busted). 

and then it happened..the 350Z ,which was fitted with a V8, that was on the track cracked its gearbox and went
around spewing oil all over the track.

so now come the cleaning squad. its a long process with a truck dragging along a bag of ash and some other stuff that absorbs oil. then a tractor comes with a huge blower which blows off all the dust and all the debris. after this brief disruption came the action !! ..this is an event worth visiting and guess what,it only gets better after you know the rules. i understood that well enough to know whats going on.

the race eventually resumed.

phew.the knockout session was incredible. watch my video coverage of the race.

a video of the line up and launch



Don't forget to watch the picture slideshow below  

discussions @
http://gearheads.in/track-racing-track-days/formula-drift-road-atlanta-t1897.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/intl-motorsport/81138-formula-drift-drifting-championship-i-there.html