ALMS Elkhart Lake pictures

[Muzza]

(sorry for not posting the pictures early. You may also want to check the Historic Forum)

Pirro waving to Herbert.

[Muzza]

Beautiful Road America. Amongst the circuits currently used by major series, one of the top five, throughout the world.

Frank Biela in the Audi R8 followed by the Archangel Lola B2K.

[Muzza]

Beautiful Milka Duno.

[Muzza]

Climbing the hill from Turn 5, led by the Porschehaus Racing Porsche 911 GT3RS driven by Adam Merzon and Robert Julien.

Note at the background the steep climb of the start-finish straightaway.

[Muzza]

Bryan Herta and his Panoz LMP01: fast, but who is fast enough for Audi?

[Truckosaurus]

Top photos Muzza, Take a Gold Star and go to the Top of the Class.

[Adam43]

Fantastic Photos. Great circuit, great cars, great drivers (especially photo number 3).

Cheers

[Speedworx]

Great pics.

[Muzza]

The Knighthawk team once again hit bad luck with its neat and fast Lola EX257/MG.

[Muzza]

Scott Maxwell on his underdeveloped Panoz LMP07/Mugen.

In my opinion Panoz did a mistake on not persisting on developing this car, and dumping it in favor of the older LPM01.

The team expected a learning curve far too steep, and hoped to be fast out of the box and be able to beat the Audis. A longer term approach might have brought them success, as there is nothing conceptually wrong with the car. The waist line is very low and the whole car looks weird.

[Muzza]

Johnny Herbert, always in good company (sharing a car with with Stefan Johansson is not the same type of fun!)

[Muzza]

The prettiest GTS of all: the Saleen S7R of Franz Konrad and Terry Borcheller.

[Muzza]

Hello, Guy Humpage,

Thanks for your kind words.

Here the Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RS of Timo Bernhard and Joerg Bergmeister shows its battlescars at the last laps of the race. 500 miles of drama took their toll, but they made it!

And actually in great fashion. Bergmeister (2001 Porsche Supercup champion, and the driver pictured below) overtook the sister car of Sascha Maassen at the penultimate lap to score his and Timo's first win in the ALMS.

With tires gone, note how severely the car oversteers at the Canada Corner.

[Muzza]

Hey, Adam,

Thanks, man. Talking about great drivers, I really like this guy - and I regret he is not showing his talent in Formula 1: Sascha Maassen ought to be there (and Emmanuel Collard and Christophe Bouchut deserve it too).

I saw him doing seemingly impossible overtaking maneuvers in the German F-3 championship, back in the early 1990s.

[mickj]

Brilliant pics Muzza.
Brings back memories of vintage races at RA July 2001..1 Great circuit, the trees hold the noise of the cars making the ears ring, as the cars go past,MAGIC.

[AllonFS]

Superb photos, thanks. Particularly like the Knighthawk, great sense of speed.

[paulzinho]

Fantastic Muzza!

Your Historic pics are great too, better cars IMO

like the Milka one too

[gomick]

rockin muzza

[Muzza]

Hello, AllonFS.

Thanks a lot, man. Let's now see a different picture - a speed shot - of the pretty KnightHawk Lola EX257/MG. I like the angle of this picture, taken from a very unusual spot - the base of the column of the Toyota bridge.

I feel for the team, that has been so unlucky, but one they this will end, and there is no match for these Lolas in the LMP675 class.

This team deserve a good sponsor. They have got a very professional structure behind them.

[Muzza]

Hi, Hakkiman,

Who does not like the Rafanelli team? These guys are the fun of the paddock. Zio Rafanelli is always all over the place, checking all his employees as only a babbo would do. He - and his team - personify Italy in the ALMS series.

I am glad that the chances of renewing the Olive Garden (chain of Italian restaurants in the United States) sponsorship for 2003 are very high. The team may even run two cars, as there are rumors that Prodrive is going to bring a Ferrari 550 Maranello for a full time ALMS campaign.

[Muzza]

And here is Emanuele Naspetti, who is making his first ALMS season with Rafanelli, having run with the Italian team in 2001 in the FIA GT Championship.

Naspetti is one of those extremely competent drivers who failed to make the cut in Formula 1 just for not having the chance of driving decent machinery.

He was the youngest driver to ever win the Italian Formula 3 championship, and got four (yes, four) F-3000 victories in the 1991 season. But the only seat he found in Formula 1 was with the decaying March team, and the results were, not surprisingly, very poor.

It is quite unfair to judge Naspetti for his F-1 record. After leaving the "pinnacle of motorsport" behind (only the fools believe F-1 is that) Naspetti had a very successful career in the competitive Italian Touring Car Championship, grabing the title in 1997.

[Muzza]

And this is Mimmo Schiattarella, the guy with the prettiest helmet in the ALMS series. Schiattarella and Naspetti have know each other for a long time, as Mimmo finished runner-up to Emanuele title in the 1991 Italian F-3 Championship.

But whilst Naspetti is having his first season with Rafanelli in the ALMS, Schiattarella has been with the team for a while. Mimmo, sharing a Riley & Scott heavily modified by the Rafanelli team with Eric Van de Poele, won the 1999 Road Atlanta race in great fashion. To this day, this is the only overall win by a privateer team in the ALMS.

Mimmo drove seven races for Simtek in Formula 1, in the 1994 and 1995 seasons.

[Muzza]

And now we say buona notte to the Rafanelli team, with this three-quarts view of the rear of the car, exiting Canada Corner.

[Sebring2000]

Great shots Muzza! Thanks for sharing. I think the Rafanelli will be really strong soon. I was very upset that they didn't have much track time @ Sebring this year. They were great to watch in 2000!

Mark

[Muzza]

Hello, MickJ,

Any chance of you making the trip back to Elkhart Lake in 2003? Hope to see you there!

The atmosphere in Elkhart Lake is great - the folks in Wisconsin are very welcoming and the track surrounding is beautiful. Do not be misled by those that say that Elkhart Lake is a too remote location - deliciously remote, that's what it is!

Since the 50s the track keep the tradition of the corrals - areas reserved (on a very friendly manner) to spectators that share some common, say, value. For example, the Corvette Corral at Turn 3 has been a meeting point of 'Vette fanatics for decades.

And there are all sorts of corrals. This a guy build his corral at Turn 1 infield - a pink flamingo corral!