Petit LeMans

[BMWRacerITS]

Anyone else heading out to the Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta next weekend?

I'll be down there for the BMW CCA Octoberfest, living it up in the BMW Corral. Should be a sweet deal. I think my dad and I will be borrowing a camper and staying in the infield so we can see all the weekend's festivities, from the Speedvision World Challenge to the LeMans race.

Also, if you're going to be down there on Sunday, stick around and watch the BMW Club Race. It will be my first race in the new car and my second competitive event, so I should be fun to watch as others swerve around me. Luckily, I have quite a few hours of time on Road Atlanta, so I expect to do just fine. I'll be in a black BMW 325is, racing in KP as #325. My dad will be in a white M3 Lightweight, HP #19 (it'll be all dented up from this past weekend's "incident"). Last I heard, Bill Auberlen and Hans Stuck will be driving in the club race as well, so there will be some entertainment value.

See ya'll at the track.

-Bryan Watts

[Liz]

Be sure and write us all about it when you get back. I lived in Atlanta for many years but could not go to Road Atlanta because I can't drive. But it should be a marvelous race. FORZA PANOZ!

[BMWRacerITS]

I'll definitely report back next week. It's hard to beat a weekend of watching the ALMS, watching a few friends drive in the Speedvision World Cup, and then getting to drive in the BMW Club Race myself!!

[Liz]

If you get Speedvision, the Petit Le Mans will be on tomorrow afternoon. ALL AFTERNOON! Starts about 12:30 and goes for 6 hours.

No work will be done around here tomorrow.

[Racer X]

Liz I have Speedvision and it goes off at 10:00 p.m. They're showing the whole race semi-live.

[Liz]

I'm watching it now; it started at 12:30 a.m. Just had a DEER bolt across the track, fortunately not hitting anybody. Lots of failures already and Ron Fellows got punted by a Panoz. I think he's still running but he's not exactly happy.....apparently the GT cars sit up so high that the LMP cars can't be seen by them when they are coming up. Just said he hit it square and no damage. Good thing, too.

[Ortegatrail]

I just got home from the race. It was great to see the number of people there for the event. That deer was only ten feet from me when it jumped out of the infield and onto the tarmac. Glad it survived.

[Liz]

Glad everyone survived. What with the somersaulting BMW and the upside down Porsche, and magznussen... I think the next ALMS race should offer bumper stickers that say "Honk if you have been hit by Jan Magnussen."

Has anyone found Sean Lewis yet?

[Jared]

What a race! I was only able to watch parts of the race, but I made sure to see the last few hours.

I didn't even know about the deer until I saw it on Speedvision RaceWeek last night. Ha!

And the BMW flip. WOW! I am glad that Bill Auberlen is all right. Did you hear him say that the wind sucked the visor on his helmet open before he went up in the air? What happened? Did the Audi move over in front of him and take the air off the front?

Major congrats to the Corvette team. I was on the edge of my seat those last few laps and jumped up when Pilgrim made the pass. Too bad ORECA is leaving the Viper program. I think the Vettes would be a serious challenge next year.

Congrats also to the Audi team, though I have to question the tactic of holding the Panoz up in the last laps. Not very sportsman-like. Still, they have the best car and some of the best drivers, and they made use of them very well.

Let's see racing like that in Grand-Am. Won't find it.