Daytona Speedway Rolex 24 hour race

Our reason for coming to Daytona was to make a trip to its famous speedway track.

Our timing coincided nicely with the Rolex 24 hour race, which is actually quite well priced, especially compared to the more popular Daytona 500, so that is what we came to see.

Our ticket covered the Saturday and Sunday that the race was run on.  Unfortunately we had  misunderstood the race information and thought that you could only stay during the night if you were actually camping there; we only realised that was wrong after we got there, by which time it was too late to have appropriate stuff with us.  But still, I think we saw enough of the race on both days.

The race is not that well attended, so we could easily take advantage of the various things going on, whilst still being able to then go and get a good seat in the grandstands.

We had got there well in advance of the race start, so we had the chance to walk around the paddock and see the cars being prepared.  We were surprised at the access that we had.  We could walk right up to the entrance to each garage and as the car was often outside, we could be right next to the car.



The technicians were happy to answer any questions and let you take photos too.  Whilst this was great to get a good look at what was happening, we were a bit unsure about how safe all this really was when the guys came out in all of their flame proof gear and helmets to put some fuels into the car right next to us.  We decided to take a step back at that point, just in case. After all, our regular readers will know that we don't have the best track record with fire!

There were a couple of demo races before the main event, including one from the Formula V class, the single seater Volkswagen, fifty years after they first raced here.

There is supposedly a carnival of rides and stalls in the infield, but to be honest the stalls were only really any good for real racing fans, and the couple of rides that they had just didn't cut it!  But we got a couple of free Chevrolet t-shirts.

Nic then sorted out his lunch for today by trying out the fifteen entrants in the chilli cook off.  It was only a very small sample of each but as he doesn't generally eat much chilli it was enough.

As the time for the race neared, we decided not to bother with milling around the pit lane as the cars and drivers had their final preparations, but went straight over to the grandstand.

As the pre race announcements were made, and the national anthem sung - rather badly in my opinion - an bird flew overhead.  I make no pretence at being an expert in birds, but it did look a bit like a bald eagle to me.  I rather cynically think that perhaps they have a trained one just to add a sense of national feeling to the moment!

The race is an endurance race where teams of drivers race a car continually for 24 hours.  There are three categories of cars taking part, the Daytona Prototypes, the GT Tourers and for the first time this year, the GX.

We found the race quite confusing as, without being able to hear a commentary (the was one but you can't hear it over the noise of the cars) it was hard to keep track of who was where in the race, especially as not knowing the look of the cars, you couldn't easily catch the numbers as they went past.

In the evening we went along to the wine and cheese tasting that was on offer. For the relatively small price of $10 for twelve samples, we could taste the various wines on offer.  Some of the samples we're sample sized, but others were more like a small glassful.


Most of the wines weren't that great, but we found some good ones and used up the extra tickets that we were given by a few people on those.  The event also gave us the chance to meet a few people and we had a good chat with a couple of guys.

After the tasting we headed back to the grandstand to watch a bit of the night time racing and the fireworks display, before heading back to the house for the night.

The next morning we were glad we had not stayed overnight as it had been cold and foggy, with the significant chunks off race behind the safety car.  We got back in time for the race to get back up to speed in the sunshine.

The race was won by the Chip Ganassi owned Prototype, driven by Juan Pablo Montoya at the finish, along with team mates Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Charlie Kimball.  The first Tourer was the Alex Job Racing Audi R8, coming in in ninth position.


We were a bit disappointed that one of the few things that you can't get a decent view of from the grandstands is the podium, and they don't have a big screen that you can view it on either.  It seems to me rather a shame that you see all of that racing, and then most people can't see the presentation at all.


So did we enjoy it?  Yes and no.  We enjoyed the fact of going to a speedway race as a new experience, and the overall event was fun.

Montoya wins

In terms of the racing itself though, there is a limit to the number of times you really want to watch cars going around a track, especially when you can't easily follow where they all are.  Having a radio commentary would definitely have improved the experience.



The frequency of the safety car coming out didn't help, although it did mean that no one ever pulled out an insurmountable lead, which did give us a fun few closing laps, with a number of lead changes up to the chequered flag.

And whilst we enjoyed seeing the odd bump and collision, we were pleased that we didn't have an incident like the one a couple of weeks later, when a car hit the rails between the track and the grandstands, sending a tyre and other bits of chassis flying in amongst the spectators.

Daytona Beach

From Miami we took an overnight bus to Daytona.  We were a bit concerned about this before we even got on, when the driver said that she couldn't see someone's ticket in the low light as here eyes were bad.  Not really what you want to hear from your driver on a night trip!

But we made it safely there.  And this was to be our first go at couchsurfing, where some kind stranger lets you stay in their home for free.  More about that in a future posting.

Our host Georgy was excellent and happy to let us arrive at the early hour that our bus got in.  So we soon settled in to our latest temporary home, with Georgy, his very friendly little dog Sophie, and his somewhat disinterested Iguana.

Daytona Beach was small, but pleasant to walk around.  It is of course a place famed for its Speedway and Bike Week, so attracts many motorists and even more bikers.  We counted numerous bike shops, some with some bikes and trikes that even I have to admit looked pretty good.

We also popped into the Museum store of Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Harley Davidson.  This was the start of Rossmeyer's Harley Davidson empire, from which he became one of the biggest dealers and went on to own possibly the world's biggest Harley store a short distance away.  (And no Dad, we didn't make a special trip out there.)

Rossmeyer appears to be something of a legend amongst bikers, especially here.  We were told that he was a major force behind Bike Week in Daytona.  Well possibly, in that when he set up in 1994, he was involved in bringing it to Daytona Beach from its previous venue; but then it had been going since 1937, and of course he also made sure that many events are held at his newer Destination Daytona site too.

In any case, he died in 2009, whilst riding his bike to the Sturgis rally.  As is common in the States, he wasn't wearing a crash helmet.

But bikes aside, Daytona had quite a nice waterfront, with a few good places to eat and drink.  There was an Irish pub that was recommended to us by a guy in the garage, which had a great selection of beers both in the pub itself and in the attached shop.  We decided to buy a few that we could take back to the house and share with our host.

These went down pretty well with Georgy when we had them with the meal that he cooked for us one evening.

Overall we thought Daytona was a good town for a short visit, and if you time it right, there are quite a few little events during the year, apart from the races.

Art Deco in Miami

Not being people to spend time on beaches, the main attraction of Miami for us was the abundance of art deco buildings along the South Beach area.  And we had been pleased to find that we could coincide our stay with the annual Art Deco Weekend.


When we worked out the bus systems and got our two buses into SoBe, we certainly saw a lot of great art deco architecture.  Some of it was the classic white style that you often see along beach fronts in the UK, which I have to  admit to being my own preferred type, while some had gone for more colour.

Art Deco gets its name from the 1925 Paris Exhibition of 'Arts Decoratifs', which focused on displays of modern art of the period.  As this was one of the biggest viewings of these new styles, the abbreviated name of the fair was adopted as an easy description of this post WW1 modern style.

Some of the art deco style uses a lot of Egyptian inspired imagery and colouring.  This came out of the rise in popularity of all things egyptian following the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb.

There is a lot of this more ornate style here in Miami, as well as the simpler, more common influence of the pyramid in the stepped levels of building structure and decorative lines.

So we enjoyed looking at the buildings.

We didn't do the Art Deco tour though, preferring instead to do the 'underworld' tour, which promised stories of crime and mafia that happened in these parts.

Sadly the tour was a bit disappointing.  For a city that was - and possibly still is - so steeped in mafia connections, it was a bit thin on underworld stuff.

 

He did tell us that the decorative lines and arrows built into the flooring of some hotels probably pointed to the direction of the prohibition era speakeasies.

He also said that when the speakeasy got a tip off that they were about to be raided by the police, they would take most of their stuff to the Wolfsonian, which at that time was a storage company, to hide it until after the raid was over and they could get back to business.

 

Aside from those two points, and showing us the spot where Versace was shot, the only things we got were film and TV references, such as the fact that the neon work inside Club Deuc, the oldest pub in Miami, was brought in when they filmed some of Miami Vice there.

He did repeatedly tell us that everyone was corrupt during those mafia days, which was probably rather unnecessary for a group on an underground tour.  But if you were in the market for an expensive property, he did tell us that the house that Al Capone retired to in Miami is up for sale.

 

And unfortunately the market was a bit of a let down too.  As markets go, it wasn't bad.  There were some nice antiquey bits, some jewellery, and lots of other things, but it wasn't really art deco.

 

We had expected that there would be a lot of art deco related stuff here.  Obviously not all original, but we had thought we would see some good reproduction bits and other things that were clearly inspired by the art deco period.  There was a little bit of this, but not much.  The vast majority was what you would expect to find at any flea market.

 

We went along to the Art Deco Welcome Centre to see the 'bounty of Art Deco furniture' and saw about ten pieces.  Though admittedly one was a rather large and elaborate light which I though was pretty amazing.  Still, not much of a bounty, more of a smattering.

 

The parade of vintage cars was interesting to a point.  There were some nice old classics.  But even then, they were stretching the idea of vintage.  It was bad enough that they included cars from the eighties, but some of the cars being driven must have been from within the last ten years; I think a couple towards the end were just showing off their latest acquisition!

 

We had hoped for a bit of canine amusement with the Arf Deco parade of dressed up dogs, but they were a bit thin on the ground and very few really dressed for the occasion.

 

So overall we weren't especially impressed with the Art Deco Weekend.  A bit like Miami as a whole really.  It was alright, there was some stuff to see and do, but it wasn't as good as we'd expected and we not really sure what all the fuss is about.  Perhaps it really is just all about the beach here.

But hey, we had a couple of huge cocktails at a bargain happy hour price, so we were contented enough!

Miami design and graffiti

From St Pete we took the bus down to Miami.  We are quite used to long bus journeys, so at just over seven hours this one would have been fine, had it not been for one woman who managed to spend the entire six hours that she was one the bus speaking loudly on her phone in Spanish.

Goodness knows who she was talking to for that long, but it was most irritating.  We all we relieved when she got off, only to find another woman start up.  Thankfully she only spoke for part of the remaining hour.


Once in Miami, we had another Airbnb to stay at. No coffins this time, but they did have a dog that liked to play, a couple of mostly friendly cats, and some slightly crazy chickens.

 

 

We had thought that we would do the Everglades while in Miami, but in the end we didn't. We discovered that although there is a lot of talk about the importance of the environment in connection with the Everglades National Park, there is no way of getting there on public transport - everyone either has to drive themselves or arrange an expensive private transfer.

 

 

The one alternative is to go on an organised tour. We considered that, but they just give you a short trip on a large and environmentally unfriendly airboat, and then take you to gator land to watch them wrestling with the alligators. That wasn't really what we wanted, so we decided to leave the Everglades to a time when we can come back and do it more as we would want to.

One of the things we did do, was take a walk around the design district and the Wynwood area. The design district was OK, but unless you have a big budget, you're not going to find too much to take home with you.

We did find a place serving good beers and pizzas though.
 

We also wandered amongst the warehouses of the Wynwood area. I know that that this sounds a bit strange, but in fact this is where the graffiti artists have come to do their thing. And they do it on a very large scale, often taking up a whole wall.
 

A few of the designs were mediocre or not to our taste, but most were excellent. I especially liked the black and white ones I think, though the Roy Lichtenstein inspired one was amusing too.

Chihuly Glass

So the last posting covered the creation of a simple vase, but what of Chihuly.

Dale Chihuly is a real master of art glass. He ended up teaching at the college where he studied, because he was the one advancing the concepts. His work is exhibited worldwide and he undertakes commissions for corporations, museums and wealthy individuals.

He was blinded in one eye, ironically by glass, but a rather less beautiful piece of windscreen glass, when he was in a traffic accident in the UK, but he still designs and oversees the creation and installation of his work.


He does make some small pieces, either as awards and presentation pieces, or simply to sell to thise who can't spend hundreds of thousands on a chandelier or persian ceiling. Unfortunately even these small pieces cost a few thousand pounds.


Seeing a few of the small bits here was the first time since we started travelling that I wished I still earned money, as I really think I would have set aside my usual spend limits and bought a piece. Instead I just spent a long time admiring it and took a lot of photos!

But the majority of his work is anything but small. The photos here show some large pieces, but they are not nearly on the scale as some of his external installations.

The process that we saw just uses the free blowing method of blowing rolling, and waving the glass around to give it it's shape, with just simple tools used to shape an edge if needed. But another method makes use of moulds and more complex tools to form the glass into more complicated shapes. This method is used a lot by the Chihuly team.

Teams of people are needed for the large pieces, which can be well over twice a person's height. Some will hold and blow the piece from the top of a scaffold, with others twisting the hot glass around moulds, and still others use huge blowtorches to keep the glass at the necessary 1000 degrees centigrade.

Between the creation, transportation and installation of these incredible and delicate pieces, the breakage rate can be around seventy percent. No wonder it is expensive.

His chandeliers are enormous creations of twisting, cornucopias of coloured glass that throw light and shadow across the walls as well as looking amazing themselves.

He will cover a whole wall in his beautiful persians, which look like huge delicate flowers.



Or there are his persian ceilings, which are a glass ceiling filled with varying sizes, shapes and colours of his glass creations.  It is a simple enough idea, but the effect is stunning.  The best way to look at it is to lie down, so I took a photo by putting the camara on the floor with a timer to take the picture.




Then there are his boats...




... and his mixed installations that incorporate his stem like fioras, the sperical nijumas and other pieces, so look like some kind of wild forest growing up out of a mirrored base.

As you may have worked out, I love this glass. So don't tell Nic, but should Dale ever read this, take pity on me and send me a piece for when we have a home again, I would have to consider stopping travelling just so I have somewhere to put it!