The Rex Files at the Ventura Kinetic Sculpture race 2000

Click on a thumbnail sketch to see the full size picture.

Saturday - Road and sand.

When we reviewed the rules before the race we discovered a pleasant suprise. There is a new rule. And its named after us! Rule "3.01 Rex Files Sand Mound Clarification" says we can use pit crew or barnacles for balast like we did in 1999. There was some controversy over our doing this last year, so I was suprised that the new rule made it legal.

This year the sand pile was easier than last. But the 2.5 miles of beach sand afterwards really wore us out. It might have been better if we had moved our Barnacle from his seat to the front of Rex. That would move his weight to the driven wheels. Maybe we will try that next year.

The sand was so much effort that most of the teams skipped it. That may be why there were so few Ace Ventura's awarded.

	The STARTING LINE was on Main street, one block from where a movie will be shot next week. It sounded like an action film. [photo by Robert Bernstein]
	One of the pilots of 'We Stink!' was Rikki Strandfelt, who was an official last year. Their costumes have nice skunk tails. [photo by Allen Brown]
	The Dragon was raced by the team that had Headhunters last year. It was a total rebuild. Last year we had some rivalry with them over their Garfield stuffed animal. So this year we stuck a Garfield in the teeth of The Rex Files. You can see it especially well below in the last photo of us on the sand. [photo by Allen Brown]
	Tiki Torchure by Dwayne Flatmo. I talk about them later in the water segment of the race. [photo by Allen Brown]
	My First Wagon. [photo by Allen Brown]
	Yellow Submarine just finished the sand pile. [photo by Allen Brown]
	One of the delights of racing is seeing friends. This girl is one of the Trailblazers that I met last year. [photo by Allen Brown]
	As an alien ambassador, I am provided a bodyguard. Darak [Karen] provides protection with her ray gun at the ready while I make some adjustments to the gears as we start the long sand segment of the race. [photo by Robert Bernstein]
	The sand lasts 2.5 miles. We were the last to enter the sand and the last to exit. It was a long tiring trip. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking very clearly. Its just possible we would have had less effort if our Barnacle, Christopher, had been standing on the pedal boom. That would have moved his weight over the driven wheels. You will see this maneuver in later photos. [photo by Robert Bernstein]

Sunday - Mud, Water, and Road.

	Some machines were pulled thru the mud. Junkyard Hog has ATV wheels, so I would think this mud would have been passable. But since this was a totally new machine, he may not have had time to put low enough gears on it.
	Triceratops smoked the mud.
	Insecticide in the mud. Insecticide is by Team Chaos.
	The three Trailblazer sculptures linked up before the mud... [photo by Don Brown]
	but it appears that was not enought o get them thru the mud this year.
	We changed to ATV wheels for the mud.
	Ken Beidelman's Hog Wild is a natural in the mud.
	Sparkle didn't even get her pretty hooves muddy.
	Alegra is clearly enjoying the mud with Hot Flashes.
	Land Shark in the mud.
	Before entering the mud, Chuck of the Yellow Submarine told us that this machine had never made it thru any mud successfully. But they did it in Ventura.
	Once we move our Barnacle to the front of The Rex Files, we drove quickly thru the mud. I hear that Thomas, our Barnacle, really enjoyed this part of the race.
	The Rex Files entering the Marina. Shortly after this we were returning from a buoy when Tiki Torchure was approaching it. They tried to cut us off. But we were much too fast for them. As we zipped on by we taunted them that we could run rings around them. So we did! Again they tried to cut us off as we did a circle around them. But The Rex Files is so much faster that Tiki Torcher in the water that they couldn't stop us.
	Earlier we entered the Ventura Marina. After looping around a couple of buoys we exit the Marine into the Pacific Ocean for a short distance. The Rex Files broke his neck in the water. Notice how the head is hanging to the ground. Last year we got our prop caught in the sand while we were being hit by the breakers. The prop was badly damaged. We changed our procedure this year and came in to shore cleanly. [photo by Don Brown]
	But we still we had trouble figuring out how to exit. The Rex Files was just digging deep holes in the sand as long as we tried to take the beach on directly. After awhile and several lateral moves I finally remembered that exiting diagonally works better. With that Rex popped right out. I think we will do this better next year. But I wish we could practice this before then.
	Thomas, our Barbacle, was a trooper during all of this.
	Hot Flashes exiting the Ocean. Alegra looks lovely as usual.
	The Rex Files. This is one of the better pictures for showing Karen's blue spots. In person they were quite striking and really very nice. I like the way they constrast with her bright hair. Unfortunately you can barely see them in the photos because her helmet straps cover them.
	We Stink! being pulled on the sand
	The local Police were very helpful during the race, providing escorts on the city streets.

The finish line and award ceremony.

	We gave Hobart Brown a ride to the award ceremony in the Barnacle seat of The Rex Files.
	That's Penny, the mom of the Barnacles.
	Alegra poses with her dad Bruce.
	Stuart gave rides to kids in The Rex Files. There were lines of kids waiting.
	My alien co-pilot relaxes for a moment.
	Blue Yonder is for sale on eBay. This is a fine machine and I hope it fetches a good price. I also hope Lauren builds a new machine. It would be a shame to loose this find couple.
	The Trailblazers get an award. That's a lot of kids.
	Karen and I picked up the trophy.
	The Team of the Rex Files with our awards. Karen, our Martian, holds her Ace Ventura medalion and our trophy for Determination. Below, Laura and Stuart kneel on the cold grass. I hold my Ace Ventura from this year and last year. At this point we had chopped the head off The Rex Files so that we could see forward for giving rides to kids.

Postscript

This story would not be complete without mentioning the beauty of Ventura. The city has many miles of lovely beach. There were always surfers in the water. This year there were few sunbathers because the temperature was only about 70F. And few swimmers. Laura took a swim at night and reported that the water was actually warm.

Most photos by Richard Keller.

This site: http://brown.armoredpenguin.com/~abrown/rex/RexFiles/Ventura2000/index.html	My home site: http://brown.armoredpenguin.com/~abrown

Last modified 11 Dec 2006		Copyright 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006