cavedweller wrote in
:

On Jun 4, 1:57 am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
"Jay Honeck" wrote
innewsNp1k.139052$TT4.90385@attbi_s22:



For those who want to jump straight to the pictures:

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/2008_-_...in_detroit.htm

We intended to fly to YIP (Ypsilanti, MI) last Friday, to meet this
group's own Jim & Tami Burns (& Family) for a fun weekend at the
races. Unfortunately, Mother Nature brought a line of Level 5s to
bear on our route of flight, and we reluctantly made the decision
to drive to Detroit -- a 1,000 mile round-trip.

The no-go decision was the right one, though -- I ended up driving
in torrential rains like few I've seen before, and flying would've
been suicidal. Luckily, Jim (coming from WI) was able to fly his
Aztec over the big lake, and pulled a neat northerly end-around the
line of storms.

We stayed at the GM Renaissance Center's Marriott. Normally I
avoid big-box chain hotels like the plague, but this facility was
"show center" for the entire weekend, so I gritted my teeth and
paid over $200/night for a room less than half the size of one of
our 2-bedroom suites. As expected, it was a huge rip-off, with no
continental breakfast, a one-cup (!) coffee maker, and NO wireless
internet.

But it *was* centrally located. We were able to simply walk out
the front door and watch the races, which was marvelous. Had we
opted to stay at a better (cheaper) hotel, any savings would have
been offset by additional parking and gas expenses.

In the evening we found the hotel bar to be chock-full of "Red Bull
Beautiful People" -- mostly young, blonde floozies apparently
recruited for the event. They mostly hung all over the pilots and
Red Bull big-wheels, but Jim and I enjoyed our time in the bar, and
were even treated to a round of drinks purchased by one of the
floozies who flashed us from the bar! (Our wives complained, but
didn't send the drinks back... :-)

Saturday dawned promising, but the winds following the storms were
impressive, gusting to 59 mph. Unfortunately, the announcers (Red
Bull sets up speakers and giant-screen TVs everywhere in the
viewing area) kept up a steady, optimistic banter that pretty well
promised that racing *would* occur...eventually. So, we sat, and
sat, and waited. Every now and then a couple of T-6s would fly by,
and the B-25 was fun, and the Heritage Flight with an F/A-18 and
Corsair was cool -- but, for the most part, there was not much to
do but watch the boats go past...

When one of the pylons broke loose from it's moorings and started
rolling down-river, we knew the writing was on the wall. It was a
lot of fun, watching them try to corral the damned thing with
boats, but at 3 PM they called it due to wind.

So, we did what every red-blooded American would do -- we sent the
kids back to the room with pizza and pop, and went bar hopping!
Detroit comes equipped with a wonderful "People Mover" system that
aids and abets this sort of behavior, and -- for just 50 cents --
you can ride all over downtown Detroit in style.

Now, I know what you're thinking. I was expecting Detroit to be an
open sewer, with gang-bangers and trash everywhere, but we were
pleasantly surprised to find a clean, modern, nice riverfront area,
and some fun bars to visit. We never felt the least bit
threatened, and, in fact, we walked back to our hotel from the
bars, enjoying the night air. They've spent HUGE amounts of money
cleaning up the area, and it shows.

We eventually settled into the Hard Rock Cafe, where (for reasons
that may become clear at the HOPS Party in Oshkosh) we endeavored
to explore and discover the perfect Long Island Iced Tea recipe.
It was hell, but someone had to do it -- and we eventually
discovered the LIITs can be made both with and without tequila.

This seemed incredibly important at the time, for some reason...
I don't know why.

Sunday dawned sunny and nice, in the 70s. The organizers had to
pack two days of racing into a single day, and it was chock-full of
good stuff. Once the racing got started, they were very good at
keeping things moving, with very small gaps between each racer.
(Prior to racing, however, they lagged badly. They need to study
Oshkosh, and learn how to keep the crowds entertained...)

The races themselves are fabulous, with real danger and excitement
at every pylon. For those who may not know, they don't race
head-to-head, but rather against the clock through a complex course
made up of 60-foot inflatable pylons mounted on anchored barges in
the Detroit River. Some pylons must be split in knife-edge
flight, while others must be done wings-level.

The consistency of these competition pilots is simply incredible.
Kirby Chambliss ended up winning by a scant fraction of a second
(like, .015 of a second), over a course that takes between 1:12 and
1:20 to complete. To say it's exciting is an understatement, and
even the "NASCAR crowd" (meaning non-aviation folk) was able to
appreciate the skill that went into flying the course.

Surprisingly, the Red Bull organizers muffed some pretty basic
stuff. For example, there was just one (1) vendor selling shirts
and T-shirts for a crowd of thousands, and the lines were
interminable. They could've sold many more, if they had the
foresight to place more vendors in the area.

Ditto with race souvenirs -- there simply weren't any. With all
the down-time waiting, Red Bull left tens of thousands of dollars
on the table by not catering to the crowd.

The biggest rip-off of the weekend surely had to be the upscale
$200 seats that were placed inside a cordoned-off area right up
against the hotel. Unfortunately, tens of thousands of people
continually walked the sidewalk in front of these poor saps,
meaning that they were unable to see anything most of the time. I
would have been furious, and demanded to be "upgraded" to the $30
riverfront seats like ours...

Still, these were minor glitches in an overall wonderful weekend.
If you EVER get the chance to see this international "World Series"
of air racing, jump at it. I had seen their first "exhibition
race" at Reno, back in '04, so I knew what it was about -- and I'm
here to tell you that they were worth every hour of that horrible,
1000-mile drive to see them.

Barf

Bertie

Bertie, do be quiet.


Unlikely.

Bertie