1 (edited by GnomeFabTech 2009-05-26 09:06 AM)

Topic: The Gnome's Sophmore Slump!

Wow, what an event.  We got back last night and I took one last look at the battered Geo Metro Gnome as it sits walleyed and backwards on the trailer.  We are really going to have to get busy in the lab to fix all the stuff that got munched at Reno. 

Starting off with a 13 lap smackdown laid on us by Jay we knew this was going to be a tough one.  This caused us to turn up the wick a bit and really Go for Broken.  And broken is what we got.  As our position got more dire we started driving less like the calm, experienced, racers that won at Thunderhill and more like, well, the Sharks.  We also had plenty of good old fashioned bad luck too.  Pit maneuvered in first hour, penalty; brake fire, half hour fix; near rollover and contact, penalty; broken balljoint in the last hour of racing, tow truck; So many penalties.  Two wheels off?  What does that even mean?  Passing under yellow!  Not in our playbook, but some how we did it twice!  About 97% of this was our fault so there is not too much more to say other then we had a fantastic time anyway.  Car was pretty fast and probably could have gotten us in the top ten if we had just driven better.  There was some serious good luck involved in the near rollover.  Never seen anything like that before.

The good news was that there was fun had by all and we all got a ton of quality seat time due to the chicaneless track and local yellow system.  Nice work Jay!  I also want to issue congratulations to the Miatallac team for driving a race the way we should have.  Easy on the penalties and conservative during passing.  Good job.  Also a big thanks to all the other racers who showed up making this a fantastic field of junk.  As always, some terrific rides and really nice people too.

I'll post some apre race pix of the bizarre dents on the roof once I get the car off the trailer.

-Alex

Cars, cameras, and easy living...

Re: The Gnome's Sophmore Slump!

Good meeting you guys formally this year, see you at Buttonwillow?

Re: The Gnome's Sophmore Slump!

I would like to point out that aside from the accident, the Sharks were black flag free.

"This is the scene where I get shot," Bronson said. "I have these little squibs that explode to make it look like bullets are hitting." "Fascinating," said Bergman. "I never knew how they did that." "You mean," asked Bronson, "you don't use machine guns in your movies?"

Re: The Gnome's Sophmore Slump!

The Gnomes had some hard luck. Hope she's full strength in time for Buttonwillow. That way you can fix our emergency electrical problems again. Seriously, thanks for jumping in and lending a hand with our janky killswitch. We'd still be in the pits with a voltmeter like a bunch of monkeys porking a football were it not for you and Tony.

True sportsmen, those Gnomes.

Re: The Gnome's Sophmore Slump!

Well put -- and I wish we had video of the Gnomes barely even bitching when we made them run a slalom course backwards.

They don't have a reverse gear.

They pushed and then just flat out PICKED UP the car to negotiate the cones.

"This is the scene where I get shot," Bronson said. "I have these little squibs that explode to make it look like bullets are hitting." "Fascinating," said Bergman. "I never knew how they did that." "You mean," asked Bronson, "you don't use machine guns in your movies?"

Re: The Gnome's Sophmore Slump!

Judge Jonny wrote:

Well put -- and I wish we had video of the Gnomes barely even bitching when we made them run a slalom course backwards.

They don't have a reverse gear.

They pushed and then just flat out PICKED UP the car to negotiate the cones.

That was frickin' hilarious to watch!  Nice job Gnomes!

Re: The Gnome's Sophmore Slump!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2478/3567074558_1e1e8d8521.jpg?v=0

8 (edited by TellarHK 2009-05-27 08:21 PM)

Re: The Gnome's Sophmore Slump!

That was definitely the most memorable penalty I was lucky enough to witness.  A friend and I were hanging out at HQ chatting with one of the Faster Farms guys, and watched the Gnome's penalty start up.  After watching them bump into the cone, I said - to the people I was standing with "It's a Metro, just pick the damn thing up."

Well, about twenty seconds later, that's just what they did.  I don't know if they heard me, or what, but it just seemed like the logical way to do things given the nature of Lemons and Lemons penalties.

It was my first race, and only as a spectator, but I loved it.  You couldn't get me to come down to Buttonwillow in August, though, but I'm planning on the Arse-Freeze this year.