Thoughts on GPLB

by Tammy

Long Beach's days in the sun (and one in the pouring rain) have come and gone, and the racing world is starting to pull out of Southern California. If I didn't already, I'd know the race was over because of the increase in the number of private small jets taking off from the Long Beach airport between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m.

Surprisingly, even the appearance of F18s taking off from the airport (30 min before scheduled flyover time) isn't unusual; we get those every weekend (the jets, not the flyovers--or maybe it's that they do flyovers at my house EVERY weekend).

The race weekend was short (rain-shortened this year), packed with storylines, and full of amazing racing. I assume all of you watching will agree?

First, the ALMS race. I ran into Doug Fehan, program manager for Corvette Racing in the paddock on Saturday morning and asked him how everyone would deal with so little on-track time before the green flag (maybe 45 min of wet running Friday morning and about a lap of puddles during qualifying; that was it). Fehan assured me they weren't too worried, as "Corvette is usually pretty good right off the truck." Boy, was he right. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in the #4 carried a commanding lead to the checkers, and even the troubled #3 (missing a hood after a first-lap incident) almost held on to the podium, ultimately finishing fourth.

The battles were fun to watch, the passing was well done, and there was only one full-course caution. Well done, boys! (The photo above was taken from my vantage point in one of the apartment towers overlooking the course, looking down onto the back straight and around to the hairpin.)

Then the main event.

The story of the weekend for IndyCar was of course the engine changes for all teams running Chevrolet motors, and associated 10-grid-position penalties. Most drivers took it philosophically, as growing pains for the new car and engine packages they're working with this year. And in the end, Chevy drivers needn't have worried: they filled seven of the top ten spots, including the top step of the podium (go, my fantasy pick, Will Power!). The IndyCar race featured passing, wrecks (but nothing drastic), fuel strategy, pit lane strategy, post-race penalties, a roadblock in the hairpin as the second half of the field tried to take the checkers, and some unbelievable driving (I'm lookin' at you, Simon Pagenaud). A little something for everyone.

And I even got to see the cars up close (pictures above and below). I still think they're weird looking, for instance, that back wheel is only nominally "open." What do you all think? And what did you think about the weekend's racing?

Go Grand Prix of Long Beach!

The trucks have rolled in, the drivers and teams have arrived, and the banners are almost posted. It's time for some racing!

First, however, it might be time for some rain, so it's going to be interesting to see what the ALMS teams do for their only practice session Friday morning if it's raining. It makes the most sense to not go out and risk the car when race day promises to be dry. But qualifying and/or racing with no other on-track minutes? Wild.

And a testament to how much the teams and Series want to be here in Southern California.

IndyCar teams should be in better shape with more practice time over three days. But I think so far weather is the story of the weekend. I'll be on-scene and will report back!

Here are a couple photos from the very tight ALMS paddock (lots of cars means not much space for their rigs!).

Simon, anything you want me to investigate for you?




Simon: I want to know how those Lotus powered IndyCars sound. I think they've bitten off more than they can chew racing in F1 and trying to be an engine builder. I'd like to know if those engines are on song. If they sound like a bag of nails, it's going to be a long season for 6 drivers. It'll also be interesting to see how the Indy cars perform this year on a tight street circuit. Remember the cars have more power, smaller wings and are weigh less. It'll be interesting to see how they handle the bumps.

Tammy: I'll try to report back. Of course, the breaking news I didn't hear until dinner is that Chevrolet replaced all engines on the cars they supply, so the (possibly better?) third of the field will all take a 10-spot penalty after qualifying. Someone was speculating that if Hondas are all up front, Lotuses are in the middle, and Chevys are at the back ... the first corner could be extremely messy. We'll see!

Tin Tops

by Simon

On this blog, I’m much maligned and misunderstood about my liking for open wheel racing (yes, I am looking at you, Tammy). As much as I like single seaters, I would pretty much drive anything given the chance. I’m demonstrating this in the next Aidy Westlake book, HOT SEAT, as he switching from open wheel to saloon car racing.

Saloon car racing uses production based cars and is very popular in Europe. In HOT SEAT, Aidy takes part in the European Saloon Car Championship, which is something I invented for the book. If you're looking for something close to what I’m talking about, it’s touring cars. I talked a little bit touring cars a while ago and their dumb reverse grid rule. That said, I like touring cars, it’s fast and furious racing and is a spectacle for both driver and spectator.

However, instead of talking about touring cars, I thought I’d show you how entertaining the British Touring Car Championship is. The 1st triple header of the 2012 season of the BTCC was the other week and here’s the TV coverage. Warning: you will find this addictive. See you next week.

The Ride of My Life

by Tammy

Thanks to a very good friend (lookin' at you, Shane Mahoney), I got to go to Media Day for the Grand Prix of Long Beach last Tuesday. First I talked my way into the soon-to-be IndyCar paddock area, then there I found a dozen or so race trailers and cars and a few dozen people. Cars were drifters, some Pirelli World Challenge GT Porsches (from TruSpeed Porsche at right), and a bunch of Scion TCs that the celebrities race in the, you guessed it, Celebrity Race next Saturday.

The people milling about were race teams, celebrities, race organizers, and media. And a handful of people like me: hangers-on, there for the free ride.

OK, that's not entirely true. I'd asked Shane if I could go see what all the fuss and show was about in the interests of research for my own racecar driver, Kate Reilly. That's when Shane said the magic words, "Sure, and we'll put you in a racecar for a ride."

I was there early.

Remember, everyone? Unlike Simon, I've never raced cars. I research, I imagine, and I write. Fortunately, it seems I'm good enough at all of those to give people insight into the mind of a driver. But as for the idea of me driving? I'm ... well, "a chicken shit" wouldn't be too far off.

On the other hand, any car in the hands of a professional? (Or skilled amateur, I'm not picky.) I will take any ride I can get. And love it.

I was all suited up and ready to go for the 10:45 session, when the checkered flag fell as I was waiting (I was to have been the third person at that time). Shane promised me a ride in the 1:15 session, so I grabbed some lunch and loitered, which I realize is no hardship for me. As a writer (and mostly an only child, let's be honest), I do just fine living in my own head for hours and days at a time. So I enjoyed sitting in the shade on a mid-70-degree day and watching what was going on.

I met some great people, too, in some of the journalists that were there for rides and information, including Kayte Deioma, a Long Beach photographer and writer who admitted she just can't stay away from the GPLB.

But my favorite person for the day (sorry, Shane) was driver Tomy Drissi, whose #47 Three Stooges Porsche (really) I got to ride in. (Thanks to Kayte for the photo of me and Tomy.)

I was a little nervous, I'll be honest. I've gotten lots of hot laps in street cars around racecourses, driven by some excellent people (including a lap around the LB circuit with ALMS and Radio Le Mans announcer John Hindhough, and yes, he did some narration of that lap for me!). And I was a passenger in the Panoz racecar built for my racing school, in the hands of Grand-Am champion Andrew Davis.

But this was my first honest-to-God, this-car-will-be-racing-next-week racecar to do more than sit and imagine in. I hear someone saying, "Could the reality possibly live up to all that hype?"

Yes. Yessssssssssssss. It was awesome.

Tomy took the precaution of telling me he'd give me a thumbs up sometime during our two laps to make sure I wanted him to keep going. When he did so, I couldn't get my thumb up in return fast enough. I almost thumbs-uped him from the first corner all the way through our laps, because I was having so much fun.

What was good for my research was a first-hand look at the concentration and focus a driver needs to maintain, because he (or she) is keeping a car at its limits at every moment.

What was good for my bragging rights was that we just touched 150 m.p.h. before braking for Turn 1 on the second lap. (Yes, that fast, even though he wasn't going 100%.)

So I owe huge thanks to TruSpeed, Shane, and Tomy for reminding me of the exhilaration and adventure that is racing. This is why I hunch over my keyboard day after day: to share the wonder and fun with the rest of the world.

Our Fantasy Picks

We're back to our Friday discussions! We know we're a little late with our picks, since the season's already begun, but we've decided on a friendly competition. You're all welcome to play along!

Here's how it will work. We'll each make picks in the categories below, and we'll check in monthly to see how each of us is doing, based on actual earned points/places for our picks. At the end of the seasons, we'll see who made the best predictions and ... well, the winner should get a prize. Maybe someone will have a good suggestion.

Formula 1 Driver

SIMON: Jenson Button

TAMMY: Lewis Hamilton

Formula 1 Manufacturer

SIMON: Red Bull

TAMMY: McLaren

IndyCar Driver

SIMON: Dario Franchitti

TAMMY: Will Power

IndyCar Team

SIMON: Chip Ganassi

TAMMY: Penske (gotta go with the combo of Power, Castroneves, and Brisco)

ALMS GT Driver

SIMON: Jan Magnussen (b/c I raced against him--once)

TAMMY: Patrick Long (maybe that's just hope)

ALMS GT Team

SIMON: Paul Miller Racing

TAMMY: Corvette Racing!

NASCAR Cup Driver

SIMON: Jeff Gordon (he's a local boy)

TAMMY: Carl Edwards (honestly, the bigger question is if Junior will win a race this year)

NASCAR Cup Team

SIMON: Chip Ganassi

TAMMY: Hendrick Motorsport

Tell us your picks and follow along!

Hard Charging

By Simon

Last year there was a bit of ruffled feathers over racing drivers were athletes. I can see why people would think that. Drivers do spend their career sitting down, but it’s tough on the body. You need physical strength and stamina to put up with the punishment of being hurtled at crazy speeds for lap after lap.

If you don’t believe me, allow me to present exhibit #1: Jenson Button.

Jenson took part in the Lavaman Triathlon in Waikoloa, Hawaii during his three-week break between races. It’s nice to have a hobby, I suppose. He completed the 1.5km swim, 40k bike ride, and 10k run in a little over two hours.

That’s impressive. I’m a pretty good road cyclist and it would have taken me an hour and quarter just to finish the bike portion. So don’t let me hear any of you dissing racing drivers aren’t athletes.


In other news, DID NOT FINISH is out in paperback in the US this week and the follow-up HOT SEAT came out in the UK in hardcover this week. I hope you'll pick up a copy.

Your Picks For The Year?

by Tammy

With the 12 Hours of Sebring three weeks ago, Formula 1 two weeks ago, and IndyCar last weekend, we have officially seen the start of the combined racing season. We've gotten a peek at how things might go in 2012.

There are a number of interesting storylines so far, as well as questions they bring up ...

1. FORMULA 1: McLaren seems to have the edge, but can Hamilton and Button retain that advantage to claim a championship? Can Hamilton pull his erratic brilliance together and triumph again? Can Sauber make the podium again? Will Kimi keep scoring points and even win? Will Shumi ever have an impact?
   My vote: The rest of the teams will catch up quickly, and it'll be a free-for-all season (maybe that's just what I hope).
   
   
2. INDYCAR: The Lotus engines seem to be at a disadvantage, which is especially disappointing for fans of Katherine Legge, making her return to the U.S. open-wheel ranks. How will the series do in popularity and viewership with fewer ovals on the schedule? Will the television coverage learn how to handle road/street racing better? How will Beaux Barfield do in race control?
   My vote: Beaux will rock the house and receive good reviews from drivers and fans (I realize I'm biased). I don't think Lotus will catch up significantly this year, but I'm hopeful for next year. I think there will be more ovals in next year's plan.
   
   
3. NASCAR: Danica hasn't been as strong as Danicamania has been, which isn't her fault. Everyone still wants Junior to win (he was up to fourth in the first 20 laps of one race and the announcer said, "could this finally be his race?!"), and he hasn't yet (but hello, he's third in the standings through five races). Stewart still looks good, Kyle Busch has been calm so far, and Edwards hasn't done much yet. All of this will change with 31 more races to go. But will Danica win? Will Junior win? Will Smoke repeat? Will either Busch brother self-implode?
   My vote: Smoke winning multiple races this year is a certainty (he's already won one), and I'd say so is Busch-brother-bad-behavior. I hope the Wonder Twins win (Danica and Junior), but I don't know that I'd put money down.
   
   
4. ALMS: What will the regular season races look like, now that all of the European teams have gone home?
   My vote: One thing's for certain, we'll still have the best racing, hands down, in the ALMS GT class. Take that to the bank.

What are your predictions? Who will have the most impact this year in your favorite racing series?