After Sebring 2005...

[Chris24]

Hi,
I will post my thoughts on the Sebring trip another day when I am not half a sleep !

But heres a picture for you in the mean time.

[Chris24]

One of the Aston heading for Turn 10

[Chris24]

Here's one for our good buddy the Amazing Randy !
Team Impala taking the piss at the ALMS Autograph session. Top laugh lads.

[Andy Zarse]

Over the years I've had various bits of me turn green, some have responded to treatment, and others have dropped off. But I have to admit to being green all over right now, looks like you chaps had a marvellous time, and I wish I'd been lucky enough to have been there.
Mind you, they say God moves in mysterious ways (and so does Dale Winton if you ask me), and I spent most of last week and the weekend flaked out in bed and woken at regular intervals for another round of anti-biotics (or fancy biotics, as my dear old mum, who's losing it a bit now, calls them), so I guess it's just as well I didn't make it. It's on my hit list for next year though, it looks like it's got a lot of the things that LM has lost over the years. Some very amusing photos there, guys.  - I know it's always dangerous to picture a correspondent in your minds eye, but Chris24! - after your self confessed visits to the pub with less than change for a packet of Swan Vestas I was expecting a waif, at least an Eddie Piaf, where did that splendid silhouette come from?
Ah well, next time. Next time. Sorry I called you a tw*t, Andy....
 

H, I probably was a ter-wat for phoning you when it was ten at night and there you were lying in your sick bed. I had no idea you were suffering from the vapours/ague/cold turkey, though I must say you did seem a little delerious. I recall you mentioned something, amongst the all the laughter and quacking noises, about a loaf of bread lying in the middle of the road and being chased by a giant clown driving a combine harvester. It didn't make much sense at the time. Sorry.

[Chris24]

OK, time for my contribution.

Firstly a big thankyou to Smokie for picking me up from Kissimmee on route from Daytona to Sebring. Thanks for the lift and for actually finding me despite road works and diversions.

A big thanks to Pidge for providing the tents, rain cover and once again for his excellent breakfasts. Thanks for storing and bringing my airbed each year and for collecting and bringing the parcels for me. Once again, I wish to say sorry for the damaged tent pole, which i will pay for when you send me the bill for a new pole.

My only explanation is that I was abducted by "Southern Comfort" and still have no recollection of the incident.

Thanks to Canada Phil for all your help and the spare pork chop and potatoe salad on Saturday.

John Evans, real nice to meet you and Larry, and thanks for the chips and dip.

Glen and George, real nice to meet you, and a big thanks to Glen for the lift back to the hotel in Orlando on Sunday morning.

Andy, Steve , Mark and Rick, thanks for your company over the weekend and glad you could make it this year.

Finally a huge thank you to everyone at Turn 10 for their amazing hospitality once again.  So Lee Self, Jupiter John, Amazing Randy, Norm, Greg , Rick and everyone else at TURN 10, you guys are awesume.

Lee, the slide show was top entertainment as usual. I love the picture of the Dyson, captioned " The driver has just seen the sticker on the dash that reads, "Sorry, you're f**ked, only good for 6 hours". !"

Highlights -

Aston Martin winning and beating Corvette on their own turf ! Seeing Dave Richards after the race, probably the happiest man i have ever seen.

Thanks to the Aston boys for signing my hat and shirt.

Turn 10 hospitality all weekend.

Pidges breakfasts , always a welcome start to the day.
Pidges car port, couldn't have survived that rain and thunderstom without it.

My new camera, got lots ofgreat shot from it, the best yet from 4 years at Sebring.

The weather being real nice for race day.

Lows -

The weather, no thanks to whoever decided to throw that lot at us non stop from Wednesday 8pm until Thursday 4pm. The weather washed out Thursday and killed a day of the trip.

Coleman, for making a what appears to not be a rain proof tent.

Hot days and really cold nights, go figure !

Breaking a tent pole on Pidges tent whilst pissed from too much  Southern Comfort. Sorry again but i really don't remember doing it. I seem to have lost 20 minutes memory from that evening.

Aston losing 3rd place overall to the Dyson car with 30 mins to go in the race. But i guess that the class win is all that maters.

Still a great weekend overall though, roll on next year !

[johnevans3]

Apparently, each of my pictures are too large a file to send as an attachment.  So, I guess I will just enjoy them by myself.  I really wanted to send one of Mr. Cutler looking like a thief breaking into the trunk of Smokie's car.  Oh well....

[Steve Pyro]

John, e-mail them to me if you like and I will modify them.

My e-mail address is on the left under the dancing lady.

[Canada Phil]

Hi,
   To say Thank you to all who made it to Sebring it was great to see old friends again and meet some of you for the first time. Chris 24 covered the details and all I would like to add is how nice it is that a bunch of race fans just want to get together and share the experience. While I did not dare say it earlier :My tent did not leak
On a racing note: Thanks to Corvette for setting the
standard for Aston to beat. To Aston Martin team for an oustanding effort. Saleen for coming back and trying again. Johnny O'Connell for dealing with exploding rotors and minimizing the damage by his quick actions. the Corvette crew for putting #3 back together.
Smokie for carrying the beer to the Safety Pin.
Canada Phil

[amazing 1]

Hi all,I am glad to see everyone made it home safely.I cant tell how much meeting all of you CA guys has meant to me.You guys are alot of fun and I
cant wait to do it again.Rick how did the video of the bon fire turn out.
Glad to see you guys had a good time.Awsome stories of your victory lane celebration with Dave Richards.I am glad you enjoyed The Best Corner in All Motorsports,TURN10 !!!!

 PS; Mark I promise no more
 BECKS Non ALCOHOL!!
 TO DAMN FUNNY!

[amazing 1]

I almost forget. A special thanks for the Union Jack if you noticed it flew
proudly high in Turn10.It as well as my very own CA t shirt will be displayed at
very proudly at all upcoming events.

[rcutler]

The video of the race/wedding/bonfire worked out really well. I will spend the weekend finishing off converting the Sebring TV recordings to DVD. I have not enough space to record all three hours of recordings on the Hard Disk so I am doing it in parts.
Then I will move onto MY recordings of the race and add the pictures of the weekend to the end burn it to disk and send off a copy.

Cheers for a great week and can't wait to return the hospitality in Le Mans in 2006.

[jpchenet]

 PS; Mark I promise no more
 BECKS Non ALCOHOL!!
 TO DAMN FUNNY!

At least you had the Warsteiner to make up for it!!  

Did anyone drink the Becks in the end??

One word of warning when you come to Le Mans next year, there are no Light beers, they are all around the 5% mark!  

[jpchenet]

I almost forget. A special thanks for the Union Jack if you noticed it flew
proudly high in Turn10.It as well as my very own CA t shirt will be displayed at
very proudly at all upcoming events.

We saw you had it up and flying the very next morning!! It looked good among the others you had up already. I had a George Cross for you as well but I lost it until we came to pack up on Sunday morning. I'll bring it with me next year!!  

[Piglet]

Some of Happy Snapper's Sebring pictures are here.

http://www.gtphotosport.com/sebring2005/index.html

[Canada Phil]

To those who made it to Sebring,
 The following Survey is an oportunity to let them know what you liked
http://www.sebringraceway.com/survey.html