My Weekend at Road America

[modifica]

Here is sort of a review of my awesome weekend at Road America. It's long, but I think it's interesting. Just decided to throw something together. Yippy!


Our campsite was pretty cool. Almost the same spot as last year. Site #124, right inside the carousel. What was cool was the new bridge, the Suzuki Bridge, which led to the "Beach." Pretty cool area I think. Although you can't quite see down that back straightaway, it's still a nice viewing area. Hopefully they put more seating there though.

The main reason I brought my bike along was for the Tour de Road America. I was really excited for this. The reception area in the tent was cool, in that they had a band playing, and they had a bunch of food for the riders on tables. About 10 minues before it started the drivers arrived on their bikes. Pirro, Lehto, Biela, Werner, Wolf Henzler, Franchitti, and Dalziel are the drives I recognized, although I know there were more. What was weird was Lehto had jeans on. Weird. After a little bit a guy came over the microphone and started talking. After he was done he asked for the drivers and the fast riders up front. Being the rebel I am I slowly made my way up. As some audio started playing I noticed Calvin Fish right next to me! I said, "Hey, you Calvin Fish?" He said, "Yeah mate. How are you doing?" I said, "I'm doing good. I see you on T.V. all the time. Good stuff." Then he said, "Well thanks mate. What's your name?" "Tom Engrav," I said, and then he said," Nice to meet you Tom," and I said, "You too." I'm pretty sure thats how it went. Anyways, after some audio messages we were off. Well until we arrived at the opening to the track, where we had to wait another 10 minutes. After the 10, we finally got onto the track and after about 100 ft we stopped again for a kid who fell off his bike and then for some pictures. It was just surreal for me to be around all these racers whom have raced all over the world. It was just so cool. After a couple of pictures we were off behind some pace vehicles. From the carousel to the kink its downhill, so everybody kept going faster and faster. In order to keep up I knew I would have to switch into the 3rd main gear, in the set of 3 gears where my pedals are(I don't know what their official name is). Yeah, I'm going faster, now shift. Boom; chain comes off. I coast to a stop on the side and try to put the chain on. For some reason I couldn't do the simple task of putting a chain on, so I tried waving somebody down, and after almost the whole field went by me, some guy came and helped me put it back on. After going around Canada Corner, there was the hill up to the bridge. Man was that a tough hill. But compared to the start/finish straightaway, that was nothin'. Took me about 5 minutes to get up that straight. All this while I'm thinking I can possibly catch the drivers. Well I was wrong. I was passing people left and right, but these were the slow and the families that decided to stay in the back. After a while the rate of which I was passing people slowed. From the level part of the main straightaway to Turn 3 it was all coasting. Before the Sargento bridge the was a little incline, but it turned into coasting to Turn 5. Going up Fireman's Hill was a little challenge, but it was short. Through the Hurry Downs to the bottom of the hill it was coasting again. Man, what a nice view going down the hill that was. The sun was shining, you could see a lot of the track; it was great! I ended going up the main straightaway 4 times. Brian Sellers was sitting on the wall next to the track for about 2 laps. I said "Good luck" on my way by and he said, "Thanks! We'll need it!"
Also, two riders passed me twice during my riding. They were bookin' it! Must have been competing against each other. By the end There were only a few people in front and back of me. It got hard at times going up the hills, but it's nothing compared to the suffering of cancer inflicted people. Overall it was a really good experience.

For the people who have been to Siebkins know how many drivers can be spotted there. On Friday night we headed into town, with Siebkins our first stop. While looking for a parking spot I noticed Lehto and Werner walking past Sieb's. Didn't see them again unfortunately. Well while we were walking we went past this corner restraunt, and in the window I said Scott Atherton. Thought that was cool. At Sieb's we walked in, but no drivers, so we left promptly. We then headed up this street where this resort was, and I looked down this path and saw what looked like a party going on, so the three of us walked down, but again, no drivers. Saw some Champion Audi members though. Band that was playing was alright. After about 15 minutes we walked back to this bar that we passed earlier. The rootbeer I had was super. After watching the baseball game on the telly for a while we went to Subway and had some subs. Elkart Lake is a really nice town, and will grow hugely in the future I believe. Back in the 70's my uncle said the town was basically a ghost town. Weird.

I really anticipated the autograph session on Saturday, for I had many questions for many of the drivers. The Flying Lizard posters were pretty cool lookin', along with the Saleen posters. I asked Johnny Mowlem if he had any more speed in his qualifying lap, and he said he gave his all. I stopped at the J3 Racing drivers, and asked Tim Sugden how qualifying went for the team. All he said was "****." Do you know why you were off the pace? "I don't know." He obviously wasn't happy. So I moved the Autocon team. I asked Lewis about the engine, and he said it can make about 800HP unrestricted, but with the restrictors, makes only about 550HP. Interesting. At the Viper team I asked Tom Weickhardt about the Zonda, and he said the issue was dead. There will be no Zonda race car in the future(guess I already knew that). The Peterson/White Lightning poster was nice. The Corvette line was a bazillion miles long, so I didn't go in that one. The Maserati guys were cool. De Simone told me that the atmosphere in the FIA GT championship is very different. The fan aspect we have here is almost non-existant there. I asked about the Dubai and Zhuhai tracks, and he said they are much bigger than the tracks here. He said a few other things, but the noise around me overcame his voice. The autograph cards they had had the car and 2 pics of the drivers, but that was it. No info. After that I headed down to the Audi pits, so I could get a USA Today ad and a printed photo autographed. All the drivers were pretty nice. Biela's daughter was good lookin'. Pirro is one of my favorite drivers. At the Panoz pit I asked Liddel about engine, about with an engine that big the car should be fast, but he said the car is still 200 heavier that the Porsche, and I asked what kind of track suits the car, and he said their still not sure; their still trying to figure out the car. Interesting. At the P/W Lightning pit I asked Jorg B. about the Nurburgring 24 Hours. He said he had that weekend off, but the team wouldn't let him do the race or something like that. At the Alex Job pit I knew Timo Bernhard did the race, so I asked him about it. He told me they led for about 12 hours, but ran into gearbox problems. They would have won for not the problems. The Mazda team was cool. Got blue shirt autographed. That car had some appeal to it I can't explain yet. At the Dyson pit I asked Andy Wallage about doing the high speed run in the McLaren F1. He was surprised at the speed, and everything was a blur. Took a long time to slow down. Awesome experience though. Overall good autograph experience with the teams.

What makes series so great is the paddock access. Is there a series that offers remotely the access the ALMS does? Not that I know of. The crowd count seemed to me to be way up from last year. Lots of families.

One interesting thing they had this weekend was the drifting demonstrations. They were held on the Briggs & Stratton go-kart track. Although drifting really isn't my thing, it was interesting to watch the guys with lots of skill create lots of smoke while staying under control, and watching these guys who practically just drove around the track. It was a good thing to watch between the weekend's races.

The weather was descent all weekend, going between hot and nicely cool. On Sunday it got hot in the Sun, but in the shade it bordered on cool. At the end of the day my cheeks got wind-chaffed. Hurt the rest of the day.

The merchandise was more plentiful than before. The ALMS merchandise was especially good. I ended up buying a red/black ALMS fleece for $45. The Speedgear merch bus and main motorsport merch bus had many things I wanted, but with me on a limited budget, the fleece was the best option. Should have bought the Driving Ambition book. Anybody have the book?

The race was entertaining. Sucks that the Mazda went out so early. Really wanted it to do good. Also sucks what happened to the Intersport Lola. Really unexpected. I wonder what the Saleen could have done had it not had problems. Audi's had a good fight. Man that Dyson Lola is fast. My dad, uncle, and me went to three different spots on the track to watch the race. Turn 1 is quite awesome. Never been down to Canada corner though. Anybody been to those stands down there? Good spot to watch?

What an awesome race weekend. I don't know if it compares to the 2003 race here(remember the Hazardous team party on Saturday night ), but it was up there. The crowd size was up, good weather, interesting cars and teams, good fun and food; good times. Road America is a really sweet track. I can only imagine what a 12-hour race would be like in person. Seeing the Porsche RS Spyder going into Turn 1 next year...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.






My favorite driver now is Timo Bernhard. Who else has him as a favorite driver?

[modifica]

The Timo Bernhard Fan Club has only one member so far - just me

[Truckosaurus]

TOp Reporting as ever, Tom.

[DanielFR]

Originally Posted by modifica

My favorite driver now is Timo Bernhard. Who else has him as a favorite driver?

Timo is a very fast driver, but I prefer his teammate Romain DUMAS
Romain and Timo is the best pair of Porsche's factory driver, they are fast and regular, and I hope they'll get the crowd this year

Romain Dumas - Only to win
http://romain-dumas.japh27.com

[The Badger]

Naa ..... Rockenfeller-Lieb are the tops there .

[Fab]

Great reporting, Tom !

[Bernard Bram]

Originally Posted by modifica

What makes series so great is the paddock access. Is there a series that offers remotely the access the ALMS does? Not that I know of.

Well, the Langstreckenpokal at the Ring has pitlane access during the race, how close is that? . Granted it's not quite the same level, but you've got Rockenfeller, Lieb, Luhr, Stuck, Hürtgen, Alzen, Thiim and other known drivers on track.

Nice report btw .

[DanielFR]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Naa ..... Rockenfeller-Lieb are the tops there .

Rockenfeller is improving, but Marc Lieb is not at the level, remember last year in ALMS, he made some mistakes and never got a pole (... as Romain got 5 )