ALMS and IRL race at Mid Ohio (lots of pictures)
Discussion
Spent the weekend in Lexington OH at the Acura Sportscar Challenge and the Honda 200 at Mid Ohio, and here are the obligatory pics.
The #3 Corvette in the paddock. No pics of the drivers, but they were all really nice. A shame the #3 car can't seem to have any good luck. It got sent to the back of the grid as the air restrictor mounting box wasn't on properly.
Andy Wallace's RS Spyder
The Dyson drivers. Dyson really need to stick Butch and Guy Smith in one car, and pair Andy Wallace with Chris Dyson. Don't get me wrong, Wallace is my favourite driver in the series, but with the two faster drivers sharing one car, they might be able to challenge Penske for wins. Guy Smith, despite being a lap down spent about 30 minutes hanging two car lengths behind Ryan Briscoe, matching his impressive laptimes.
Risi "We cheat to win" Competitzione. Anyone who saw Sebring will know what I mean.
Intersport's Creation. They seem like really nice guys, but in the pub the Champion Audi people were a little bit dismissive about them.
The Petersen/White Lightning F430. This was before they fired Thomas Enge, which is a shame since he's a nice bloke, pretty
ing quick, and is the only professional racing driver I can think of who failed a mandatory drug test for smoking reefer.
The Cytomax Lola. Although it spent 30 laps holding up the second Penske, one of the Dyson cars and an Acura, they finished 3rd in P1.
Jorg Bergmiester and Johannes Van Overbeek, the GT2 winners. Luckily they benefited from the two F430s taking each other out, but right now the Ferrari is the faster GT2 car, sadly.
The Audi drivers signing autographs. THeir line was massive, so the choice seemed to be meet most of the other drivers, or spend the whole hour queueing here.
The Penske drivers. Briscoe had a great run, but couldn't get past his teammate at the end.
One of the formation laps:
The slower of the two Flying Lizard cars:
The R10. You cannot believe how quiet these cars are. All you hear is the tyres and a *whoosh* as they cut through the air. Despite that, they were setting times that were only a second or two off the IRL pace, despite giving up 200 kgs and 100 bhp. They were a lot quicker down the straight than the P2 cars, but had to brake about 50 m earlier. In the pub the Audi team were very pissed off that they're being hamstrung by the ALMS, with smaller fuel tanks, but then they did just destroy the competition last year, and it's nice to see a race.
One of the Dyson RS Spyders. If they can put both fast drivers in one car, next year I think they'll be challenging for wins.
One of the R10s in the paddock after the race:
The unlucky #3:
RS Spyder after the race:
That was all the action from Saturday. Sunday we went back for more, since the IRL were running, and if they're on a road course it's always amusing to watch and not boring like an oval.
Ganassi pits:
Penske:
AGR:
The pitlane:
Turn 1, lap 1. So far so good...
Oops, Danica takes to the grass...
Hey, where's Marco's car?
I think the instructions said "Sticky side down."
The ALMS race managed to have 4 classes of cars do 2 hours, 45 minutes of racing without a single solitary pace car. The IRL managed one turn.
Watching the field go by under the pace car. Note my increasingly sunburnt face.
Sam Hornish. He didn't get his dad to punch anyone this time. Lots of Hornish fans were there, but that's not surprising since we were in Ohio.
Sarah Fisher was really slow. GT2 slow. Milka Duno was mysteriously absent.
A Porsche supercup driver managed to get sideways in turn 1 and then someone else ran into him.
The rest of the pics are on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drjonboyg/sets/72157600965977256/
The #3 Corvette in the paddock. No pics of the drivers, but they were all really nice. A shame the #3 car can't seem to have any good luck. It got sent to the back of the grid as the air restrictor mounting box wasn't on properly.
Andy Wallace's RS Spyder
The Dyson drivers. Dyson really need to stick Butch and Guy Smith in one car, and pair Andy Wallace with Chris Dyson. Don't get me wrong, Wallace is my favourite driver in the series, but with the two faster drivers sharing one car, they might be able to challenge Penske for wins. Guy Smith, despite being a lap down spent about 30 minutes hanging two car lengths behind Ryan Briscoe, matching his impressive laptimes.
Risi "We cheat to win" Competitzione. Anyone who saw Sebring will know what I mean.
Intersport's Creation. They seem like really nice guys, but in the pub the Champion Audi people were a little bit dismissive about them.
The Petersen/White Lightning F430. This was before they fired Thomas Enge, which is a shame since he's a nice bloke, pretty
ing quick, and is the only professional racing driver I can think of who failed a mandatory drug test for smoking reefer.The Cytomax Lola. Although it spent 30 laps holding up the second Penske, one of the Dyson cars and an Acura, they finished 3rd in P1.
Jorg Bergmiester and Johannes Van Overbeek, the GT2 winners. Luckily they benefited from the two F430s taking each other out, but right now the Ferrari is the faster GT2 car, sadly.
The Audi drivers signing autographs. THeir line was massive, so the choice seemed to be meet most of the other drivers, or spend the whole hour queueing here.
The Penske drivers. Briscoe had a great run, but couldn't get past his teammate at the end.
One of the formation laps:
The slower of the two Flying Lizard cars:
The R10. You cannot believe how quiet these cars are. All you hear is the tyres and a *whoosh* as they cut through the air. Despite that, they were setting times that were only a second or two off the IRL pace, despite giving up 200 kgs and 100 bhp. They were a lot quicker down the straight than the P2 cars, but had to brake about 50 m earlier. In the pub the Audi team were very pissed off that they're being hamstrung by the ALMS, with smaller fuel tanks, but then they did just destroy the competition last year, and it's nice to see a race.
One of the Dyson RS Spyders. If they can put both fast drivers in one car, next year I think they'll be challenging for wins.
One of the R10s in the paddock after the race:
The unlucky #3:
RS Spyder after the race:
That was all the action from Saturday. Sunday we went back for more, since the IRL were running, and if they're on a road course it's always amusing to watch and not boring like an oval.
Ganassi pits:
Penske:
AGR:
The pitlane:
Turn 1, lap 1. So far so good...
Oops, Danica takes to the grass...
Hey, where's Marco's car?
I think the instructions said "Sticky side down."
The ALMS race managed to have 4 classes of cars do 2 hours, 45 minutes of racing without a single solitary pace car. The IRL managed one turn.
Watching the field go by under the pace car. Note my increasingly sunburnt face.
Sam Hornish. He didn't get his dad to punch anyone this time. Lots of Hornish fans were there, but that's not surprising since we were in Ohio.
Sarah Fisher was really slow. GT2 slow. Milka Duno was mysteriously absent.
A Porsche supercup driver managed to get sideways in turn 1 and then someone else ran into him.
The rest of the pics are on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drjonboyg/sets/72157600965977256/
Edited by Dr JonboyG on Monday 23 July 23:40
FourWheelDrift said:
Milka Dunno wasn't there because she's so fecking slow. Mobile chicane at every circuit so far visited.
Yes, in sportscars her pace could be partly disguised by doing short stints and having quick co-drivers, but in single seater racing there's nowhere to hide.Mind you, she's probably considerably quicker than me...
Edit: Great shots by the way. Looks like a really good crowd for the ALMS. Did you enjoy it?
Edited by Ahonen on Monday 23 July 23:10
Ahonen said:
Edit: Great shots by the way. Looks like a really good crowd for the ALMS. Did you enjoy it?
I'll pass the compliments no the photos along to my wife, since she's the one with the camera. The crowd was pretty big - not as large as on Sunday for the IRL race, but decent nonetheless. And yes, had a great time. Also enjoyed getting pissed with the Champion and Tafel guys on saturday night. Edited by Ahonen on Monday 23 July 23:10
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