Coast to Coast (and back?) with an Italian Supermodel

[AntiHero]

Thanks, guys.

I'm envious of you, Schneller! You have the goal in front, whereas mine is mostly behind.

Best of luck with the surgery, Sgt.

[AntiHero]

So onto the next installment: Birmingham. Specifically, Barber Motorsports Vintage Museum.

[AntiHero]

I had been sitting in a coffee shop (free WiFi) in Savannah when some guy walks in and heads straight for me. "Is that your Panigale outside?" :) He also rode and happened to be a professor of art history at one of Savannah's art schools. He also worked on a Red Bull art/motorcycle project. Honda used to have the slogan, "You meet the nicest people on a Honda." I keep thinking the same about my experience with Ducati, only I substitute "most interesting" for "nicest". In any case, I start picking his brain about the south and he recommended (strongly) that I hit up Barber. Sure, why not--what's a few hundred miles.

So that's how I ended up at Barber. And it was completely worth it. Barber houses a collection of over 1200 motorcycles and racing cars. It's the largest motorcycle museum in the world and also houses the largest collection of Lotus race cars. Unfortunately not all are on display at the same time, but from the pictures you can tell there is definitely no shortage of eye candy.

I gasped a few times during my visit--most notably at the Britten and the Supermono (the latter blew my mind when I first saw it at Laguna during the early 90s at the GP).





Mike Hailwood's bike (!)

[AntiHero]

And my favorite--a Laverda with two pie tins to catch the leaking oil!


What really ruined my day was that there was a track day going on. My brain is still screwed up, so seeing/hearing/remembering all the days I spent on track without the capability to be there is all bitter and no sweet.

[LWRider]

You just missed the Vintage Festival at Barber. I go every year and it is an incredible experience. I the museum, did you notice those two beat up BMWs with all the luggage and maps? Those are from another wanderer, RTW. You can read the story in "Investment Biker." I hope you rode Dunnavant Road (25) while you were there.

Cheers,

Mike

[nivs]

I'm envious of you, Schneller! You have the goal in front, whereas mine is mostly behind.

You have passed "equipoise", the point in a journey where further travelling starts taking you closer to your origin. It is a position often pondered, whether pointless or not.

[rico2072]

Barber is on my list of places to see! Some of my friends on tampasportbikes.com go up there for track days pretty often, and amateur racing as well. Would love to do a track day there, but I don't think a ninja 250 is the best bike for that track! LOL

Keep the RR coming!

[bk brkr baker]

Originally Posted by rico2072

Barber is on my list of places to see! Some of my friends on tampasportbikes.com go up there for track days pretty often, and amateur racing as well. Would love to do a track day there, but I don't think a ninja 250 is the best bike for that track! LOL

Keep the RR coming!

Uh, a 250 is a great bike for Barber IMHO. This track , when built, was touted as purpose built for World Superbike and Moto GP. Then after a testing the AMA started having races there.
The World said no. Not long enough on the straights to get the top speed to wow the crowds, though that doesn't keep them away from Laguna Seca.
I've raced there several times with AHRMA. It is an extremely fun track. It flows bettter than most any other track I've been on . There is only one really slow corner and it catches people out frequentlly.
If you can make a track day and be with a group with similar speeds , you'll likely enjoy.

[ewaugh]

That slow corner is amazing if you know how to work it correctly. I've passed several cars on the first laps as they go for the brakes just earlier than required. You can use that downhill braking zone to your advantage and...more or less divebomb the corner. Scares the hell out of the workers though. :)

A lot of groups wanted Mr. Barber to reconfigure the backstriaght to get rid of the kink. Personally I love the kink. If they reconfigured the corner leading onto the front straight to make it, well, less of a turn they would get the speeds they wanted on the front straight.

Oh by the way, all of the motorcycles on display will start and turn laps on track.

[prooney377]

Never even knew about Barber till I read the last post; now it's on my bucket list. Can't be many places int the world you can see a Britten and Super Mono in the same room.

[AntiHero]

The madness continues:













Ignore Can AM:

[AntiHero]

BTW, the imperfections in the pics are due to the Photobucket conversion process. If anyone wants crystal-clear pics, PM me.

[AntiHero]

Funny thing about Alabama. I didn't think it was so bad. But everywhere I went people asked where I was from (Ducati motorbikes are not so common). When I responded that I was on a road trip seeing the country there was a unanimous reply: "so why are you here?" Well, Barber was fookin' cool. And if you're living in a place you hate so much that you question why strangers are visiting I'd suggest you either get the fuck out or suck it up and realize it ain't so bad.

That's what I thought before Mobile. I'd driven through Mobile before, but never stayed. I had fond memories of Malbis, AL, (your narrator says with a grin), so thought a night in Mobile would allow me to meet up with my dad (who lives in the FL panhandle), and give me a taste or real Alabama slamma living.

(Long exhale.)

Slamma it was. Anyone who's been waiting with baited breath for fortuitous experiences to turn bad turn the pages no further. This is where the chimera breathes some nasty fumes into the R/R.

I've stayed in some shitholes. One unmentioned goal of this journey of mine is to look at the world through Iris-colored spectacles (never done that before), which means I've glossed over a lot of the bad parts of this journey. There's no fun in reporting sandy beige or salamander experiences, and there's no fun in renting headspace to boredom. Dr. J's yacht in NY, the tranquility of Colorado, a drunken sofa in MN, sublimity in Martha's Vineyard--all of those are far more worthy of QWERTY attention than the finger-down-the-throat experiences I've devoted no time to. But Mobile was so bad it demands documentation.

[AntiHero]

So after Barber: Mobile. The denizens of Alabama seemed unanimous in thier distaste of their state. I didn't quite understand until I arrived at my new apartment in Mobile. Long story short--southern hospitality is either great or it's disgusting.



Yes--that was the bed, upon arrival, complete with 'wet towel on the pillow' action. Avoiding a CCC (cum covered comforter) always ranked high on my list of priorities when checking into a room, but I'd never prepared myself for a situation like this.

To make matters worse, Mobile, AL, was where my dad and I met up. I'd had six months of roaches and dirtbag motels to desensitize me to germs. But he walked right off the street into it with no warning. His bed looked like this:



Kitty poo poo odors really completed the experience:


And though we both felt like we needed a shower, neither of us thought it was right to fight over the only clean towel:

[AntiHero]

I was kind of laughing (albeit nervously) through the whole surreal experience. But while searching for clean linens in the closet, we discovered the cleansing power of fire and the ultimate in retarded idiocy:



You can't make this shit up if you wanted to, Wendell!