A few laps around Road America

Here's what I know. Saturday after we got back from our off-road experience (videos are SO slow uploading, will post when they do), we went to meet up with some folks. Now, try to keep up. My wife's sister is married. Her husband works with a guy who is part of BMW CCA. As it turns out, this weekend was the Badger Bimmers weekend at Road America. Badger Bimmers is the local chapter of the BMW CCA. So, the guy was running his BMW M3 around the track all day Saturday. So about 7:30 we all meet (my wife and I got invited to tag along with everyone) at a bar. While waiting for everyone, I had a drink. While talking, the bartender must have asked me if I wanted another, and instinctively I must have said yes. They were supposed to be rum and coke, but I've never been hit that hard unless I put in just enough coke to color it. So yeah, I was gone.

However, sometime after my 2nd drink and having a beer at the restaurant, I met some of the BMW guy's club-mates and friends. At the restaurant I was talking to them, and found out some of them were instructors. One of them mentioned that they occasionally give rides, and that they have a Corvette. I asked if I could go, and the guy said yes.

Fast forward to Sunday morning. Meet up at the track an hour before the ride. The guy said he hadn't decided against it, so I grabbed the GoPro (woot for multiple uses) and mounted it to the roll cage. Toss on a helmet and away we go. The lap times don't seem all that great from what I saw (around 2:50? I could be wrong though, used my phone as a stopwatch) but I know for a fact that at least once we saw 140 on the front straight. Temperature was around 55 to 60, fog had just lifted but was still humid, and we had to have the windows open, as per the rules. Not sure what has all been done to the car, I think that was discussed during dinner. I was able to store the info about where to meet and when, and that took most of my brain power. The rest was used to walk back to the car from the bar after the restaurant, and drive 30 minutes to our hotel. In any case, here's the video I was able to take of our run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVD0p-Lm_-k&feature=youtu.be

Very cool! I'm glad you got fantastic usage out of my slutty Hero2. Hey, she's been used on the ground in five states and used in the airspace over many others. She must be a part of the mile-high club and is as bad as the Mercury Mistress.

how long does it take to process a vid? I tried to watch but couldn't. So until i see proof you are blowing smoke out sims box. lol

I wish i had friends of friends of friends of a wife? i think i lost myself with that one

I'm going to have to find some video editing software. Apparently YouTube will let me upload for 4 f**king hours and THEN tell me the video is too long. I will get back to you when I can get this uploaded, probably in 2 parts now.

Look into AVS4You, MovAvi, or possibly an even better option is free software developed for use by Hero2 owners: Cineform Studio. I haven't gotten Cineform Studio to install on my machine so I can't vouch for them. AVS and M.A. are both good products though.

Sorry, Rem, but that's just funny...

In case you missed it!

Simcik wrote:Sorry, Rem, but that's just funny...

In case you missed it!

I'm gonna stuff you in your own box...

Thanks Avanti, I will try those tonight. I suppose you'll be wanting your camera back too lol

Since I can't find any video software as of yet that works, here's a YouTube approved video that actually uploaded and WASN'T over the time limit...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfZriti4YEE&feature=youtu.be

Remaggib wrote:… The lap times don't seem all that great from what I saw (around 2:50? I could be wrong though, used my phone as a stopwatch) but I know for a fact that at least once we saw 140 on the front straight. …

Hovering around 2:50 slots in amongst other modified street cars. Spec Miata can be a touch quicker though they also weigh less.
http://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Road_America#Typical_Lap_Times

Beginning upload now. 350+ minutes on the first one, and 450+ minutes on the 2nd one. Or the other way around. Either way, have roughly 15 hours of uploading just so I can show you my 17 minute video.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

After 6 hours uploading the shorter half of the video, YouTube tells me that I have to upload a supported file type?! It already is a f***ing .AVI!

I f***ing HATE YouTube now. If anyone has any idea that will help me get these videos uploaded let me know, this is more annoying than it's worth.

Wow - that sucks... I have no idea what's going on. People post whole movies on there, not sure why you're having so much trouble...

.avi, .mp4, .wmv, and others have multiple codecs for each type. Each file type has different audio options, video resolution and frame rate. AVS4You (mentioned above), has a Video Converter option. Below .avi is an option "Video for YouTube". I have a feeling there's a specific .avi codec YouTube prefers its users upload and if you don't happen to have the right combination of audio and video options, YouTube will reject the file.

I could convert the file(s), log in under your YT account, and post the movie for you. We just have to figure a way for you to shoot me any troubling files of yours. How large are they?

I think 1.5gb for the original file.

Thanks to Avanti, I can now give you guys the address to the working video for my laps!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPrUG7oTt9E

Again, the guy was sandbagging it a bit, but it wasn't his car and the brake pads ended up getting replaced shortly after we went out. So shortly in fact, that they were still red hot from the run and the guys were getting burned through towels. But still a super fun ride!

Wow those brakes sounded REAL bad. Without even reading the description I could hear them.

Awesome Rem! Thanks for the video.