Petit [teensy-weensy] LeMans :-)

[Buchholz, Steven]

Well, I went downtown at lunchtime today to see the ALMS cars drive around
downtown San Jose.  The course was a simple one, from the start/finish at
the Tech there was a short straight, leading to turn 1, a flat 180 that led
into the main straight and into turn 2, another flat 180 with a short squirt
up to the start/finish again.  Total elevation gaine estimated at -0- feet.
The paddock area was very small and was right next to the course which made
things interesting.  The field included Panoz #1 on the pole, followed by
Lamborghini #3, an Acura and a Viper.  The Audi R8 #78 and another Viper
were DNS.  The start was clean, and as is often the case on road courses
passing opportunities were few, though the #3 car was often seen looking
inside on the entry to turn #1.  The finishing order was #1 Panoz, #3 Lambo,
Acura, with the Viper finishing last.  

While it was very sad to see that they weren't going to fire up the R8, I
must say that I think it was a unique opportunity to be able to stand so
close to the cars as they were taking their "parade" laps (which were
somewhat reminiscent of the parade laps at Laguna Seca last year ... what
was the speed limit again? :).  Jan Magnussen was the driver of the Panoz,
and he would light up the tires on both straights ... and I've gotta say
that the engine on that car get really loud when you're standing 15 feet
away from the exhaust and ol' Jan hits the right pedal!  It is amusing to
think about what other visitors to the area will say when they see those
stripes of rubber laid down in the lanes.  I managed to be standing behind
Emanuele Pirro during the driver's meeting before the race and recorded on
8mm ... later I got the autographs of the drivers that were in attendance
... pretty cool way to spend an hour I must say!  While I didn't happen to
see any there, I do hope that some other audifans managed to make it.   

Thanks to Mike V for sending out that note yesterday reminding me that the
"race" was on today!

Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)

Hey, for the folks who live in the Bay Area ... there was one really cool
thing I learned while I was there ... I happened to be standing around and
overheard that there is an indoor cart track being prepared in Santa Clara
... on Bowers Avenue and Martin if I heard right.  It sounds like they have
cars that are modeled after some european racers ... and the track allows
passing.  Has anyone here heard of this place?  I'm going to be looking into
it further.  This might prove to be a good alternative to MGP where the
races are against the clock ... :-)