Morning always comes too early for me, regardless of how much (or how little) sleep I've managed to bank. Quite simply, I'm not a morning person, but there are a few occasions where I can manage to overcome this character flaw. One of those occasions is race day. Not show day, race day. The promise of burnt rubber, race fuel and angry engines is one powerful motivator, perhaps even more so than coffee. And I fucking LOVE coffee. (Zeke's is the place to go BTW)
So Kevin, Josh and myself were up bright and early on Saturday March 20th to head north from Lake Okeechobee up to Sebring International Raceway. As usual I was excited and ready to roll from the get-go, and didn't even mind having to put on sunblock before 8am. Outside the weather was beautiful, and there was a bitchin' Chevy outside the hotel glistening in the morning sun, which I took to be a good omen. Today was going to be rad, to use the parlance of my youth, and there was not a cloud in the sky.
The sun was beating down across the vast
Parking was proving to be more of a hassle than the previous two days but we seriously lucked out. A guy in a red fire suit with press credentials had his head poked inside the cab of a truck just across from where we had parked before, and we asked if he knew whether parking in that area was restricted. His response was that it most definitely was not, and that it was his truck and trailer and if we could park him in that would be great. That way no "drunken assholes would be pissing on his tires" or something like that. This was our first introduction to Michael Locke, official track photographer for Sebring Raceway. Nice guy, and more from him later...he had some stories to tell, as this was to be his 49th (!) Sebring.
The grid was calling. The cars were calling, and the crowds were well, crowding. And the grid was full of madness.
It was exceedingly hard to get a clean shot, even with the lens set all the way down to 18mm. Fish eye would have been ideal.
Josh get's a shot for the live blogging updates on his iphone as Kevin absorbs the scene.
The cars were prepped, clean, and ready to go. Most had a number of the team members there to watch over the cars and ensure they at least took the green flag in one piece.
We moved down and took position at turn one. Turn one is really a blast to see in person, as it's very fast and very bumpy on exit. With the 'reserved' parking of RVs and the custom built structures right up against the fence it was hard to get a good view. And when we did, we were mainly looking at a throng of photographers with proper vests....which we had not bothered to try and get this year. Next year for sure....
I had more shots than I care to think of with other photographers in the shot. I deleted a bunch, but some have a nice look. At any rate, the race was on, and it was pandemonium into turn one.
The field streamed through without any issues, and the two cars starting from the pits made their way out shortly after. The #90 BMW was the pole-sitter in GT2, but failed a stall test and as such started from the rear of the grid. On a stall test, IMSA plugs the inlet restrictors on the engine, and the engine should stall within a certain number of seconds. If it does not it indicates that the engine is getting air from someplace other than the inlet restrictor, and the car flunks the test. It's a big deal, especially as the pole sitter.
We were impressed to see the great-looking Falken Tire Porsche RSR in the lead of the GT2 freight train the next time by. It maintained the lead for several laps, when it began to fall back into the middle of the pack. It was by far the high point of the day for Team Falken Tire, but I'm sure they learned a lot for their tire development, which is their main goal of the ALMS program.
Peugeot rather predictably took the overall lead. I didn't shoot many pictures of the 908s, mainly because cars that run uncontested are boring to me, but also becuase they don't grab me in the same way as the BMWs, Porches, Ferraris and Corvettes.
In GTC the Mission foods #81 was pole sitter, and winner, and was pretty much in command all day. I didn't mind, I love their tortilla chips!
LMP2 was cool, and the Dyson car was my favorite, but they fell back early with engine problems. (not all that surprising, the AER / Mazda has not been the best in my opinion.)
As we made our way around the top side of the track with Ed (from Porschebus) and his wife (who's name I cannot recall....I apologize!) we stopped to shoot pics and check on progress. The Drayson Lola / Judd managed to be quite a thorn in the side of the #8 thanks to Emmanuel Pirro. Alternator problems put them out of contention.
Things settled down after the initial slicing and dicing and most cars got into a bit of a groove, or so it seemed. I didn't get as many shots of the Robertson Ford GT as I would have liked, but I couldn't seem to get the focus on this that I could on the other cars.
I guess one mans sprint is another man's groove. Just a couple hours in, and many more to go for this corner worker.
There were a number of VWs in attendance. I liked this clean Mk5 with RS6 wheels. Josh recognizes the car from Twitter, or VW Vortex, or someplace.
Remember what I said about photographers in my shots? Still, the Lola Aston Martin looked great and sounded the best of all the cars...
But still not as good as a Porsche 911, in my rather biased opinion.
The BMWs of Rahal Letterman racing were consistent and fast, and one of my favorites to shoot as they went past.
Josh posing with the legendary La Bamba racing mobile...
LMPC is a spec class, there's no getting around it, but the Oreca LMPs really look sweet, and with their 6.2L V8s uncorked, they would really be something else...
Round and round....
Eventual class-winning Risi Ferrari, at my favorite corner.
Not everything is all spread out after the green flag drops. Traffic jams like this one happen quite frequently, and you can bet there are more than a few 'moments' out there during the 12 hours.
Ah...a shot of the Aston Martin without a photographer!
And insert earplugs.........now!
Just out of the famous hairpin. Early in the day, but many hours to go.
We went back to base for some event-appropriate refreshments.
Base camp was directly across from the on-side impound lot. People took the opportunity to park just about anywhere they could, but some places were clearly off limits. Sebring Raceway actually had more than one wrecker working this lot.
And here is where we end for this installment. Once we get refueled and cooled down a bit, we'll embark on part two, into the night....
Go to the FLICKR page for a TON of additional pics.
_WRS
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