ALMS Rnd 3: Long Beach 13-15 April 2007

[The359]

Originally Posted by chocmonster7

The Cytosport car will not be in the race according to the Warm-up report on the ALMS website.

http://www.americanlemans.com/News/Article.aspx?ID=3058

Damn shame, looks like they could have, at the very least, been able to have a good fight between them, Autocon, and Intersport.

[dj choc ice]

Originally Posted by Hammerdown

Nice one. I'd go with your version anyday.

that looks very ACEMCOish to me

[Mindspin13B]

WTF??? Why would they withdraw after the warm-up???

[The359]

I assume something broke during warm-up that they had no spare for, or couldn't get repaired in time? DSC says they didn't even turn a lap.

DSC also says that Cytosport wont be at Houston, returning instead at Salt Lake.

[yamato]

My spotter's guide has been updated: http://lastturnclub.com/component/option,com_wrapper/

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by Mindspin13B

WTF??? Why would they withdraw after the warm-up???

"The weekend started out well for Cytosport, with a steady morning practice on Friday, preparing the car for driver Klaus Graf to qualify in. Sadly a cut tire early in qualifying put the car in the wall, causing a cracked bellhousing that sent the team packing. A rough start for the newcomers, but they'll be back on the grid in May at Miller Motorsports Park."

[cmk]

Originally Posted by yamato

Well there is nothing in the branding of Muscle Milk that would suggest red to me. Take a look at their product site: http://www.cytosport.com/ProductGrou...oductGroupID=1

I'm not saying that the car is ugly at all; but it does not stand out in the least. Just another silver and red prototype going by. From a branding point of view; use the black backround with the white letters with a little yellow hightlights. Now that would be different and stand out from all of the other cars both in the class and the series.

I still would have liked some metalic shiny yellow highlights on that car though

Fair enough. I didn't exactly look into the product - I just assumed they'd use a relevant scheme. I'm not sure Cytomax products are even available in Canada...and if they are, a skinny bio grad student has very little reason to look into them!

[HORNDAWG]

It would seem the problem was a cracked bell housing. Good article on Cytosport. http://www.the-paddock.net/content/view/241368/49/

L.P.

[HORNDAWG]

Hindys up, sort of!

L.P.

[spectre200]

I've lost him again...

[cmk]

Still seems to be fine for me (radio).

I'm starting to have serious doubts about Tim Bergmeister's pace in the #31. This is the 2nd race in a row he's started and gone straight backwards. I don't see how they can challenge with the championship with that going on. The car itself is (was) fast, Enge and Muller have both shown that.

[cmk]

Further to my comments on #31, Dirk Muller is fastest Ferrari right now, and second (ever so slightly) best lap in class after the #45. T. Bergmeister is most definitely a weak link in this team.

[Purist]

Isn't it Jorg Bergmeister, not Timo Bernhard, in the Ferrari?

[vorsprung]

Jorg's in 45 Lizard. His brother Tim is at PWL.

[spectre200]

A great (provisional) result for the RS Spyders. I guess we won't be hearing the phrase 'Undefeated R10' any more!

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by cmk

Further to my comments on #31, Dirk Muller is fastest Ferrari right now, and second (ever so slightly) best lap in class after the #45. T. Bergmeister is most definitely a weak link in this team.

Weird they gave him the long stint.

Oh well, their loss.

[cmk]

Strange race, and not in a good way. Too much drama with driver time-in-car regulations as a result of the short distance. Results to be determined by officials after the fact. Disappointed with this weekend - market may be important, but limited track time and 100 minutes of racing is insufficient. Pity they just couldn't run them into the night, and then finish just before 10...it'd be perfect timing for people to hit the clubs right after!

[Purist]

How many series are running there this weekend? I mean, CART, ALMS, Formula Atlantic, Speed TC and GT (?), Star Mazda (?), Toyota Celebrity. It's usually a busy weekend by normal standards, and track time is further limited since these are closed off public rods. However, if you want to run a major series in SoCal, Long Beach is the only real option. Riverside is long gone, and the other permanent venues are basically club circuits and have minimal facilities.

[Bob Riebe]

Unless they are getting financial rewards from this race, the IMSA would be smart to cut it off of the schedule.

On the radio today, I was surprised that between the Nextel this, Nextel that, someone actually said that CC was racing at Long Beach, but the radio and todays paper, which again surprisingly mentioned CC at Long Beach, said ZERO about the ALMS race.

Find a true road racing circuit, any circuit, and stop being someone elses lap dog.
BUT it was almost like the old days with the finishing of Porsche, Porsche, Porsche, Porsche... not that, that is neccesarly good, but familiar none the less.
IF HOnda could have won this, I am sure you would have seen HUGE headlines paid for in advertisements.

Bob

[extramundane]

Originally Posted by Purist

How many series are running there this weekend? I mean, CART, ALMS, Formula Atlantic, Speed TC and GT (?), Star Mazda (?), Toyota Celebrity.

Not quite. It's Champ Car, ALMS, Atlantics, Speed GT (no TC), and the Toyota Pro/Am.

[yamato]

Originally Posted by spectre200

A great (provisional) result for the RS Spyders. I guess we won't be hearing the phrase 'Undefeated R10' any more!

Sure you will; they are undefeated in the P1 class

[Mindspin13B]

I hate Speeds TV coverage. No mention of Creation or Autocon, or why Cytosport wasnt there. They had the cameras on the Audi and Acuras 80% of the race.

[dj4monie]

Excellent Race!

One of the best IMHO -

Since I haven't backed tracked over the post before the start of the event today, let me just say YOUR FULL OF IT! (To those that think something was wrong with this events length, finish or anything else about it)

The last post -

"F" off about Speed's coverage!

There wasn't enough time to have "feel-good" stories that usually take up time because the Audi is so far out in front. The scrap at the POINTY end of the event didn't involved them CLEARLY, otherwise they would have been mentioned.

Its entirely possible you won't hear about Intersport, Autocon (who hit the wall on the parade lap of all things NOT TO DO) or Cytosport (who didn't even make the 70% mark) until, hell maybe Utah??? Because Mid-Ohio is a P2 car strong suit, so is Lime Rock and before those events you have Houston and then Le Mans.

So get use to it BUDDY... Its going to be a LONG season for the private teams in P1...

What else can you say about GT2 other than a fight all the way through and they are pushing 110% on every lap. PTG Panoz looked better and Lizard and Tafel continue to struggle just enough to allow domination by Risi. And they aren't about to let up now. Risi will HOLD serve on thier home track because they weren't able to last year.

That's my "with revenge" pick of the week

GT1 as usually is not worth even a complete_______


Sorry that some of you feel P2 cars have no business winning overall. The tight and twisty nature of some tracks give the P2 cars a SLIGHT advantage, as Pirro was CLEARLY FLYING out there until he got PUNTED.

McNish didn't feel comfortable around here, oh well, can't win them all...

What can you say about Acura though? Funky call by AGR screwed up the whole race, but give them alot of TV time for Acura, so its kind of a win-loose for them. Highcroft was better off with Stefan in the car LATER than as the starter of the car and poor Lowe's victim again, they'll get it straight and win something before the year is out Im not worried.

Props to Da Master for making the right call ONCE again from high atop the pit box, when it looked like Biscoe almost threw it away again. He was saved by running over something with the rear tires.

Overall I loved the event, the turnout was EXCELLENT Props to my Peeps in Socal and NoCal that came down for the event. I think they enjoyed what they saw, so with a full event next season, I expect some real excitement as this will become a KEY event to the ALMS, we couldn't have provided a BETTER SHOW IMHO and we're about the show the rest of the racing world that THIS is the best SPORTSCAR series on the planet, despite uncompetitive P1 teams and 2 Yellow Corvettes in GT1.

Anybody want it on DVD? Let me know I can burn it for you, but I can't edit out the commericals, this stoopid wrapper that M$ puts over the MPEG-2 file makes it too long for a single layer DVD+R disc and also un-syncs the audio, so until there's a work around for that, I can only burn it as-is.

[spectre200]

Originally Posted by yamato

Sure you will; they are undefeated in the P1 class

Yep - I'm happy for them and their 7th place win! Seriously though, I hope Audi take it with some dignity, and we don't get another P2 rule moan.

[cptkablamo]

Yes the race was too short and this really is one of those times where the terms LMP900 and LMP675 were used so the weight issue could be better understood...or the fact that a smaller car could win overall...especially when so many people are moaning about how much of an advantage the Audi is meant to have.

I think any tv coverage without mention of all competitors, at least some kind of "where are the other P1 cars, well..." is not decent coverage...it must be one of the reasons why MotoGP struggles to get sponsors...

But the P2 and GT2 battles are great to follow and its a shame that the '1' battles are not up there...you gotta give it to the Porsches, they know how to make the times sheets look exciting