I always forget about these "trackside" threads, so thanks for the reminder in the official thread.
You guys are kewl, so fun to read about how excited you get for the race. Man, I just wish I could get over my butt-hurtedness since the P1s were told to play elsewhere, I really need to get over that. I used to look forward to Petit for 364 days of the year! I guess that's one (the only one) reason to actually talk people out of going to Le Mans, you get spoiled.
I'll look for you guys on Saturday, I'll just be down for race day. I think seanyb505 (Sean, I think that is his username), madkart (Christian) and his dad, our friend Colby and his wife will all be in our crew.
Plus I'm still doing my part and have invited someone who has never been to a sports car race to come with us, my AC guy (don't ask, that stupid thing has had gremlins in it lately) and his friends have bought their tickets for their first sports car race and trip to Road Atlanta. In my garage I have floor to ceiling on all three walls (I guess I could start on the inside of the garage door itself next) all of the hero cards and signed posters from years of going to the races. So I walked the AC guy through my garage to get to the unit that is a thorn in my side and he sees the prototypes and is like, wow, what the heck is that?! And I start telling him about them and he can't believe that they go to this track just 90 minutes away. (Of course I don't mention my P1 butt-hurtedness to him, ignorance will be his bliss).
This thread reminds me of the friends I have made going to Sebring over the years and how big our crew has gotten down there. We actually have a compound now on the inside of the hairpin. Last year we were at least 40 large in our group. What's great is that we get down there on Wednesday and each sub-group is responsible for one meal, so once you get your one meal to make for the group out of the way you just spend the rest of the week having food put in your face. And now everyone is trying to outdo one another so you end up with some gourmet stuff. This year my contribution was two mega charcuterie boards as well as pork rillettes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rillettes
At the ten tenths gathering at Le Mans two years ago the lovely Eric (bat mobile as he is known in our circles) brought some as they are a local specialty. Let's just say that they look very different than what most people are interested in eating as they are literally cased in layer upon layer of fat. But, they taste amazing. So I was a bit worried that this investment of time (they take a good five days to make) and money spent on making them myself would go to waste as no one would want to eat them. In fact it turns out that they are excellent drunk food and were gone in minutes! Interesting side note about the rillettes: I was standing trackside there at Sebring with my shirt off (it gets hot, don't judge me) and I saw this guy that had what I thought to be a cool shirt on. I asked him about his shirt and he replied back with an accent that he didn't understand what I was saying. I asked him if he was French and he replied in the affirmative. I then asked him where he was from in France and he pointed to the tattoo on the side of my stomach (yes, I have a tattoo of the Circuit de la Sarthe, I am that hardcore!) and pointed to Arnage corner. He tells me then that this is the first trip to the US for his friend and him. So then in my drunkeness (again, don't judge me this is Sebring we are talking about) I insist that he comes to our campsite for a beer. Him and his friend did and also tried my rillettes and claimed that they were right up there with the best that he'd ever had! Maybe some day I'll have to make them and bring them to Petit (or The Mitty which is quickly gaining traction as my favorite event at Road Atlanta).
Holy smokes I think I just wrote a novel. Amen to you if you read all of that and I apologize in advance for wasting that much time from your life.
