Category Archives: Photos

Brisbane International Speedway

Photos, Sport, Videos

Cresta Sprintcar At Brisbane International Raceway, 4th February 2006The weekend of the 4th & 5th of February saw the Brisbane International Speedway host the Australian Sprintcar Championships. Approximately 50 drivers turned up for the event, which was an excellent turnout.

At the start of the evening on Saturday, the track conditions where poor and far too wet. The first heat held for the sprintcars was actually re-run, as the drivers and event organisers felt they were at an unfair disadvantage running first. It was so wet in fact, that there was nearly a 30 second difference in a 12 lap race between the start and end of the night. As the evening progressed, the sprintcars wore the raceline in and they soon started to grip up as expected.

The large turnout of cars ended up causing some problems. Each heat was running about 12-14 cars and it was a little too tight; the by product of course was a seemingly never ending string of accidents. The additional accidents consumed more time than expected and as the clock kept clicking towards the curfew, events were dropped from the program in an attempt for us to finish on time.

Once the track dried out and the sprintcars started to get good grip, there was plenty of great racing taking place. On the whole, I don’t think they weren’t quite as fast as the World Sprintcar Series event held there towards the end of 2005. The single biggest downside to the event this time was parking, what a nightmare. Expecting that we’d be able to get out of the car park in reasonable time, we parked inside the venue. We received a rude surprise when we sat at a stand still for nearly 25 minutes waiting to get out of the car park. Next time, I think we’ll park outside and toward the main road – it’ll make for a much more convenient getaway.

Next on the motor racing calendar will be the Winter Nationals at Willowbank Raceway in June!

Videos

Opening 3 laps, looking primarily at turn 3, 4 and main straight. If you’re having trouble watching the embedded video below, you can view the first three laps of the Australian Sprintcar Championships directly on YouTube.

Opening 3 laps, looking at turn 1 and 2. If you’re having problems viewing the embedded video below, you can watch the Australian Sprincar Championship directly on YouTube.

Photos

Tumours Followed By Herniation

Humour, Photos

Broken Squishy Breast Stress ToyIn December, I mentioned that for my birthday, the guys at work bought me a soft breast look-a-like stress toy. Needless to say, it was a hit in the office with everyone taking every opportunity to give it a squish – even a few of the females.

As we continued to squeeze, squish and distort the breast – it appeared that there were weaker bits in the rubber. After a while, every time you squeezed it – it was distorting in the same places. As a result, when it wasn’t being squished, it now had lumps – it had tumours! Soon, we were tossing it around the office and deliberately distorting it by holding onto the base of the breast and wobbling it.

Following on from the deliberate wobbling, on Friday I enacted a Kung Foo Master – substituting the breast stress toy for traditional nunchakus. As it turns out, it stretched a little further than anticipated and as it swung over my shoulder and into my back – it burst! Needless to say, the contents of the stress toy went everywhere. Thankfully, it was filled with a slightly silicone based water and it dried and/or cleaned up easily.

Brisbane Story Bridge Adventure Climb

General, Photos, Travel

Alistair Lattimore At The Top of the Story Bridge In Brisbane - 14 January 2006On Saturday, it was time to use my birthday voucher for the Brisbane Story Bridge Climb.

The bridge climb headquarters are located physically under the Story Bridge on Main Street. When I arrived, I was taken aback by how professional the premises were. For some reason, I had a mental picture that it would, to some extent, be a bit of a backyard type operation – I was very wrong. When you walk in the doors, it’s new, clean, tidy and has a very professional feel.

The climb was scheduled for 5:00pm and we were instructed to be at the headquarters at least 15 minutes prior. Once inside, you hand in your voucher, receive a ticket in its place and take a seat. Shortly, your climb leader will arrive – we had a bloke named Steve and he was excellent.

Your instructor will take you through all the formalities, such as a breath test and indemnity statements. While we waited for everyone to be breath tested (same rules as a car, 0.05 limit) – we went around in a circle and introduced ourselves and grabbed one of the jump suits. Soon enough, we’re downstairs fitting a belt style climbing harness, attaching our accessories and going through how the safety equipment works.

The bridge climb itself was an experience. You start off climbing up a spiral staircase to get up to the underside of the bridge, then walk directly under the bridge until you popup on the eastern side at road height. Soon enough you are faced with the first serious section, where you’re ascending to the viewing platform on the main pier. I didn’t check the time exactly, however I suspect it would have been about 6:15pm by this stage. There was still plenty of light and we had an excellent view around Brisbane – we could even see the sand dunes on Stradbroke Island! We stayed up there for 5-10 minutes, enjoyed the view and had a chat with the rest of the group. You then descend from the main pier to the middle of the Story Bridge where you traverse over to the south side. At this stage, you’ve now completed half of the over all distance and you’ll soon be ascending back to the top of the main pier. Before we reached the top again, the sun had already set and the lights of Brisbane city were on – it was a spectacular view! The photo is shot looking south; the city is on my left with airport on my right. From here, you descend the main pier on your way back to the bridge climb headquarters where you de-kit and cool down.

The climb was fantastic and I’d recommend it to anyone. It wasn’t particularly strenuous; we had a couple in the 50-60 year bracket complete it without a hiccup. During the climb, you’re walking on metal grating which you can see through. Steve informed us that it actually causes more problems for height sensitive people than the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb, even though their climb is higher; however the walking surface is solid. If you are height sensitive and you think you can overcome it, the experience and views truly are worth your effort.

Interesting Facts:

  • The Story Bridge opened on July 6th 1940, after being under construction for approximately 5 years.
  • Construction cost was £1,492,000. Seven years later, the State Government sold the Story Bridge to the Brisbane City Council for £750,000.
  • There are 1072 metres between the southern and northern anchor piers which spans 282 metres of water.
  • At its highest point, the Story Bridge is 74 metres tall or approximately 22 stories and 24 metres wide.
  • There were 12000 tonnes of structural steel, 1650 tonnes of reinforcing steel and 1.5 million rivets used.
  • You’ll step up 1100 stairs during the climb.