ALMS in St Pete today...

[Deschodt]

A few shots from St Pete's ALMS round practice today, under rain/sun/clouds... No crapwagon (tm) pictures, sorry, not an indy fan....

Pat long just hanging out and chatting with us, super nice guy, discussed his run, why Porsche pulled out of LMP1, his life (travel, taxes, etc)... very nice of him to take the time !



My favorite Lizards



I must confess the new Bimmer is a very sexy car too !



And it is new to the show, so here's another shot !



The enemy ;-) I like their old fashioned methods there, compared to the Bimmer pits with everything electronic !



Go Lizards go !



Still purty !



Last one before I get booted to the BMW forum !



Do you think that viper touched the wall or what ?



Back to the pits on the limiter...



Tune in tomorrow for the race on TV !!!

[curlesw]

So why did Porsche pull out of ALMS? Upset they could race the Audi any more due to rule changes? I have too admit, I'm less excited about ALMS this year since Porsche pulled out.
Not sure I'm going to Long Beach, but after seeing that BMW...

Wayne

[Heel n Toe]

Hot diggity... it isn't on the Speed Channel (which we don't have)... it's on ABC!
_________________
BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team Makes Quick Turnaround For Second Round of ALMS Season

Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – March 31, 2009… The BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team M3s return to Florida for Round Two of the 2009 American Le Mans Series at this weekend’s Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg for the first of two consecutive street races.

Following the retirement of both cars at the season-opening 12 Hours of Sebring, the team has spent long hours during the ten days between events diagnosing the problems that struck both cars, and implementing modifications.

“Obviously, our extensive pre-season testing did not uncover this specific area of weakness, but Sebring certainly did,” said Martin Birkmann, BMW of North America Motorsports Manager. “Ultimately, prop-shaft failure caused the retirement of both cars, but the failure was not identical to what we experienced in qualifying on the No. 92 M3. We believe we have made the necessary modifications and are looking forward to a much better result at St. Pete.”

St. Pete is the first of two consecutive temporary street circuits the team will face in the next few weeks (Long Beach, California is next) and the first ever for the team with the new 2009 BMW M3 coupes. The concrete barrier-lined circuit twists along Tampa Bay on the east side of the city, with 14 corners that put a premium on handling and braking.

“We learned a lot about the BMW M3 at Sebring and in working with BMW, we have continued to make improvements on the cars for St. Pete,” said team principal Bobby Rahal. “We feel the track suits our car well, as do our Dunlop tires, and our drivers feel good about the track so we are anticipating a better weekend.”

Two one-hour practice sessions begin the weekend on Friday, with qualifying scheduled for 2:15 p.m. The one-hour-and-fifty-five-minute race is scheduled to start at 1:20 p.m. Saturday and will be broadcast live on ABC television beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET.
http://www.rahal.com/alms

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by curlesw

So why did Porsche pull out of ALMS? Upset they could race the Audi any more due to rule changes? I have too admit, I'm less excited about ALMS this year since Porsche pulled out. Not sure I'm going to Long Beach, but after seeing that BMW...
Wayne

Yes, basically rules changes, vs. P1 class (Audi and acura) in ALMS but also he said that the cost of developing a new car to better "beat" the new rules is $40Mil or something and the rules are still not stable for the next 2 years, it wasn't worth their while to build a car right now that would be obsolete so quickly... I wonder if that means Porsche will return to P1 in a few years at Le Mans... It was funny how he described having a home near here, but barely living there, it was just to have an address to file his taxes from, as he lives in hotels 90% of the time ;-) He said he was supposed to sleep at the hotel this w/e but would sneak out to his house this week end to see if it was still there... again, nice kid ! (makes me feel old to say that)

I must say, as a long time ALMS fan, this year is very slim pickings... 2 lizards instead of 3, once Ferrari, there is nobody left in GT1 that I could see, and the Acuras run alone in P1... The Mazda prototypes are cute but they look so tiny, like they're belong to a lesser "toy" category as well... And no Audi or Porsche! Ouch ! I bet Acura is pissed too, all that $$$ and nobody to fight with ?

On the flip side, once corvette joins, the GT2 should be the battle royale ! Porsche, ferrari, corvette, BMW, panoz, and that GT40 that keeps crashing into other cars...
I think Porsche is gonna get their butt kicked HARD by Risi Ferrari this year, and maybe even BMW when they get up to speed, they are a very professional looking team, make no mistake, Bobby Rahal was there and he was pretty serious - Auberlen is a great driver too !

[Robert Coats]

I'm working at the Honda (generator) tent at the St. Pete event this weekend. We're right next to the Honda/Acura auto tent near the soundstage. Fellow Pelicanites are welcome to stop by and say hello.

-Robert

[Porsche-O-Phile]

crapwagon.com

They'll be here in a few weeks. I'm going mostly just to see ALMS. I could give a rat's ass about the IRL series.

FTG.