Club Arnage

... between the winning Audi and the 2nd place Porsche - You lucky guys on the other side of the pond, you really got to see some racing! When it comes to competition the LMS is way behind the ALMS. At least I could listen to the live coverage on Radio Le Mans which was very good!

Nice sunday everybody

Just got back,and you are right fantastic weekend.
Great party also!

PLM was great to watch, fantastic battle untill the end. Bathurst was quite exciting as well with rain interfering at the end 8)

This posting made me chuckle. For a man who self-proclaimed to me on Saturday night that he didn't know anyone who was so full of crap as him, he's very economical with the written word....
Seth and I arrived at the track around 8.30pm Friday night, after a pretty late decision to make the trip up from O'town. The party was already at an advanced phase. Messrs Self, Prewitt, Carr. Mi, and Phil (Canada). made us welcome at the temporary Turn 10 basecamp.
Seth impressed with his Jekyll and Hyde shots and our American friends offered to poison us with a particularly dangerous smelling moonshine that was (classily) dispensed from an old pickle jar. A strict no-smoking policy was observed during it's service. I stuck to Guinness.
Friday night and Saturday morning kinda blurred together, so by the time the race started my hangover was just stepping up to the plate to deliver a homer of Barry Bonds-like chemical inducement. After 40 minutes of hard-and-fast racing, we decided to fire-up the ol' Suburban and relocate to the hillside above the esses, wher Fax was patiently awaiting our arrival. During the journey the first incident of a truly chaotic Petit occurred. Our radio came alive with Hindy's excited announcement that Magnussen was in the wall above the esses and definately out of the race. A review of the "jumbotron" showed Herta punting Jan off the track, at a spot that was designated a no-passing zone in that mornings drivers meeting.
The worrying prospect of GM merely racing themselves (the Lista Maserati not really being considered serious competition) was eased slightly by this incident - however, the talk around Road Atlanta was, "How much longer will GM continue to run a program with nobody to race against?" - Not long, is my guess.
The weather stayed fine (Fax tells me it's never rained on the Petit) but the safety car was a familiar sight during the day. The 'Excorcist Vomit Green' Krohn Racing Ferrari had at least five off-track excursions and even the usually faultless Alan McNish T-boned a spinning P2 in a carbon fibre shreading melee in turn 1.
As weve come to notice on this side of the Atlantic, the Porsche Spyders were agile, fast and loud, compared to the whooshing, but otherwise unspectacular R10's. As the race played-out, the Porsche would get itself into position to upset the applecart in Ingoldstadt - only to have its substantial lead evaporate during yet another late race caution.
The Audi nicked-it at the death.
Aside from the lack of a GT1 field (made up for, by a very stout P2 grid) it was the usual, relaxing, friendly and event-filled weekend. It's not as crazy as Sebring, or as much as an endurance (for the fan) as Le Mans, but it has qualities all of it's own.
The circuit is a spectator/photographers dream, the atmosphere, bolstered by the biggest crowd I've seen in my 5 attendances at Road Atlanta, was fantastic - and the race, hard-fought.
Nice to see a strong and enthused Dutch contingent - and I'd just like to say thanks to Randy, Lee, MiCarr, Phil, Fax and a bunch of others who helped me stay unfocused for the duration.
I've siad it before - and I'll say it again, if there's any chance you can make it happen, this is one of the USA's great motorsport events, give it a try, you won't regret it.

Well summed up Matt, large fun had by all.  It was my wife's first Petit trip and she loved every second of it, however she's demanding we do a Road Atlanta-Talladega double next year.  Not sure if my liver's up to that.  Dying to hear how the Dutch guys faired at Dega on Sunday.  Great to see everyone again, Matt, Seth, Phil, Randy, etc.
Cheers,
Fax

Damn,I wish I had went to school and could write so well.

Great recap Matt! Wish I could have been there, perhaps next year.

I am soooo upset that I couldn't be there.  I saw the first couple of hours while I was around a mates house before his wife got home and asked, "What's this crap?"  As Pieter said - perhaps next year.

Dx

As already said excellent piece from Matt. Good to see all of you that made it.Thanks to MiCarr, Donna, Amazing,  for their support.
Sorry Matt Seth & Mr & Mrs Fax did not come back to camp so I could have recipricated with some Icehouse. ::)
 Pieter & Doris Yes do put it on your calendar. Great racing at a great venue.
Arrived home on Monday to a heat wave 31.5C
 Phil
 

You are quite welcome Phil.
Glad to see you made it home safely.

Randy

it was sooo good to be there!

just got back from the airport, but what a trip!

Road Atlanta is such a spectator friendly circuit, unbelievable, everywhere you are close to the cars...
also the openness of the teams is good to see, everybody wants to chat and show their cars

DfH got the Drinking For Holland red-white-blue flag signed by 95% of the drivers starting the PLM race, we lack only about 5-6 drivers or so. Possibly an item for the auction at the Friday Night Party?

Doing that autograph session shows also how popular DfH is, we tried sitting behind a table and started signing Team Impala handouts... immediately a line started in front of the table to collect them :D

I want to thank all the Turn Ten and Club Arnage friends at Road Atlanta for a wonderful time :)

Me so envious!!! But hey, I am going to Sebring!!!! ;D

Because I feel sorry for myself I did not go to petit.

Any recognition from the drivers? I can imagine Jan Magnussen said something in the direction of "FFS, you're here as well?!?" ;D

He must think we are loaded, being able to visit all these races!

Wow, a lot of drivers recognised us!

every free minute of each day Jan Magnussen spent in Turn 3, where we where as well (his friends from Denmark where our neighbours) :D

furthermore Darren Turner (I believe) shouted out: I was in the plane with these guys!
Arie Luyendyk ofcourse recognised us from the A1GP and the airplane (he was about 4 rows away from us)

Andy Wallace asked if he was an Honorary Member since he drove for/with Jan so often

the Robertson team had a Dutch mechanic as well who waved everytime he passed us

the Zytek teammembers recognised us as well

but the coolest was Adrian Fernandez, we met him during the autograph session and was really a nice guy, chatting and stuff... after that he had another Q&A at the vendor place (he was called on a podium where people could meet and greet him); there was a big queue there and we where passing by in the background accidentally when he was called on stage so we started to cheer and wave: you saw a big smile develope on his face and he started to wave and jump up and down to us (with the queue being on the totally opposite site of the podium, very cool :D

all in all really great hehehe

Drinking For Holland signing

(http://gallery.drinkingforholland.com/g2data/albums/Divers/Authographs_from_petit/DFH_4670.JPG)

(http://gallery.drinkingforholland.com/g2data/albums/Divers/Authographs_from_petit/DFH_4671.JPG)

Arie Luyendyk siging
(http://gallery.drinkingforholland.com/g2data/albums/Divers/Authographs_from_petit/DSC_4648.JPG)

team Audi signing
(http://gallery.drinkingforholland.com/g2data/albums/Divers/Authographs_from_petit/DSC_4675.JPG)

(http://gallery.drinkingforholland.com/g2data/albums/Divers/Authographs_from_petit/DSC_4683.JPG)

(http://gallery.drinkingforholland.com/g2data/albums/Divers/Authographs_from_petit/DSC_4696.JPG)

(http://gallery.drinkingforholland.com/g2data/albums/Divers/Authographs_from_petit/DSC_4697.JPG)

Great pics, you guys must have confused a few people over there.

These pics made me smile, well done!  ;D

Cheers,... To Canada Phil and Mr. Harper, it was a real pleasure tipping a few back and telling a few lies..

Also, a big shout out to the DFH boys, and great success at the autograph session.. 8)



Phil.. Drinking for Holland.... ;D
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2230/1567881315_380ec88f3f.jpg)