Greetings from San Francisco!
It has been a while since our last email and longer since the last meeting.
Times have been busy here at MCSF HQ between the Club, work and family.
Summer vacation is over and work is still busy but while
F1 takes a break I wanted to get out some new info, set the date and
announce our Club's first contest!
Indy was a huge success, well until the race actually went on. Or didn't. We
had a great meet by all accounts - the new met with the old and the Team was
super appreciative of our presence and support.
Our showing up and bringing with us our optimism and enthusiasm for all of
the hard work the guys and gals from Faenza do everyday to make the show
race after race.
They also liked the flashlights - "torches" as they call them.
I have received many pictures and a few emails telling of their experiences
at Indy - but Ger over at the website wants more! So if you have pics or
stories or a thank you to the Team you have fogotten to send - or would like
to - get them over to me OR send them directly to Ger at:
ger@aghadoeheights.com
Now for some of the good news. Minardi has finally signed a for real Friday
test driver! Enrico Toccacelo will be our Friday Test Driver as well as
reserve driver for the remaining six races. This is long overdue for the
Team and it signifies additional economic input as well as the benefits of
having more technical input to help push the PS05 up the grid. By all
accounts the car has between 2 to 3 seconds of speed yet to be found in it.
Speaking of the next race - it is next weekend and will be a first for all
of us - a GP in Turkey. Should prove to be interesting and by the early
weather forecasts it may be the first true wet GP of the year.
Check out the TV schedule at:
http://www.speedtv.com/schedule/
to see when it will be on in your time zone.
NEXT MEETING
Our next meeting will be Saturday the 20th at our usual location GoKartRacer.
Go to www.gokartracer.com for directions. The time will be noon. Our next
meet will be our Monza meet on the 3rd of September. Same time and location.
But now for the big news...
The First Annual (maybe more often...) MCSF BETA Tools Contest!
Yes, Brian Gale over at BETA Tools USA (www.betatoolsusa.com) made us an
offer we could not refuse. He wants to donate a fantastic set of metric open
end wrenches (valued at over $200!) to the Club as a way of saying thanks
for our continued support of BETA tools and to celebrate their long term
relationship with Minardi.
What to do with this...what to do ....?
Then it hit me.
We have another little surprise we were planning on doing for Mr Minardi.
During our trip to Imola we found out that he has a taste for fine Whiskey.
Our friend Ger, one of the strong Irish contingent in the Club, just happens
to know a man in the high end whiskey biz that is willing to do a custom
labelling for us. A one bottle run off - more maybe if anyone is interested.
I'll have to get clarification from Ger.
The long and short is that we can inscribe the label anyway we want.
And that is where the tools come in.
In addition to our Club logo one of you - or a collaboration of members,
will win these tools if they can come up with the best inscription to honor
Mr Minardi's birthday. His birthday is September 18th so we will need to
have the final inscription voted on and sent off to Roberta no later than
the 30th of August.
So, come up with your best prose and get it to me by the 20th and we will go
over them at the meeting and then send them out for a Club wide vote. I will
then get the English version to Roberta upon her return from vacation and
she will translate it for us.
This is HUGE people. We found something Mr Minardi will greatly appreciate -
there is not much we can do for him as he is so down to earth but this is a
complete secret to him so it will be a great treat!
Put your thinking caps on and get your answers back to me ASAP!
Okay, that is it for now....well there is always something.
Oh yes, the meeting agenda will go out in the next few days. Mainly we will
be covering membership issues, one or two more leadership positions within
the Club as our growth has been growing lately (50) as of last count and the
near and long term plans for the Club event wise.
Do not hesitate to write if you have any issues, questions or concerns.
PLEASE let me know if you are going to make the meeting at GoKart Racer as I
lke to give them a head count and see if we can get the quiet room.
Cross your fingers for next week - it looks as if we have Jordan on the run
and possibly JV!
FORZA
Emmett Quigley
President, Minardi Club San Francisco
