Early May for the last couple years and this year was no different, means sports car racing at Laguna Seca. Luckily it was the first weekend this year Lindsey is tired of sharing our anniversary and Mother’s Day with a race track. Since it was her Grandfather’s birthday she actually missed this year for the first time since she moved to CA. She secretly loves the racing. Well maybe not the racing, but getting pictures with Patrick Dempsey doesn’t hurt.
Like every Laguna sports car race since Oliver has been born we decided to camp at the circuit. The RV gives him a place to get out of the elements. We picked up the RV Friday morning, packed it up, and made our way to the track. When we got to the track we set up camp, enjoyed some brews and some on track action from the support series. For dinner we munched on some sausages, then roasting some marshmallows, and drank entirely too much scotch.
 |
| Oliver chilling with Poppy in the RV |
 |
| Our campsite |
 |
| Oliver going for a bike ride with Uncle Bip and Meme |
 |
| Sunset over the track |
 |
| Oliver eating smores with Uncle Bip |
After breakfast on Saturday morning, we made our way down to the paddock where we checked out the cars up close. I used the weekend to try out the baby carrier backpack that we brought to Europe last time and were thinking of bring to Europe in a couple weeks. It worked really well when he was one and a half and 25 pounds, but now he’s close to 40 pounds. We had our traditional lunch at the pub in the paddock with some beers and Le Dogs (hot dogs stuffed in bored out baguettes, Oliver was a fan). After lunch we met up with the team manager of Flying Lizard Motorsports who let Oliver sit in one of the teams Audi R8 race cars. After we had seen what was to be seen in the Paddock we headed back to camp. For dinner we had some tacos with some pre-marinated meat from the Mexican market close to my work, very tasty stuff.
 |
| Oliver riding along |
 |
| Oliver munching on a Le Dog |
 |
| Oliver hanging out in the Flying Lizard Audi R8 |
 |
| Oliver posing in front of the Flying Lizard Audi R8 |
 |
| Nikolas and Oliver enjoying the tacos for dinner |
Sunday was race day. Normally there are four classes of cars on the track at once, but due to the number of cars they split the classes into two, two hour races. I have to say I’m a bigger fan of the previous longer races. For the big race we made our way down to turn 2 for the start of the race. After the start we made our way up the hill to the corkscrew then back to camp. I walked from turn 2 all the way up to the corkscrew then down to camp with Oliver on my back, so I got a bit of exercise. The baby carrier pack worked out well. Oliver’s 40 lbs weren’t that bad, I mean Fat Nick was forty pounds more than Medium sized Nick and Fat Nick climbed half dome. The race was pretty good with action throughout. After the race we packed up camp and headed home.
 |
| Oliver and Nikolas watching cars and 'hunting' lady bugs |
 |
| The cars fighting for position at the start |
 |
| Prototypes battling through turn 5 |
 |
| GTLM traffic through the Corkscrew |
