Team Kate at Petit

by Tammy

Watch out, Atlanta, here we come! Next weekend is the final race of the ALMS season, and the final race of the American Le Mans Series. What a weird thing to write.

The ALMS has been my racing security blanket—the series I really understood and had friends in. Now I'm afraid that my friends will be too big and too good for me, having merged with a NASCAR operation and all. As if I'm stuck in junior high and they've graduated to high school.

Of course, the end of one era means the start of another that holds a lot of promise. It's going to be really fascinating to see what the United Sports Car Championship turns into.


But first, one last Petit Le Mans for the ALMS! And I'm going to be there with other "crew" ... which means prizes!

Prize details are posted on my other blog, but the basics are this: find me or another Team Kate crew member, and take a photo with us, then tweet it or post to Facebook, and you'll win a prize. Take a photo with us and a female racecar driver? Win a better prize. You get the idea.

Will we see you there?!

Racing in Braking Points

by Tammy

My second Kate Reilly Racing Mystery, Braking Points, will be officially released tomorrow! I thought I'd share some of the videos I watched to check my details, recreate crashes, and immerse myself in the feel of turning race laps. These and more are posted on my Pinterest page for Braking Points, Kate Reilly #2.

Road America: Braking Points starts in the middle of this race, with rain and a big wreck in the Kink. The video is in the car with my friend, Porsche factory driver Patrick Long.



Road Atlanta: A week and a half (and a whole lot of chaos) later, Kate and the American Le Mans Series arrive at Road Atlanta for Petit Le Mans. The single greatest video I've found to date is this one, a helmet cam on Tommy Milner for night practice in the Corvette. Talk about a perfect view of the track and the wheel/dash! Just pretend this is Kate giving you the ride-along....


If' you're interested in more of the videos--including the book's theme song and a great video on driver fitness--and photos of people, places, and accessories (shoes!) that inspired me while I wrote the book, check out Pinterest. And I hope you'll check out Braking Points!

Petit Le Mans Tomorrow!

by Tammy

Simon is away being celebrated this weekend, but I'll be at home, sitting in front of the computer. Because Saturday is Petit Le Mans! I attended this race the last two years and have written about it in my next book, so it's a race I really enjoy.

Check out how cool this race poster is. That's the Delta Wing there on the right, and ahead, the 2012 GT champion Corvette! All of them sweeping down the hill at Road Atlanta into Turn 12. Great spot!

Will you be watching with me? Coverage starts at 8:30 a.m. Pacific/11:30 a.m. Eastern, on ESPN3.com. I'll also be posting a lot on Twitter: @tkaehler. Hope to see you around the mediaverse!

Road Atlanta Research

by Tammy

I'm deep into writing about a race. And not just any race, but an epic: Petit Le Mans. I turned my office upside down looking for my notes from racing school, which I attended there in 2006 (didn't find them, dammit!). And then I did a bunch of Googling.

Here's what I have to report, for the second time. It's really amazing what you can find on the Internet.

First of all, here's a lap of Road Atlanta in a Porsche, driven by my friend and favorite, Patrick Long.

Then there's a night lap in a Corvette, driven by Tommy Milner. Yowzer, how do you like 130m.p.h. through Turn 12?!

Imagine me watching both of those over and over and over again, counting shifts, squinting at the mph and gearing display on the Corvette video. And just enjoying the music of the V8.

Finally, for your track reference ... did you know there's a wikipedia (of sorts) for tracks? Yeah, trackpedia.com. So I spent some quality time on the Road Atlanta page there, as well.

Don't you love research? And YouTube?! Any favorite videos to share?