I'm off to watch these guys. Koni Challenge GT also. I know, I know. But have you heard about Brian France buying F1? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Grand Am is a blast to watch live. We went last year in Salt Lake and plan to go this year. If you've never seen/HEARD the Mazda's in real life you are in for a treat...and a doctor's appointment.
Hey Mike....Scott, Kim, John and I were waving at you in turn one, but of course you wouldn't have seen us! Great deal on getting the photo in the first post signed. Sounds like you have a nice visit with Guy Cosmo. When you phoned, it was pretty close to the beginning of the race but, did you get to see Antonio? Watching the race right now...has been full of many happenings. Hope you enjoyed the race. Carol
Mike, did you get a photo of the finish???? Racing/excitement right to the checkered flag!!!!! Definitely not an F1 processional "race" - 2h45m of excitement. I had a very nice chat with Antonio at LeMans last weekend and he has made me look a bit differently at GA. Carol
No photo of the finish. Was great to meet our own Guy Cosmo and Michael Shank. Got home late, to dinner, too much wine. This machine crashed. I'll have some pics in a bit. Was I realy on TV?
1st is Guy Cosmo. Pleasure to meet you Guy. 2nd is that TV guy. And Isobel, it's corn at Steam Corners this year. I had some issues with some settings. Good thing I'm not being paid to do this all the time. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Great pics. I caught the first 45 min last night before bed, then fast forwarded to the end to see the last few minutes before work. Man, I need to watch the whole thing when I get home tonight. What a great race, and nice drive Guy.
Almost the finish line. There was a pretty good crowd and those grandstands do not relect it. That's a pretty good walk around to there. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hey Guys! Thanks for the weekend coverage and discussion, and Mike, it was great to meet you! Thanks for seeking me out at the track. For us, it was a pretty strong showing although our result certainly doesn't reflect it, but that's how it goes sometimes... Definitely my favorite track of all time. We did have a great crowd and the autograph session was hugely attended! Having Patrick Dempsey there has increased the number of women waiting in line, too! All in all a great weekend. Nice shots, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of them - and more of you FChatters at the races - come on out! We promise to put on a great show for you!
Hey, I almost forgot... some in-car video if you're interested! Of course, this weekend we had SO much going on that I never had a chance to get my camera's mounted inside the car, but this in-car video is from DP Qualifying from last year's race (I'm behind the wheel). Might provide some additional insight to what's going on while we're out there. Please keep in mind that last year our car handled HORRIBLY, so I did what I could with the beast. I'm really bummed I didn't get the camera's in this time because we were much better setup this weekend - so much that during qualifying I was in P4 for most of the session, only to be bumped to 7th during the last three laps when I had some traffic, and then ran out of fuel on my last-lap effort to bump PENSKE (who I was in front of nearly all of qualifying). Definitely a fun qualifying session this year - but as I said, enjoy this less-than-impressive video from last year, if you like: http://www.guycosmo.com/video-gallery/guy-cosmo-daytona-prototype-qualifying-mid-ohio-sportscar-co.html
According to Robin Miller, there a rumor of a distinct possibility Grand Am may acquire ALMS. Heaven forbid - spec sport car racing with those ugly tanks - hope Audi comes to Petit and Laguna. If this is true, I doubt we'd see them back on this side of the ditch. Then deFerran, Duncan Dayton and possible Fernandez are headed to IRL next year so there's no P1 class and not much of a P2 class -> Dyson vs Dyson. Sounds like Dixon may jump Ganassi to go with Gill depending on a possible buy-out of his contract with Ganassi. At least sports car racing in Europe is very much alive and growing....SRO just announced the FIA GT1 World Championship beginning in 2010. The FIA GT1 World Championship will be open for independent teams and professional drivers, the FIA GT2 European Championship will be for independent teams and pro-am driver lineups while the FIA GT3 European Championship will be for independent teams and non-professional racing drivers. Audi is running customer R8's in GT3 where there very large classes, etc......... Carol
Nice Job on the pics mike! unfortunately I was unable to make it to this years. I am planning on the ALMS @ Mid ohio in august. I cant wait!
would this be a new Indycar team for deFerran or would Dixon be a full-time sportscar racer? I think deFerran and Dixon are a great match, but I'd hate to see Dixon leave the IRL.
everything I've read indicates no ALMS P1 but instead a new IRL team for de Ferran and also for Duncan Dayton; also read Fernandez may go IRL - so one less P2 car in ALMS...and as I recall, this originates from Acura - gess we will know over the months what will actually transpire Carol
I'm at Mid Ohio for vintage cars. Our own Peter Krause just finished 2nd in Group 6. Word is GA wants imsa for Sebring a d petite. I phone in use.
Mike, Please elaborate when you get home and can get on here or give me a call on my cell. Thanks, Carol
I didn't mean to make it sound like I was with Donald Panoz. Just good rumors would be a better choice of words. Hanging with some people that I was there with in the mid to late 80's. Fangio and the Toyota Eagles, the Nissans, the Silk Cut Jaguars. They hey day of IMSA. Then it sputtered for some years until Panoz came along. You know who was also there is the French Canadian guy and his wife who sell stickers and patches. He was there yesterday and said he would retire if Grand Am bought IMSA. I bought stuff from him in the 80's. From sports cars to open wheel, it's all gone in cycles. The cycle in now in flux in a bad economy. The Frances were able to bully the AMA due to bad management and the possession of the crown jewel of MC racing. The Daytona 200. They were able to establish GA because they possessed the 24 Hrs. of Daytona. The IRL could have let Champ Car just die. Instead they bought them. Why? Long Beach. Without Panoz and the Audi program from the R8 to the R15 and the Porsche Spiders, IMSA/ALMS would not be where it is today. Or more like where it was at Sebring and and the preceding 5 yrs. That's why I went to Sebring this year. The writing was on the wall. The car counts exist in Europe LMS because they don't have NASCAR, but that's a whole other story about horses racing on grass there. On my flight home from Sebring the Fields boys said 2 series of sports cars can't exist in the US. The also agreed that most fans who pay the gate don't know the difference. This is why the IRL won the the open wheel battle. I figure that Donald Panoz is operating in survival mode. I hate to see the demise of what we have enjoyed of late in sports cars. I boycotted Indy for 12 years. I can't boycott anything anymore. What would I take pics of? One good thing is we don't know the future. Anything could happen. On the downside the future has always seemed to follow Rodger Penske and we know where he went.
and the latest rumor about Penske is he's linked with the R15......I know the guy and his wife you are talking about, very nice chap, always friendly - I got a couple Porsche 911GT1 #26 shirts from him (need to get Allan to sign them someday). Talk of GA buying IMSA is also on other forums.....with Highcroft, de Ferran, Hernandez most likely headed to IRL that doesn't leave ALMS with much more than a GT2 class - who's going to spend money to attend a GT2 race?? I was disappointed to see Road America cut from 4 hours to 2.45 - we've gone the past few years but not this year as it's a Sunday race and now it's been shortened - I really like the track - it's like having Spa in the US. Will go to Petit and Laguna (are you considering Laguna??? we've done the hospitality via the local Audi club there (it's not on their website yet - FYI spaces go quickly!!....great price, fantastic location - you BEST COME TO LAGUNA ! ! ! get Beck to find you a room asap! You can take some great photos of the last ALMS race of the season - Peugeots are suppose to be there too. Thanks for your thoughts and the voice mail... Carol
Rodger Penske is on Wind Tunnel Sunday night. Could be interesting insight as to where things are headed. Could be.
