Some Information About Sebring?

[Liz]

Who has been to Sebring before and can tell me a little about the track? I'm going to the 12 Hours this year for the first time.

[The Beer Baron]

I'm sure Dr. Austin can help you out there!

[Dr. Austin]

The track is pretty rough, but the new pits are just beautiful. The area just behind the pits is still grass, but further away there is also a concrete paddock. The best place I've seen to watch is the turn 2,3 complex. there is a little earth mound there and they are never really crowded. There are other earth mounds for viewing from, but I'm not sure where all of them are. I'll try to get a brochure with a circuit map.

Also, if you want to see them really flying, try the back side of the paddock where they come into the last turn. Night is especially good there as the cars backfire flames and the discs glow.

Lots of people take motor homes and sit on top of them. People bring scaffolds and one guy built a portable tree house and put it up. Most of these people are stinking drunk and it amazing that more people aren't killed falling off their motorhomes in a drunken stupor.

Where ever you go it is going to be dirty, so bring some blankets or yawn chairs to sit on. After three or four days of activity, the earth mound's grass has taken a beating and looks like the beach.

Take extra clothes because you are going to get filthy dirty as it just swirls around in the air. It is actually a nicer place to be when it rains because the air is at least clean. But some of the infield gets muddy, and of course cars get stuck.


Make sure you drink plenty of water because there is nowhere to hid from the sun and if you aren't used to it, you can get pretty sick and maybe even have a heatstroke.

As far as food, Zeno's Italian restaurant is just superb. The food at the races can be good or deadly. There is a place in the paddock where all the souvineer and food consessions are. They are all lined up parrallel to the pits, just on the backside. Some of the food is really good and some is, well, bad. Please be sure to stop in at Classic Auto Impression and meet Jack Webster. He is a neat guy and a speed freak like the rest of us. He was also the team manager of the Fabcar Imsa team.

It is a rough old place that has it's own unique charm. But you are going to get dirty. You have been warned. But you will have a good time anyway.

[Liz]

Thanks, that's what I needed! The Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame Motorhome will be somewhere on the grounds, but judging by their behaviour at Corner 2 [Mosport] I would not get on top of a motorhome with that lot. I don't mind getting dirty in a good cause, but will be spending a lot of time in the media hangout, when not prowling the paddock in search of interviews or stories, so maybe that will help a bit. I think I'll keep a clean shirt in a ziplock bag in my backpack for emergencies though.

How's the racing on this track? Do the teams generally like racing there? I remember hearing Sir Stirling say he did, but haven't heard a lot from other drivers about it. Up til recently I was not a big sportscar watcher, but will be from now on, having discovered both ALMS and Trans Am are great value for the money.

I'm going to print out the information you provided and keep it in my Sebring file -- you've hit the high points for me and that's what I wanted. Thanks for that.

[The Beer Baron]

Austin,

How rowdy do you get at Sebring? It always gets an unrefined crowd, very drunk, lots of property destroyed!

[Dr. Austin]

Originally posted by The Beer Baron
Austin,

How rowdy do you get at Sebring? It always gets an unrefined crowd, very drunk, lots of property destroyed!

"

I remember being there during the drug-filled early days of the seventies. I was near the hairpin where all the riotious partying always went on and standing in line behind a big U-haul. I thought I was in line for a beer, but there was something else happening on top of the u-haul and it wasn't beer being poured. I really can't disclose what it was here (this is a nice forum), but if you can't figure it out, give me a pm.

Yeah, it is just drunk city. Most of the people have been there a few days and are already lit from all the consumption. Mostly, this is contained to the infield. Sometimes you see people streaking naked and sometimes you see people relieving themselves right out in the open. Mostly, they are just loud obnoxious drunks. Sure, there is some fighting, and a few cars get pranged. Hey, everyone is drunk!

Or stoned. The stoners just sit and watch the cars go by. "Wow, man! Look at the colors!" or "Look! That one is leaving trails!" At least they are enjoying themselves peacefully. I remember when Reggazoni's 312pb burned to the ground in '72. All that magnesium sparking and glowing. Everyone stood around and went "oooooooohhhhh!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Sometimes there is dirt bike racing, unsanctioned and highly illegal, of course. Once i saw a guy whack a motor home at full clip. He was so drunk that he wasn't even hurt!

I never saw them set a car on fire, but it has been done. I think one year they torched a school bus.

And of course, no Sebring race is complete without virgin sacrifices.


It has really been cleaned up in the last few years, though. All the people paying huge money (up to $500 US per night) in Panoz' new hotel don't want to look out their third story window and watch people ****icating on top of their motorhomes. "Pass the fruit spread, dear. Oh my, look at THAT!"

I guess it looked a lot like a scene from Caligula. Or Conan.

I can't say it is sad that those wild party days are over. It is really quite amazing that it was allowed to go on like that for so many years. It is also astounding that there weren't more people killed just from druken stupidity.

[The Beer Baron]

You told me that story before Austin

I rememeber watching highlights one year and the guys thrashed everything!

Do you to Daytona Austin?

[Liz]

It never fails to amaze (or dismay) me how many people on the boards at Club Arnage seem to have spent the entire week of Le Mans in a drunken stupor. They apparently think Le Mans is about trying to come as close to death by alcohol poisoning as possible and not actually dying. Seems to me if all you want to do is get stinking drunk in the mud and dirt while fast cars go by, you could drive your RV to some farmer's freshly plowed field and park beside an Interstate for a lot less money.

When I go to a race I want to see fast cars and glowing brake discs and lawn-touring and gravel-trapping, and I want to see headlights swooping up over a hill and down a straightaway, and I want to hear That Panoz Sound snarling past my campsite at 2:00 a.m., and I want to stand as close to the mechanics as I can stand, watching them put a new rear end on in 7 minutes, rebuild an entire car in 40 minutes, kick out a windscreen and stick helicopter tape over flapping body work and throw the guy back out on a rain-soaked track, or simply work a magical pit stop without running over inquisitive journalists or some guy in his dad's Porsche 911 who races only twice a year.

I want to see guys do what Michael Schumacher could never do: work as a seamless team over 6, 12, 24 hours and at the end of the day, not care a whit that everyone on the piste knows which car won, but nobody knows who was driving.

I want the ROMANCE!

There's no romance in the barnyard. Other stuff, yes, but not that.

[Dr. Austin]

Yeah, daytona is alot better. It is cleaner by a long way, for one thing. but it is only 2 miles from the Atlantic ocean, which gets pretty cold in February. So the sea breeze comes in after dark and the cold air off the water just swirls around inside the speedway, which is shaped like a 2/5 diameter bowl. It gets pi** cold with the wind chill factor. I mean it is cold, baby! Of course, all of you from the other side might be used to it, but as a Florida boy it is pure misery.

But then, it gets really nice during the day and the next morning, so if you can find some shelter and a place with speedvision, you can stay warm and see all the action. You will like either place because you can walk right up to anyone you care to talk to and most are surprisingly friendly. Most friendly; Buddy Lazier/Brian Redman (tie), Jan Magnussen, Butch Lietzinger, Rob Dyson(when he isn't being a jerk he is actually ok) Andy Wallace is pretty cool. Allan McNish, Elliot Forbes Robinson.

Either Sebring or Daytona are just great. both have their own downfalls and charm. Who cares? Bring on the cars!

[Dr. Austin]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Liz


"I want the ROMANCE!"

BABY!!! romance is where it is at in motorsports. Nuts and bolts are great, but I want to be MOVED!

We agree. We are going to scare everyone if we keep this up.

[The Beer Baron]

I wonder if they have a make-out room for you two :

[Liz]

I'll be in the media room. Or in the garage getting in the way.

[Dr. Austin]

Originally posted by Liz
I'll be in the media room. Or in the garage getting in the way.

Well, i probably owe you a beer or two, so hope we can stumble across each other. I'm a lot nice in person. Really. OK, maybe I'm just a little nicer, but I AM nicer in person. I'm the guy who looks like Pierce Brosnan. Ok, maybe it more like Rodney Dangerfield........

[Liz]

I'm the girl that looks like Lauren Bacall in "Murder on the Orient Express". But I don't chew gum.

Okay, so I look like Lauren Bacall would look in a jeans suit and a Lucky Strike cap ...

I would love to have a beer or two with you at Sebring. And anybody else who might be lurking round the garages or the media area!

Are you going to the Daytona 24 Hours?

[Dr. Austin]

I'll probably go on Friday. I can get a ticket for $10, but for the race it's $75 or $80. As an ALMS and Panoz fan, I just can't give the big NASCAR monster more money. I am also cheap. I can see the cars and smell the rubber and oil, see some drivers and be back home, get a good night's sleep and have breakfast in my warn bed, watching the start on speedvision, with my lovely bride (25 years and counting). Best of all the worlds, baby!


The speedvision coverage is just super. And like I said, it can be real cold in February at night and I'm not too anxious to re-experience that.

Friday's I generally kick around at the vendors and do some trading. They have had the historics there the last few years, so I go vist Brian Redman for a few minutes or so. He was the first guy I was brave enough to approach for an autograph (1968) and he is such an affable guy that I always seek him out. He now has three of my models in my collection, so I consider this a real coup.

Anyway, it is always great to look at the cars and see if I can spot some of my favorite drivers. I met Buddy Lazier last year and he is a real gent. He made me promise to give the IRL an honest chance. He said if I watched three races and didn't like it, he'de get me all the coors light I wanted and drink it with me. So, I have been a real fan of his ever since and he had a great year, which helped me enjoy the season. Like I said, a real gent and just a regular guy. How can some one so nice be so ferocious on the track? He probably spent 30 minutes talking with me like we were long lost friends, but instead he has made a brand new one.

Of course they have a little practise, so we go to the horseshoe and watch some of that. What's nice about Daytona is you can look up and see the cars on the banks from almost anywhere in the infield.

But race day is pretty crowded and I think I have some sort of phobia about that. We also have two new cars and I don't like to take them to an event where there is drinking and rowdy behavior. Daytona is better than Sebring, but I have still seen people's road cars torn up from stupidity. Actually, the Daytona crowd is pretty well behaved.

I guess having done Daytona so many times sitting freezing on top of a motor home at 4am that my chair, my fireplace, hot coa coa and speedvision is a really nice way to watch the race (I don't actually have a fireplace, but you get the idea).

Of course, it looks like alot of my forum friends are going to pop up there, so that might help the cold be a little more bearable. Am I going to Daytona? Who know if it turns out to be warm?