A close race at Atlanta

[Snoring Rhino]

Unfortunately for the Aston fans, Car 57 driven by Brabham, Turner and Kane, lost a lap behind a safety car early in the race and finally to the Corvette No 4 driven by Gavin, Berreta and Magnussen at the Petite Le Mans in Atlanta, C. It looks to have been a very close thing though, only 3 seconds in it after 1,000 miles and 379 to 378 laps of Racing - I am sure Fax and Messer’s Harpers will be on line to gives us the full run down on the corvette victory very soon( if they can fight their way out of the beer haze).
Car 58 had a drive shaft problem about 4 hrs in and lost 25 mins changing it, and the no 3 vette lost drive in the final stages so came in 11th and 12 respectively.
Well done Corvette - just wait for Laguna Seca on the 15th, it should be a good final race of the season!!!

[Brad Zarse]

 

http://www.americanlemans.com/Gallery/44/441012005233636453.JPG

[Fax]

Hi there boys,
Great race, a bit of a shame that the Zytek team's efforts made it as far as the first corner before James Weaver broke one of the first rules of endurance racing, "A race is not won at the first corner but it can be lost".  Absolutely amazed that JJ was able to drive that car away from the accident scene because it was a HUGE shunt.  Matt, Dave & I chose to watch the start from inside turn 1 so we the fireworks up close and personal (not as much as the marshals on the outside of turn 1, should've seen them diving for cover!)  we strolled back to the Audi compound in the paddock and watched the Champion guys basically rebuild the entir front of the Audi and have it back on the track in less than an hour, simply amazing (sorry Randy).
The rest of the race was very entertaining with the GTS battle very hard fought, fine effort from both Aston and Corvette, I think the intesity of the battle showed in the mechanical gremlins that attacked the 58 Aston and 3 Vette.  Superb drive by Biela & Pirro.  Talked to a couple of people who told me that even though the final figures are not in yet it looks like that was the largest crowd in Road Atlanta history, the place was absolutely heaving.  No doubt helped by beautiful autumn weather.
Just superb every way you look at it.
Fax

[Snoring Rhino]

Matt said it was going to be a great weekend when we met up, sounds like he was right and you guys had a ball. Maybe one day we will make it.

[Matt Harper]

Fax has it pretty much covered - as usual an utterly brilliant weekend. Thumped it up from O'town on Friday (thank God for radar, or I'd have been dead-meat several times over - one time while out-dragging some git who was free-vending off of my detector). We had a very relaxed eveining in Buckhead GA and got to the track about an hour before the start.
We watched a ten hour sprint, liberally lubricated with Nigerian Lager. It was the usual pleasure to spend time and hoist a few with Canada Phil, The Amazing Randy and Lee from Turn 10, and to catch-up with Chris 24 and his Dad. We tented-it at the circuit on Staurday night, once we'd 'done' the Guinness and Budschmeisers. We'd hoped to get a little early fall trout fishing in at Buford Dam, but couldn't be arsed in the end.
With respect, the early part of the race saw both C6's totally out-performing the green catfish. Even I was surprised by the extent that Prodrive were off the GT1 pace. The Astons were definitely helped by several full course cautions that allowed them to catch-up. We were surprised, feeling that Road Atlanta would be a course that suited the agile DBR9. In the second half of the race, the C6's did what they did at Le Mans - all that was needed to stay in front. When Prodrive turned-up the wick, GM simply responded by doing the same. The unexpected was when O'Connells car went flat about 8 hours in. After a couple of smoky misfiring laps it came in - and the engine covers came off a C6 for the first time this season. A broken valve spring was the cause, so they simply whipped the plug out and sent it out on 7. A few laps later the motor let go at the end of the pit straight - the only mechanical DNF since Sebring.
I admired the Prodrive effort and professionalism - but it must be so bloody daunting that whatever you do, your competition does it a little more.
Good solid performance by Biella and Pirro - and even though I'm not keen on him, I must acknowledge a superb recovery drive by Lehto - carving his way back up the grid, after a huge crash and an hour behind the pit wall.
A great, great weekend - UK contimgent, if you ever get the chance, grab it. One of my fave races of the year - Thanks Dave and Fax for the company, the laughs and the death race to the track on Saturday!

[Andy Zarse]

I'm glad you all had a great time guys, and sorry again for my non-presence.

I profess to being somewhat bemused by Matt's comments regarding the pace of the Astons v's Vettes. IIRC, when the Astons were wiping the floor with the Vette's at LM, 3-4 seconds a lap quicker, it was all part of the Pratt and Miller strategy to run slower. Now suddenly, the Vettes are ever so slightly faster at Road Atlanta, and it's all down to having a better and faster car. With regard to the safety car, I thought one of the Atons actually dropped a whole lap, rather than making up time? Once again, just like Sebring and LM, so much of it came down to sheer luck. I reckon there's not really a fag paper between them and we should be really enjoying this struggle between two big hitters, rather than deluding ourselves that one is so much better than the others.

Very inconsistent observations Matt if you ask me, with more holes than swiss cheese.

[Snoring Rhino]

Me thinks there’s some mischief going on here Mr Matt, you've been on the other side for tooooo long! I caught some of the RLM web cast about halfway in, as the 57 car went in for its drive shaft change. All the talk was of the comparable pace between the cars, this is going to be a great race series, see:
http://www.americanlemans.com/News/Article.aspx?NewsID=1577

[Fax]

Me thinks there's some Matt baiting going on here.  This could be amusing stuff.  I thought both teams were very professional and prepared.  Matt and I agreed that we thought the Astons would be slightly quicker than they were but in all fairness, they were fighting a somewhat uphill battle.  They had to scramble to repair a car heavily shunted on Wed. and the Vettes had the advantage of already having raced at Road Atlanta earlier in the season. That said Prodrive has plenty of RA data from their years running Ferraris.   I don't agree with Tomas Enge's comments regarding his collision with JJ. Matt, Dave, Phil & I were watching from the hillside overlooking RA's signature turns 3, 4 ,5 & 6 complex and it looked to me like the classic case of two cars trying to occupy the same patch of tarmac.  All this said the Aston's are a very poplular and welcome addition to the ALMS events when they chose to come over.
Fax

[Andy Zarse]

The voice of reason there from Fax. But Matt baiting is just so much fun.

I still feel sorry for the Zytec boys. When they gonna get a slice of luck and show what they can do? Reckon they could do with a better driver than Kendo Nagasaki or whatever he's called.

[Steve Pyro]

.....than Kendo Nagasaki or whatever he's called.

Arrh yes, Saturday afternoon, World of Sport ...........

[Andy Zarse]

Good afternoon grapple fans!

[Steve Pyro]

Good afternoon grapple fans!

[Andy Zarse]

You, Sir, are way too quick on the draw. This is getting Waring.

Aiiarrrgghh, it's an ooop'n'oonder!

[chop456]

Reckon they could do with a better driver than Kendo Nagasaki or whatever he's called.

We went down to the Zytek garage to see the car return (which it never did), and were there when Shimoda was driven up on the pit cart.  He looks like he's every bit of 16 years old and 120 pounds.

[Fax]

Having two young drivers perhaps isn't the best recipe for getting a car to the finish of a one thousand miler but in defense of Shimoda he was very impressive at Mid-Ohio.  His pole lap was just a few ticks off of Paul Tracy's outright lap record set in a CART Champ Car.  Shimoda also has a fricking knockout of a girlfriend, I was down in the paddock at Mid-Ohio hanging around the Zytek garage and there was a little Japanese stunner that had everyone's attention.  It was a shame that the usually impeccable Mr. Weaver had a monumental brain fart at the start Saturday.
Fax