More Wheels Than Most Races

by Tammy

I had the opportunity a couple weeks ago to see a very unusual vehicle. It was truly unique, purpose-built, one-of-a-kind. Unlike most of the vehicles I get excited about, there was no racing involved here. It topped out at only 8 m.p.h.

You see, the point of this vehicle was to move a giant rock.

That's right, a rock. You see, an artist was doing an installation at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) called "Levitated Mass" that involved a trench people would walk through, some supports that couldn't be seen from underneath, and a 340-ton rock.

LACMA's official material suggested this was the largest megalith moved since ancient times. Since the pyramids, people. I'm telling you, this rock was big.

So big that it couldn't be moved on the freeway, over metro rail tracks, under overpasses, etc. Word was, it took a year simply to secure the permits to move the rock in a very wide loop through a couple counties, from Riverside in the east to the Wilshire District of Los Angeles in the west. Crazy enough, it came through my little corner of town on its way.

The rock only moved at night, when roads could be closed, traffic lights moved, wires cut, and so forth. During the day, it sat still, at the side or in the middle of a road, and waited for night. Except in my town, where residents decided to throw a party. A rock party, of course.

What all of this means is that we got the chance to inspect the transportation vehicle up close. As one woman put it (pardon the language): "Who gives a shit about a rock, I want to see this truck!"

It was pretty impressive, as you can see below. A total of 204 wheels, three semi tractors to propel it (one pulling, two pushing), and innumerable support vehicles. We saw it sitting during the day and traveling at night, and I'm still chuckling over all the effort and drama for a rock. :-)

Lime Rock Love Fest

Being at Lime Rock Park this past weekend to officially launch my new mystery novel reminded me why I set the book there in the first place: it’s a lovely and inviting place.

Racetracks come in many flavors. Speedways are usually monuments to concrete and steel (though some, like Daytona, have a water feature in the middle of them). Street courses are, of necessity, made of asphalt, concrete, and temporarily decommissioned streetlights. And road courses, can be dusty and sun baked (out west, where I live) or lush and green (other parts of the country).

Most of the time, fans watch from grandstands, and at road courses in particular, they see only one or two corners of the track—when the course has as many as 14 turns, it’s a small percentage. We’ve already chatted about the view of all the racing action being part of the appeal of oval courses. But I’m a road-racing fan … so what am I to do?

The cheapest answer, of course, is “watch it on TV” (and I do, whether I’ve also attended the race in person or not). But there’s nothing like being at a race. The sights, sounds (that roar as they come to the green!), the smells (race fuel, exhaust, and tire rubber), and the feel of going home that night knowing you’ve been at an event.

My preference when attending a road course is to roam the track, sitting in different corners at different points of the race—and being sure to get a view of the pits for some portion of the action. The roaming concept is how I approach the famed Laguna Seca course in Monterey, to which no visit is complete without a stroll up the hill to stand next to the Corkscrew—that truly must be seen in person to comprehend the magnitude of that piece of the track!

If we’re talking about the great American road courses, Laguna Seca will be mentioned, as will Watkins Glen and Road America. But one of my all-time favorites is Lime Rock Park, in Lakeville, Connecticut. It’s a short, quick course for drivers, in which there are few breaks. I’ve heard it referred to as a bullring of a track, or the Bristol of road racing (that’s a description owner Skip Barber doesn’t care for much, he explained to a group of fans this weekend).

From the fan perspective, Lime Rock is small, easy to navigate, and has no grandstands. It’s a park with a racetrack in it, and as such, attracts a lot families and groups out for a fun day. I found people on this trip to be universally pleasant and friendly and enthusiastic. I met track volunteers who drive as many as three hours to contribute their time on race weekends, and I met a man who has lived right around the corner and has volunteered for nearly three decades.

It’s a great place to watch a race, and it’s a great place to be for a day. If you get the chance, I highly recommend getting there for a race or two. I think you’ll enjoy it.