The pits of life...

Hey Gang...back again, and it only took me a year.
I've been busy building my collection in automobilia and have a bunch of new old stuff to present over the next few months...so hopefully I can keep going with this.

Meet Guiseppe.


Guiseppe is my name I've given to the pit crew member from the Jim Bamber Collection.

 "Jim Bamber is one of the World`s leading motorsport cartoonists. His work is featured in many motorsport publications internationally but, in particular, it is in every edition of Autosport magazine in the UK.

Jim has used the same simple, plain-faced character in almost all of his cartoons and it has become his trade-mark over the years. It forms the core of The Jim Bamber Collection of racing cars, figures and accessory products, that Jim has designed for collectors and for the general gift market.

A donation is paid to The Grand Prix Mechanics Charitable Trust on all F1 team related product sales and Jim is grateful to all the featured teams for their kind support."

 

A great collection of stuff that I would love to add and for a great cause as well.

My second item I wanted to present clarified something from when I was a kid.  When I was growing up I wanted to be a racecar driver in the worst way, but if I couldn't do that I really wanted to be one of the guys working in the pits.  That of course never happened, but I stumbled across a book at a used book sale that I just had to add.

  "The Mechanic's Tale" by Steve Matchett was an amazing insight into a young mans journey into the inside of the Formula 1 world...a fabulous read for the auto racing junkie like me.  His website stevematchett.com adds so much more detail to how his life has change since leaving the F1 pitlane, but never straying too far from it.

2012 Resolution - To get back at this.

So it has been awhile, but my goal this year is to get back to this, but maybe on a monthly basis.

Preparing a new post to follow shortly.

Mark

Racing...one building block at a time.

OK...so my son has been on my case to get back to this after a few months off...so much stuff and so little time.  With his continueous proding, I thought why not to do something about racing and my collection where he has been involved.

Who has never played with Lego?, put up their hand...and of courses I don't see any hands up.

Well my son absolutely loved Lego...and still does or course, just like his Dad and I still love to let my mind go crazy as I just build stuff from scratch.  My son though enjoys following the directions, the harder the better.  Sure his frustration boils over, but he always gets it in the long run.  A few years ago he came across a Ferrari F1 Lego and just had to get it for Dad for Christmas.

He spent a few hours on it, but came through and presented me with my gift.  So it went downstairs and was added to my collection.
The following year my son found another Ferrari F1 pit crew set...and throught "What a great gift for Dad".

Again, a few hours later he called me to come take a look at my gift and it too went down to a spot amongst my collection.

Then I finally had a thought...hey he keeps building my gifts and I keep missing on the fun to build it.  So I decided to go out and find something that I could do.  I searched high and low and found a racing Transport truck and car from Mega Blocks...a company very similar the Lego.  I had it for a few weeks and tried to build it, but gave up as it was missing a piece or I just couldn't follow the instructions.  My son pulled it out one day, and over a week he put it all together...and it too has a spot downstairs now.

So finally we have come to the last gift to me from my son...again another Ferrari F1...of course!!!

This one was a little different.  Of course my son put it together, but this time once it was done, I went and rebuilt it changing the suspension points and the rear cowling.

I love it that we can work together on this passion of mine.  He keeps getting to build them, and I keep adding to my collection.  I know there is more out there, and look forward to see what he has in store for me.

My Bucket List - Part 1

A year or two ago I watched a movie called "The Bucket List", starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.  If you haven't seen it, a quick outline.  One of the characters has a terminal illness and he doesn't have much time...so he makes a list of all the things he wants to do before he dies.  So Jack and his new friend set off to do them all...or as much as they can before the movie ends...it really was a great movie.

This got me thinking, and I immediately started my own "Bucket List".  One of the things that I would absolutely love to do would be to go and see the "24hours of Lemans" in Lemans France.

I'm told that you can walk the entire circuit over the weekend, and would definitely see if I could stay up for the whole thing.  A number of years ago my wife and I took a trip through Europe, didn't see any races, but I absolutley loved it over there.

With this bucketlist in mind, and with a bunch of free time over this holiday, I had to break out one of my favourite movies "Lemans" starring the late Steve Mcqueen.

I will tell you right now...if you are not a racing fan, this movie can seem really really slow...I think the first word is spoken 10 or 15 minutes into the movie and throughout the movie verbal communicaton is hard to find, but you know exacty what each character is thinking without saying it.  It is a must have for any racing fan in their dvd collection.







I'm also on the lookout for a "Lemans" movie poster...as it would look great in my man cave.

Merry Christmas...so where is my racing stuff??

It seems each year "Santa" always leaves a little something in my stocking.  One of my favourite magazines is called "F1 Racing" F1 Racing Magazine .

This magazine is stuffed full of insight into the world of Formula 1 racing, with tons of pictures, interviews, technical breakdowns, etc.  Where I am, this magazine seems to be really hard to track down and at about $10.00 per issue I don't buy that many throughout the year, but the ones I do I keep in my collection dating back a number of years....so "Santa" keep them coming!!

It's also really nice to have a spouse that appreciates one of your passions...she may not be near as passionate about it, but she understands that I love this sport and when she hears the names Mika, Gerhard, and Gillies she also knows they are race car drivers as well.  A number of years ago while checking out a local collectors store in Vancouver called Wilkinson's Automobilia I came across a 1/18 scale of Mauricio Gugelmin's reynard car with custom sponsor decals on it.  I had to tell my wife about it, and low and behold...a couple of months later it appeared under the tree...what I nice gift for this race fan!!

This car was released by Action Diecast back in early 2000 and depicted a number of cars in the CART Racing Series.  In most cases when a cigarette company sponsors something like this, the cars were released with generic decals, but some hardcore guys alter them back to look as close to the real car as possible.  The guys over at Chapparrels Diecast are artists at this type of stuff...but they take it so much further...they are awesome!!!  At the Vancouver race I often tried to hunt Mauricio down, but was never able to get him to autograph the car.

ART ATTACK!!!!!

As a very young kid, I always wanted cars on my walls and it didn't matter if it was the hotwheels wallpaper I had as a kid, the cut out racing pictures from magazines, or the racing posters that friends and family would give me as gifts...I just always wanted to go to bed seeing racing cars and then wake up seeing racing cars.

A few years ago I was a regular forum contributor on a website called crapwagon.com...it was also known as champcarfanatic.com.  A great group of people that were hardcore fans of Champcar racing and everything that it entailed, plus a rather large angst/hate towards Tony George and what he did to American openwheel racing.(long story with many points of view).  On these forums I have been lucky enough to meet many many people deeply involved in autoracing...drivers. team owners, support staff, and even management.  One of these individuals was a gentleman with a job that I would love to have, but would probably takes years to fully comprehend...Jim Swintal.

Above is Jim welcoming home Paul Tracy at the Champcar race in Mexico City back in 2003.

Jim has been involve in autoracing for many years, holding various positions with many many organizations  He is currently involved in Race Control for the  IZOD IndyCar Series and also Marshalls Communicator for IMSA.

A very interesting job in itself, but he also an incredible talent with his hobby as an artist.  If you have a racing fan in your family, you may want to check out his website Jim Swintal Website, amazing stuff!!

I have been able to acquire a number of his prints over the years and one of my favourites is shown below.  Justin Wilson in his pitstop titled "The Right Service. Right Away".

Along with this print, Jim also sent me a print commemorating Dyson Racing's 25 Years of involvement in ALMS and Grand-Am Racing...now how did he know my son's name is Dyson???

As the years have gone by I have checked out his website on a regular basis, as well as his blog On Course for the inside information..and even post the odd time on his facebook wall.  A good friend with an amazing job...and an amazing talent. 

Meet & Greet

When the Vancouver Molson Indy race started in Vancouver, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The sights and sounds were in my own back yard and no longer just on TV. Back during those years, my uncle worked for a television station and was given tickets each year, but unfortunatly or fortunately he was unable to attend.  So each year he gave the tickets to me.  What an experience!! I was usually there when the gates opened and would leave when the sweepers and cleanup crew would kick me out.  Over the many many years that I went, I would gain countless opportunities to meet some of my heros, and in some cases spend a few moments with them, and I always had this white binder with me.

This binder held all my photos and autograph cards, and throughout the years it  seemed  that I would run into someone without any warning, so I would simply have them sign the binder.

The autograph above is of one of the all time greats "Mario Andretti".  The day was coming to an end and it just started to pour rain, so I ran for cover under an awning.  I thought I was all by myself, but when I turned around Mario Andretti was trying to keep dry as well.  We chatted for a few minutes waiting for the rain to ease and asked him to sign the binder...very cool moment and a very cool guy.

The autograph above is from the Brazilian, Cristiano da Matta during his very first year in the CART Racing Series.  I was making one last pass of the trailers in the paddock area, when a small grundgy looking kid walked out of a trailer wearing baggy clothes.  Carrying a backpack and wearing a baseball cap pulled down tight, I knew it was Cristiano.  I didn't want to be the first one to approach him, so I followed him down the lane.  He would stop for a few moments at each paddock sight to take a quick look at the other teams and their preparations.  After seeing dozens and dozens of people not noticing who he was, I finally walked up to him stood beside him for a minute, then wished him good luck in the race.  He glanced at me and saw that I had the binder, a sharpie pen and a few autographies on it.  He reached over, surveyed the autographies with a smile and then signed it right beside Mario's autograph....no one else saw him do this.  He gave me back my pen and binder and then slowly continued his walk down the paddock lane...and I never saw anyone approach him until he was into the tunnel and away from the public.  That kid went on to win many races, the Champcar Championship, and eventually made his way all the way to Formula 1 with the Toyota Motorsports Team.

Other drivers that signed the binder are:
Jan Magnussun -  former Formula 1 & CART driver, currently in Lemans endurance racing
PJ Jones - former CART/Indy driver and American Lemans Endurance racing
Dario Franchetti - former Champcar & Nascar driver, and current 3-time Indycar Champion
Scott Pruett - former CART and Nascar driver, currently racing in the Grand-Am Racing Series
Gil de Ferran - 2-time Champcar Champion and Indy 500 winner, currently team owner and racing in the American Lemans Series.
Juan Pablo Montoya - former CART champion, Indy 500 winner, Formula 1 winner, and currently races in the Nascar Racing Series

And there is still more room on the binder....