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I have 4 races on my DVR from this past weekend. I watched the first lap of the F1 race, watched the first few laps from the Champcar race, then watched some of the Grand Am DP cars. But only when I fired up the ALMS event at Mosport Canada did I really get jazzed.
The reason Mosport was so visually captivating for me was the traffic. After seeing the parades in the open wheelers and the GT-less DP cars at Sears Point, the bravery and sheer desperation the P2 drivers displayed in passing many cars on the outside of some of Mosport's most technical corners was....Brilliance. I've been a Champcar fan for most of my life, I've watched and enjoyed F1 since the Days of Rene Arnoux at Ferrari in the late 80s. I've been a casual fan of Nascar and other types of racing but endurance Sportscars are quickly becoming my favorite style of racing to watch. I can't understand why the Grand AM cars abandoned the GT entries at so many of the tracks this season. It takes away the skill of overtaking slower cars and opens up multiple opportunities for near equal cars to pass each other. Watching the Franchitti Acura pressure the Spyder was great fun. I am sure the P2 car owners in Europe are DESPERATE to keep the Acuras and Penske Sypders away from Le Mans and the LMS. I wonder if RML's Lola and the little Zytek can match either of those American based P2 cars. Mazda's version of the AER turbo seemed to have a little more top end than the Dyson Porsche so perhaps RML's MG(AER) engine also can run just a little bit harder on the top end. Great race, best of the season I think, and I'm looking forward to some inter-league mixing at Petite Le MAns and that Brazillian event in November. Hopefully some of the Euro P2 teams will face the American teams and maybe we can see a rematch of the Pugeots and Audis in P1. My only complaint was a re-occurance of the GT2 field getting lapped solely because the P1 leader passed all but the lead GT2 car just prior to the first yellow flag. From then on, the Gt2 race was not a race. The lead Ferrari tooled around while the rest of the GT2 pack battled the officials and other cars for 2nd place. dave henrie |
The GT2 battle was awesome. And it only gets better next year, when Lou Giglotti of Speed GT brings his GT2 spec Corvettes in. And watching the Acura and Spyder sandwiching cars at full throttle was great, especially when they pass on the outside of that turn. That takes some cajones. Part of the reason GrandAm splits the classes is the huge fields. It is a lot cheaper to run GrandAm, so sometimes if you combine both classes, its almost 50 cars on track. Can get pretty dangerous. | ||
Mosport produces great racing regardless of the number of classes simply because it was designed to be a 'racing' track. I had tickets but didn't get to go and my son said there was some excellent racing throughout the day. My only complaint about the ALMS is the utter lack of cars in each class. P1 is a joke with 4 entries, 2 of which just cannot compete. GT1 should be called GT Vette as it had 3 entries and the 3rd car was only added specifically for Ron Fellows. P2 and GT2 had 9 cars each and the racing was ferocious. Eliminate P1 and GT1 and get 25+ in each class and you have an event. While 25 cars seems like enough it really isn't when divided by 4 classes. I will never forget my first race at Mosport. The class was Special GT and there were 55 cars in the field. When lining up on the mock grid behind pit lane I was so far back that I couldn't see the first car. When I finally exited the old pit lane the first car was already blowing by me. Who was in that car? Ron Fellows, in a 1989 Porsche 944 Turbo...****ing awesome... | ||
I FULLY AGREE. ALMS has the series of choice now that the DP's are running alone - thats a big setback for the Rolex serie's fans. And, Mosport is just a GREAT track. Thanks for helping me decide which race to review frm last wknd, I have a similar bunch to choose frm(!) |