I had the best time at Portland last weekend! The race was very exciting and I got to talk to a lot of drivers, pit crews, and fans over the course of the weekend.


Story 1:

During the ALMS race I sat at the Festival Curves, where most of the action was, and watched the two Champion Audis collide with each other, which led to the #1 Audi spin under breaking and punt the #4 Corvette in the butt. The Vette looked like it needed to pit but continued on to win the race. Amazing!

I seriously thought that impact was going to drop the Vette down a few places, but even with bent steering, broken body pieces, and aerodynamic changes the Vette still won. The #1 Audi on the otherhand had to pit and repair the rearend.

Later on, the #1 Audi passed the Saleen S7R on the back straight and immediately lost its rear body panels. The camera shot was amazing, the car just disintergrated with pieces flying off everywhere and the body parts unfortunately tagged the Saleen and ended its day. Once the Audi lost its rearend it went into a 180mph spin before colliding into the camera filming the crash! It knocked at the camera, the cameraman was okay and fixed his camera for the rest of the race. I think his shot will be used in future commercials since it was such a spectacular shot. You know people love carnage.

 

Story 2:

It was too bad that the Saleen was taken out. For the first 27 laps the Saleen was giving the new C6R vettes a run for their money. The Saleen passed both Vettes at the start of the race before the first turn and it was a very close race thereafter.

You could tell the C6R had better braking than the Saleen going into the Festival Curves, but the Saleen had enough to stay ahead of the Vette for quite a few laps. Eventually the Saleen lost the lead and ultimately got taken out by the disintegrating Audi.

But it was great to see the Vettes fight hard for their victory. Since its debut, the Saleen looked promising as a GT1 contender but I guess the Vettes were better financed. And likely the better race car.

Last years C5R, run by PacificCoast Motorsports, had a great run at Portland starting 5th on the grid and finishing 3rd. The first time they made it on the podium during their first year in ALMS. For comparison's sake, the 5 GT cars finished qualifying within .9 secs from each other. So the GT1 class was going to be an exciting class to watch.

The Maserati was beautiful to say the least and was driven by Mika Salvo, Formula 1 driver from 94-00. I got his autograph at the pit walk!

 

story 3:

In the GT2 category, Alex Job Racing won the class in their GT3 Porche. That is Greg Fordahl's team (from Fordahl Motorsports in Bellevue) and was their 4th win in a row, I think the second team to do that in ALMS.

It looked like a pretty easy win for them. So congratulations to Greg, a local favorite!

 

Story 4:

Last but not least, the Portland race ended with the LMP1 cars in a tight race with only .3 seconds separating the 1st and 2nd place cars.

The Dyson Lola was trying to hang on for the win with the remaining Champion Audi close behind.

The Dyson cars are supposed to be faster but have been having problems with reliability. However, both Dyson cars were running strong this time. But they couldn't pit during a caution flag without giving up their place to the Audi so they had to take a chance and go for the win without pitting.

Unfortunately, the Dyson car ran out of gas on the second to the last lap of the race! And the Audi won!

 

It was such a good time and I got to meet a lot of new people and people I knew before.

I ran into a few rally people, a few NSX club members, and of course some S2000 members. I also got to talk extensively with the C5R team a the team President, and talked about the 24 hours of Le mans with Brian Willman who drove the LMP1 #12 car and came in 7th overall.

Brian is from Kirkland and has also driven at the 24 hrs of Le mans.

I also got to meet Champion's technical director and drink champagne with him. He is from New Zealand and also lives in Washington!

 

sounds like it was a blast. Did the aston show up. Did you take any pictures of the Maserati?

 

Great to hear you had fun. Sounds like I need to hit this up the next time it's in town.

 

hey i was sitting in front of the festival curves as well. I watched most everything from there. The drifting competition was fun to watch.

Certainly was exciting to watch the ALMS cars fly around that corner. i was trying to study their lines...but those drivers/cars are just amazing...seemed like no matter what speeds or angle of approach, they make it through fast as heck!

What was up with Kleinburg from RealTime racing, running through the festival every lap?

it was a hot hot day...but definitely lots of fun.

 

I was sitting on the back side, at turn 10. The R8 accident was huge! The car came unglued at the fastest part of the track and took a hard hit into the concrete wall. I was happy to see Lehto get out of the car and walk away.

Kleinubing was carrying a lot of rewards weight, 280 pounds I believe. That probably had something to do with a lack of brakes. He also pitted early in the race... not sure what they were working on. Perhaps brakes?

 

great weekend, lil on the hot side though. Thanks Ananda for providing the tickets and introducing me to some great people (amazing to listen to some of Brian Willman's stories). Note for next year; plan ticket pick up better I would've liked to spend more time at the track, but it was slightly difficult with two other people

And a HUGE thanks to Gina and Jeff for the phone support