Optima Invitational Pics
 

Here's just a small sample of the pics I took. Between SEMA and the Optima Invitational, I took 1200 pics. lol I'll work through them this week and get a bunch of them online both here and on the OptimaInvitational.com site.


It was a perfect day:

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_015.jpg



Some of the cars lined up to start practice:

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_014.jpg



Lots of media present:

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_003.jpg



There was some carnage. Here's Rob Kinnan with some left front damage. A little worse than someone else's left front issue on Power Tour:

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_011.jpg



Really looking forward to on-track video from Shipka's car from this perspective:

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_013.jpg



And some action shots from the different events:

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_009.jpg

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_010.jpg

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_012.jpg



One of my favorites - catching a car running the road course behind a car on the autocross:

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_001.jpg



A pic of McGaffin taking a pic of Randy on the roadcourse. Twice the action! lol

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_002.jpg



The Cobra was FAST.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_004.jpg




Paul Tracy flogged the Fesler-Moss Camaro. It was fun watching the ZR-1 chasing him.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_005.jpg



Another FAST car, but had unfortunate luck:

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_006.jpg



The Roadster Shop's amazing Vette:

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_007.jpg



Randy drifting around the 360* turn on the autocross:

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_008.jpg

Drifting A6s proved... challenging.. lol

Great shots.. I may have to borrow some for the story since I was covered in PS fluid instead of taking pictures.

Fantastic Pics Thanks for posting!!

Very cool. Thanks! I like all of the shots, but Randys second gen drifting the corner is a fav. I am kind of biased though...:thumbsup:

Great shots:thumbsup: The guy (I think he was from Mother's Polish) could wheel that ZR1 pretty good. I assume he was in the high 1.4x's?
It had to make a few drivers nervous with him lurking behind.

Here are some more random pics...


Drifting by the 2009 SMOY. Love the full opposite lock in the first pic...

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_108.jpg

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_109.jpg



Smoke show. Good stuff.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_104a.jpg

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_105a.jpg



"This is Jimi..."

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_114.jpg




Even the cars in the spectator parking area were bad ass.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_115.jpg



Kevin and Cam.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_116.jpg



Kyle steering with the throttle.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_105.jpg

Looks like fun! Wish I could have gone! :)

Nice work Scott!

I have to wonder how many miles Jim put on the ZR-1. It had to been a lot! And yes, I'd certainly think a ZR-1 in the rear view would make a few nervous.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_104.jpg

Just plain cool to see this on the AX course.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_101.jpg



Larry on the binders.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_102a.jpg



Penny coming in to turn 8.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_103a.jpg

Did I already mention that it was a beautiful day?

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_102.jpg



There were many fantastic 2nd Gens representing.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_103.jpg



This Vette just popped in the sun.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_106.jpg



And to think, as a DSE employee, Ryan gets paid to do this.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_107.jpg



Lots and lots and lots of cameras at the event. I'd hate to guess how many tens of thousands of pics were taken.

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_117.jpg



Various action shots:

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_110.jpg

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_111.jpg

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_112.jpg

http://www.lateral-g.org/temp/2009optima/o_113.jpg

Great PIX Scott!!

Notice the fat guy sitting (white t-shirt / blue jeans and black hat) on the garbage can at the start line in the picture of the Mustang doing the burnout... Okay - I'm dieting just as soon as I get home!


:rofl: :rofl:

Yeah, right...

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed them. :cheers:


Thanks Steve. If you want to use any of the pics, let me know. :thumbsup:

Great pics of a great event on a great day....oh and spent with lots of great friends as well....it's just a must do event!! :lateral: :cheers:

And Video
 

Here is that Cobra that everyone is talking about.

I met that guy! Just got home none stop trip 1460 mile had a killer time the wheels are still hot.

That Cobra sounded sick! I was joking around with Gregs son about how crappy the some of the LSX motors sounded and then the Cobra ran. He got the point. :D

I would like to thanks the Pozzi and Steve for the help with the wheel spacers Thanks Guys.

Todd,
Listen to this Impala...it had an LSX



And Charlie

Some of them just sound like crap. One of the 5th gens sounded like a big V6. Jackass and Penny sound really good.

I think you are talking about the stock ls3 that was in the granatelli motorsports car. That car did sound like a V-6.

I noticed that also on 3-4 LS powered cars. Not sure if it was the exhaust. Even the DSE second gen sounded odd. JA, Penny and a few others sounded smooth.

yeah... the impala was probabaly the most annoying sounding one of them all... to me at least. it was "too" bad on when accel. but on decel. is sound like doo-doo.

Great pics Scott.

Excellent shots, what happened to Kinnan and the factory 5 car? More car than driver?

The rear started coming around on corner entry and he backed it off turn 1, it was an easy get off. He didn't even go that far off the track. I had a good view of it as our group was up in the tower at the time.

The control arm failure certainly isn't good publicity for Factory Five.

Nice Pics Scott!

What that's it? ;)

Thanks!

Well, I have many, many more... I'll have to put them on a webpage. :cheers:

Great pics Scott ... quality AND quantity! :thumbsup:

I think the revised firing order as compared to sbc/bbc, may have something to do with it.

What a great event that was, I was blown away earlier in the week after touring SEMA for couple of days. Seeing those amazing cars like riddler winner, ring bros cars, C1RS etc was priceless. Making the trip to Pahrump on Saturday morning, after being out all night (what happens in Vegas...), was well worth it. :wow: Big :thumbsup: and :hail: to all you guys who build great cars and DRIVE them hard.

That Cobra was awesome, we talked with the guys in length. It turned out that it is ORIGINAL 66 Cobra, not a kit car and the owner is also still ORIGINAL. Great people and cars, plus the super sunny weather. Hope to make it back next year.

It was a crazy week all in all, just got home!

http://kuvaton.com/finnshark/Yh4.jpg

http://kuvaton.com/finnshark/YhZ.jpg

http://kuvaton.com/finnshark/YhL.jpg

http://kuvaton.com/finnshark/YhF.jpg

I'll post some more pics later.
:cheers:

AWESOME PICS GUYS!!!
Wow, looked like a killer day with some killer rides. I wish I were there. Thanks for the great photos.:thumbsup: :cheers:
P.S. Please give us the link to the web page with all those photos when you post them up Scott. THANKS!!:thumbsup: :cheers:

When will the results be released? This is like waiting for Christmas!

The Cobra won every speed event but got hammered in the style catagory.

The road course went something like Cobra, DSE 69, Jackass, Penny

Not sure how it went on the autocross

The zero-60-zero went Cobra, Jackass, Penny (I think)

It was a cumaltive event so you needed both of your laps in each event to be good. At the end, and I'm still not sure why, Penny was the overall winner. In second place by 6/10-second was Jackass and third was the Cobra.

That's all I know so far. :shrug:

Thanks for the update Steve. Congratulations? You have one Bad Penny there, but.................. I guess i'm not sure how to continue. I'm confused. Are the results based on hard numbers (racing) or subjective criteria (drifting) or both? Anyway, regardless you have done your homework and put the effort in, so I wouldn't worry. The win was still well deserved. Not to take anything away from anyone else, it is still great to see the cream of the crop get driven hard. Congrats to all! :lateral: :hail:

Great pictures Scott...
 

Thanks for posting...:thumbsup:

It's a cumaltive event with three of the four events being timed. Two laps for road course, two for autox and two for 0-60-0. All six six of these times are added together and then any penalites are added (for hitting cones or blowing the stop box). The fourth segment a styling catagory which is judged from low (best) to high (worst). that score is converted into seconds and added to the final tally.

So it's not just about turning in a fast lap, but about being consistant in all of your laps.

Still waiting for an exact explantion and score breakdown from the event. Will post when I know more.

Congrats Steve and BadPenny :thumbsup: . If the casinos there would've been taking bets on the Optima Challenge that's where my money would've been anyway. BadPenny is an awesome ride all the way around.

John

Steve, congrats on another win. I'm sure the contestants next year will be trying to bring the pain in a big way. You might as well add a big target to the back of the car for next year. :thumbsup:

I don't know what the ranking was but I know the Cobra took first and second in Auto-X.


~Carl (The blue haired guy that doesn't work for Anvil)