Baltimore FAIL

...are you kidding me?

Why anyone would want to hold a race on the streets of Baltimore remains a mystery. Street courses generally blow anyway, the one in Baltimore more so than any other it seems. If it's not the asphalt peeling of, it's that ridiculous chicane and bottleneck on the main straight.

Add bad judgement by less than top tier drivers in the P2 class, a race determined by crashes and restarts and cut to just 41 laps and there you have it: a complete an utter fail.

Is this really what American racing fans want to see?

A Racer Is Always Thinking

Flying Lizard  Photo: © 2013 Bob Chapman | autosport image

Let's ride with Dion Von Moltke at Mazda Raceway-Laguna Seca as he narrates a practice lap before the ALMS race last week.  On this occasion Dion was driving the Flying Lizards GTC Porsche 911.

One quality differentiating a great driver from merely a good one is the ability to understand car behavior and articulate it to their engineers so setup can be optimized.

What Dion is doing in this clip, talking through his own lap, is a very good exercise for anyone racing or even just tracking as it forces you to be conscious of your choices, try it sometimes.

Sebring 12 Hours: Glory And Heartbreak.

Photo: Jim Hunter

It's a classic,  a $14.37  part failed and dropped the 31 Axis of Oversteer Porsche GTC from class leader  with less than 3 hours to 12 laps down.

Kuba admiring wielbłąd toe

As we had mentioned in or previous piece,  the race pace was there,  Kuba Giermaziak especially was just ripping on the old Florida concrete.  Time and again he would haul in the leaders.  Strategy was working well, CG as the "gent"driver was more than holding his own with not just other "gents" but with some of the pros.  All ws looking beyond out wildest expectations until the rear bumper cover came adrift.

Jamey Price caught the 31 dragging the bumper

CG was at the wheel when it happened but he has no idea how, he did not hit anyone and nobody hit him.   A mystery,  but the upshot was that the rear lights were damaged.   It turns out Porsche tail lights are notorious for popping out of their sockets with very little prodding.  Usually they get taped down,  for whatever reason, this was not done on the 31 car.  New clusters went in during a longish pit stop as the sun began to set.  Lucky at the time it was under a safety car period so it dropped us from P2 to P4.  Kuba, in attack mode dragged the car all the way back to P2 and pressuring Sean Edwards in P1.  Edwards made a mistake and went off leaving  the underdog Axis team in the lead and looking good.

It was good while it lasted but it was not to be, as darkness fell on Sebring, the officials demanded the team take care of the rear lights, both of which need to work under the regulations, only one of ours did so Kuba had to come in.
The NGT crew worked feverishly on the rear but the one light would just not come on.  In the end they found the brake pedal sensor had failed and somehow was just sending signal just to the one side.

Eventually the car was fired back up but our race was over.

Congratulations to Carlos, Kuba and Mario for a damn good effort and to Ramez and all at NGT for giving them such a good car.   Axis is gutted but Axis was also on TV leading the 12 hours of Sebring and that's just amazing.

The mystery of what actually happened to the rear bumper cover remains,  if you were at Sebring and can find us evidence solving said mystery,  we will send you one of these nifty Axis dog tags which one of our readers, Derick Stackpole surprised us with!

Cheers and thanks for all the messages of support,  especially the guys following on Pistoheads!

Congratulations to the winners in GTC, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Dion Von Moltke,  Cooper McNeil and Alex Job Racing.

Thanks to Andrés Bermudez for the pit reporting!

The tail pipe also came off at some point...

Stints

After 12 hours of Gas, Sweat and Tears

Sebring 12 Hour: The Night Before The Big Day

Photo: Andrés Bermudez

Qualifying was a trip, so many awesome drivers. I guess Porsche not supporting GT class and this being the final 12hr under the ALMS flag really made this the deepest GTC field ever. Two drivers, Bleekemolen and Edwards actually qualified with the same exact time down to the 1/1000th of a second.

Pace on the Axis car is actually better than the P10 starting position would suggest, Kuba was within a 10th of Sean Edward's time but Sebring is tricky and he ended up maybe overdriving on the lap when the tires were best. For the race though the pace is there.

Stints will be about 60-65 minutes of green laps. Tires last about one and a half stints so the plan is to change them when gassing up. Single stints for the drivers since it takes 25 secs for a driver change and about 35 for fuel and tires.

Start is Saturday at 10:45 AM ET. Race will stream live (for countries outside the US) on ALMS.com

Axis Qualifies P10 in Class for the 2013 Twelve Hours Of Sebring

Photo:Jim Hunter

This year the American Le Mans Series GT Challenge class, for Porsche GT3 Cup cars, is stacked with some of the best of the best of Porsche 911 drivers in the world.   Names like  Edwards, Lally, Bleekemolen, Estre, Faulkner, Pumpelly. Maassen.  Aces all.      In this shark pool jumps Team Axis in the number 31 car with our CG,  Carlos Gomez along with pros Kuba Giermaziak and Mario Farnbacher.

The top 9 qualifiers in class were all within 9/10th of a second of each other,  Kuba qualified the Axis car 1.6 seconds off the pace in P10.    

Practice had shown it would have been unrealistic to shoot for a higher position on the grid so the team, run by NGT Racing, decided to concentrate on making the car a comfortable as possible to drive for the grueling 12 hours.    That meant finding a good front-rear balance sacrificing some outright speed for more  even tire wear during the stints.

12 hours on the choppy, brutal concrete of Sebring is like 24 hours of wear and tear on the machines and the men on any other track.  

The objective is to survive the big day tomorrow... better than the other guys!   Go Axis.

Photo: Jamey Price

GTC Qualifying unofficial

1.  Andy Lally                 Dempsey / Del Piero Racing                2:05.446
2.  Jeroen Bleekemolen   Weathertech / Alex Job Racing            2:05.747
3.  Sean Edwards            Momo / NGT                                        2:05.747
4.  Spencer Pumpelly      Venezuela / Flying Lizards                   2:05.765
5.  Damien Faulkner        Florida Lottery / TRG                          2:05.910
6.  Jan Heylen                  Hertz / JDX Racing                             2:05.936
7.  Alexandre Imperatori  Flying Lizards                                      2:05.059
8. Andrew Davis             Dempsey- Del Piero Racing                 2:06.219
9. Kevin Estre                  BePositive.org/ TRG                            2:06.246
10. Kuba Giermaziak         Axis Of Oversteer / NGT                     2:07.057
11. Lawson Aschenbach   Competition Motorsports                       2:07.336

Audi Shocker: Fast or Crash

Photo: MSM/Jim Sykes/Jake Galstad

Veteran Allan McNish had a rather embarrassing crash in his R18 e-Tron on the very first lap of practice this morning at Sebring. Knowing Audi they probably had to slave away for like 10-15 minutes to totally rebuild that car...

One Audi out but the other R18 had the best time in the session:


Prototype 1 (P1) Top 3:
• Benoit Treluyer – No. 1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron quattro – 1:45.908 (127.129 mph)
• Lucas Luhr – No. 6 Muscle Milk Pickett Racing HPD ARX-03c – 1:46.648 (126.247 mph)
• Chris Dyson – No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola B12/60-Mazda – 1:49.373 (123.102 mph)

Prototype 2 (P2) Top 3:
• Simon Pagenaud – No. 551 Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b – 1:53.482 (118.644 mph)
• Tom Kimber-Smith – No. 41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN-Nissan – 1:53.539 (118.585 mph)
• Marino Franchitti – No. 552 Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b – 1:54.577 (117.510 mph)

Grand Touring (GT) Top 3:
• Stefan Mucke – No. 97 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 – 2:00.786 (111.470 mph)
• Oliver Gavin – No. 4 Compuware Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6 – 2:00.923 (111.344 mph)
• Antonio Garcia – No. 3 Compuware Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6 – 2:00.992 (111.280 mph)

Prototype Challenge presented by Continental Tire (PC) Top 3:
• Pierre Kaffer – No. 81 DragonSpeed Mishumotors ORECA FLM09 – 1:55.935 (116.134 mph)
• Bruno Junqueira – No. 9 RSR Racing ORECA FLM09 – 1:57.084 (114.994 mph)
• Stefan Johansson – No. 8 BAR1 Motorsports ORECA FLM09 – 1:57.404 (114.681 mph)

GT Challenge (GTC) Tire Top 3:
• Spencer Pumpelly – No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – 2:05.687 (107.123 mph)
• Jeroen Bleekemolen – No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – 2:05.745 (107.074 mph)
• Kevin Estre – No. 68 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – 2:06.189 (106.697 mph)

The Axis GTC car was P8 with a 2:06.919 lap by Kuba Giermaziak.   Super tight field in GTC.

Axis Attacks The Final ALMS 12 Hour of Sebring

Illustration courtesy of Andy Blackmore/Spotterguides.com

Kuba Giermaziak

The 61st edition of the Twelve Hour of Sebring will be the final one under the auspices of the American Le Mans Series ahead of the merger, in 2014, with Grand Am.

Who will you cheer for, BMW, Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari, Aston, Viper?  lots to choose in GT but in GTC, the class for Porsche GT3 Cup cars, we say cheer for 31!  

CG will be attacking the bumpy Florida track along with two young guns, from Poland, Jakub "Kuba" Giermaziak and from Germany, Mario Farnbacher.

Mario Farnbacher

Kuba at 22 years of age has 3 years experience in the super competitive Porsche Supercup, where he place third in the 2011 season with VERVA Racing,  as well as open wheel experience in Formula Renault 2.0 and Euro Formula 3.

At 20, Mario Farnbacher has been breathing racing fumes from a very early age, from a racing family which includes his older brother, SRT Viper driver, Dominik,  Mario raced  ADAC-GT-Masters in Germany in 2012.

Kuba and Mario along with Henrique Cisneros were GTC class
winners at the 2012 Petit Le Mans.

Carlos Gomez, of couse you know if you follow Axis.

Carlos Gomez with Diego Mejia

Communications between a Colombian, a Pole and a German should be highly amusing,  I'm not worried,  they all are fluent in the language of speed and the great Ramez Wahab, the man behind NGT Motorsports will give Axis a great car.

The 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida will be broadcast in the US on Fox News Sports News /Speed on the 16th at 10:30 AM ET.

On the web it will be streamed, qualifying on the 15th at 1:05 PM ET and the race on the 16th starting at 10:30 AM ET.   Tune into ALMS.COMhttp://www.alms.com for details.

Full Spotter guide by Andy Balckmore

Ready for testing on Wednesday!

Meet BMW's new ALMS fighter

New car, new tires, same hotel rooms. BMW will field their Z4 GTE for the first time in North America this year, the final season of ALMS racing.
If you follow international endurance,  it's a car you are familiar with and in this, its latest incarnation and with its insane widebody, it makes entries from Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin seem faily stock in comparison.  Those flares look like something straight out of the wicked Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft era, except the aero actually works!

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will be fielding two cars, now on Michelin rubber and with Crowne Plaza returning as title sponsor.  Drivers will be BMW pillar Bill Auberlen  teamed with Belgian Maxime Martin and Dirk Mueller will share the second car with Joey Hand and John Edwards.   For Sebring, Uwe Alzen and Jörg Mueller will fill out the crews.

The debut is set for the Sebring 12 Hour on March 15th. where Uwe Alzen and Jörg Mueller will fill the crews.

You will find more pictures and car specs on the BMW press release after the jump

Aston Attacks America!

Aston Martin is launching a major push into the North American racing market with a new partnership with Kevin Buckler and TRG Racing.

The aim is to provide customer cars for Grand-Am, ALMS, Pirelli Challenge as well as a for a new single make series.

The Aston Martin Vantage will run in GTE trim for ALMS, GT3 trim in Grand-Am and Pirelli World Challenge with the GT4 version ready for Continental Challenge and a  new single make series launching  in the fall of 2013.

The Aston GT4, as an alternative to Porsche and Ferrari in single make series or even as a track day car, offers some significant advantages.  It is more forgiving to drive,  is less expensive (under $200K) and crucially has wider service intervals.    Like the 458 Challenge but unlike the Porsche GT3 Cup, it has ABS meaning no flat spots.  Like the Ferrari it has an available paddle shifter eliminating the danger of expensive over-revs and even comes with a mind boggling  11 different traction control settings and air-con options.

TRG and Aston are betting "if they build it, they will come" but will they make a dent in Porsche's leadership?  I kind of hope so and I hope it encourages BMW to jump in,  the more competition, the better.

Press release after the jump and after this clip of a Vantage GT4 lapping Laguna Seca along with brochures and more info than you can shake a stick at.
Any further inquiries, email Kevin Buckler President of AMR/TRG.

Delta Flip

The Nissan DeltaWing came together with the Green Hornet Racing GT-C Porsche and flipped.

Low black cars are hard to see. Tricycles flip, it's a fact. Also I get the impression the Delta Wing does not have the best possible head protection.

BMW M3 GT Joerg Mueller in-car video from VIR

Yup, easy flat in the upper esses (on the second lap) and nice Ferrari dodge at 2:01 in the clip!


One of the sponsors of the race this week end is TrackPro Advisors. Check it out and if interested, promocode AXISALMS will get you 3 months free.

Esses

The "Esses" at VIR. Taken flat at 150 or as Wolf Henzler told CG, "Easy flat" in an RSR...

Airtime at VIR

Leh Keen getting some air climbing the Esses  during qualifying for the ALMS Tequila Patron VIR 240.

Leh and Cooper MacNeil  qualified 4th in GT-C class,   On pole, we're happy to say, is Damian Faulkner in the Green Hornet Racing GT3.    Damien was one of the drivers in the Axis of Oversteer/ TRG car at the 2012 Daytona 24.

You can watch the race Saturday afternoon on ESPN3

Trackside Laguna Seca

I hope the fellas at Drive don't take this the wrong way but this is our favorite segment they produce.

Be Joey Hand at Laguna Seca for two laps.

Photo: Darrell Nielsen

Our friend Halston Pitman along with Trevor Andrusko at MotorSportMedia have developed this somewhat mysterious yet awesome "Visor Cam" that comes closer to a true first person view than any other camera setup I have seen.

In this video you ride in the middle of Joey Hand's forehead as he drives the mighty M3 GT in practice for the ALMS Monterey presented by Patron race at Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca.

Best of Racing Clips: April 13-15 2012

ALMS From Long Beach CA



ALMS from Long Beach



Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy from Hockenheim



Much more after the jump...

11 hours and 56 minutes and then this....

It's not like it hasn't happened before at the 12 Hour of Sebring but once again GT's were bump and grinding on the last laps.

UPDATE: It was not Beretta who hit Hand but Bruni, as our readers quickly clarified (thanks!). This puts Hand in totally different light. Bruni too, I mean what the hell was he doing dive-bombing the race leader while many laps down?

This clip has slightly better video quality than some that have been online and you can see a bit more. I'm not sure why Joey Hand was leaving the door open so much since he was defending with worn tires. He did it twice, when he was passed the first time by Beretta and again when he got hit by him a lap later.

On Beretta's side I don't understand why with what looked like a faster car he chose that spot to make his dodgy second move. Even more puzzling is why he was so slow on the final turn the lap prior, did the Krohn Ferrari ahead stop at the apex (or one of the 24 apexes in that turn...)?

Hand's red mist powered comeback was pretty cool, looks like he has his DTM mindset all figured out. He might have saved himself the "I was ready to put him in the tires" comment afterwards though.

Curbs...

photo by Camden Thrasher

they are meant to be used!

TRG Film Festival

The Racer's Group is not only a top tier racing organization but, of late quite the little film studio! TRG takes care of CG and the Axis GT3 so we're happy to share their best 2011 clips.

Let's start with Spencer Pumpelly, the world's fastest vegan, the Vegan Velociraptor, turning in early with big speed at Laguna Seca. Spencer is charge of TRG historic #66 GTC Porsche GT3.



Next Spencer's co driver Duncan Ende shows how to drive with one eye looking forward and one looking backwards at Road Atlanta



The next two clips are more like little features, the first at Road Atlanta (do some of those shots look familiar from the Porsche GT3 Cup commercial?) and the second is their year end wrap up. Nice work!




.

2012 Porsche GT3 RSR

The last 997 based racer, get your checkbooks ready! Details and more wallpaper sized awesome for you after the jump.



Press Release 04/11/2011

Porsche 911 GT3 RSR

New customer sport top model for 2012 race season

Stuttgart. The new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR is ready to race. The top model of Porsche Motorsport’s customer racing vehicles will head into the 2012 season with extensive modifications. Particularly striking at first glance are the changes to the body: the width of the new GT3 RSR has grown by 48 millimetres. Built to conform to the A.C.O. “LM” GTE regulations, the 911 represents the crowning pinnacle of a range of successful customer sport race cars that are based on the 997 type 911 GT3 RS street sports car.

Powering the new 911 GT3 RSR is a particularly efficient six-cylinder boxer engine with a four-litre capacity. With a mandatory air-restrictor, it generates 460 hp (338 kW) and drives the 310 millimetre wide rear wheels. The diameter of the front wheels has increased by 30 mm to now measure 680 millimetres. The Porsche sequential six-speed gearbox is operated via paddle shifts on the steering wheel.

The nose and rear panels are adapted to the flared front and rear wheel arches, as are the door sill and the wheel arch coverings. The aerodynamic concept is complemented by a new ducting of the intake air. Openings in the rear side sections, as known from the turbo variants of the Porsche 911, replace the air scoop on the engine hood, which is very similar to the 911 GT2 RS street sports car.

The new 911 GT3 RSR can be raced at the Le Mans 24 Hours, the FIA World Endurance Championship, the Le Mans Series, the American Le Mans Series as well as the International GT Open and in other series and races.

“Our customer teams can expect a technically mature, high performance race car with which they will be highly competitive at international long distance races,” assures Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport. “Our test programme on various international race tracks is currently running at full speed. We are very pleased with the car’s performance and driveability.”

The new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR will be delivered to customer squads around the world from January 2012. The selling price is 498,000 Euro plus value added tax of the respective countries.