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Martin Gonzales posted on September 21, 2011 03:30 
ALMS - Laguna Seca Race Weekend
by Martin Gonzales
The most exciting professional racing series in America, in your author's humble opinion, made its second to last stop of the 2011 season this past weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. With only two races left in the season, the remaining 55 points available (25 for this race and 30 for Petit Le Mans) are ever more important for the few teams left in their respective championship races. Only 15 points separate the top 3 teams in the LMPC class, while BMW Team RLL has the chance to lock up the GT class team and driver championships.
As if that was not enough racing entertainment, the lucky and committed fans who made the trip out to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca would also treated to racing from the Star Mazda Series, Prototype Lites, GT3 Cup as well as the Pirelli World Challenge!
One of the biggest reasons the American Le Mans Series is so fun to watch is the fact there are 5 classes, or more sometimes, of cars racing at the same time. The traffic and differences in closing speeds make for some seriously eventful racing. To give you an idea of the differences in the classes, here are the top qualifying times and average speeds from Friday's qualifying session:
- LMP1: 1:13.927 / 108.983mph = #16 Lola B09/86-Mazda
- LMP2: 1:16.688 / 105.059mph = #055 Lola-Honda
- LMPC: 1:18.844 / 102.187mph = #89 Oreca FLM09
- GT: 1:22.226 / 97.984 mph = #56 BMW E92 M3
- GTC: 1:27.850 / 91.711 mph = #54 Porsche 911 GT3
In the very fast LMP1 class the championship fight is between the two Lola B09 chassis of Dyson Racing and Muscle Milk AMR. The Dyson Racing team is looking to finish strong and podium in the last two races of the season in order to clinch the championship. The Muscle Milk AMR squad can only hope the Dyson Racing team runs into some trouble and must also take the checkered flag in the remaining races if they are to have any chance of winning the championship.
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| The Dyson Racing Mazda powered Lola B09 had a strong qualifying session and clocked a lap time of 1:13.927 which was over a second and a half faster than the Aston Martin Muscle Milk Lola B09. |
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 4:50 AM
ALMS is a sweet series. I was a little disappointed I could not see them at Baltimore, but they'll be back next year and I plan to get a ticket to see them as well as IICS again.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 8:31 AM
I've always heard the Ferrari's run with lighter fuel but now I've seen it Beaters where did you hear they'll be back in Baltimore next year, I thought there were some legal complications that were preventing that
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 9:28 AM
Actually I hadn't heard that ALMS may not be returning to B-more. I was busy Saturday and couldn't drive down to see ALMS, but I did make the Sunday trip to sse IICS and it was great. After the general success of the weekend, I really didn't think there would be any doubt those races would return. What happened?
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 11:09 AM
In the build up to the event there were rumblings about poor track surfaces, track safety, traffic issues, people unable to get to work, problems with tickets... I think they had problems covering the light rail track which led to the chicane on the front straight and that further delayed qualifying and reduced track time for the teams In addition to the usual legal problems: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/ahead-of-baltimore-grand-prix-pit-row-is-filling-with-lawsuits/
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 1:15 PM
I heard the chicane was installed because the front straight was too fast. I think most of the other issues were resolved by race time. Most of the after news I heard was good and as a spectator there, the stands, infield, and surrounding buildings were packed. I hope both series come back, considering how good the turnout was for Sunday.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 1:49 PM
Martin - Thanks for the recap. I love the detail you captured in some of your shots! It's given me some real food for thought on aero design :)
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 4:01 PM
@Der Bruce, I went to shoot the event with Martin. I'm uploading all the +700 pictures I took at the ALMS as we speak. Give me sometime to put them into a file and organize them, then I'll post them up. Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20733247@N06/ (the first 35 pages are all dedicated to the Laguna Seca event).
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 4:06 PM
Great coverage Martin, thanks!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 4:22 PM
You're very welcome fellas. Good to see there are fans of this type of race coverage, because we would like to keep bringing it to you if there is a demand for it.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 6:38 PM
Demand!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 11:12 PM
I'd like to demand you guys spend some more time in the pits taking pictures of the shit that goes on underneath the bodywork. Engines, suspension, brakes, tubes, and electronics are what I want to see :)
Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:07 AM
Eric, Go onto my flickr account to see that:) http://www.flickr.com/photos/20733247@N06/ Like I said to Der Bruce, the first 35 pages are all about the ALMS event. Later on I'll post a link with an organized file (sorry no SLR camera...lol).
Thursday, September 22, 2011 10:53 AM
JDMized - Great pics! Those pics happened to include almost everything Eric requested. I flipped through all 35 pages and then some :) Not sure if that Civic was yours? Or if you secretly love the idea of racing a Nissan Leaf? ;)
Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:46 PM
Great Coverage Martin!
Thursday, September 22, 2011 3:40 PM
Alex: awesome pics man! I need to get back to work, but I've been checking out your pics for a while.
Thursday, September 22, 2011 4:56 PM
I have more to upload and share with you guys :) Yes the beat up Civic (red and black) it's my POS daily ;) @Eric, next time you put up a banner around Christine I'll disolve in the air and sneak behind your ass and click away....lol Martin asked me to help him out writing the ALMS article.(what I didn't know was that I had to submit it on Sunday night)...lol I'm in grad school full-time and working my ass off to graduate...I was up 19 hours on Sunday...and I have to write what?....lol As soon as all the pics are on the Flickr account and organized, I'll write something :)
Thursday, September 22, 2011 10:41 PM
Ah.... grad school... oh the memories! Man, I never pulled all-nighters until grad school. Then it seemed I was doing them about once a month. And I was always studying either Friday or Saturday night, so six nights a week. I made sure I got out one night a week though!
Friday, September 23, 2011 1:41 AM
Thanks Der Bruce/ Eric. Here is the direct link to whole the pics (I put the "important" ones on the top, and the shitty at the track at the bottom). http://www.flickr.com/photos/20733247@N06/sets/72157627578082819/ @spdracerut: yeah grad-school doesn't leave much free time...lol Actually last weekend at Laguna took away too much time from studying... One more semester though :)
Friday, September 23, 2011 4:47 PM
Alex - Thanks for the pics man! You and Khiem talking about grad school makes me laugh. It may have its moments of feeling like HELL, but looking back, I still love it and the friends I made! Of course, those moments of hell weigh heavily when I think about going back for another degree. HEAVILY :)
Saturday, September 24, 2011 11:26 AM
No worries. School is tough, but I'll be done soon :)
 
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