ALMS Long Beach Entry List

Prototypes looking a bit thin - 2 in LMP1 and 2 in LMP2.

http://www.americanlemans.com/files/events/2011/2/ALMS_LB_Entry.pdf

yeup, thats the typical season for you besides the 12 Hour and Petit.

Shame - IndyCar is looking up a bit - they had to stretch their 26 car limit to 27 for this weekend - I think that as it was Paul Tracy and Penske's son they were willing to make an exception.

There are another five prototypes in LMPC which more than doubles the total, but that's still just nine cars. Too bad ALMS prototype racing is so much more expensive than running one of Grand Am's painfully ugly Daytona Prototypes... but the last Grand Am race only had 10 DP cars.

ALMS is quickly becoming a GT series, and Grand-am is mostly prototypes (though they do have decent showings in GT, outside of Daytona, most of the focus is on the DPs)

nderwater wrote: Grand Am's painfully ugly Daytona Prototypes... but the last Grand Am race only had 10 DP cars.

Actually there were 11. There may have only been 11, but any one of them could have won with a bit of luck and a bit more talent, money etc.

The DPs had less than a second separating them on each of their fastest laps of the race. The GTs, however had only 2 cars in the 1:31s and the slowest car only turned a 1:37.0 5 second gap? WOW!

The World Challenge gang has a pretty full field at 38 cars.

I can understand the ALMS teams missing Long Beach; it's awfully easy to tear up a car on a street circuit, and their two big events are on the east coast.

I'm flying out to Long Beach in a couple of hours; I'll be looking for GRM shirts and giving some GRM swag to the faithful readers. Hope to see lots of you out there!

JG and I were discussing the World Challenge GT points race earlier, and it's an interesting situation. Long had a great weekend in St. Pete, while the other contenders had a rough time--Pobst crashed, Skeen crashed, the Caddys were back a bit. That's good news for the Porsche guys (Sofronas and Crescetini), but it will make the rest of the year interesting. Will the Caddys come back? Will Skeen's straight-line speed help him close the points gap at Miller? How will Alex Figge do once K-Pax adds a second Volvo to their lineup? Or is Long just a robot? Either way, good drama.

Also, pretty sure there's an entry cap at Long Beach, hence only 30-something cars.

Tom Heath wrote: The World Challenge gang has a pretty full field at 38 cars. I can understand the ALMS teams missing Long Beach; it's awfully easy to tear up a car on a street circuit, and their two big events are on the east coast. I'm flying out to Long Beach in a couple of hours; I'll be looking for GRM shirts and giving some GRM swag to the faithful readers. Hope to see lots of you out there!

I will be there wearing my GRM shirt. Hypothetically speaking, where would the best place to hang out be if someone was looking for GRM swag???

David S. Wallens said: Or is Long just a robot?

There is your answer!

Even though he is missing a round, I wouldn't count him out for the championship if he continues the pace he had in St. Pete! (If Porsche were smart, they would bounce Long around to different teams for each race weekend to avoid the "rewards weight". He has already racked up 150 pounds of it!)

I do expect the Caddy's to have a resurgence. Pratt and Miller don't cock about...

Mr. Long is an alien. Notice he's the only American who's actually a Porsche factory hired gun? He's got a really good chance for the championship as long as he keeps racking up points on the tight courses. I still think that when we get to some places with some straightaways, RLR & K-Pax is gonna be back with a venegance (go Randy! sock-it-to-em for all us old club racers!).

Slightly off topic, but anybody going to the Mid-Ohio ALMS race in August? I've always wanted to go and have decided that this is the year. Only been to Mid-Ohio once before to take a teen defensive driver class, which was free and awesome by the way (hint, parents of young drivers).

I went to the ALMS/WorldChallege weekend at Mid-Ohio a few years ago. Good crowd, good race weekend. Sadly I have a conflict with that weekend.

monark192 wrote:

Tom Heath wrote: The World Challenge gang has a pretty full field at 38 cars. I can understand the ALMS teams missing Long Beach; it's awfully easy to tear up a car on a street circuit, and their two big events are on the east coast. I'm flying out to Long Beach in a couple of hours; I'll be looking for GRM shirts and giving some GRM swag to the faithful readers. Hope to see lots of you out there!

I will be there wearing my GRM shirt. Hypothetically speaking, where would the best place to hang out be if someone was looking for GRM swag???

We won't have a full-on booth there, but Tom and Andy will be headquartered in and around the World Challenge trailer. I'm guessing they'll have a table and maybe a tent and will be selling at least good will, tradeable for hugs. Maybe even magazines. The tough part is, flying to an event limits what you can bring, and being a street event limits it further. We'll have full booths at future events, and some presence at all events (except maybe Miller, which is on top of the Mitty).

In all cases, if we're there, our base will be somewhere right around the WC trailer. Look for us there.

jg

Hmmm... Pobst was a Porsche factory driver at one point in his career, so it's not like he's slow. Weight was added to the Caddy's, along with horsepower taken away, A COUPLE OF DAYS BEFORE THE FIRST EVENT. And the Porsche Cup cars over in Europe run on Pirelli slicks, so there's plenty of setup data on that combo.

I'd say it's looking like a great year to be in a Porsche!

racerfink wrote: Hmmm... Pobst was a Porsche factory driver at one point in his career, so it's not like he's slow.

They don't call him "the Rocket" for nothing. I think he had a bad weekend because of the turbo lag in that Volvo. Point and squirt racing found on street courses, it's not the most effective when you have to wait for your turbo to spool. I would guess that he will be infinitely quicker at smoother circuits like Seca and Road Atlanta, especially with the elevation change at both circuits.

Team Magnus entry

LainfordExpress wrote: Slightly off topic, but anybody going to the Mid-Ohio ALMS race in August? I've always wanted to go and have decided that this is the year. Only been to Mid-Ohio once before to take a teen defensive driver class, which was free and awesome by the way (hint, parents of young drivers).

Some friends and I have made it an annual event 4 years running. One of the guys is an engineer at Honda so we get free tickets Last year was surprisingly empty though; I forgot to get camping passes until a few days before and we picked them up when we got there on Friday.

I like backpacking, but the city people feel right at home too. There is a trailer with hot showers every morning, and pizza places drive Rhino's around all day selling pies (although at a substantial markup). It usually gets pretty hot, so a cooler full of cold beverages makes for a great weekend. The night life isn't up to Sebring yet, but we still have fun and there is a family camping zone for the fun haters.

I hav taken my boys every year for the last 6 or so. It does get hot but it is my favorite weekend there, (a close second is the Vintage race).

The only downside is that because of the Indy car race is it seems like there are 3 times as many people there as any other race.

When it gets closer we should set up a meet for the race.

First practice sessions are in the record books:

http://www.world-challenge.com/event/results.php?ID=1349&event=122

http://www.americanlemans.com/files/results/2011/ALMS%20Long%20Beach%20Practice%201.pdf

I'm seeing a trend regarding a certain Porsche driver. Robot? Yep.

It's official. Pat Long = Robot Alien Ninja Pirate Velociraptor Jedi.

Yep. And I saw he qualified on the second row. Whatever. Should be a great race tomorrow. The World Challenge race should be a barnburner, too. Wish I were there.

The 2011 Spec GT3 RSR just isn't up to par with the BMW M3 GTRs and the Corvettes. They will probably win a couple on basis of reliability, but the lizards just don't have outright pace for poles and victories this year.

Porsche needs to step it up with the 991 if they expect to continue winning.

(BTW, Porsche, BMW, and GM have all said that they fully endorse the new ALMS television/broadcast format. FWIW, I also endorse the ESPN3 change)

If I can't attend and I can't watch it on TV then what do I care what ALMS does?

I prefer ALMS to the "other series" but I'm going to have to write off this whole season cause it's not on TV

carguy123 wrote: If I can't attend and I can't watch it on TV then what do I care what ALMS does? I prefer ALMS to the "other series" but I'm going to have to write off this whole season cause it's not on TV

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