Ioná Albuquerque
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coimbrabertone.bsky.social
Ioná Albuquerque
@coimbrabertone.bsky.social
27 followers 50 following 250 posts
I write words and stuff.

Check me out on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iona_Albuquerque/works

Check out my tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/coimbrabertone
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coimbrabertone.bsky.social
They can always pave the other horse track!
For some reason, the suburb of CIcero, Illinois opened two horse tracks right next to each other. Hawthorne Race Course to the south, and then Sportsman Park right across the street. In the late 90s, however, Sportsman Park was paved over to create the Chicago Motor Speedway flat oval, hosting CART and NASCAR Trucks. CART raced from 1999 to 2002, but after that, Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet overshadowed it. Chicago Motor Speedway died a quick death, being sold to the city in 2003, then demolished bit by bit from 2005 to 2009. Once CMS was demolished, the site was turned into a Wirtz Alcohol distribution center on the left, and a Walmart Supercenter on the left. To the south, Hawthorne Race Course still exists. It's apparently getting a casino too, because horse racing exists solely because of degenerate gambling.
July 6, 2025 at 1:40 AM
coimbrabertone.bsky.social
As for Mogadishu, what I could find was this: a postcard mentioning that there was a motorcycle grand prix in the Italian trust territory of Somalia in 1953.

The picture got compressed a lot when I saved it but it says "Gran Premio Motociclistico della Somalia, Mogadiscio, 11 Ottobre 1953"
May 31, 2025 at 9:56 PM
coimbrabertone.bsky.social
The poster for the Asmara event - the 25 December XVII (17) data refers to the Fascist calendar in use in Italy at that time, as 1938 was the 17th year of Mussolini's rule, which started in 1922 (Anno I).
A Poster for the I Circuito Automobilistico dell'Eritrea, also known as the Coppa di Natale for its Christmas 1938 date. Held on December 25th, 1938 in Asmara, an Italian planned city built to be the center of colonial administration in Eritrea. The race date says "25 Dicembre XVII" or December 25th of the 17th year, which is due to the Fascist Calendar used in Italy at that time, as discussed in the main post. The prize is listed as 50,000 lira. It's unclear if that prize is for the winner or if it is the total prize pot.
May 31, 2025 at 9:51 PM
coimbrabertone.bsky.social
Cool map from The Race from a few years ago, showing how the two different Detroit downtown layouts overlap.
Detroit Grand Prix Layouts. The 1983-1988 F1 Layout (Which was then used in CART for 1989, 1990, and 1991) and the current Detroit layout which has been used in Indycar since 2023. Both circuits are on the Detroit riverfront around the Renaissance Center, however, the new layout is somewhat shorter and simpler.
May 31, 2025 at 4:19 PM
coimbrabertone.bsky.social
Alright, Thermal was not great, but the next Indycar race is Long Beach and that's one of the longest running and most successful events in the sport.

For good reason too, because the Grand Prix of Long Beach dates all the way back to 1975, when it was an SCCA Formula 5000 race.

Here's the track:
A track map of the first Long Beach GP Layout. Showing the start-finish line on Ocean Boulevard, a quick descent onto Seaside for just a moment, then through the convention center parking lot into the hairpin. The hairpin brought the cars onto Shoreline Drive, still part of the modern circuit, however, in the old days, the layout continued all the way to another hairpin at the intersection of Shoreline and Queen's Way. Following the hairpin, the cars would go east on Shoreline until they reached Pine, then head north, through a quick chicane, a short straightaway, and then another chicane brough tthem back onto Pine just in time to turn right back onto Ocean Boulevard.
March 26, 2025 at 9:13 PM
coimbrabertone.bsky.social
I could be wrong here since there could be more quotes that didn't make it into the article, but that's not how I'd translate the previous quote

If this is all they got, then that's a reach imo
January 28, 2025 at 6:36 PM