Friday @ Petit LeMans 2013
We'd had a soggy Thursday, but the front had pushed through, and the morning dawned clear, at least at my house. I arrived at Road Atlanta a few minutes after 8, to a low overcast. I hustled up to the turn 10 chicane to catch the early parts of the MX-5 cup race, and it was a good one. There was a group of four cars in a lead pack, with another couple just behind. Not surprisingly, there was a full course yellow towards the middle of the race. Once racing resumed, the same four cars that were leading, plus one more, created another lead pack and it stayed that way until the checkered. The MX-5s are slow, have limited grip, and are quiet (no earplugs neeed), but they put on great racing all throughout the pack. if they come to your town, it's well worth getting up early to go see.
Next up, the Prototype Lites. Little low flat sports races with limited aero goodies, and a full race Mazda 4 banger, just to my liking, car-wise. In the past, the races have been less than inspiring in most cases. This year's setup is that Sean Rayhall is leading the championship, and only has to come in something like 11th to clinch. He's out front on pole, but drops to second, and is in a close race with the third place car. Not too far into the race, Rayhall goes in side by side with, if my memory serves me correctly, the #10 car of Mikhail Goikhberg,and the #10 is on the inside. Inexplicably, Sean continues to contest the position all the way up the hill, or at least as far up the hill as possible until runs out of road, gets into the dirt, spins, stalls the car, and the car refuses to restart. If you've ever driven or watched a race at Road A, then you know that the being on the outside of a car through turn 1 is not a defensible position. All Rayhall had to do was to back off a little, let Mikhail get in front and tuck in behind, and see if he can repass later. Instead he spins, loses a lap, and now has to hope for some attrition. Luckily he gets that attrition and gets his championship. The rest of us are treated to a very good race between eventual winner Ryan Booth and Mikhail Goikhberg.
Next up is ALMS practice, which goes off without incident. After that comes the GT3 Cup race, which has been one of my favorites since its inception. Did I tell you that I love Porsches? Well, I do, and have ever since I saw the move "LeMans". The second race I went to was the 1973 24 Hours of Daytona, and ever since then the yowl of a flat six Porsche engine has been permanently tattooed into my brain, and this race is nothing but Porsches! The GT3 cup races I've seen in the past tend to be contact filled, but this one is cleaner than most. Madison Snow, Sloan Urry, and Angel Benitez Jr form the lead pack, and for the first half of the race there's never more than a car length between first and second and second and third. We get a full course caution in the middle of the race, but the racing continues on. Sloan Urry prevails and manages to pull out a little lead. If you think of GT3 cup as being mostly for wealthy gentlemen drivers, you'd be mostly right, but the three young men at the front of the field are more likely up and coming professionals. i don't think any of them would be of legal drinking age here in the States.
During the lunch break, we get our first look at the K & N series cars. I assume their sessions were washed out Thursday by the persistent light rain we had, and they were sent out with the course under yellow. Earlier, I'd gotten a chance to look at one close up. They feature a beefy NASCAR roll cage that is part of the space frame that makes up the car, a carbureted, pushrod V8 engine up front, a 4 speed transmission with what looks like a conventional H pattern shifter, custom bodywork that appears to be identical car to car, and a live axle, and I'm thinking, 1984 is calling and wants its race cars back! :D I later learn that the bodywork's quarter windows and grille opening are different depending on which manufacturer the car is supposed to be from. In reality they are space frame racing chassis with a custom body and a spec engine package, and not a single part from the Fusion or Camry that they're supposed to represent. What's worse from my standpoint is that they have stickers that are supposed to represent headlights and taillights of the cars they're supposed to represent, and this all seems dishonest to me. I always thought that the "S" in NASCAR stood for "Stock", but I suppose these days it should be "Silhouette". In any case, they're loud and look fast in a straight line and I'm looking forward to seeing them race. After they get off of the track someone comes on the PA system to tell us more about the cars and the series. He also says that the race will be 28 laps, which is the first time we'd heard the race distance. In the schedule it had just been announced as a 90 minute race window.
After the lunch break, we have the four ALMS qualifying groups. Both GT and GTC go off without incident. In Prototype Challenge, all goes well until the end of the session, when Bruno Junqueria comes in contact with the barrier at Turn 5. The session finishes without a red flag, so Bruno keeps his faster times. In the P1/P2 group, Chris Dyson brings out a red flag when his car spins into a gravel trap. Other than that the session goes off smoothly.
Immediately after, the K & N cars get ready to go. i was planning to swing by the merchandise tent to pick up a few more ALMS items before they were all gone, but instead I head down to turns 10A and B to catch this race. After a clean start, one of the drivers towards the back spins in turn 10A, gets going, then stalls right on the racing line. Now, 10A is at the end of the back (not so) straight, and the braking zone is downhill, so this is a puckerish moment, particularly considering how little time most of these drivers had at Road Atlanta, but everyone kept their cool and got through. Once we went back to green, the first and second spots are contested by the drivers who are first and second in the championship. Unfortunately, the second place car has to retire with a mechanical failure, at which time the leader slows a bit, from 1:27 to 1:29. (For reference, the pole time for the ALMS GT class was 1:19) There were a number of minor spins, but the cars seem to spin rather slowly and for the most part stay on the track, and the drivers are able to get going again. To my eye, the cars seem to be on the loose side and may be experiencing wheelspin when exiting 10B.
During the entire race, the announcers keep telling us that this would be a 90 minute race. Since the race had settled down quite a bit, I headed off to the merchandise tent. As I was walking that way, I heard something over the PA about 28 laps, but thought nothing of it, and as i got close to the tent, I hear something that sounds like a PA announcement from the podium area. i also notice things had gotten rather quiet. It turns out the race was indeed 28 laps, and it had finished while I was walking to the tent. Note to Road Atlanta: if the K & N series is scheduled again, get that guy who was telling us about the series during the lunch break up in the announce booth for the race.
So that's the last ever support race day for the ALMS. We've had quite a variety over the years, from open wheel to World Challenge to Trans-Am, and now even a NASCAR series. I'm not sure what the future brings, but Grand Am has the Continental Tire Challenge, and IMSA/ALMS has Prototype Lites and Porsche GT3, and all three look healthy and will most likely continue. Since the Continental Tire races are usually semi-enduros, those three series could fill up a day.
BTW, I did get to the merchandise tent. I was looking to get both an ALMS and a United Sports Car hat, but they were sold out of ALMS ones, so I got a T shirt instead, even though I have a drawer full of shirts from the running races and triathlons I do. I'll be wearing the United Sports Car hat tomorrow. While it's pleasant to reminisce about races from years past, racing happens in the here and now, so I'm looking forward. How about you?
Re: Friday @ Petit LeMans 2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by FormerFF
During the lunch break, we get our first look at the K & N series cars. I assume their sessions were washed out Thursday by the persistent light rain we had, and they were sent out with the course under yellow. Earlier, I'd gotten a chance to look at one close up. They feature a beefy NASCAR roll cage that is part of the space frame that makes up the car, a carbureted, pushrod V8 engine up front, a 4 speed transmission with what looks like a conventional H pattern shifter, custom bodywork that appears to be identical car to car, and a live axle, and I'm thinking, 1984 is calling and wants its race cars back! :D I later learn that the bodywork's quarter windows and grille opening are different depending on which manufacturer the car is supposed to be from. In reality they are space frame racing chassis with a custom body and a spec engine package, and not a single part from the Fusion or Camry that they're supposed to represent. What's worse from my standpoint is that they have stickers that are supposed to represent headlights and taillights of the cars they're supposed to represent, and this all seems dishonest to me. I always thought that the "S" in NASCAR stood for "Stock", but I suppose these days it should be "Silhouette". In any case, they're loud and look fast in a straight line and I'm looking forward to seeing them race. After they get off of the track someone comes on the PA system to tell us more about the cars and the series. He also says that the race will be 28 laps, which is the first time we'd heard the race distance. In the schedule it had just been announced as a 90 minute race window.
Your description of the cars is accurate, "silhouette" cars are what these are. You have to follow the evolution of the stock car to see how they arrived at this point. The cars in the showrooms today do not lend themselves very well to conversions into race cars. The cars of the 50s, 60, 70s and even into the early 80s did and were basically stock cars, though with very beefed-up parts. Starting in the mid-60s, unibody construction came in and it could not take the stresses of racing, so frame rails, etc., had to be fabricated, more like those on the cars, pre-mid 60s. The stock bodies were still used, so the cars were still basically, stock cars. It remained that way throughout the mid-80s or so. Detroit went to building more front wheel drive cars and FWD proved to not be able to handle the stresses and forces of racing on the big superspeedways so the silhouette style "stock car" came about. RWD cars had the latest sheet metal placed over them and the cars became more "stock appearing cars" than "stock cars". Detroit continued to move further away from building cars that could be converted into race cars, allot less metal used, allot more fiberglass, plastic, composite materials used, so more and more of the bodies had to be hand fabricated, and they became less and less stock appearing. Then, the "car of tomorrow" came about, far more safety features, but looked nothing like a production car. It all came to a head, last year. The various car companies complained very loudly, that the cars looked nothing like what they were building. NASCAR sat down with the companies and together they developed the "Geberation 6" cars. These cars pretty much look like their showroom counterparts again, so they are back to being "stock appearing cars" Hopefully, the stock appearing look will filter down to the K&N Series in the next year or two. The head and tail light decals have been around for awhile. They first appeared on the cars of the old, now gone, ASA Series. NASCAR and ARCA both adopted them from that series. That, in a nutshell, is a very brief description of stock car evolution, it is far more detailed than that, of course, but it would take a whole lot of bandwidth to cover it in detail.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FormerFF
Immediately after, the K & N cars get ready to go. i was planning to swing by the merchandise tent to pick up a few more ALMS items before they were all gone, but instead I head down to turns 10A and B to catch this race. After a clean start, one of the drivers towards the back spins in turn 10A, gets going, then stalls right on the racing line. Now, 10A is at the end of the back (not so) straight, and the braking zone is downhill, so this is a puckerish moment, particularly considering how little time most of these drivers had at Road Atlanta, but everyone kept their cool and got through. Once we went back to green, the first and second spots are contested by the drivers who are first and second in the championship. Unfortunately, the second place car has to retire with a mechanical failure, at which time the leader slows a bit, from 1:27 to 1:29. (For reference, the pole time for the ALMS GT class was 1:19) There were a number of minor spins, but the cars seem to spin rather slowly and for the most part stay on the track, and the drivers are able to get going again. To my eye, the cars seem to be on the loose side and may be experiencing wheelspin when exiting 10B.
During the entire race, the announcers keep telling us that this would be a 90 minute race. Since the race had settled down quite a bit, I headed off to the merchandise tent. As I was walking that way, I heard something over the PA about 28 laps, but thought nothing of it, and as i got close to the tent, I hear something that sounds like a PA announcement from the podium area. i also notice things had gotten rather quiet. It turns out the race was indeed 28 laps, and it had finished while I was walking to the tent. Note to Road Atlanta: if the K & N series is scheduled again, get that guy who was telling us about the series during the lunch break up in the announce booth for the race.
So I take it that the guy that did the explaining was a good announcer or would make a good one? Maybe they will get him, if they run there again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FormerFF
...While it's pleasant to reminisce about races from years past, racing happens in the here and now, so I'm looking forward. How about you?
VERY true statement! :D Sounds like you had a good time, my friend. I wish I could have been there, like we originally planned.
Re: Friday @ Petit LeMans 2013
Good to hear that NASCAR is going to differentiate the cars more, otherwise the brand identification is just going to get lost and the manufacturers will lose interest.
Yes, the announcer that came on during the lunch break was very knowledgeable about the K & N series, he should have been in the booth with the two Road A announcers. All they could do was to give names and positions, and didn't have anything much to add about the drivers or the series. I have a sneaking suspicion that the K & N series won't be back for next year's PLM, as the Continental Tire series has already posted next year's schedule and they will be racing on the Friday before. Also. Mazda's back as a PLM sponsor so I would expect one of the Mazda powered classes would be there, and almost certainly the Porsche GT3 cup will be back as well. I was talking to one of the Skip Barber instructors, and he said a Nationwide car had been testing earlier in the month, so he was thinking they'd be racing at Road A sometime next year, but their schedule has been released, and Road A is not on it. I'd think at some point there will be some sort of NASCAR race here, if nothing more than to test the waters for fan interest.
It was a very entertaining day, and I wish you could have been there, I think you'd have enjoyed it. When things start happening next spring, we'll have to head out for a short track race. I haven't been to one in the longest time.
