#lag89

[valentin1k]

when he what

[valentin1k]

text under the cut:

Laguna Seca made its debut on the calendar the year before, and was met with widespread criticism for its poor facilities. Little had been done to doll up the Californian venue in the time between, with a bit of resurfacing the only change, while a pit complex was absent. As a result, teams were forced to operate out of tents as if they were racing a club event at Cadwell Park, rather than at a supposedly-world class circuit in one of the most prestigious championships in motorsport.

The weekend was to be farcical, and the tone had been set on the run-up to the event. A strike from air traffic control workers in Australia meant the paddock's machinery only arrived at Laguna Seca three days before practice was due to get underway.

As practice and qualifying wore on, complaints about safety – or lack of it – and poor marshalling sparked from the paddock. Laguna Seca is a dangerous circuit even in its modern form - back in 1989, the measures of a thin wall of haybales in front of solid concrete walls were hardly confidence-inspiring.

[valentin1k]

you don't say...

Doomed From The Start

The 1989 USGP was, in retrospect, doomed from the start. The 1989 Grand Prix series featured an amazingly aggressive schedule—it listed a Grand Prix at Phillip Island on April 9, and the USGP on the very next weekend—April 16, meaning that the entire GP circus would have to get their men and machines from one hemisphere to the next and be ready to start practice in just five days time. Even in those pre-9/11 days, when customs officers would help a racer in need if you found the right one, shipping planeloads of crates from Sydney to San Francisco and having them out of customs and at the track in five days was an impossible goal.

It was no surprise to anyone with knowledge in international shipping that the crated GP bikes were late in arriving in the US and slow to be released by Customs (although an airport labor dispute in Australia started the sluggishness). Many of the GP machines didn’t even arrive at Laguna Seca until Friday morning. Crates of parts and pallets of fuel trickled in all weekend long. And so 500 practice was blown off for most of Friday.

[poe1012]

Ahhh The Breakfast Club #realtalk💯💯💯 #classicmovie #lag89 #andsoitgoes #truestatements💯 #bender #oldesoulinafuckedupworld #orlandoliving☀️🌴 #morningmusings🌻 (at Pine Hills, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1_CzRLAUE1RFmPsiLl2yrBZBixETVWxVLTIMQ0/?igshid=1dvxbjucojmhn