Monday, July 25, 2011

ALMS @ Lime Rock - A Smokyburnout Report

Over the weekend of July 9th, Lime Rock park hosted a stop of the ALMS racing series. Our friend Smokyburnout, a frequent contributor to the Jalopnik commentariat and a compelling twitter follower was able to make it to the race. We've compiled some of Smokyburnout's photos below for your viewing pleasure, and have included commentary from Smoky to give you a taste of what the weekend was like. If you would like to contribute to The Daily Hoon please drop us a line TheDailyHoon@gmail.com . Now, enjoy the hoonage coverage, courtesy of Smoky:
 I got to the track just in time to catch the end of the second Prototype Lites race.
#41 Brian Fowler spun coming into the first turn. He got going again but did not finish the race.
There was a pretty good late-race battle between #55 Gerry Kraut and #4 Antonio Downs for the race lead. In the ends, Downs took the win.
The paddock was emptying out as it was already time for cars to get out onto the grid.
The #20 Oryx Dyson Racing Mazda-Lola had an electrical fire and would have to make their first ever start from the pitlane.
The #62 Risi Ferrari was still looking worse for wear after its Friday crash. It was at the slow end of the grid, which wasn't as packed with fans, so it was easier for me to take pictures of it. Every cloud has its silver lining!

ALMS isn't called "The Global Leader in Green Racing" for nothin'.
These Solis Energy HotSpot systems power their timing and scoring loops.
The big GT pileup happened, of course, right after I had crossed the access road at West Bend, so it didn't quite happen in front of me.
Full course yellow? Nah, just try to drive around it.
JDX Racing makes pimpin' look easy.
Black Swan Racing did eventually bring out the first full course yellow
The #6 Muscle Milk Aston Martin-Lola Looked like the fastest car on the track. It wasn't, both Dyson cars had better fastest lap times. It was definitely the best-sound car on the track, though!
The #48 Paul Miller Racing Porsche had a broken exhaust, making it the worst-sounding car on track.
GTC Winners
Somewhere in this image, the JDX Porsche is spinning.
The Risi Ferrari spent the last hour of the race sitting in the paddock.
It wasn't Black Swan Racing's lucky day.
Your class winners! Chris Dyson and Guy Smith Took P1 and overall honors in their Mazda-Lola, Dirk Müller and Joey Hand won GT for BMW, Eric Lux and Elton Julian won LMPC, and Dion von Moltke and Mike Piera were first-time ALMS winners in GTC.

Every ticket to a sports car race at Lime Rock gets you up close to the cars in the paddock and on the grid...
Just a cool shot of the fuel cell in a GT3 Porsche.
If you remember my Grand-Am post, I pointed out that the German cars had upgraded from lug bolts to studs and lugnuts. IMSA takes it to the next level, everything racing this weekend had centerlock wheels. Drive pins take the place of the old lugs.
Not just for show!
Bling keeps the exhaust heat from melting the bodywork.
The Muscle Milk boys didn't have the right dive planes on their car in qualifying, but this was rectified by raceday.
 Fastener on a Corvette front bumper. Notice the side reflector is actually a sticker!
Very cool hood pins.
No VIN plate, because race car. You'd think they would have kept the HUD for those runs down the Mulsanne at night, though.
Good illustration in the difference in size between the Corvette's front and rear tires.
I just really like this photo.
Spares!
Roberson Racing's paddock space had nothing to keep curious fans out.
The view from the driver's seat?
No power seat with 3 driver memory here.
Robertson's second car, the #04 of Anthony Lazzaro and David Murry, was promoted to 3rd and the GT podium after a (controversial?) post-race blocking penalty on the #17 Falken Porsche.
I'm sure you know all about Ferrari's powersports lineup.
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM HE'S TOUCHING MY SIDE OF THE PADDOCK SPACE!
Lolz
You knew it was coming. Rubbin is racin!

We hope you enjoyed the photos and the commentary. For those who don't know, you can click the photos for the larger 1600x1200 pixel versions. Let us know if you would like High-Res of any of these. Happy hooning, thanks for reading.

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