That 'other' job....
Wednesday, March 1, 2006 by Jafo | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
People often have more than just the one string to their bow...
You guys probably imagine for example, I spend 24/7 here at Wincustomize....which is essentially true...so how can I have a second string?
Simple....I just work out a way to get more than 24 out of one day....multi-tasking...
When I'm not here...[which doesn't happen]...I design 'stuff'.... Said 'stuff' sometimes resembles residential buildings, you know, like houses and things.
Then, in the in-between times, when not doing the 24/7 I muck around with things that go 'vroom'. This weekend...starting today, my time, it's the Australian round of the World Superbike Championship [SBK] at Phillip Island....'special' in particular as currently 1st and 2nd in the series are the 2 Troys [Corser and Bayliss], both of whom I've met. These sorts of race-events are what classifies [for me] as a 'holiday', though I'm 'working'. [volunteer]. The last 'real' holiday was the year before Adelaide South Australia got the F1....so that would be 1984, 22 years ago.
Of course, March is 'the busy month' this year...first the Supers, then Melbourne 'gags' on the C'wealth Games, then straight after those is the F1 GrandPrix...and that's a 4 day event quite a bit 'bigger' than the Bikes.
This year's F1 will be for me, the 27th consecutive Aussie GP that I've worked at....the kind of 'record' that has become a bit of a challenge...to see if I can last to a point where I have worked at more than half of the AGPs ever staged....[Oz is the second oldest GrandPrix, after France]. Of course, I'll be about 80 not out by then.... so I won't be picking up Superbikes or push-starting F1s....
I was looking through some old 'running sheets'....notes Jotted down as a communicator for the other officials on the corner to keep up to date...like cars crashed, etc...and found a quote I'd forgotten....
1994, Turn 5, Adelaide GrandPrix....guy called Berger kept 'dropping in' got stuck in the kitty-litter twice in practise. At that time he was the world's second-highest paid sportsman [after some basketball bloke]....and he'd come over this second time to stand with us...and watch how the others managed to get round the corner.....commenting "I hate this F***ing corner".
We'd painted the runoff area with a black outline of a parking bay, with his number on it...and placed black cardboard 'sharkfins' in the rippled, sea-like stones to fend off errant drivers....and this running-sheet included the entries...
"Gerhard-I-hate-this-f***ing-corner-Berger won"
and
"Starlog 15.45 looks like the sharks have done their work....no visitors".
There's a whole swag of stories in those years....maybe when I'm 80 I'll just pen a tome....
Reply #2 Wednesday, March 1, 2006 8:34 PM
Don't know how you fit it all into 24/7/365, and do the racing thing as well....not at WC 24/7 and I'm still unable to accomplish as much.....
I've not been one for multi-tasking since a major accident and an illness.....so even an extra toilet break can throw my whole day out
Reply #4 Wednesday, March 1, 2006 11:00 PM
...and misspell words & things!
Reply #5 Thursday, March 2, 2006 12:23 AM
| WooHoo!!! Time to run amok ...and misspell words & things! |
Dunno about that, aimzzz....he'll come back and go through the forums to berate offenders later
Best advice....keep spell check on
Reply #6 Sunday, March 5, 2006 8:34 PM
Well....the sunburnt 'Observer' is back....and t was a 'good race meeting' aka I didn't have to write any incident reports...though a few tank-slappers almost had me doing them.
The battle of the 'Troys' ended up as Bayliss getting Super Pole on race tyres, not qual's, then broke the lap record [well and truly] but stuffed his rear tyre in the process, finishing 5th or 6th...there-abouts, while Corser won.
Second heat had Corser chuck it down the road at T10 [MG hairpin] and Bayliss hit the lead with about 6 laps to go and stayed there...so he's leading the championship.
For once there were no real injuries, though Corser was hit by another bike while he was down....seemed it hit his helmet-back fairing of his leathers...so he was off to hospital as a precaution.
End of this month is my next 'event'....the 2006 F1 GrandPrix...and then it's back to Phillip Island for the MotoGP in September...
Reply #8 Sunday, March 5, 2006 9:04 PM
Reply #9 Sunday, March 5, 2006 9:13 PM
A 'tank-slapper' is usually induced by a rear wheel slide in a corner [over-steering] and the front steering 'correction' into the slide runs out of steering angle [lock] causing the bike to rotate around the front wheel...[in other words it stands the bike up rather abruptly] and IF the rider is quick enough he doesn't "High-side" [head over tit] but can lift-off and adjust his weight to recover...but the bike will tend to 'slap' pretty violently between his legs...aka..'tank-slapper'.
There are other causes...eg damaged/loose steering/suspension untidy contact with knees or pegs and ground...but exitting Southern Loop [T 2.1] under hard accelleration [sweeping 'straight' heading towards Honda Corner] will be down to steering-lock limit and tail-end slide under power.
I don't ride the things...but I have to be able to report causes for 'offs'...
Reply #10 Sunday, March 5, 2006 10:39 PM
Welcome back Jafo...gonna post us some pics later I hope?
Reply #11 Sunday, March 5, 2006 10:51 PM
I didn't get around to taking any this time....got a bit too hot to care to...
Here's one from the Track's site....Corser conserving front rubber....
Reply #13 Monday, March 6, 2006 4:23 AM
Reply #14 Monday, March 6, 2006 5:16 AM
I'm glad to hear you had a great weekend, Jafo....saw some of it on TV...great stuff, even without the fumes and live atmosphere.
BTW, there a newbie in the joke thread you might find amusing.....
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Reply #1 Wednesday, March 1, 2006 7:29 PM