The paddock at any big event like the 12 Hours of Sebring is a fascinating place to be. I almost prefer it to being out by the track in certain ways, as you get a much better feel for who the teams really are and what they're really all about. Sure you can see who's fastest on a time sheet, break it down into simple statistics, but that only shows half of the competition really. It's more than who's fastest, it's who's got the most cash, and from the top to the bottom of the grid, teams aren't afraid to spend some cubic dollars to one-up the next guy.
So who is it? Who's got the most expansive garage in the paddock? Who has the best trailers, the cleanest gear, the newest rigs, most attractive contingent of wives / girlfriends / hangers on? Well it sometimes might surprise you.
First there are the big dogs. Audi, Peugeot and the like. You might expect them to have the most well appointed of the lot since they have by far the most money sunk into their programs, but you'd probably be a bit off on that. While I doubt that the Audi crew and mechanics need or want for much, they are 100% down to business, and the whole place has a very German vibe. Clean, well designed, cohesive, and nothing too extraneous or extravagant.
So how about Peugeot?
Audi's biggest rival is set up pretty similarly. Perhaps there is a bit more of a French flair to the layout and size of the tents, but the Peugeot layout is very close. Any money these guys aren't spending on the garage set up they're putting into the best of parts and development for cars and crew. It's not an ego trip in the same way that it is for some of the other teams, since it doesn't matter what the garage looks like if the cars don't come home in first place.
The eventual winners at Sebring in 2011, Team Oreca Matmut (Matmut is a French insurance company, FYI), had a pretty similar style to the Audi and Peugeot factory teams, but it's clearly not the same level of funding.
Hugh de Chaunac, head man at Oreca, has been around racing long enough to know that sometimes a few less dollars spent trying to one-up your neighbors might just get your team through a rough patch, one of those times when sponsorship dollars are drying up faster than the Sahara. Obviously it pays off. Oreca swept GTS with their factory Dodge Viper team the last time they came to Sebring, and this time they walked off with the overall victory.
Another man who has been through the many peaks and troughs of sportscar racing is Rob Dyson. Rob has an enviable record, and Dyson Racing might just be the oldest American team in sportscar racing today. You could say that Brumos has been around longer I suppose, but Dyson has always been there in the prototype categories and seldom stoups to GT. Yup, back when the 962 was king, Dyson was there, and winning. One wonders what the heads of all of the former old IMSA 'gentleman driver' teams think? Jim Busby is doing hot rods and racing Radicals in a spec series. Bob Akin was tragically killed back in 2002, and I can't find much about what Bruce Leven is up to these days...
Yes the Dyson racing paddock area is well appointed, but it's not excessively so. You don't run a top-level sports car team for nearly 30 years and manage to keep from going bankrupt this long without having a head pretty squarely on your shoulders, and Rob Dyson certainly has that.
Speaking of GT, the GTC teams are always interesting to take a look at. Where the LMP teams, and even the
The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup is a pretty well equipped car for under $200,000. Sequential box, lots of power, really nothing you could want, except maybe even more power and more down force, but of course then you'd have an RSR. Different class and well over twice the price to play.
You would think that with such relatively inexpensive cars, the garage areas for the GTC teams might all be a touch less impressive, more modestly appointed then the more prestigious classes, like the Alex Job camp, but you would be wrong. Teams like NGT Motorsport have absolutely stunning garage areas. Granted NGT is more of a new kid on the block in the big leagues, compared to a lot of other teams, so you wouldn't expect them to jump right into prototypes. But their garage? Bigger and badder then every single team, up and down the isle. All that flooring doesn't come cheap, let me assure you, and they had enough laid out to carpet an airplane hanger.
After thinking about the little car / giant transporter phenomenon for a bit, I would imagine that these teams, although new to a professional series like the ALMS, might have stepped in from vintage events or something similar. You'll see some pretty impressive trailers at an SVRA event, and I could see a well financed driver jumping into GTC to try their luck at the wheel in a real-deal professional environment. Still, nothing like a million dollars worth of truck and trailer (or more) to haul around your $180,000 car.
Scott Tucker's Level 5 Motorsports might be the most well appointed in the ALMS (and financed, this stuff is new new new, nothing second hand or less than pefect), more lavish than NGT, but not quite as massive. The Level 5 paddock reminds me of the ones I saw at the Cleveland CART race back in 1997. The haulers there (which I would be able to show you if Josh ever got his pictures printed) were really something else...
Every so often there are always a few teams that seem to have just put it all together, like West Racing here, and their decidedly spartan set up. Not even carpet to help make it a little more comfortable for the crew, who had a very tough week. It's pretty bad when a crew mistake or driver takes you out, but when you have not one but TWO wheel failures, one of which ends your day far too early in the day, well, that's just disheartening. Not cheap, but these guys aren't wasting a dime on anything but things that will get them on the track.
Lastly the big-time GT teams are pretty much the best all arounders to take a look at. They have the flash of the Level 5s, but more of that factory-effort class of the LMP teams. Flying Lizard of course has the best of everything, and they run Porsches, so naturally they're a favorite of mine.
After you're done being blown away by the miniature city which springs up everywhere the ALMS decides to set up shop, you get a real appreciation for the amount of work that goes into these efforts. It is rare to see a car doing anything other than being torn down, built up, adjusted, fine-tuned, or out on the track. There is just no time or reason to sit still and rest on your laurels.
Polishing...
Last minute strategy, as we see here with co-team principle Andrea Robertson of Robertson Racing confers with a mechanic.
It's a fascinating place, and for me, if I had a choice that is, there's really no other place I'd rather be. I'm sure it's a little different when you're on the inside juggling egos and trying to make the impossible happen, but it's certainly not a dull place, from dawn until dusk.
Paul Miller Racing made the jump to GTE with a Porsche 911 RSR, and stepped up their digs accordingly. I really admired their set up last year. At Lime Rock it was old-school, like the 70s, down in the dirt with a couple cheap pop-up tents. If I was doing it and spending my own cash I'd try to keep it simple like that - vintage hauler, basic garage area, a sort of remember-your-roots deal.
I hope you enjoyed our look in the paddock at Sebring this year. If you go to any ALMS races you really owe it to yourself to get the paddock pass, you won't be disappointed.
It's been a little too long coming, but we'll finally cover the race next week. Obviously the results are already well know, but I think we'll still be able to find an interesting angle. See you soon.
_WRS
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