Porsche 250
10-12-2004, 01:00 PM
#1
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Porsche 250
anybody go and watch the grand am race this weekend at barber? it was an awesome time, cloudy and drizzly but that kept the heat away so i ended up prefering that more. anyways, sure made for some exciting racing going on. anyone there early enough to see the karts race? just wondering what all the spectators thought of it. from what i hear most everyone liked the show we put on, and i can't wait to get back out there again. congrats leh on your 3rd place finish - im sorry i couldnt stay and watch the whole race but i was able to watch the first hour or so.
Robert
Robert
10-12-2004, 01:47 PM
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Well.....
I watched it on Speed at least. With the exception of seemingly inept safety crews, a VERY entertaining race.
If anyone wanted a good illustration of why smoothness is important, and why we instructors harp on it so endlessly, Christian Fittipaldi's nasty shunt near the end is a perfect example. A little rise in the road coupled with an ill-timed and too-abrupt-lift on the throttle, and off he went like a shot. Kudos to Dorsey Schrader for mentioning it in his analysis earlier. Very prescient thought, that.
I would imagine they already have a tire wall constructed where he biffed. Bad ommission, that one!
I watched it on Speed at least. With the exception of seemingly inept safety crews, a VERY entertaining race.
If anyone wanted a good illustration of why smoothness is important, and why we instructors harp on it so endlessly, Christian Fittipaldi's nasty shunt near the end is a perfect example. A little rise in the road coupled with an ill-timed and too-abrupt-lift on the throttle, and off he went like a shot. Kudos to Dorsey Schrader for mentioning it in his analysis earlier. Very prescient thought, that.
I would imagine they already have a tire wall constructed where he biffed. Bad ommission, that one!
10-12-2004, 03:34 PM
#4
Nordschleife Master
I was there for the entire weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it (I live 5 miles from the track). I was standing about 25 feet away from the armco when Fittipaldi tagged it, talk about exciting. Needless to say he was not a happy camper. I was hanging with my local BMW club (our car corral was on the hill above the crash site) and some of the other members managed to get some action shots of the crash (http://www.albmwcca.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=225).
The carts were a blast to watch. If I didn't have so many hobbies already, I'd probably get me one.
The carts were a blast to watch. If I didn't have so many hobbies already, I'd probably get me one.
10-12-2004, 04:30 PM
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I caught the Grand-Am race at Mid-Ohio a month or so ago. It was fun to watch and there was some very good racing. Those DP cars are very fast. I also caught about 10 minutes of the Barber race and that track looks great.
John, I wasn't able to see why it took the safety crews so long at the Mid-Ohio event, but they appeared to be sort of half-*** in general. They didn't seem to be on the same level as others I have seen at pro road race events. What was their problem?
Max
John, I wasn't able to see why it took the safety crews so long at the Mid-Ohio event, but they appeared to be sort of half-*** in general. They didn't seem to be on the same level as others I have seen at pro road race events. What was their problem?
Max
10-13-2004, 10:57 AM
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The karts where VERY cool! We where busy w/ the SGS car but did manage to sneak away to watch some of the karting guys run.
The track was very slick the last hour or so of the race. We stayed out on slicks the entire time. I saw the aftermath of the 54 car's wreck as I came through, that was definatley a slick spot but I thought the exit of the esses was way worse. Leh had our car in 1st in SGS but after Pobst and Lally jumped in the TPC cars we couldnt keep the pace and fell back to 3rd. Still thought it was a good finish for us considering our car is 4 years older than the TPC guys
The track was very slick the last hour or so of the race. We stayed out on slicks the entire time. I saw the aftermath of the 54 car's wreck as I came through, that was definatley a slick spot but I thought the exit of the esses was way worse. Leh had our car in 1st in SGS but after Pobst and Lally jumped in the TPC cars we couldnt keep the pace and fell back to 3rd. Still thought it was a good finish for us considering our car is 4 years older than the TPC guys
10-13-2004, 12:03 PM
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Originally Posted by coryf
The karts where VERY cool! We where busy w/ the SGS car but did manage to sneak away to watch some of the karting guys run.
The track was very slick the last hour or so of the race. We stayed out on slicks the entire time. I saw the aftermath of the 54 car's wreck as I came through, that was definatley a slick spot but I thought the exit of the esses was way worse. Leh had our car in 1st in SGS but after Pobst and Lally jumped in the TPC cars we couldnt keep the pace and fell back to 3rd. Still thought it was a good finish for us considering our car is 4 years older than the TPC guys
The track was very slick the last hour or so of the race. We stayed out on slicks the entire time. I saw the aftermath of the 54 car's wreck as I came through, that was definatley a slick spot but I thought the exit of the esses was way worse. Leh had our car in 1st in SGS but after Pobst and Lally jumped in the TPC cars we couldnt keep the pace and fell back to 3rd. Still thought it was a good finish for us considering our car is 4 years older than the TPC guys
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10-13-2004, 02:12 PM
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Speed doesn't do replays of the Grand Am races. Only one showing of the Grand Am Cup and the Speed World Challenge races also. Too much time devoted to NASCAR....
10-13-2004, 02:27 PM
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Originally Posted by coryf
Leh had our car in 1st in SGS but after Pobst and Lally jumped in the TPC cars we couldnt keep the pace and fell back to 3rd. Still thought it was a good finish for us considering our car is 4 years older than the TPC guys
When did Randy pass you? All the coverage I watched mentioned you guys in second. In fact, you were given a prominent plug by the announcers who mentioned the first podium at VIR and how you were running in second at that time in the telecast. I guess you guys will be in first with a level automotive playing field. Keep up the good work. See you at CMP...bring your video of that track.
10-14-2004, 10:27 AM
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At the beginning Leh was able to open a big lead. He passed several GT cars that started on rain tires and was able to put some trafic between him and the second place SGS car. This lead enabled us to take advantage of a yellow to gain a lap on the SGS field. This gave us our 1:25 sec lead. TPC put in Pobst and LAlly and started to make a run at us to get the lap back. They ended up getting the same pace car advantage we did early on and ended up about 6 cars behind us after a yellow. I couldn't keep the pace of the 2004 cars and slipped from second to 3rd in the last 6 laps or so. It then went full course yellow again and the race ended in that order.
I hope we will have a better chance at a win w/ a more competetive car but with the new rules package it will be very interesting to see what current GT cars have to do to run within next year rules, which basically will be a slightly improved SGS class.
I hope we will have a better chance at a win w/ a more competetive car but with the new rules package it will be very interesting to see what current GT cars have to do to run within next year rules, which basically will be a slightly improved SGS class.