Petit Lemans report

[David Head]

A wonderful time was had by all. Mike Hoppen got plenty of attention
with his MTM 'improved' RS4 - drove it up from Sarasota. 75 cars in the
corral, very little 'old school': One V8, one Urq, one CGT, two pristine
tornado red 4KQs, one 90Q sport for example. Most gawkers didn't even
know the V8 existed...
John Cassara and his brother had a beautiful pair of UrS4s in basic
black and Tom's new paint job and UrS6 conversion on his pearl UrS4 was
fantastic in its understatement... We had one UrS6 avant, a couple of
5KCSTQs and 20V 200qs and one 20V avant also. Bob Meyers flew down early
from West-by god Virginia in his rare Cashmere grey UrS6 and got a
quicky PS pump repair at John's shop that saved him some big bucks. He
was smiling all weekend.
My son finished off his autograph hat (previously signed by all 6 R8
drivers, Bell, Galati and Stuck) with those of Joest and Len Hunt. A
pair of guys in the corral bought the wrecked hood from the #1 R8 for
$100.00 (!) and hauled it up - and yes, it did have a part number! Tom
Saltino did a great job as usual, fretting and pulling it all off.
Kirsten managed things smartly as the resident t-shirt salesperson and
Parking Nazi. The design was great - all sold and the were even taking
names at the end. Hat's off to Christian and the Orlando crew for
tracking down the rednecks and retrieving our corral sign with threats
of violence. Our curmudgeonly Unka Bart was in attendence with the
Gatorojo and the beautiful and gracious Susan.
If you saw the Speedvision feed there's nothing else to be said of the
race. It was wild from start to finish. It was great to see the
privateers win out in GT over the factory effort and our friends in Alex
Job Racing snatch a podium at the end... The wail of the 550 Maranello
at speed has to be experienced in person to be understood...
Planning has commenced for Sebring in March - with a 50th anniversary
celebration it will be phenomenal. One of our spies swears Porsche is
secretly preparing an LMP entrant for a win for Piech prior to his
retirement. If so, it could show up there... Short races next season
include street races in Miami and a course in RFK stadium in DC. ALMS is
alive and well.

Dave Head