Hello from the Mosport ALMS Race

[Liz]

I'm sitting about 45 feet from the start-finish straight, and the cars are going through Pit In just about 6 feet away. I can see all the way down the pits, and at present am watching the Alex Job Racing team frantically try to repair the steering on the 22 car which had a coming together with a Cadillac (I think) and broke.

Lucas Luhr has come down with a viral infection overnight and is looking decidedly off colour; Mike Fitzgerald, who was the third driver for the 22 car at Sebring, has been drafted to take the time in the 23 car that the IMSA rules don't allow Sascha to do. It is hoped that Lucas can put in his 10 laps to give him points for this race, but he will not do any more than that, as Porsche does not allow their drivers to be matadors if they are unwell. At present it is planned that Lucas will do his 10 laps, Fitzgerald will run approximately 15 minutes, and Sascha will do the rest of the race.

The sun is shining, the sky is blue, there's a bigger crowd here than we have had since the old Can Am days, and everyone is watching the Cadillacs with awe. Not to mention james Weaver, who has come from last on the grid to 9th overall. Those MG Lolas are unbelievable! (Although I have heard fans saying in confusion "Doesn't look like any MG I ever saw!") JJ Lehto is driving like a maniac and we all hope the performce of these cars will give GM pause in their determination to trash the Cadillac program. If not, we hope someone will put JJ Lehto in a Panoz next year.

Terry Borcheller and Ron Fellows are drag racing for the lead in GTS. Can you imagine what the Saleen will do when it's free of all the ballast and restrictors? The GM guys know. They fully expect Saleen to eat their lunch next year. I fully expect that if it holds together, the Saleen will eat their lunch TODAY!

And perhaps when it starts winning people will stop calling it the "SAY-leen".

[Es Nes]

2 mgs down, one to go

[Lee Janotta]

This is probably the _worst_ advertising MG could possibly have.

[Es Nes]

yup, it looks like they scrafised too much reliablity for speed

itd be good if they took some boost away from the turbo cars but gave them another .5l in an attempt to make the cars more reliable

[FG1]

Originally posted by Es Nes
yup, it looks like they scrafised too much reliablity for speed

To scrafise.

Hmm, this is not a verb I have come across before. Nor is it in my dictionary. Please could you define it for me!

[Lee Janotta]

Scrafise (v) skrah-fise def: to bang one's head against an immobile object in such as manner as to cause succession of life functions.

Scraficle (n) skrah-fik-uhl def: an object or situation which causes an individual to scrafise. See Lucas Electrics, British Leyland self-changing flow-through lubrication system.

Scrafuct (adj) skrah-fukt def: the condition of being in an unfavorable situation which one is unable to rectify, ie suffering a cracked water pump on Triumph in the middle of an Arizona desert.

[Es Nes]

fuk you human dictionarys ... you know what i meant

[FG1]

Hmm....?

or perhaps:

Scrafise (v) 1. To scrape the barrel with a helmet visor.
2. To have difficulty removing a contact lens. 3. To give up one thing for another (see sacrifice).

[Liz]

The Pilbeam guys that I interviewed said that they figure within 2 years the MGs will be eating everyone for lunch. The cars are not reliable but their program is very, very new and there is bound to be some fiddling necessary to get everything sorted. Same with the Prodrive Ferrari.

But a lot of people in the pressroom commented that both the Corvettes and the Saleen were faster than anybody in the 675 class. So reducing their speed is not going to do any good to the class. They just have to figure out how to make them reliable like the Pilbeams are.

There was a lot of Touring Car Action from the 900s this weekend. Those guys have to learn to watch out for the GTs.

[paul-collins]

Once James got around the pack and his nose up Claudia's tail (pauses and thinks some more about that ) she really put the hammer down. I've always been a Dyson team fan; now I'm a Claudia fan as well.

JJ was magic in qualifying and the race. Too bad Max isn't as fast.

That Ferrari sure screams. So does Intersport's Judd (at least when Clint is driving, anyway ).

I've got a great Ron story. Special thanks to Robin Pratt. She made my morning Sunday (sorry you missed me, Liz).

What a weekend. What a crowd!

[theracegypsy]

What a race, dust rubber and fuel smell in equal proportins.
Then a white blur, a bang on the wall just behind me, and a porsche in reverse flying across track into the wall opposite.
No one hurt in that one, just hope Piro is OK after his wall meeting.
Nice to meet you Liz, see you in Montreal.

[cybersdorf]

Originally posted by paul-collins
Once James got around the pack and his nose up Claudia's tail

That's not a nice image - make it go away!

[muggle not]

Hey, did anyone at Mosport watch the WC touring Car race. If so, what happened to Shauna Marinus? She finished down around 23rd or somewhere. She is too good a driver for that position.

[enemy-ace]

I believe Shauna had a coming together with another car coming out of 8 going into 9. I'm not sure if she was the overtaker or the overtakee as they were side by side. But they touched and just made a general mess of things going into 9, which in turn bottled up Roger Foo who lost a couple of positions as a result . To tell the truth I can't be 100% sure it was Shauna who was involved as there is so much action in the World Challenge it's hard to keep your eyes focused on just one piece of the action. Judging from the lap chart though I would say it was her, too bad really as those Mazda's are showing some real speed.

To bad the ALMS race couldn't have had as much action, although I did enjoy it nontheless, just wish the Panoz's were a little more suited to the fast flowing nature of Mosport. Great weekend in all though, nothing like cooking breakfast with the smell of race fuel and brake dust in the air

[Liz]

The Speed Touring Cars were by far the most exciting guys this weekend, barring the battles between Sascha and Baron in the Alex Job and Orbit cars at the end. I love watching those guys mix it up! It's fun trying to write a race report though as every two minutes somebody is hitting somebody or has his wheels off the track. Those cars must be strong enough to shoot into space, the way they crash into each other and keep on going.

I enjoyed meeting everybody this weekend and I'm looking forward to Montreal this weekend in the Champ Cars and then the PLM in October. (I have to move house in September so will have to be at home. SIGH)

[theracegypsy]

Originally posted by enemy-ace
To bad the ALMS race couldn't have had as much action, although I did enjoy it nontheless, just wish the Panoz's were a little more suited to the fast flowing nature of Mosport. Great weekend in all though, nothing like cooking breakfast with the smell of race fuel and brake dust in the air

So that's what I missed - cooking breakfast, just got the smell without the actual food.

must say though that having lost Munchworks at Road America, the Padock bar at mosport is doing the best egger rolls of the North American trip.

[Jack Man]

It was a great, great day for a motorcar race!!!!

[muggle not]

Originally posted by David A Brown
It was a great, great day for a motorcar race!!!!

And Mosport is a great track. As someone has noted, especially for fast paced cars. The "Mario Andretti" straightaway lets you show some speed.

[FastJoel31]

Hey everybody, I just got back from camping in the Adirondacks...I was at the race also.

I walked down to the Audi hospitality tent Friday night, and what were they watching on the TV??? Nascar, of course! I thought that was a little funny. Too bad the race wasn't a little closer...