Petit Le Mans 2005 Who, What, Where and When

[amazing 1]

Amazing Randy is back home safe and sound.Had a great time,good to see all the CAers.Hope a good time was had by all.Matt H. can you believe after all the smack I was talking about UPS/Dale Jarret that they won the race thats too funny.Weaver making it  three wide in the first turn made for a very
boring lmp1 race for me.The Corvette/Aston battle stole the show.

[Fax]

Hi guys,
Whew, the sleep-deprived, beer induced fog is beginning to lift, very glad I have today off work.  Rolled in around midnite last evening, Dave & I having a longer than usual return drive after being stationary in traffic jams twice on Interstate 65 between Nashville and Louisville due to accidents.  What a great event!  Big thanks out to all (Dave, Matt, Phil, Randy, John, Chris, etc.) wouldn't have been the same without your superb company. Just a terrific weekend, Lovely company, majestic venue, perfect weather, great race and plenty of good food and cold beer.
Fax

[chop456]

Had a great time.  I only got to meet Canada Phil, but he had some great advice for LM06 that was greatly appreciated.  See you at Sebring!

[suthvid]

It was great to see everybdy at Petit. Phil, nice ta meet ya, as well as all those folks who's names I am currently spacing. I look forward to more late night discussions on racing.  Lets face it, if they only asked us, I'm sure we could fix everything and bring sports car racing back into the spotlight it deserves!

Special thanks to Lee and Randy for helping me with the video. I had a brief chance to look at most of it and I got some good stuff. My favorite part might be Team Impala's Amazing being rushed by loyal fans! Or maybe that rare glimpse of a 962 motoring through the paddock on Friday night. I'll post when I have something to show.

John

[Canada Phil]

It was great to see everybdy at Petit. Phil, nice ta meet ya, as well as all those folks who's names I am currently spacing. I look forward to more late night discussions on racing.  Lets face it, if they only asked us, I'm sure we could fix everything and bring sports car racing back into the spotlight it deserves!

Special thanks to Lee and Randy for helping me with the video. I had a brief chance to look at most of it and I got some good stuff. My favorite part might be Team Impala's Amazing being rushed by loyal fans! Or maybe that rare glimpse of a 962 motoring through the paddock on Friday night. I'll post when I have something to show.

John

Nice to meet you too John, I would like to add that the 962 had it's Turbo lit.
What an awesome week end. I can confirm that it was no closer than the last time i went
Spoke to Ron this morning and he and Johnny have not given up on the Championship as the #4 could run into problems too.
Canada Phil

[Chris24]

Hi,
Back home from my trip to the US, still absolutely cream crackered with jet lag and lack of sleep. We had a great time at Road Atlanta, my Dad included and we we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who made us feel welcome.
Lee and Randy, thanks for all your help with coolers, chairs and food. Thanks to the people in the motor homes next to use for all their assistance making cups of tea etc. Phil, Dave, Matt and Fax, always a pleasure to meet up with you guys, just a shame i didn't get to spend more time with you.

It was a real fun weekend and I really enjoyed the 1.30am track walk with Lee, Randy, Scott, Bob and myself. Was highy amused by Randy's scientific experiment to decide if the track was flat, or sloped by pissing on it to see which way it flowed.

My dad was made up when Jan Magnusen visited the camp and was introduced to him by Randy and he was also happy to meet Ron Fellows and Frank Biela.

Highlights for me were finally meeting Dario Franchitti on the grid walk and  getting my old driver cards signed.  Also obtaining an autographed Dan Wheldon card from the Klein Tools display trailer along with a great poster.

Was funny seeing the pink Famingos specially placed on the turn 3 walls by Lee and Randy, overnight before race day.

Thanks to the Aston Martin team, for saving the day and recharging my camera battery when it went flat.

We managed to grab a nice hot shower with no queue before the end of the race and drove straight out without any traffic problems after the race finished.

Got to Talladega with no problems after spending the night at a rest stop about 30 minutes away from the track. Had a good time there too but it was too hot in the morning. Not too bad on the grandstand as there was a cool breeze.

Good race with some spectacular accidents and a supprise winner that nobody predicted. But Matt will be happy. Visited the Motorsports Hall of Fame after the race and then went and found a nice cheap hotel for a proper nights sleep in a bed.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable but busy 7 days holiday.

See you guys at Sebring in March

[Fax]

Sounds like quite a whirlwind trip there Chris.  Just curious, what did you think of Daytona's big sister?  Pretty damn terrifying to see forty two of those monsters honking around the 36 degree banking at 200 mph just inches apart.
Fax

[Chris24]

Fax,
 I enjoyed Dega, but not as much as Bristol. Its an awesume place for sure but doesn't have the atmosphere etc. Also its too big and unless you use binoculars every lap, then you can't tell who is who when they are on the back straight etc. Looks much better on tv than it is in person at the track.

Also didn't know whether to sit or stand because some redneck was just standing all the time and didn't even seem all that interested in the race anyway. If he had sat down, then everyone else could have watched the race sat down too, but we all had to stand up as the cars came off turn 4 if we wanted to see them past this guy.

At least at Bristol, people stand up for a few laps on restarts etc but sit back down on mass after a few laps.

Yes i am glad that I have been and seen the place and can cross it off my list of tracks to visit, but it didn't grab me as a whole like Bristol did. So I will stick to Bristol as my regular Nascar Trip.

Regards
Chris

[Chris24]

View from my seat

[Fax]

Wow, things have changed at 'Dega since we've been there, in years past some drunk hillbilly standing up blocking everyone's view would have recieved polite suggestions along the lines of "Sit down you stupid mother f**k*r!" Looks like you were further up the tri-oval than we were.  We usually sat down in the direction of pit-out in the tri-oval tower a few rows from the top.  Agreed, the backstraight is a hell of a long way (but the track is 2.6 miles in length).  Never been to Bristol but some of our Talladega Gang have been and love it.  Much more intimate than the sprawling expanse of Talladega or Daytona.
Fax

[Chris24]

Yes, thats where I wanted to sit but could only get tower seats in the pit entrance area when I booked, so had to sit there instead. If I had been at pit exit end, then I would have some good pictures of Scott Riggs big roll !

[chop456]

Here's some video of the completion of our beeramid.  This was our first effort, so go light with the criticism. 

Video (3mb)

[Andy Zarse]

It's a goodie alright. What are the darker bottles? My guess is it's the Beck's Non-alcoholic a certain Mr Randy is so fond of.

[chop456]

Pabst Blue Ribbon, actually.  We ran out of Yuengling bottles.