RA race take from those there

[Railbird]

Alright

my sunburned carcas was laying on a Michigan west coast beach all weekend, no internet and very little TV outside of a local sportsbar, just a scratchy am radio broadcast of the BY400

So from the folks lucky enough to have attended how about a race description?

[trubritz]

Lizzerd - please stand up!

[chop456]

A cheat compared to what we ended up with in '97. (A race).

I haven't been reading around, but I'd still be interested to know why Sebastian did donuts instead of Bruno.

If I hadn't been with a bunch of friends, it would barely have been worth the drive for Sunday. However ;) , there's not really such a thing as a bad day at RA.

That said, on to MO!

[rabbit]

Originally posted by chop456
I haven't been reading around, but I'd still be interested to know why Sebastian did donuts instead of Bruno. :saywhat: Didn't know that.

[devilmaster]

SeaBass did donuts in turn 5.

Right off the bat we're all like 'why'd he do em?'

Steve

[rocket]

Wet.....


We all had a few laughs tho, waiting it out up on top of T5 drinking beers. It seems to me that they could have gotten the show underway about 45 min. earlier, the rain was stopped for almost an hour before they went green again. There was still some puddling in the T5 area, and they could've cleared it faster than they did...of course it is a large track so I can't speak for the rest of it...anyone else? Maybe could've stretched it another 1/2 hour or so.

Once they did get goin, from our point not much spray was being kicked up.

It was impressive though that at the end the whole field was running in the 1:58/59 range on the rain tires.

What we saw was enjoyable...would have liked to see more, but in the end, it was better than nothin' and nobody left on a stretcher.

Can't control mother nature.

[Railbird]

thanks rocket

and as chop said:

on to MO

[Lizzerd]

A bad day at RA is better than a good day most anywhere else.

The rain started about an hour before race time and was pretty much steady all afternoon. On Friday and Saturday, there were a couple brief downpours out of a single cloud or two and blue sky visible. Then, a few minutes later the sun would be out. Sunday, the rain came from a completely gray sky.

The Speed GT race was dry and entertaining.

The comraderie of the hardest of the hard core fans at a time like this is pretty cool, and it gave us a chance to drink even more beers.

Like rocket said, the turn 5 area was reasonably dry by race time. I suspect water falling from the trees on the back part of the course kept the cars on the wets.

Engines were started at 5:30 and Bruno took the checkers at about 6:45.

All in all, a good time was had, the racing, once it started, was decent from our vantage point, and the beer was cold.

[Treeface]

It was sunny on the drive up and then a low dark cloud to the northwest. Sure enough it started pouring as we drove by the Rock. Slagged some beers and then the heavy stuff turned into a steady drizzle. Cars on track, a few yellow flags laps, ready, set, no go. Went and got the car, compared various eating establishments, cursed Chris Kniefel. Watched alot of folks leaving. After a couple/three hours the cars were finally back on track. Caught the restart from the cheese bridge. Saw the soon to be ex-points leader carting back to the paddock. I wanted to remind him he needed the points but the smirk on his face said it all. Michel OTOH looked way bummed out but at least waved to the dozen folks still standing around. Headed to T5 for some grub and to find a sorta dry plank to sit. Mad Max had the PK Racing car motoring, maybe there is life there yet. Walker turned a great last pit stop for Manning and put him in P4. He held off Papis and PC for awhile then with 2 left his tranny made a horrible noise going up the hill into T6. He ended up 6th. From P3 on down it was fun stuff but nobody had anything for Bruno except Frenchy and that wasn't going to happen. Bourdais did the afore-mentioned 2nd place donuts and we split. It was dry and clear about 15 minutes outside the track. Go figure.

P.S. Did I mention the mud?

P.P.S. Did I mention there were more crazy-assed hardcore CART/RA fans that stuck around than bought tickets at places like Michigan and Laguna Seca?

[RaceChic]

Originally posted by devilmaster
SeaBass did donuts in turn 5.

Right off the bat we're all like 'why'd he do em?'

From what I understand, Sebastian's parents were there for the race and I think it was for their benefit. Really touching, actually. "This one's for you, Mom and Dad!" :)

My weekend was a write off as far as racing goes. I ended up with a stomache flu from 11:00pm Friday night till same time 24 hours later with the inability to do anything but be sick every two hours. Aches, chils and the feeling of complete muscle waste the whole time. Rocket told me that he wanted to pass a mirror in front of my face a couple of times to see if I was still alive! Then as far as Sunday, the rain was a let down after I started to recover. Still, it is my favorite track and I still enjoyed being up there. The atmosphere of that track just does something wonderful to my soul. I just hope it is there next year. :D

[Dirty Sanchez]

Lizzerd said it the best... bad day at Road America is better than a good day most anywhere else.

I actually left after 2 hours of rain, went back to camp finished packing up and then came back about 10 mins before they went green. I was pissed by the call to delay and delay and delay but I guess now that I think about it more I can understand why CART took the conservative call after what they went through last year at Surfer's. Eventhough its a pretty wide open road course, the speeds they run up to 5 and to Canada Corner are kind of nutso to do blind.

Glad we got to see some racing. I was yelling for them to get out there and race their rental cars! I think Tiago would have been up for it, by the way he kept hook sliding his rental into our camping area everyday. :D

[ncmlj]

If I hadn't been with a bunch of friends, it would barely have been worth the drive for Sunday.


I take it you were not at the starting line when Speed World Challenge started? It was great!!! A lady standing in middle of track holding a sign ( I thought what the hell is she doing?) she flips the sign over it says 5 sec to start, she runs for the wall flys over it, gas peddles are all to the floor! 2 BMW's started 1st and 2nd then a Audi, they take off a lot faster then I ever expected,the Audi squezzed right thru the 2 BMW's and here came the rest of the field. IMO I am glad they were there instead of Trans Am 28 car field is much better then 15. I was walking around in the paddock awhile talking with some teams of Speed World Challenge and the answers to my question I have to say were pretty interesting. I knew nothing about the series before this weekend. But, I know I will be paying attention to them now.

[Peter Olivola]

Come back for the ALMS weekend and you'll see upwards of 40 Speed World Challenge Touring Cars do exactly the same kind of start.

SWC is the best professional road racing in the U.S.


Originally posted by ncmlj
I take it you were not at the starting line when Speed World Challenge started? It was great!!! A lady standing in middle of track holding a sign ( I thought what the hell is she doing?) she flips the sign over it says 5 sec to start, she runs for the wall flys over it, gas peddles are all to the floor! 2 BMW's started 1st and 2nd then a Audi, they take off a lot faster then I ever expected,the Audi squezzed right thru the 2 BMW's and here came the rest of the field. IMO I am glad they were there instead of Trans Am 28 car field is much better then 15. I was walking around in the paddock awhile talking with some teams of Speed World Challenge and the answers to my question I have to say were pretty interesting. I knew nothing about the series before this weekend. But, I know I will be paying attention to them now.

[Ray Scar]

We had good time as usual but I must say I was a little disappointed in the way CART handled things.

With the amount of rain prior to the race I could understand and support a short delay. But there didn't seem to be much justification for the delay we got. It was only a light rain and there was no standing water that we could see. If they are going to race in the rain then they have to be able to race in conditions like they had then.

Delays are annoying but one must be prepared for them so that was not the reason we were disappointed. It was the resulting shortening of the race to a mere 25 laps (they counted the 10 earlier) that rankled.

The CART race is the most expensive ticket at RA and even in bright sunshine is a short one. For the "new and improved" $60 ticket I think we deserved a little more.

[tllips]

We ran to our car after the GT Race to grab a pop and a snack before the Champ race. It started to rain and the newbies in the group were wondering what was up. I told them that REAL Racers run in the rain so we still needed to get back to our places before the green flag falls! Boy did CART make a liar out of me. :mad: I heard PT ask for a visor with RainX when the first red came out.

I could see a short delay or even the first red flag in the hopes that the rain would let up quickly. (Most of the showers/storms last week were moving through quickly) But once they knew the storm wasn't going anywhere soon, I think they should have raced. Once the field started to spread out, I think the visibility would have been decent for the drivers, at least no worse than when they have raced in the past in the rain. It did not seem anywhere near as bad as Oz was to me at any time Sunday.