Burning Lady?Daytona?CAV

[ChrisL]

OK, while we're at it...

I own three guitars, two electrics and an acoustic, my favorite is the Fender Strat,

Enjoy writing my own music,

Have a Sail Plane (Glider) licence,

I've been either dreaming of racing or actually racing cars since I was 6,

And the ladies? Well I don't kiss and tell

And here I was all along thinkin' that it was just me

 

Hehehe Gordon, I'll answer that.

As a kid, I was a WW2 plane nut...particularly Spitfires (my parents were kids in England during WW2 and my dad ended up working at Rolls Royce).

Then I happened to see the movie LeMans when I was about 10 and was swayed into racing...I raced Karts and Formula Fords and Formula Mazda and some regional Super Vee and Atlantic but my parents weren't rich and we expended every possible sponsor connection we had and I ended up retiring from racing in 1984.

Had a tough time transitioning to the real world but when my interest in cars waned, my interest in planes came back. Eventually I worked my way up to where getting a plane became a viable option...I REALLY wanted a Rutan Longeze but had 0 time to build it so was looking for a built one...got my pilot's license and ended up meeting Dick Rutan who is manager of a bank which does aircraft loans. Eventually he talked me out of buying someone elses homebuilt airplane and picked me up in the Longeze he flew around the world and took me "shopping" and we ended up getting a SUPER low hour Piper warrior. I enjoyed that for a couple of years but didn't have time to get my instrument rating and the utility and fun factor of the plane just wasn't worth the cost and maintenance. Ultimately the longeze was a sort of fighter-plane experience and the Warrior was a family car experience.

Well in 1999 a buddy from high school called me about a deal where he was doing some endurance racing and they needed another driver...one thing lead to another and I took my helmet down off the wall and went back to racing and got re-interested in cars and the flying thing sort of wanned. We bought a house and sold the plane at the same time.

So this is just one of those other nutso schemes to capture the fun and experience of LeMans and an idea is kicking around to replace our current race car with a racing version of a GT40 kit and do some endurance racing but I'm still in the early stages of the research.

The top two are our plane and the bottom is the day Rutan came and picked me up.

Life belongs to those who dare to dream.

 

Datonbill,

Beings this thread started around misspellings and ignores netiquette, I thought I had better confirm your fears over mispelled Airport names, it is actually Orly not Oli...

By the way... another for the list, I too have a 75" wingspan Sailplane....Yes I have a nice guitar (although I won't claim to play it well)

And because my wife occasionally reads these posts, I too love beautiful women (Oops...Yes dear... I did actually mean a beautiful woman (singular))...

Neil

 

[Ian K]

Well, as far as tangents go -

I have 2 guitars, and old Tobacco Sunburst
'78 Strat, and a Pearl White Kramer Baretta
from the 80's (American made). I am a bit
rusty, but during my college years I was
considered pretty decent.

No planes, not yet at least.

Ian

 

[Mark Worthington]

Me, I like fast cars and slow airplanes. I was three years old when my Dad strapped me into the back seat of his 1946 Aeronca 7AC Champ...he put me on a couple aircraft tires so I could see and he used to let me fly.

I attempted to solo in that same airplane on my 16th birthday but, as we were doing a few practice landings before my instructor arrived, we were both applying right brake to swing the tail around and the cable broke on the right main gear. Unable to fix it before sunset, and with no other Champs available to fly that day, we had to throw in the towel. I soloed about a week later. Airplanes still grab a large part of my attention span. I have let my medical and my license lapse, but I hope to someday move to an airpark community and live happily ever after restoring Champs and hot rods.

 

Sigh...I'm so tempted to wax nostalgic about the B-25 water bomber that I bought - then sold without ever having seen it. My favorite plane, and I let it go because someone offered me lots of money for it...I hate it when that happens! I lose more cool stuff that way!

Now, if anyone wants to put up some money and become a partner, I know of a slight fire damage F-14A Tomcat that may be coming up for sale in a few years...

Your pal,
Meat.

 

Neil, thanks for the correction.
Pete F, I have a Longeze sitting in my back yard that I moved out to make room for my GT40 build. It has history! It was flown by Dick at Oshgosh. Built by a Jonny Murrphy to "proof" the plans for Dick Rutan.
I think I'll go and play my bass along with some good old SHADOW records.

I have to thank the "Brits" for GT40's, Lolas, Lotuses, Chevron B16's, Spitfires. Mini Coopers, The Shadows,& the Beatles.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Datonabill:
"...I have to thank the "Brits" for GT40's, Lolas, Lotuses, Chevron B16's, Spitfires. Mini Coopers, The Shadows,& the Beatles.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Don't forget Badfinger, 007 and Miss Emma Peel!

Your pal,
Meat.

 

Not a bad bunny, She would look nice in that black GT 40 that someone posted.

 

[Mike Dozier]

I'll bet a psychologist would have a field
day with this bunch!

I can easily see the connection between
GT40s and classic warbirds...appreciation
of very high performance coupled with unique styling.

Guitars? I'm afraid I'm tone deaf.

Women and beer? Yeah...I guess they have
high performance and unique styling too!
Then again maybe I'd better shut up before
before my wife sees this. She may not like
being compared to a car/plane.

MikeD

 

[Gordon Levy]

Airplane? What airplane. Your a lucky guy Pete.

 

[ChrisL]

On the basis that you can justify anything if you try hard enough, let me have a go at explaining this - plane - guitar - GT40 - thing.

I think it would be a fair to say that GT40 owners are the epitome of those who are prepared have a go at turning their ultimate dreams into reality. In my experience (and for a reason that totally eludes me) this is quite a rare animal.

Now how many of you out there as kids didn't dream of flying... and as adolescents, dreamed of being your favorite rock star...

As I said, you can justify anything if you try hard enough

[ February 16, 2003: Message edited by: Chris L ]