Club Arnage

I mentioned this on another thread but thought I should throw it out here as well.  At www.motorsport.com there is a nice selection of photos from the past two days of ALMS testing at Sebring to get you in the mood.  Lots of pics of the new Audi's, Lola's and Penkse Porsche.  Personally I love how menacing the new Rob Dyson Racing Lola-AER B06 looks in its bare carbon fiber.  Looks warm there too...
Fax

thanks for the hint Fax, nice piccies! :P

The race is still over a month and a half away but the sight of racing cars being tested helps give a glimmer of light at the end of the long, dark winter tunnel.
Interesting that the factory Corvette's are not there.  Makes you wonder if they have something up their sleave.
Fax

Noticed on the pic of the Audi R10 there seems to be a lot of ground clearance?
Is there a change in the rules I havn't read about?

If you look at the Monday morning photos, page 1, the Audi looks like it runs a lot higher than the Lola in the photo below it.  Strange?
Fax

Hi Fax,
          Corvette were testing earlier. Ron reports the penalty of an extra 175lbs they are carrying has slowed the car down. Duh! Who else is in GT1? Porsche P2 to win overall. GT2 will be interesting.
Canada Phil

Why are they carrying the extra weight?

Ron ate all the pies?  ;D

It so that they can eat all the pies on the day!

It could be a testing issue - perhaps lack of clearance for the tyres.  Judging from the times it could be good old fashioned sandbagging

Actually I'm surprised that Lola is running as low as it is, the Sebring bumps will beat the crap out of it.  The more I look at the new Audi, the stranger looking it gets.  It reminds me of the late seventies-early eighties neo Can-Am cars which were basically big, powerful single seaters (old F5000 & F1 chassis) with outrigger enclosures over the wheels.
Fax

ALMS slowing them down so they aren't chasing Audi and Porsche for the overall win I think  ???
 Canada Phil

Naaaahh, it's to let the Aston's catch up.   

That ought to bring some responses.

What, at Sebring???  I think you're memory is playing up John!!!  ;D

It does raise a serious point though. The 'Vettes and the Astons were pretty close last year. If it's just the 'Vettes carrying the extra payload you'd expect the Astons to take advantage!

It was the breakfast cider that addled John's brain!

I think the extra ballast in to try and keep the Vette's within range of the other GTS guys.  Last year there was a lot of gumbling among the GTS privateers that the Vette's had too much of an advantage in terms of money and development.  The only real opposition they faced all year was from the Aston's and they only came over for three races.  Frankly there were some races where they had such an advantage they could've stopped for coffee & donuts every ten mintutes and still would've won.
Fax

Fax:

Sorry for the thread hijack:

I've scored flights for Sebring (not the Delta you're on) and got direct with ATA in on Fri afternoon and out Mon am so that'll give us plenty of time to score supplies before you land and get well on the way to being lashed.

Any other thoughts on Le Mans?  I'm currently thinking of flying into the UK and out of France - haven't booked yet.

dh

Hi Dave,
Glad your set for Sebring.  I haven't given much more thought to Le Mans lately but I do need to get on the stick.  Just realized my passport expires this year so need to get that sorted.  I was planning on coming over mid-week, it would be fun to fly into England and fly back from Paris but I'll have to check the flight prices, may be a bit pricey for that.  Also there's the travel from the UK to France, it might be more convenient to just fly into Paris and catch the TGV down.
Fax

Hi Fax,
 I can recommend theEurostar train even faster tha the TGV and you get to go through the chunnel :) . a return ticket is often cheaper than a single( jusst pick a bogus return date)
Advance orders can not be sent out of the country so you just pick ticket up at the station.
JPC's Tropicoma is worth the trip even if one can no longer see the cars.
 Matt bring the tent to Sebring and stay in comfort.
Canada Phil

Seems like Audi are up to speed

" If Wednesday is any indication, the 54th annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring could make more history than we thought. For starters, Rinaldo Capello went 0.7 seconds under the track qualifying record in his Audi R10, a tremendous prospect for the R10's debut race next month. Capello's lap of 1:47.308 best teammate Frank Biela's qualifying pass of 1:48.029, set in 2002"

Extract from here  http://www.planetlemans.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1


Martini...

Thanks for tip Phil, will keep the Eurostar option under consideration, I've heard good things about Eurostar from several people.  As you said, can't see the actual racing anymore (last time I was there in '02 you couldn't see squat and I assume it hasn't gotten better), but its more a trip about seeing good friends and having a good time.  Thats grim news about the Audi, was hoping for a different winner this year. Twelve hours is a long time to get a brand new racing car to run though, especially at Sebring.  I'm still pulling for the Rob Dyson bunch (also with new cars).  They go racing for all the right reason's and do it properly, and have been doing so for a long time now.  Unfortunately there are some teams out there entered by a bunch of wealthy twats with more money than common sense or talent.
Fax

Hello there,

Our team did the Eurostar - TGV trip in 2004 and it was very good. Be warned though the bar is not very well stocked !! we drank the TGV dry between Lille and Charles de Gaulle, they had to get more shipped in from the front of the train.

Andy

Hi Andy,
            Having had the misfortune of drinking a train out of beer in my past I am having difficulty with your statement. If you drank it out of beer there would not have been any left at the front ??? ::) ;D
Canada Phil

Just to add to the tales and obviously take this thread elsewhere, but nonetheless a similar story, we drank an aircraft dry apart from a few bottles of water before it got to the technical stop in the middle east, flying to Oz via Hong Kong.   8)

I drank an entire glass of water almost dry once.  And I was brushing my teeth.

WATER, i have always been told that was for washing your hands and cooking with not for drinking  :o :o

The train was two trains made in to one so we could not get to the other bar, i am sure it was a ploy to stop us getting hammered  ;D

Andy

Fax, let me know your travel plans. We might be able to sort out travel from teh UK to France with some of our group depending on when you arrive/leave.

Thanks Mark,
Will let you know I soon as I do, still kind of making this up as I go along.  Drank a train dry?  Closest I've come to doing something like that was when my dad, brother & buddy emptied Dave Harper's suite at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway of Budweiser during the Indy 500 a few years ago.  That took some work! :P
Fax

Hi Fax,
          That reminds me in 2001 for Indy 500 Kirk and I sat in the stands through hours of rain delay and having taken in only a small cooler of beer were forced to buy from the concession stand and yes it did run out of beer. not alone though had help from the 265,000 other attendees. Montya won.
Canada phil

Hey Phil,
Remember that day well, my dad, brother and I were up in turn three for what seemed like a twelve hour race with the three or four hours worth of rain delay before the start.  Fortunately all three of us brought coolers stuffed full of beer.  Usually I have enough left for a few road pops on the way home (little bro drove) but we were about dry by the time that one ended.  Man, JPM drove a hell of race that day, was absolutely awsome lapping traffic, in a class of his own, made the IRL's best look clueless.
Fax