Beemer B773ER
Tire Trailblazer
Being a car enthusiast... especially a German car enthusiast can lend itself to of course being a motor racing fan. No hiding the fact that I'm a BMW fan, so this year I decided to attend my first American LeMans Series (ALMS) race. The race was held August 12 at the world-famous Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California (about a 1hr 15min drive for me).
I won't go into detail about the race, or the track, or cars.. I'll just add captions to some of the photos.
But just to summarize, it was a 6hr 'endurance' race, though as with most of these longer duration events, they have evolved into highly competitive sprint races. The drivers and teams were working hard all day long - especially in the GT class (BMW, Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari), and there was no shortage of overly-aggressive driving to entertain the fans. The track itself is a great one. Having learned the track and its surrounds thanks to Forza 4, I was still amazed at the elevation changes at Laguna Seca. The famed Corckscrew didn't disappoint, but there was many other excellent vantage points. I spent the vast majority of the day walking around every part of the track, and when I did sit down, it was at the top of the hill which offered a wide sweeping view of Turns 10, 11, Start/Finish, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
The race itself pretty much became a battle between the 2 Corvettes and M3's. By mid-race the BMW's were the dominant car in the GT-class, easily running 1-2 even after one of them got spun around at the Corkscrew. Joey Hand did a masterful job holding on to the lead after losing his rear-bumper (rear-ended by the second place running Corvette). As the sun began to set and the temperature cooled-off quickly, the Corvettes on Michelin tires were able to hold off the Team BMW RLL M3's on Dunlop's. Corvette 1-2, BMW 3-4.
And now on to the photos. I didn't make a conscious effort to take fantastic photos, but rather just a casual approach where I captured whatever I thought looked interesting. The lack of a quality camera lens shows up in some of the photos, and I didn't enhance any of these shots in Photoshop. So they're just happy snaps from a fun day out!
Arrived at the event as part of the BMW Car Club of America. One of the early arrivals as you can see. The customary Monterey Peninsula morning fog delayed some of the supporting races.
A LeMans Prototype2 (LMP2) category car getting final adjustments before the 6hr race.
Patrick Dempsey (guy from Grey's Anatomy) is a big racing enthusiast, so he put together a new team for the ALMS. This was their first race, and they only receive this car 2 weeks prior to the race.
TRG loves their Porsche's regardless of what series they're in.
One of the Safety Cars for the race. You can see the fog was still an issue early in the morning.
Team BMW RLL and their awesome looking M3 GT2!
Lights on! Going out for the 25mins morning warm-up session. That 4.4L V8.. oh my!!
Car #55 piloted by Bill Auberlen and Jorg Muller, while #56 is driven by Joey Hand and Dirk Muller.
* 10 attachment limit per post, so more photos coming in this thread in the coming minutes.
I won't go into detail about the race, or the track, or cars.. I'll just add captions to some of the photos.
But just to summarize, it was a 6hr 'endurance' race, though as with most of these longer duration events, they have evolved into highly competitive sprint races. The drivers and teams were working hard all day long - especially in the GT class (BMW, Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari), and there was no shortage of overly-aggressive driving to entertain the fans. The track itself is a great one. Having learned the track and its surrounds thanks to Forza 4, I was still amazed at the elevation changes at Laguna Seca. The famed Corckscrew didn't disappoint, but there was many other excellent vantage points. I spent the vast majority of the day walking around every part of the track, and when I did sit down, it was at the top of the hill which offered a wide sweeping view of Turns 10, 11, Start/Finish, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
The race itself pretty much became a battle between the 2 Corvettes and M3's. By mid-race the BMW's were the dominant car in the GT-class, easily running 1-2 even after one of them got spun around at the Corkscrew. Joey Hand did a masterful job holding on to the lead after losing his rear-bumper (rear-ended by the second place running Corvette). As the sun began to set and the temperature cooled-off quickly, the Corvettes on Michelin tires were able to hold off the Team BMW RLL M3's on Dunlop's. Corvette 1-2, BMW 3-4.
And now on to the photos. I didn't make a conscious effort to take fantastic photos, but rather just a casual approach where I captured whatever I thought looked interesting. The lack of a quality camera lens shows up in some of the photos, and I didn't enhance any of these shots in Photoshop. So they're just happy snaps from a fun day out!
Arrived at the event as part of the BMW Car Club of America. One of the early arrivals as you can see. The customary Monterey Peninsula morning fog delayed some of the supporting races.
A LeMans Prototype2 (LMP2) category car getting final adjustments before the 6hr race.
Patrick Dempsey (guy from Grey's Anatomy) is a big racing enthusiast, so he put together a new team for the ALMS. This was their first race, and they only receive this car 2 weeks prior to the race.
TRG loves their Porsche's regardless of what series they're in.
One of the Safety Cars for the race. You can see the fog was still an issue early in the morning.
Team BMW RLL and their awesome looking M3 GT2!
Lights on! Going out for the 25mins morning warm-up session. That 4.4L V8.. oh my!!
Car #55 piloted by Bill Auberlen and Jorg Muller, while #56 is driven by Joey Hand and Dirk Muller.
* 10 attachment limit per post, so more photos coming in this thread in the coming minutes.
