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Post by robmarsh on Feb 4, 2018 18:08:54 GMT
This is such a great forum. I have learnt so much stuff I didn't know before about ethanol, bridges, motorbikes etc. It is better and quicker than having to buy all the books. I think it is wonderful the way a conversation that started with the sad passing of Dan Gurney can add so many other interesting facts. In a way an excellent tribute to the man himself. Long may this expanding of our knowledge bases continue. Thank you gentlemen.
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Post by Carl on Feb 4, 2018 20:54:42 GMT
Pont de Normandie, Honfleur. Same designer as Millau. Wonderful bridge. Great ingenuity of design! A beautiful earthly application for heavenly harps. |
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Post by charleselan on Feb 4, 2018 21:09:05 GMT
Hopefully this will show one of the many videos available of someone travelling across the Pont de Normandie.
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Post by Carl on Feb 4, 2018 21:24:04 GMT
John Charles, Thanks for a very cool video of this beautiful span! Warning signs and a windsock inform about possible strong winds and the cable stays are properly hefty. The singer is reassuring and probably an extra cost.  I remember encountering strong wind gusts along the coast highway leading into Big Sur, some quite sudden when emerging from protective bluffs. The automatic response on a motorcycle is to lean into the wind, which at first seems a very strange posture, to proceed straight while leaned over. After a short time, I enjoyed the novelty. Cheers, Carl |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2018 9:21:25 GMT
Just found this. Besides the topical explanation, what a wonderful and charming man:
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Post by René on Feb 17, 2018 9:45:14 GMT
Just found this. Besides the topical explanation, what a wonderful and charming man: Fantastic! "Not even any Indians up on the hill"...  |
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Post by charleselan on Feb 17, 2018 12:02:02 GMT
Just found this. Besides the topical explanation, what a wonderful and charming man: Fantastic! "Not even any Indians up on the hill"... I take it that you mean "Native Americans" and not the wonderful old American motorcycle manufacturer  . |
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Post by René on Feb 17, 2018 12:27:59 GMT
Fantastic! "Not even any Indians up on the hill"... I take it that you mean "Native Americans" and not the wonderful old American motorcycle manufacturer . Haha, I was only quoting the great man. It was a funny remark.  |
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Post by Carl on Feb 17, 2018 22:30:35 GMT
I take it that you mean "Native Americans" and not the wonderful old American motorcycle manufacturer . Haha, I was only quoting the great man. It was a funny remark. The Unsers were early settlers in Albuquerque (a wonderful Spanish name) and have lived there ever since. They are a strange breed and blend personal dysfunction with great racing success. The elder Al Unser seems to be the only well-adjusted one, which may derive from his keeping quiet. Having grown up in Apache territory and hearing as a boy many stories about their fierceness, maybe Bobby Unser, nervous to begin with, needed to be constantly reassured none were about. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2018 21:07:56 GMT
The Unsers have Swiss heritage - Unser, pronounced Oonser, is a Swiss surname - and they came from Colorado originally.
Just found out that Dan Gurney came back from a ten years retirement in 1980 to compete in the Nascar race at Riverside, which he had already won five times, and qualify seventh.
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Post by charleselan on Feb 18, 2018 21:21:24 GMT
Dan Gurney's return to racing at 50, after ten years of retirement, demonstrated that his remarkable driving skills were undiminished. "In 1980, Gurney came out of a 10-year retirement to help old friend Les Richter, the president of Riverside. (Gurney's adoption of the number that became most closely identified with his career, 48, was a nod to Richter's NFL number.) Gurney agreed to drive a second Rod Osterlund Chevrolet for one NASCAR race as teammate to a rising young star named Dale Earnhardt. As a condition of allowing Gurney to drive in the race after a 10-year layoff, Richter insisted that Gurney attend the racing school run by former teammate and friend Bob Bondurant (Gurney and Bondurant had shared the GT-class-winning Cobra Daytona coupe at Le Mans in 1964). After Gurney's refresher session, Richter called Bondurant and asked how Gurney had done. "He didn't need a refresher," Bondurant reportedly told Richter. "He was faster than me then, and he still is." Ticket sales surged upon the announcement of Gurney's return. In a car painted blue and white and carrying his famed number 48, Gurney easily ran with the leaders. Displaying his usual fluid style, Gurney was running third when the transmission let go." -Quote from Wikipedia This is the one Lucio. |
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Post by Carl on Feb 18, 2018 21:24:20 GMT
The Unsers have Swiss heritage - Unser, pronounced Oonser, is a Swiss surname - and they came from Colorado originally. They may have been asked by Colorado to leave... |
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Post by Carl on Feb 18, 2018 21:58:53 GMT
The Unsers have Swiss heritage - Unser, pronounced Oonser, is a Swiss surname - and they came from Colorado originally. Just found out that Dan Gurney came back from a ten years retirement in 1980 to compete in the Nascar race at Riverside, which he had already won five times, and qualify seventh. My learned friend, You point to something I should have known but never considered. Unser is a German word which in its simplest form means "our" and I've known that since I learned a little German but never thought to apply this to their family name. Mein Gott! I wonder if they were asked to leave Switzerland... Cheers, Carl |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2018 7:44:11 GMT
Carl, are they that bad? Could you please elaborate a bit? If you can... |
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Post by Carl on Feb 19, 2018 16:22:32 GMT
They're not that bad. In fact, I really like Al Unser, whose quiet demeanor is admirable. His brother, extremely talented behind the wheel (except on a road course), is too stupid to realize he's the one who should be quiet. Al Unser Jr. is the same as his Uncle Bobby. Sometimes I wonder if more intelligence would actually have hindered them. The Unsers are basically uneducated and unaware. The ones who don't know this about themselves have no idea they're obnoxious. I think the earliest pioneer was called Dummkopf Unser.  At the Ellis Island immigrant center in New York, he stepped off the ship into the harbor. |
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At the Ellis Island immigrant center in New York, he stepped off the ship into the harbor.