American Le Mans
Series @ Mosport
August 19, 2001...
A Wet and wonderful day was had by all. The arrival time for us was about 10:00am, and the cars were out for practice laps. We decided that it was a good time to visit the paddock area. Unlike IRL/CART racing, the paddocks are open to the public, no extra charge. One can walk almost up to the car and touch it. You also get to see the pre-race preparations each team goes through, and the drivers are always milling about, both getting interviewed and just stopping to chat with fans. Really, a big thrill for fans and I hope this aspect of the series does not change in the future.
However, the downside was that it poured rain all morning, through the lite formula race and into the main race. However, a huge plus for the fans came about a half an hour into the main race, when the skies cleared and the mêlée began. Panoz led almost insurmountably in the wet with Jan Magnussen driving, but the Audi works and Champion Racing Audi ate up the field in the dry. Really exciting and few cars crashed out (some very close calls on the cold slicks however).
Perhaps the most fun to watch was the crowd support for Ron Fellows in the Corvette GT class car. Fans went nuts with each passing lap for the entirety of the race.
With this, although I doubt anyone who makes the series happen will see this, I want to thank the staff and crews at Mosport for setting up such a great event. Really, the only thing that could be better would be a bigger field, and more exciting pre-races. Perhaps they could get a sports car club to pay for the privilege of racing that day and with a larger field they could pump up the main event excitement...perhaps a local Supra club that comes to mind...
Anyway, on with the pics...
Early Day Champ Series Race (really boring...6 car field is all they could muster...coupled by no 2 cars being even close to one another...more of a fast moving parade in the rain than a race)
Main Race, American Le Mans Series At Mosport
More Pictures from this race to come, these are the digital camera shots. Just have to get my film developed from my good camera.