SOme current pics from LRP

[gran racing]

And the new uphill looks even worse. I feel sorry for the "pros" who will have to run it.

Based on the pictures I've seen, the optional uphill actually looks pretty cool. Hey, if SCCA ever runs the optional West Bend, maybe, just maybe I'll finally run the down hill without lifting.

Jake - you going to the ALMS race on Sat? Greg? Anyone else?

[Greg Amy]

...you going to the ALMS race on Sat? Greg?

Negative. I promised Thea we'd hit a Mets game on Saturday (forgot about ALMS before I promised that...)

Should be a good weekend, though not having the typical Monday/Memorial Day sched is gonna hurt 'em...

[Andy Bettencourt]

Some feedback from the current ITS track record-holder at LRP from his sessions on the track yesterday:

Big Bend is faster. Tons of grip, no concrete to mess things up.

The uphill and West Bend seem to be pinched a little on turn-in. Can't tell quite yet if it's visual or actual. WB is especially 'different' because the club area exits at WB entry so it looks weird for sure.

Downhill is the same. Track seemed greasy in the heat. Not 100% sure track records will fall until the horsepower weather comes in the fall.

[raffaelli]

I will be at LRP Saturday.

I saw some video of a DE. Track looks nice. The left turn from the new kink turn at West Bend looks goofy when re-entering the original course –kind of autocross to me.

[lateapex911]

Based on the pictures I've seen, the optional uphill actually looks pretty cool. Hey, if SCCA ever runs the optional West Bend, maybe, just maybe I'll finally run the down hill without lifting.

Jake - you going to the ALMS race on Sat? Greg? Anyone else?

Which means a good bit of talent that not many have will be removed from the equation.

Actually, I'm heading up Friday afternoon, would love to poke around the cars. Can't make it Sat, as I have a long distance swim competition.

[dickita15]

I stole this from a corvette BB someone sent me a link to:
Well, I don't have a great report on Lime Rock, unfortunately.

Skippy would not let us on the track on Friday. He wanted to give it more time to "cure", so he threw us off and let his Skippy School use the track.

Saturday was very wet in the morning, and it had poured overnight. Apparently, the wetness from the prior week coupled with the heavy rain overnight Friday into Saturday morning undermined the new section of uphill at the end of No Name. So instead of the new twisty uphill, we ran the old uphill line, which is much better now that it is paved and the curvature of the lip has been smoothed out to minimize cars going airborne.

The worst of the new improvement, IMHO, is the new chicane in West Bend. You run down the back straight, slam on your brakes down to nothing, make an almost 180 degree right hander, into an immediate left hander. Almost no way to avoid the jarring rumble strips, and in the wet many cars were slipping and sliding all over the place. Speeds onto the front straight are considerably reduced, as you can't get much speed up going down the downhill after those turns. But I guess that was the idea.

There is now plenty of run-out if you miss the downhill turn, but with the chicane at the top, unlikely that will be much of a problem anymore for most folks. The new entrance to pit lane has not been built yet, so it's still the old entrance. And Big Bend, the Esses and No Name are pretty much the same as before. With all that work, there is still huge amounts of water ponding in the Esses and on No Name, plus a river running across mid-No Name from all the run-off from the hill. They must have employed an absolutely brilliant landscape architect/track designer to design all of this to preserve those horrid flaws. Oh well.

In the bargain, I couldn't take the Corvette (Skippy didn't want any "high horsepower" cars on his new track before ALMS). I'll be back there in two weeks with the Ferrari club for a two day event. Will be running the Corvette then. Hopefully, I can get some in-car video then

[Andy Bettencourt]

I would dismiss all accounts about the 'new' portions of the track in hopes that we NEVER have to run them. Both the Club-uphill section and the Club-WB area are VERY, VERY tight...think second gear stuff.

Thankfully, we have the original configuration and some new pavement. "Remain calm!!! All is well!!!" - gratuitous Aminal House reference...

[gran racing]

Almost no way to avoid the jarring rumble strips

I've never tried to avoid them before, so nothing has changed. In order to keep ALMS at LRP and get fresh pavement, I'll take it thus far.

[raffaelli]

Listening to ALMS internet radio. Butch L from Dyson says the track is great, but west bend kink takes the rhythm out of the track.

[Greg Amy]

...but west bend kink takes the rhythm out of the track.

Whoa! They've got ALMS using that new kink? Eeeewww....That's taking a fast go-kart track and turning it into a SLOW go-kart track...sigh...

[lateapex911]

I've never tried to avoid them before, so nothing has changed. In order to keep ALMS at LRP and get fresh pavement, I'll take it thus far.

Actually, if the track out/exit of west bend is now also where the track returns form the new chicane thing, then the rumble strips will present themselves in a much different manner.

In the past, we climbed them at a small angle, and we traveled maybe 40 feet between the time the tires first started climbing the berm to when they reached the top. now, it could be that we will hit the berm at a 90 degree angle, and that 40 feet gets reduced to 18". That's quite a bump.

Greg, it was my understanding that ALMS is one of the reasons the track got the new optional sections added. I'd hate to drive it in an ALMS car (like THAt will ever happen!) even more than in our type of car...

[Andy Bettencourt]

Whoa! They've got ALMS using that new kink? Eeeewww....That's taking a fast go-kart track and turning it into a SLOW go-kart track...sigh...

Each sanctioning body can choose the configuration the would like to run.

[raffaelli]

They are saying that there is a metal bracket holding a rumble strip down that is being exposed. Caused a red flag in a qual session.

also, traction is building on line.....very green and slippery offline.

seems like every driver has a prepared statement about how smooth the track is and what a great job was done, the blacktop is nice and skippy is great. that alms has a long term home at lrp

[raffaelli]

115.6 mph, 46.6 for the top car

[RSTPerformance]

115.6 mph, 46.6 for the top car

46.6 and they came to a basic stop in west bend??? Cool!!!

[Scott Koschwitz]

The cars looked blisteringly fast there yesterday. A time of 46.xxx running the Optional configuration is only about four seconds off the track record on the Classic configuration in a 900+-hp IMSA GTP car. It's amazing to see those drivers negotiate the traffic. Many times, you'd have a group of five or six cars, a mix of GTs and Prototypes, heading into the Lefthander, and they get through with no contact.

The tape-delayed broadcast of the race is on at SPEED at noon today (Sunday). Watch to see some amazing racing and the new asphalt.

I watch the cars through Big Bend, and the surface seems incredibly smooth. In prior years, you'd see these stiffly-sprung cars porpoising as they braked into Big Bend, and bobbing as they ran through Big Bend. None of that this year. The surface seems smooth as glass.

It did seem it was slippery off-line. At least with the IMSA Lites cars, if they ran outside in Big Bend, you'd see a spin or at least some opposite lock.

I can't wait to run the new surface at NARRC Runoffs.

[gran racing]

I had mixed emotions about the new config that AMLS used. The new uphill generated quite a number of spectators - more than I've ever seen there in the past by far. It did cause some difficulties with the P1 / P2 cars passing the GT cars. In several instances cars reverted to the old uphill to avoid contact. One of the GT cars did it on many occasions, much more so than any other car. There was one incident there involving a prototype and two GT cars.

In speaking with some of the drivers (at least before the race) they were cool with the new uphill. The west bend didn't seem to get as positive of a reaction. One guy commented that he did like the new west bend because he's older - he said the younger (braver?) guys probably wouldn't as much.

I've gotta say, the track does look smooth!! What a great race it was.

[Chris Wire]

One of the GT cars did it on many occasions, much more so than any other car.

Tracy Krohn, Krohn Racing Ferrari? He caused more yellows at last year's Petit LeMans than the entire rest of the field I think. New nickname - "Sandman".

Damn DVR didn't record today because they changed the title listing by adding "Series" at the end. The machine was too stupid to realize it was the same thing so didn't record. Hoping for a rebroadcast on SPEED.

[raffaelli]

ALMS actually came to near stops twice on the track. Once at the base of the uphill where there was lots of carnage through the day, and again at west bend….all with 46 second laps. It does look like there is more camber on the left hander but that could be an illusion. The straight looks real smooth and the speeds in West Bend seem to be faster.

There is LOTS of dirt around the track. The grass did not grow in. If you were off line, you were on gravel and dust.

I have not seen this many people at LRP in years. The food lines were a hundred people long. Glad I drove the M to the track or I would have had to park way the heck out near the edge of the property.

I felt bad for Dyson. They got the short end of the deal from DHL. I would have liked to see them on the podium for the commemoration weekend. I am going to knock on the door at their garage this week to see about a glimpse at the destroyed car if they are not already on the way to Mid Ohio. They are just a few miles from my house.

[gran racing]

Tracy Krohn, Krohn Racing Ferrari?

I'm not entirely sure, but believe it was a Ferrari and that would make sense. I was listening to race control as they repeatedly called it in. It was surprising that there wasn't action taken for how often that car did it but understand the rule was as long as no advantage was gained it was okay.