Aug 29 Day 13

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Day 13, and we tried something different today. We wanted to take a drive through the famous 17 Mile Drive near the Monterey/Carmel area. The issue, no motorcycles allowed!! So, we found an Enterprise car rental location about 2 miles from our hotel, and they would even come to pick us up. So, off to Enterprise, and out we come with a little Jeep Liberty to tool around town for the day.

Our first stop believe it or not, is a post office. Lennie loves to send postcards, and ran out of stamps. Fortunately, there was one just a few blocks from our hotel.

Then it was off to 17 Mile Drive. 

17-Mile Drive is a scenic road through Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach on the Monterey Peninsula, much of which hugs the Pacific coastline and passes famous golf courses and mansions. Part of the drive serves as the main road through the gated community of Pebble Beach. Inside this community, nonresidents have to pay a toll to use the road (we paid $9.75) Like the community, the majority of 17-Mile Drive is owned and operated by the Pebble Beach Corporation.

The coastal areas of the drive offer outstanding views.

There is an area known as seal rock, which is a rock, with seals (of course).

Hard to say much more about the photos of the coastline...

There are also many huge mansions within the 17 Mile Drive area.

A number of golf courses are surrounded by 17 Mile Drive as well. Courses like Spyglass Hill (a Robert Trent Jones designed course), The Links at Spanish Bay, the Del Monte and Peter Hay courses, Poppy Hills, and the world renowned Pebble Beach.

While much of 17 Mile Drive is along the coast, there are a number of areas that are a little more inland, and heavily wooded.

More of the coastal shots...

This is known as The Lone Cypress, and is one of the main scenic attractions along 17 Mile Drive. The Lone Cypress is a salt-pruned Monterey cypress tree, and is the official symbol of Pebble Beach. It is a frequent fixture of television broadcasts from this area.

The beach areas along the drive are very nice as well.

This beach is near the Carmel end of the drive.

After completing the drive, we spent some time tooling around Carmel by the Sea. Carmel is full of quaint little shops, and magnificent homes.

About 5 miles east of Monterey, is a place I have wanted to visit for a number of years. Of course I would prefer to be there for the yearly MotoGP event, but you take what you can get... That place is Laguna Seca Raceway.

The first race here was held on November 9, 1957. Since then, the track has hosted Can-Am, Trans-Am, Formula 5000, IMSA GT, Champ Car, American Le Mans Series, Grand American, Monterey Historic Automobile Races, Speed World Challenge, AMA Superbike, World Superbike Championship and MotoGP races. 

For many years Laguna Seca was the only place in the entire US that you could witness a live MotoGP motorcycle race. However, for the last couple of years, there has been a second MotoGP event held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as well.

For those that are not interested in racing, and those who think running around a circle or oval track constantly turning left is called racing, you can just skip down to the bottom of today's blog :)

The current racetrack at Laguna Seca is 2.238 miles in length with a 180 feet elevation change. It has eleven turns, including the famous "Corkscrew" at Turns 8 and 8A.

The Corkscrew turns are like no other racetrack in the world. Here's why:

• At the apex to Turn 8 (the lefthander and entry to The Corkscrew), the elevation change is a 12 percent drop and entry into the turn is blind.

• By the time a racer reaches the apex of Turn 8A (the righthander), the elevation is at its steepest - an 18 percent drop.

• The Corkscrew drops 59 feet between the entrance of Turn 8 to the exit of Turn 8A. That's the equivalent of a 6 story drop in only 450 feet of track length.

• Then once through the Corkscrew, the elevation falls another 109 feet, or just over 10 stories to turn 9 the next left hander.

Also, as you transition from turn 8, to turn 8A, you cannot see the actual bend or bottom of the turn, the racers actually use an oak tree out in the infield to help them correctly align bike/car for the correct entry into the bottom half of the Corkscrew. 

Just walking from the bottom to the top of this track section is challenging. Remember that 18% grade :)

Also, as with everything, the photos really tend to flatten out the look and grade of the track.

This is just turn 8, and the start of 8A.  You still have another 109 foot drop down to turn 9.

This is a shot of the end portion of the Corkscrew, from far across the track. We are actually sitting up on a rather large hill meant for motor homes to park and view the race. You cannot see the Corkscrew entry from here, but you can see the bottom half, and the drop down into turn 9.

Here are a couple of you tube videos that give you an idea of the speed these guys carry through these turns.

This next one is a little long, you can just watch a minute or so, pause, and move on. 

Oh, and remember, these bikes easily cross the 200 mph mark, and have lean angles that are obscene. Watch the following video, especially between the 30 second and 1 minute mark. It shows Casey Stoner actually dragging his elbow in a turn. The video is great because it was shot at a very high frame rate, allowing you to actually see what is happening in very slow motion.

There is also a Skip Barber racing school at the track if you are interested in learning how to drive Formula 1 open wheel style cars.

It was interesting that the track had no event in progress, yet we were allowed to drive all over the place. We drove right into the paddock area, all through the infield areas, even into a bunch of places where signs said "Authorized Vehicles Only".  No one seemed to care. We only saw one other non-worker car in the entire place. I was not sure if we would even be able to get into the park at all, so I am really glad we decided to stop by.

Now, I just have to get Lennie to come back when the actual MotoGP is held next year :) 

Since the track, and the Skip Barber school are sponsored by Mazda, they get to put these cute signs up around the track.

Oh CRIKEY, what's that... It looks like a CopperRattleMocasin, the most venomous and deadly snake in the world, I think I'll go pick it up !!  

Tomorrow we start continue our drive up the PCH with a destination of Daly City, which is just outside San Francisco CA.

Today, we traveled about 80 touring around the Monterey, Carmel, Laguna Seca areas by rental car. No map of today's ride since we were not actually on the bike :)