Summer Break is over, back in the saddle again

Just like the kids in school, ALMS has its summer break. And just like the summer break for kids it is a time to go on vacation (especially ones with spouses) and get a real job. In my case, the real job is the Brand Manager for Yokohama which meant cramming in a product launch (dB Super E-spec), dealer training, non-motorsports related external meetings and countless internal meetings into a couple weeks. It was great to get caught up on things and to travel without credentials and shoes.

Also similar to the school summer break was the getting back in the saddle of the race world with the first race at Lime Rock. Getting caught up with everyone (what did you do over the break?), regretting what you did not accomplish over the break and being glad to be back into the routine.

Lime Rock is an absolutely beautiful track nestled in the trees and hills of Connecticut. Attendance was above expectations for both competitors and spectators. This race featured the Challenge class which for me is always nice to see the GT3 Cup cars dicing it up with the LMP cars.

The #21 PTG Panoz did well, unfortunately a late in the race fuel stop lost a spot in the finishing order, but all-in-all it was a strong finish. The Snows’ #57 Challenge car dominated the race, but was retired with just a few minutes left giving the win to the #36 driven by Hoaglund and Fiaeta. That was a bummer to see such a hard drive end so close to the finish. But since all Challenge cars are on Yokohama ENV-R1 tires, everybody wins!

Similar to NASCAR, most of the people within ALMS refer to the cars by their numbers. The reason for this is when you are looking at timing and scoring during the race, it is the easiest and consistent thing to see. Most of us watch the race on the timing screen and you would be amazed at how much of the race you can deduce by reading a timing screen.

I did peel my eyes away from the timing screen for a few minutes during the first pit stop for the #40 car which was in the stall next to the #21. Their pit stop went some kind of sideways when they dropped the car without the right rear wheel being on. To make it worse, Murry drove out of the stall on 3 wheels! It was just a scene of anger and frustration that you never wish upon anyone. Surprisingly they did not loose much time getting the car back up and running. Adding insult to injury (literally) they were handed down a stop-and-go penalty.

Well back to the office for a day and then off to the GT3 race at Autobahn this weekend. Back in the saddle again. Giddie-up!

In racing, there are times when you just say, “let’s start over, I mean all the way over.”

Examples include the Chaparral 2J (a racecar that had a separate engine to drive two fans to create suction down force), the
Tyrrell P34 (a 6-wheeled F1 car) and now the Yokohama ADVAN ENV-R1 race tire.

A couple of decades ago, a group of dedicated Yokohama engineers took this approach. Look at every component and throw some unconventional ideas at it. One of the key ingredients in a tire (especially a race tire) is petroleum, lots of it.

So they thought what happens when you replace petroleum with novel, natural materials?. Well, in Yokohama’s case with the orange oil, it stuck (pun intended) and you get a sticky tire. And just like the feats in motorsports mentioned above, they had their teething problems, but unlike the feats mentions above, they were solved.

Fast forward to 2009, the general public is more concerned then ever about the environment. Rolling resistance and sustainability are phrases that are not just uttered at scientific global warming discussion groups. Yokohama partners with IMSA and Porsche to become the spec tire on the Patron GT3 Cup by Yokohama and after the first third of the season, the competitors are very happy with the performance of the tire.

As it has been proven countless times, the race track breeds ideas and products for the consumer. Unfortunately, I am not currently driving a suction producing six wheeled car, but starting this month, I (and the general public of the US market) can purchase and drive on the dB Super E-spec. The Super E-spec uses similar orange oil technology found in the ENV-R1 as well as a host of other advances. These advances make it a green tire through and through from its production in a zero-emission factory, to low rolling resistance and air loss throughout its life to its 80% composition of natural products making it return to the earth easier.

And before someone fires off in the comment section, no the tire does not smell like orange and I can tell you from personal experience, it does not taste like oranges. Yes I am that dedicated to the tire industry!

Colonel Kilgore is my hero

On a recent, lazy Sunday morning, I turned on the cold water in the bathroom and immediately noticed that the water flow was actually warm. For a split second, I thought I had mistakenly turned on the hot water but the water flow soon became cold, as intended, thus preventing any mental panic on my part.

In these parts (SoCal), what I just described above marks the beginning of summer. No more June Gloom (weather phenomena in June that produces overcast mornings and hazy sun in PM), just the sun and earth's axial tilt doing its magic.

The beginning of summer also marks a long break for those involved in ALMS. Our last race was May 17th at Miller Motorsports Park and because we did not participate in 24H Le Mans this year, we had no racing activity other than the Baja 500 that Flatbill wrote about below.

This break is intentionally designed into the ALMS schedule to allow its top teams to go toe-to-toe racing with the world's best at Circuit de la Sarthe in June. For those that don't get to go to France, it is a very long break lasting until July 18th.

Of course, since all of us have "real" jobs aside from hyperslacking jobs (motorsports), we are busy catching up with stuff that fell thru the cracks during the beginning part of the season but just as Robert Duvall put it so eloquently in the epic flick Apocalypse Now, I miss the opportunity in saying “I love the smell of (Duvall: napalm) racing fuel and hydrocarbons in the morning.” Somewhere along the line, I need to say something like, “Charlie don’t (Duvall: surf) race!”

In two weeks we pay a short visit to Pikes Peak, where we will be doing the hill climb in a battery-powered buggy (Flatbill covering the event) and going onto Lime Rock Park for the ALMS race. The long break is almost over. We’ve got some good things brewing and we are definitely eager to get back at it.