Trip Report : ALMS @ Vegas

[Lawson, Dave]

My friend Alex and I headed for the ALMS race @ Vegas this past weekend.
Here is a condensed trip report for those interested.

Step 1 - procure Audi hospitality passes for the weekend.

Step 2 - Head to Vegas

Trip vehicle of choice - 98 A4 1.8TQ w/'00 sport suspension, 
'98 sport sway bars, APR chip, mileage was 25-31 mpg, temp gauges 
were rock solid, great car for eating up the miles

Travel Route - I-70 west, take left at I-15.

Music selections - Bruce Cockburn, Chris Rea, Led Zepplin, AM gold of 70's,
Stan Ridgeway, Regatta Mondatta, Simon and Garfunkle, Bob Dylan, Jimmy
Hendrix, Tears for Fears, Pato Banton, Culture, Bare Naked Ladies, 
Dumb and Dumber soundtrack, etc.


Friday, Den to Vegas
800 miles, 11.5 hours elapsed, 10.5 hours drive time
-fill up at kum-n-go, who thinks up these corporate names?
-flatbed semi spins a few hundred yards in front of us in the rain going up
hill in UT. Jams into shoulder and pops tire off rim. Driver ok but cab
damaged from trailer jackknife.

Arrive at LVMS at 4:30pm, realize we are in a different timezone, have
paddock
tickets for friday and the speedway is still open. Grab camera and head in.
Shot 3 rolls of film.

-Wander around for a few hours taking in the sights. Check out 993's, 996's,
M3's, vipers, vette's, S4's, etc. Checked out BMW M coupe running GT, 
neat car, was a shell 2 weeks ago. Check out new M3 street car, droooool.

-R8's are impressive. As it gets dark, we get waved into the R8 garage and 
allowed to take closeup pics of rear suspension, engine, turbos, intakes,
etc.


Saturday - 4 rolls of film
-Meet AudiWorld guys, Steve S, John S, Neil M and Johns girlfriend. Very 
nice people.

-Go back and forth between paddock and Audi suite all day.

-Check out Istook/Aines S4. Nice prep, nice transporter.
Get waved in, take pics and talk with Bob Aines.
The look on his face is priceless when I ask what diffs they are running.
After
answering his questions(who I am, why am I asking this), he answers mine.
<details removed, lets just say solid - don't want to stir up more
controversy>
Talk about the V6TT and that they are down on power. He thinks a turbo is on
it's way out.They still run closed crankcase ventillation, no catch tank.
Also use 
stock bypass valves. Having some trouble with oil blow-by. Run misters to
front 
brakes. ABS still looks to be active. No factory support.

-Check out Champion S4's of Bell and Galati. Awesome prep and operation.
Get waved in, talk with some mechanics and then Mike Peters, director of
race
operations. Allowed to take pics of everything. I pop the differential
question
to Mr Peters, and get a good grin. He asks his questions (who I am, why am 
I asking this) and then answers mine. His response is "solid, very solid". 
They run stock S4 6 speed tranny, stock ratios, stock 4.11, rear is also
4.11
stock setup. After Galati qualified 1st, they had to drop the rear end for
tech
and I watched as the SCCA guys spun the input to the rear diff and counted
the rotation of the output shafts. Mr Peters said he wished they could run
race parts for the tranny/diff and smiled. Sounds like that have access
to the toy box from the BTCC program. They never use 6th gear. Obvious 
factory support. Mr Peters mentions 3 year race plan, current cars are for 
sale and you can even pick them up in San Diego after this weekend. Quick
tally of bank accounts and then remember the old adage, "if you have to ask
how much it costs..." New cars currently being built. I think he even
mentioned
running S4 coupes in the 3rd year.

Other notables
-oil catch tank
-BIG brakes both f/r
-rs4 intercoolers with misters
-no water injection into engine
-blade type sway bars
-lexan for all windows
-gps antenna on rear deck
-hour meter in center console
-run dump valves (looks like version TAP sells)
-didn't notice ABS controller under hood
-penske remote reservoir shocks
-note Pi data acq
-monoball and heim joints all over suspension.

Watched WC touring car race fom suite while eating cheese and
sipping cold nectars in leather chairs. Race is broadcast on closed 
circuit TV. This is how racing is meant to be seen. I could get used 
to this...

Head back to paddock.

Checked out TC Klein M3 operation. Very professional. Top notch
preparation, beautiful cars, note 2 brake bias valves on rear circuit.
Talked
to engineer and he said that they were getting too much rear brake and
lockup, so 2 valves, one under hood and one for driver to adjust.

Talked with ERT  team running BMW M3s for a while. Nice guys. Not the
cleanest cars but they run strong. Had 4 cars to care for and were 
swapping motors and heads through out the day.

Sunday - 3 rolls of film
-Roamed paddock, met member of a Ferrari team where a paraplegic
woman is the driver, all hand controls, uses F1 paddle shifter technology
on manual/stock gearbox/clutch, no factory support.
-drooled on champion cars and a few more M3s. 
-Head to the Audi hospitality suite to watch speedvision WC race. Head to 
roof to watch start. The hole shot of the champion S4s from a standing start
are amazing. Watch race while grazing over catered lunch and enjoy cold 
beverages. Audi knows how to cater a race. Watch Galati win, head to 
paddock for more pictures.
-Head back to suite for catered lunch and ALMS race. Meet Derek Bell and
Mike
Galati. Talk with Galati about car setup and race. His car is setup for
oversteer,
he doesn't like push because he would have to back out of throttle and loose
boost. He doesn't left foot brake, as he put it "no tricky stuff". Ask why
his car
seems faster than Bells, he says Derek's car was the first built and that
his was
built after it and a bit lighter. It's obvious the cars get better as you
build more.
Too embarrassed to talk with Derek Bell, he is such a legend. But Mr Bell
does 
sign my Audi flag. Thank Len Hunt for bringing Audi motorsport back to the 
US, he says "you have to have a motorsport presence to be successful". 
Sounds like a good guy to have in charge of Audi USA. Becks seem to be 
his beverage of choice. Say hi to Mr Bymaster. Talk with Acura touring 
car driver from Boulder. Talk with Mark Cox of Bridgestone winter driving 
school for a while. Talk with Acura driver about lines and braking zones 
around track. The R8 braking is phenomenal. Interesting listening to 
Derek Bell talk to Len Hunt about how the R8s are running. After the 1/2 
Audi win, the champagne comes out.  Head to paddock for more pics 
of R8 going through post race tech.

Monday- Vegas to Den
800 miles, 4 hours of snow through Utah, 12.5 hours elapsed, 11 hrs
drivetime
-Hit Glenwood hot springs for 45 minutes to relax and purge toxins.
-Arrive home at 10:10PM
-The suunto vector says we ascended about 27000 vertical feet on the drive
back.

All for now.
-
Dave Lawson