Well, here are the pics from my trip to the UK... more specifically, my pics from the season opener at Thruxton. Unfortunately, b/c of an early AM flight I wasn't able to go to the actual race so all these pics are from the Saturday practice/qualifying.

First are the pics from the parking lot!

A Lotus Elise


A Lamborghini Countach (the car I lusted after when I was a preteen)



TVR (Griffith I think)


An old MG


There were ton's of Subaru STI's, M3's, CTR's, Rover's, Renault's, Peugeot's, and all the other cool European cars that we (normally) don't get. I have pics of quite a few but am too lazt to post them all up right now

Next we have pics from the pits and paddock:

One of the CTR's in the pits


A close up of the front end/splitter


Under the CTR hood


Closer shot of the engine and CF intake manifold/airbox


Another CTR... check out the cage work and gussetting...


One of the team members working on the front end of the CTR


better shot of the trick CTR front suspension... hey, are those stock brakes!?


shot of the rear CTR suspension... looks like plenty of custom parts there.


Another shot of a CTR's rear suspension


One of the independent teams... a Vauxhall is pitcured but the also run an Alfa


MG in the pits


and under the hood


the pace car for the Renault Clio Cup


Now here are some random shots of the qualifying for BTCC.












If anyone is interested, I also have quite a few shots of the Formula BMW cars in the paddock with their bodywork taken off... some nice pics of suspensions and whatnot.

Lastly, I had a great time at the event and my wife was nice enough to sit through the entire day The weather was hella cold (compared to FL)... it was overcast the entire day, very windy, it misted on and off, and the temp was in the low 40's.
All in all a very good day!

Hope everyone enjoys the pics as much as I enjoyed the trip!

Christian- who is still trying to figure out how to afford living in the UK...


Modified by Xian at 10:27 PM 4/20/2004

 

I was wondering what happened to Mothra after his battle with Godzira on Monster Island !

 

good lord almighty, I was going to say those AP calipers on the ctr are worth more than my whole car, then I saw the rest of the suspension. Crazy.

Aero guys - can anyone comment on why the front end of the ctr doesnt cover the front tires?

 

i would guess to keep them cool. tires have an optimal operating temperature just like brakes or an engine does, and with cars that *ahem,* work the front tires really hard, this could prove useful.

just a guess on my part, any other input?

 

BMW pics please!!!!


-nate

p.s. I like the honda ones too, ha

 

Yeah, I noticed that front air dam/tire trick too. My best guess is tire cooling.
Interesting.

 

Wow, I am amazed how stock these cars are now. Not like they used to be.

 

European type touring cars =

So so so cool...

 

Real nice pics

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">BMW pics please!!!!


-nate

p.s. I like the honda ones too, ha</TD></TR></TABLE>
Later tonight I'll post up the pics that I have of the Formula BMW cars... pretty cool stuff, IMO.

As far as the aero stuff goes on the front of the CTR's, I'd agree that it's for tire cooling. Those cars are seriously moving at Thruxton and I don't even want to think about how much abuse their front tires take... average speed of the top qualifiers was aroun 110mph


Modified by Xian at 9:54 AM 4/21/2004

 

Those pics are a real treat. Thank you.

 

I usually hate to post such mindless replies but...

Those pics are so cool

 

Good stuff Christian! Looks like a badass trip. Nice for the wife to "waste" a whole day at the races.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by siisgood00 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Good stuff Christian! Looks like a badass trip. Nice for the wife to "waste" a whole day at the races. </TD></TR></TABLE>
I'm glad everyone likes the photos... it was a real blast watching the different series run and is a big spur for me to get back on track later this year

It was a really nice trip... we got to visit family, go sight-seeing, hit some pubs, and also catch qualifying. My wife was amazingly easy-going about the race day. It was cold, windy, and damp without a single place for her to hideout Basically, it was pretty good weather by my standards but she froze her *** off

We're going again next year and I'm going to make sure that our schedule allows me to attend the entire race and she can go shopping instead

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Xian &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
It was cold, windy, and damp without a single place for her to hideout</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sounds like a bloody great day for racin'

 

Got more pics? Prefereably pics like the CTR's, that show alot of the shiny stuff that cost alot...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Xian &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> My wife was amazingly . It was cold, windy, and damp without a single place for her to hideout </TD></TR></TABLE>


Forgot why I moved to Florida Don't forget the rain though, glad you had a good time, not as exciting as it use to be, but an experience none the less.

How did you like England?

Notice how there is hardly any police? I noticed you are from Fl aswell so you know where I am coming from.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Duke Togo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was wondering what happened to Mothra after his battle with Godzira on Monster Island !
[/img] </TD></TR></TABLE>

Hahahaha.

CTR: Tire cooling perhaps but it costs them more drag. I always thought that it aids in cooling the brakes and CV's. What about the fact that this gives the splitter a greater amount of surface area to work with making it more effective at speeds.