Desert Dingo Racing

Tag: The Flip

  • Quickie video of the Trabing fire from Watsonville plaza

    I shot this from where we were set up in Watsonville Plaza as part of the diabetes health fair.

  • Another racer joins the World Diabetes Day fold


    Update:     I had an email exchange with Youcef. He finished 10th overall and second in the 8th leg, despite the fact that he broke his sternum. On the eighth stage of the 3,000 km rally, doing 100 km/hour, he went straight over his handle bars. “I woke up with a helicopter next to me. The medics decided I would be okay to carry on. I only noticed (my sternum) was broken a couple of days later.” I think he’s Baja material.

    Youcef CummingsAustralian rider Youcef Cummings is piloting the official World Diabetes Day motorcycle and will be competing in World Cross Country Rally and other regional events throughout Africa and the Middle East this year.

    His first race, which began April 23 and ran for nine days from Marseilles, France through the deserts of Tunisia and Libya, ended today after covering 3000 kilometers.

    World Diabetes Day motorcycleYoucef rides a KTM 690 Factory Rally bike. It has a 72 hp engine with a top speed of over 175 km/hour on sand. The motorcycle is a limited edition factory produced bike designed specifically for desert racing. It has a range of over 350 kilometers and is fitted with navigation and survival equipment, including GPS, proximity warning devices, directional repeaters, two odometers and speed warning devices. The motorcycle sports the official World Diabetes Day logo in English and Arabic, as well as the distinctive blue circle on the tanks.

    We wish Youcef the best of luck.

    I figured I’d do a walkaround of 1101 for those who haven’t seen it up close. 1117 is stripped for painting before I start on the interior.

  • Photo shoot

    We did the photo shoot today. Like any photo shoot, you need a lot of stuff.

    First, you need a car.

    Second, you need talent. That would be Charlie.

    You need “below the line people” like Skid and Shawn, who showed up fashionably late on Saturday after I already had 2.5 wheels bolted on the car. They did however, cinch 1101 onto Skid’s trailer for the trip to Felton, so that’s cool. Shawn did fix the muffler and Skid did something that made a lot of noise that probably perturbed the neighbors, however.

    Then you need the guy who can pretty much do anything, like “Hey, this tow bar won’t fit. How can we get the car up to the airport?” And he says “My Sawz-All will take care of that.” That would be Richard.

    Then, when you’re on site, there’s everyone who makes it happen. Jeff Luhn, Brooks Institute photographer, Max Davis, who created our brand identity, Roxanne, who handled catering (in the video). Rich and Elvon Hoogner who gave us access to the runway. And Larry, of Larry Electric, who’s the guy you want in your corner who pretty much can do anything when all you need to do is ask. (He’s in the video). Larry provided the boom truck.

    Here’s a video of the morning.

  • A visit to Bonny Doon Village airport

    Bonny Doon Airport runway

    I drove up the the Bonny Doon Airport this afternoon to get a look in advance of next Sunday’s photo shoot. In a word, it’s ideal. Ok, that’s two words.

    Here’s a 30-second video shot with our new Flip, which we’ll be testing as an in-car camera.

    And here’s a Geico commercial from today’s NASCAR race in Mexico City. This kid strangely reminds me of Skid, right down to the toothpick and sunglasses.