- 35,510
- Addison,Texas
- GTP_RACECAR
ALMS: Road America (Update: Audi Threatens to Leave ALMS)
- Thread starter dougiemeats
- 36 comments
- 1,919 views
- 1,681
Is there any way you can resize the pics? Safari doesn't like big pictures 
- 35,510
- Addison,Texas
- GTP_RACECAR
Is there any way you can resize the pics? Safari doesn't like big pictures
None that I can think of.
- 1,006
Unofficial Results:
IMSA Timing and Scoring.
Heck of a race. Good to see such close finishing margins in ALMS. Unfortunate the other P2 cars (you know what I mean) didn't have the pace to keep up. Great race in all classes, and I'm very pleased to see O'Connell and Fellows win in GT1... very, very good.
m.piedgros
IMSA Timing and Scoring.
Heck of a race. Good to see such close finishing margins in ALMS. Unfortunate the other P2 cars (you know what I mean) didn't have the pace to keep up. Great race in all classes, and I'm very pleased to see O'Connell and Fellows win in GT1... very, very good.
m.piedgros
- 1,681
You said it! They are a very talented duo and it's good to see them win again.
Highcroft Racing really impressed me with their speed today. In the early going, they were having a very good race with the Penske Porsches and they finished in the same lap as the Audis! Right now, they are one step ahead of Autocon, and I look forward to Duncan Dayton and his team in an Acura next year (they can really take it to the Porsches then).
Edit: Highcroft will not be racing in any more rounds on the American Le Mans Series. A Petit Le Mans entry is still possible, however. The reason is that they want to concentrate on their Acura LMP2 program for next year. It's a shame really, since the team has improved a lot in the last few races and I was looking forward to the next races.
- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
Here's some Road America love for you all! My comments as well as my "Fact or Fiction?" segment results.
I have always considered Road America as a pure Grand Prix race course. It is a tough track to navigate, not to mention a long one. There is nothing like the roar of race cars around this 4+ mile race course. It takes about two laps and change to equal the length of one lap around the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe. You can enjoy high speeds around this course, but you need to be ready to take on the decisive corners. There are sections where you have to have a balanced package of speed and great handling. It is also a beautiful track. There's nothing like coming out of Turn 2 and blast down the straight and take the kink at an effective speed as trees are lined up to your left and right. I think this Porsche is a little bit easier than Miller Motorsports Park since there aren't as many consecutive left-right complexes. It's a wicked race track in which I wished they had the F1 Grand Prix of America at. Either Road America or Laguna Seca or just return to Sebring.
Mind you fuel, tires, and manners.
First lap began with all hell breaking loose as the #1 Audi was knocked off by the Dyson Lola as he locked up the brakes making Biela a victim. At around 2:42:30, the #20 Dyson Lola driven by Chris Dyson was in the pits early. The #62 Ferrari probably spun out early at the 2:40:20 mark. Houston's own Risi Competizione had some struggles in the hotly-contested GT2 class. But if you can remember from Portland, one of the Risi Ferraris had a huge rally jump, but still managed to do sweet justice in GT2. The 2:31:30 mark seemed to have the #62 Ferrari docked with a 1-minute penalty for too many men over the wall. Just after the 2:25:00 mark, the #45 Flying Lizard was in the pits with a precautionary pit stop with W. Henzler behind the wheel. The #009 Aston Martin lead in class until he was punted off the track at Canada Corner past the 2:18:30 mark. A minute later, the Caution came out to try to dig the #009 out of the kitty litter. Canadian Ron Fellows piloted his Corvette into P1 in GT1. * Under caution at around 2:05:00, teams began to pit and do everything from fuel to driver changes per the teams' requests. * Around 2:00:20, we're back to racing! Get off your bums and cheer! The 1:55:00 mark seen the Porsche RS Spyder lead overall and in P2. Just past the 1:49:?? mark, the beautifully-painted black #61 was slammed by the #51 Panoz. I thought the Panoz faltered into that corner since the Ferrari CLEARLY had inside line. Let the driver inside make the pass. Don't say it was the Ferrari's fault. He should have let him pass instead of trying to Paul Tracy his way into the higher position. The #22 BMW was in the kitty litter around 1:36:??, forcing a 2nd Caution. The pits were closed, but the #20 Dyson Lola was in the pits and running out of fuel. He'd face himself a penalty much like how (and I hate brining up NASCAR in an ALMS discussion) Kurt Busch got a penalty recently at Watkins Glen. A little after 1:22:15 and we're back to racing! * After the restart, the #7 Porsche RS Spyder clearly overtook the Safety Car as the Safety Car was getting into the pits. He picked up a Stop and Go foul. Now the race continues with just one hour left. The #21 Prototype Technologies BMW passed the leading #61 Ferrari in GT2, but had to go into the pits to let Joey Hand bring it home. * The #44 Porsche had big damage to the car as this Flying Lizard entry had trouble. * More pit stops ensued. The #61 Risi Ferrari kept up its run of good luck. But look what was in the driver's left side mirror- the leading Audi R10. That Risi Ferrari saved itself from going down another lap. * The #37 Lola had an off and had to go into the pits. * The P2 leading #7 Porsche was in the pits as Jomain Dumas was in the car past the 38:40 mark. The lovely-roaring #7 Porsche RS Spyder saw the #8 Porsche RS Spyder take the P2 lead. * Dindo Capello took the P1 lead as the Dyson Lola * Past 35 minutes, the #50 Panoz was running on fewer cylinders and just crawling on the track. The #31 Porsche took the lead during the commercial break past 31 minutes. * More trouble for the #44 Flying Lizard Porsche as the car flew straight off the track after carrying too much speed. That would force Caution #3. * Under 20 [minutes left] and we're back to racing. * The "Shell Move of the Race" was the beautiful restart the one of the Audis got at the restart. The #1 Audi was back on the point after sort of a long day of collisions. Worst to first, players. * Under 17, and Tomas Enge put his #007 Aston Martin up into P1 in GT1. He put on a great draft and a clean overtake thereafter. See? Drafting isn't only for Talladega and Daytona. They just don't do it in a thuggish way since the cars are like what Michelin's older slogan went- "because so much is riding on your tires." * The #22 BMW is using up as much of the track as possible to maintain a perfect balance. * The #12 Autocon Motorsports Lola was in the pits under 15 minutes left. * The #62 is having clutch problems. Tough break for the Risi boys and the #62 car. Maybe it's the Forza 2 and XBOX360 sponsorship up front that is killing their performance. (j/k) ^_^ All in good fun, Risi. No disrespect. * The #007 Aston Martin suffered a flat left-front tire after getting into the gravel trap. The #3 Corvette lead afterwards with Canada's Ron Fellows looking to head into Mosport with some home country advantage. It isn't far from Elkhart Lake, WI to the greater Detroit area. So I'm sure the GM love didn't have to travel very far. * Joey Hand's BMW had his hands on P1 lead by trying to fend off the MMPIE Porsche. Yummy... pie... Uh, moving on. * Five minutes left! That's about two or three laps here. * The Audi 1-2 was in hand as the #1 Audi led the #2 Audi. It is Audi's race to lose. * The two Corvettes were 1-2 in GT1 as the Aston Martins had their worries. * There will be a total of 76 laps completed by the two leaders. * The finish saw Biela's Audi win in P1, Bernard won in P2, The #3 Corvette win in GT1, and the MMPIE Porsche took the GT2 win. If you chose these four as winners in class, then you're going to get some mad love from me.
* JOHN'S EXTRAS
* Sometimes, I kind of think that the Aston Martin V12 roar kind of remind me of the Risi Comptizione Ferrari 333SP in Forza Motorsport. I think I remember the sounds from the Forza demo. I don't think I've done any test runs with the Ferrari 333SP with the retail game. * I say the Audi R10 has a nice roar to it. It's a muffled roar, but you can imagine what it would sound like at full song if it wasn't a diesel. Here's how I hear the sounds better. I type up these forum posts beforehand and save it to a text file (actually, I use a TXT file under an RTF file). I hooked up some audio cables from my satellite receiver to my stereo. So I hooked into the "Mini Disc" ports of the stereo and just switch to that mode. I hear the sounds as clearly as possible from the satellite receiver. * This race was the Generac 500. Do you know what Generac does? A commercial indicates that Generac is a power generator company. They provide backup generators to provide backup power in the event of bad weather or something like that. * The flyover showcased a number of different aircraft including a Stealth bomber. Talk about sweetness! It was pretty cool to see the Stealth Bomber in the skies. I wasn't at the race, so I'm just talking about what I see on Speed Channel. * ALMS President Scott Atherton talks about his plans were to provide these rules changes and such to benefit big-name manufactuers and independents. There was an enhancement in prototype ranks and gasoline. IMSA wants to keep pace of everything with the data logging and such. Performance balancing is a deal with IMSA and the ACO. I don't think they are trying to NASCAR-ize the rules so much so that most everyone is on the same level. A thing to remember about GT and sportscar racing is that it's the most diverse genre of racing in the world. It isn't very easy to balance out four classes of racing all competiting at once. * The Audi R10 had a WONDERFUL launch against a Harrier Jet in a drag race. Acceleration was quick, but the Harrier beat the Audi at the end. * I think some of today's prototypes look a lot more advanced and have all the louvers and vents and such to make them work. I used to think the Lolas and Riley and Scott prototypes were good privateer entries, but not as lovely. * Oh, and did I mention that the #61 Ferrari is a beautiful machine? I'm not real big on black all the time, but it is a nicely-designed car for HOUSTON'S own (and even Texas' own) Risi Competizione. * Announcer Greg Creamer almost said "Road Altanta" while at Road America. It was a mistake. We all make mistakes. Petit Le Mans is coming next month. I will, of course, host yet another thread on Petit Le Mans. I'm sure the wonderful Fighting Illini, dougiemeats will provide much more information on the specifics on what to expect for Petit Le Mans. Petit Le Mans is the youngest bigtime endurance race where most teams can get first dibs on picking up invites to go to Le Mans next June. Best feeling in the world to get an invite? You bet. * After Mosport, it's Petit Le Mans on 9/30. The finale will be on the West Coast on October 21. We're winding down the series for 2006.
Speaking of threads on big time events, I'm considering doing a thread covering the 2007 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. The race isn't as prestigious as it's been in the past, but it's America's only big time 24 Hour race. So I have to hand some respect as a road racing fan. No Le Mans invites are up for grabs at Daytona, but for some people- who cares about Le Mans? American pride will mostly be up for grabs in next year's Rolex 24.
Well, the ALMS is going to take a break from racing in America and give Canada a go. We're talking about Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada- home to Mosport. Mosport is a track which has seen a variety of racing series compete on including open-wheel cars, touring cars, GT cars, and even CASCAR Stock Cars. This track is like Sears Point in which you don't have a clearly-defined straight on the course. The elevation changes and tricky corners will keep any racer on his/her toes. But the only part of the human anatomy that matters are the hands, especially in figuring out whose hands will clutch the champagne and first place trophy in Canada for the September 3rd event.
I'm not going to review the FACT OR FICTION just yet. Maybe in my next post.
I have always considered Road America as a pure Grand Prix race course. It is a tough track to navigate, not to mention a long one. There is nothing like the roar of race cars around this 4+ mile race course. It takes about two laps and change to equal the length of one lap around the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe. You can enjoy high speeds around this course, but you need to be ready to take on the decisive corners. There are sections where you have to have a balanced package of speed and great handling. It is also a beautiful track. There's nothing like coming out of Turn 2 and blast down the straight and take the kink at an effective speed as trees are lined up to your left and right. I think this Porsche is a little bit easier than Miller Motorsports Park since there aren't as many consecutive left-right complexes. It's a wicked race track in which I wished they had the F1 Grand Prix of America at. Either Road America or Laguna Seca or just return to Sebring.
Mind you fuel, tires, and manners.
First lap began with all hell breaking loose as the #1 Audi was knocked off by the Dyson Lola as he locked up the brakes making Biela a victim. At around 2:42:30, the #20 Dyson Lola driven by Chris Dyson was in the pits early. The #62 Ferrari probably spun out early at the 2:40:20 mark. Houston's own Risi Competizione had some struggles in the hotly-contested GT2 class. But if you can remember from Portland, one of the Risi Ferraris had a huge rally jump, but still managed to do sweet justice in GT2. The 2:31:30 mark seemed to have the #62 Ferrari docked with a 1-minute penalty for too many men over the wall. Just after the 2:25:00 mark, the #45 Flying Lizard was in the pits with a precautionary pit stop with W. Henzler behind the wheel. The #009 Aston Martin lead in class until he was punted off the track at Canada Corner past the 2:18:30 mark. A minute later, the Caution came out to try to dig the #009 out of the kitty litter. Canadian Ron Fellows piloted his Corvette into P1 in GT1. * Under caution at around 2:05:00, teams began to pit and do everything from fuel to driver changes per the teams' requests. * Around 2:00:20, we're back to racing! Get off your bums and cheer! The 1:55:00 mark seen the Porsche RS Spyder lead overall and in P2. Just past the 1:49:?? mark, the beautifully-painted black #61 was slammed by the #51 Panoz. I thought the Panoz faltered into that corner since the Ferrari CLEARLY had inside line. Let the driver inside make the pass. Don't say it was the Ferrari's fault. He should have let him pass instead of trying to Paul Tracy his way into the higher position. The #22 BMW was in the kitty litter around 1:36:??, forcing a 2nd Caution. The pits were closed, but the #20 Dyson Lola was in the pits and running out of fuel. He'd face himself a penalty much like how (and I hate brining up NASCAR in an ALMS discussion) Kurt Busch got a penalty recently at Watkins Glen. A little after 1:22:15 and we're back to racing! * After the restart, the #7 Porsche RS Spyder clearly overtook the Safety Car as the Safety Car was getting into the pits. He picked up a Stop and Go foul. Now the race continues with just one hour left. The #21 Prototype Technologies BMW passed the leading #61 Ferrari in GT2, but had to go into the pits to let Joey Hand bring it home. * The #44 Porsche had big damage to the car as this Flying Lizard entry had trouble. * More pit stops ensued. The #61 Risi Ferrari kept up its run of good luck. But look what was in the driver's left side mirror- the leading Audi R10. That Risi Ferrari saved itself from going down another lap. * The #37 Lola had an off and had to go into the pits. * The P2 leading #7 Porsche was in the pits as Jomain Dumas was in the car past the 38:40 mark. The lovely-roaring #7 Porsche RS Spyder saw the #8 Porsche RS Spyder take the P2 lead. * Dindo Capello took the P1 lead as the Dyson Lola * Past 35 minutes, the #50 Panoz was running on fewer cylinders and just crawling on the track. The #31 Porsche took the lead during the commercial break past 31 minutes. * More trouble for the #44 Flying Lizard Porsche as the car flew straight off the track after carrying too much speed. That would force Caution #3. * Under 20 [minutes left] and we're back to racing. * The "Shell Move of the Race" was the beautiful restart the one of the Audis got at the restart. The #1 Audi was back on the point after sort of a long day of collisions. Worst to first, players. * Under 17, and Tomas Enge put his #007 Aston Martin up into P1 in GT1. He put on a great draft and a clean overtake thereafter. See? Drafting isn't only for Talladega and Daytona. They just don't do it in a thuggish way since the cars are like what Michelin's older slogan went- "because so much is riding on your tires." * The #22 BMW is using up as much of the track as possible to maintain a perfect balance. * The #12 Autocon Motorsports Lola was in the pits under 15 minutes left. * The #62 is having clutch problems. Tough break for the Risi boys and the #62 car. Maybe it's the Forza 2 and XBOX360 sponsorship up front that is killing their performance. (j/k) ^_^ All in good fun, Risi. No disrespect. * The #007 Aston Martin suffered a flat left-front tire after getting into the gravel trap. The #3 Corvette lead afterwards with Canada's Ron Fellows looking to head into Mosport with some home country advantage. It isn't far from Elkhart Lake, WI to the greater Detroit area. So I'm sure the GM love didn't have to travel very far. * Joey Hand's BMW had his hands on P1 lead by trying to fend off the MMPIE Porsche. Yummy... pie... Uh, moving on. * Five minutes left! That's about two or three laps here. * The Audi 1-2 was in hand as the #1 Audi led the #2 Audi. It is Audi's race to lose. * The two Corvettes were 1-2 in GT1 as the Aston Martins had their worries. * There will be a total of 76 laps completed by the two leaders. * The finish saw Biela's Audi win in P1, Bernard won in P2, The #3 Corvette win in GT1, and the MMPIE Porsche took the GT2 win. If you chose these four as winners in class, then you're going to get some mad love from me.
* JOHN'S EXTRAS
* Sometimes, I kind of think that the Aston Martin V12 roar kind of remind me of the Risi Comptizione Ferrari 333SP in Forza Motorsport. I think I remember the sounds from the Forza demo. I don't think I've done any test runs with the Ferrari 333SP with the retail game. * I say the Audi R10 has a nice roar to it. It's a muffled roar, but you can imagine what it would sound like at full song if it wasn't a diesel. Here's how I hear the sounds better. I type up these forum posts beforehand and save it to a text file (actually, I use a TXT file under an RTF file). I hooked up some audio cables from my satellite receiver to my stereo. So I hooked into the "Mini Disc" ports of the stereo and just switch to that mode. I hear the sounds as clearly as possible from the satellite receiver. * This race was the Generac 500. Do you know what Generac does? A commercial indicates that Generac is a power generator company. They provide backup generators to provide backup power in the event of bad weather or something like that. * The flyover showcased a number of different aircraft including a Stealth bomber. Talk about sweetness! It was pretty cool to see the Stealth Bomber in the skies. I wasn't at the race, so I'm just talking about what I see on Speed Channel. * ALMS President Scott Atherton talks about his plans were to provide these rules changes and such to benefit big-name manufactuers and independents. There was an enhancement in prototype ranks and gasoline. IMSA wants to keep pace of everything with the data logging and such. Performance balancing is a deal with IMSA and the ACO. I don't think they are trying to NASCAR-ize the rules so much so that most everyone is on the same level. A thing to remember about GT and sportscar racing is that it's the most diverse genre of racing in the world. It isn't very easy to balance out four classes of racing all competiting at once. * The Audi R10 had a WONDERFUL launch against a Harrier Jet in a drag race. Acceleration was quick, but the Harrier beat the Audi at the end. * I think some of today's prototypes look a lot more advanced and have all the louvers and vents and such to make them work. I used to think the Lolas and Riley and Scott prototypes were good privateer entries, but not as lovely. * Oh, and did I mention that the #61 Ferrari is a beautiful machine? I'm not real big on black all the time, but it is a nicely-designed car for HOUSTON'S own (and even Texas' own) Risi Competizione. * Announcer Greg Creamer almost said "Road Altanta" while at Road America. It was a mistake. We all make mistakes. Petit Le Mans is coming next month. I will, of course, host yet another thread on Petit Le Mans. I'm sure the wonderful Fighting Illini, dougiemeats will provide much more information on the specifics on what to expect for Petit Le Mans. Petit Le Mans is the youngest bigtime endurance race where most teams can get first dibs on picking up invites to go to Le Mans next June. Best feeling in the world to get an invite? You bet. * After Mosport, it's Petit Le Mans on 9/30. The finale will be on the West Coast on October 21. We're winding down the series for 2006.
Speaking of threads on big time events, I'm considering doing a thread covering the 2007 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. The race isn't as prestigious as it's been in the past, but it's America's only big time 24 Hour race. So I have to hand some respect as a road racing fan. No Le Mans invites are up for grabs at Daytona, but for some people- who cares about Le Mans? American pride will mostly be up for grabs in next year's Rolex 24.
Well, the ALMS is going to take a break from racing in America and give Canada a go. We're talking about Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada- home to Mosport. Mosport is a track which has seen a variety of racing series compete on including open-wheel cars, touring cars, GT cars, and even CASCAR Stock Cars. This track is like Sears Point in which you don't have a clearly-defined straight on the course. The elevation changes and tricky corners will keep any racer on his/her toes. But the only part of the human anatomy that matters are the hands, especially in figuring out whose hands will clutch the champagne and first place trophy in Canada for the September 3rd event.
I'm not going to review the FACT OR FICTION just yet. Maybe in my next post.
- 1,006
NOTE: I believe Intersport and Highcroft used to be combined. Yeah, that wasn't great english. I know. So I expected Highcroft to have an easier time of it. I think they've experience with Lola.
m.piedgros
m.piedgros
