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Posted
Oct 21 2009, 06:20 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 6 comment(s)
It's the last race of the 2009 ALMS season at Laguna Seca where the finale has been held for the last number of years. One of the best places to finish a season without a doubt. Monterey is one of the prettiest places in the US and the track is one of my favorites. I've had decent success here in the past. I dominated here in 2005 with my teammates Justin Marks and Bill Auberlen in an M3 and finished well in every year after. Last year I lead for an hour or so in the aging Panoz and finished...
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Posted
Oct 20 2009, 03:24 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 18 comment(s)
This is Andy Priaulx MBE, Husband to a fantastic wife, father to two gorgeous kids but then I would say that ; racing driver from an early age racing almost everything from Motorbikes and power boats to formula one cars, currently racing in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) having won the title three times in a row now trying to win it back. My experience of GT racing is also varied but my greatest success was to win the Nurburgring race in 2005 with Said, Lamy and Husiman, to master the...
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Posted
Oct 15 2009, 01:02 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 7 comment(s)
The Rocketsports Racing team may still be working the kinks out of their new Jaguar XKR ALMS car, but there's no denying the presence this car has on the track.
Here's a high resolution photo of the car I shot last weekend at Laguna Seca. Head to the Desktops section now to pick it up in widescreen or standard format.
-Mike Garrett...
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Posted
Oct 14 2009, 02:03 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 3 comment(s)
After running on the streets of Long Beach and at Petit LeMans in Atlanta, Falken Tire's ALMS team headed up the California coast last weekend to finish off their season at Monterey Sports Car Championships. 2009 has been a shakedown year of sorts for Team Falken, and they headed to Laguna Seca looking to finish off the year with a strong showing before a full season of competition in 2010. Once again we used our behind the scenes access with the team to take an inside look at the final event of the year....
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Posted
Oct 13 2009, 12:13 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 10 comment(s)
I'm back home in LA now after a long road trip, watching dark rain clouds fill the sky. Rain in Southern California? Does such a thing exist?
Anyways, we have a busy week ahead of us as we gear up for the Formula D finale in Irwindale, but before that we have more action from the Monterey Sports Car Championships at Laguna Seca. If you had the chance to watch the ALMS race on SPEED TV, then you know how crazy things got at Laguna Seca over the weekend!...
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Posted
Oct 10 2009, 10:28 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 13 comment(s)
After four hours of intense racing around Laguna Seca, the 2009 American LeMans season is in the books. I'm once again exhausted from a day of shooting and lugging my gear up and down the mountainous terrain, but I wanted to quickly post some of the day's results before I pass out here......
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Posted
Oct 09 2009, 07:35 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 9 comment(s)
Just got back to to the hotel here in Monterey after spending the day at the final round of the 2009 American LeMans Series at Laguna Seca. My body is massively sore from hiking around Laguna Seca's scenic hills today, but before I collapse I wanted to post a few quick photos and highlights from the day's practice and qualifying sessions....
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Posted
Oct 09 2009, 10:45 AM
by
Andy Blackmore
with 9 comment(s)
Gil de Ferran, 2000, 2001 Champ Car champion and 2003 Indy 500 winner, enters his final race as a driver this weekend at Laguna Seca, the finale to the 2009 ALMS championship. There are a number of celebrations to mark his retirement, the most prominent being the de Ferran Motorsport Acura LMP1 car carrying a cool Chaparral inspired livery. Jim Hall and his Chaparrals Race cars were leaders in race car design and aerodynamics. The cars always looked stunning with their form and white bodywork. Gil...
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Posted
Oct 03 2009, 12:20 PM
by
John Brooks
with 7 comment(s)
In a very short period of time the motor race known as Petit Le Mans has acquired “Classic” status. It is now regarded in the same league as its yahoo, elder cousin, the Sebring 12 Hours. Some of this status is because of the association with the Le Mans 24 Hours and some of the status is due to the challenging Road Atlanta track. It is popular with teams, drivers, fans, even photographers, all of whom enjoy the undulations and sheer flat out speed of the place. Generally a pretty good...
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Posted
Sep 29 2009, 12:40 PM
by
John Brooks
with 7 comment(s)
"Blow,Winds and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout til you have drenched our steeples, drown'd the cocks!" I did not actually see King Lear out in the storms that hit Road Atlanta during the middle of the Petit Le Mans last Saturday but I saw plenty of candidates for the role of the Fool, me for one. Sitting in the warm, dry media centre contemplating a two hour session in the pit lane, I looked at the weather radar on John Dagys' computer and could...
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Posted
Sep 28 2009, 11:20 AM
by
Andy Blackmore
with 3 comment(s)
I’m still recovering from my first American Le Mans Race, and a strange race it was. Luckily I was there for a few days, so enjoyed the practice and qualifying before the ‘Trèz-Petit’!
One of the most impressive things about the weekend was seeing how the Patron Highcroft race team built up a new race car after Scott Sharp destroyed the original during practice (above, with Radio Le Mans commentary). It was one of the biggest accidents I’ve ever seen and it’s a testament to today’s safety standards that he walked away.
The car was completely destroyed and ended up back at the pits on two trucks! Only 10% of the parts were salvageable. A new tub was sent from California overnight and the mechanics built up the car during the course of Friday, amazingly ready for warm-up on Sunday morning. The mechanics looked shattered by the end of it.
This is a great time lapse video of the rebuild.
More from Petit during the week.
-Andy Blackmore
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Posted
Sep 26 2009, 05:01 PM
by
John Brooks
with 11 comment(s)
" A Rainy Night in Georgia, A Rainy Night in Georgia, It seems like it's Raining all over the World" We had dodged the monumental thunderstorms for most of the day but eventually the monsoon hit Road Atlanta and turned the track into a lake in places. The lightning was also an issue as no one wanted corner workers and other personal working outside to be exposed to unnecessary dangers. Finally the track became undrivable, so the although the race was running behind a safety car under...
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Posted
Sep 26 2009, 04:00 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 9 comment(s)
Amongst the Speedhunters on site at the Petit Le Mans, I've been designated the press room worker. So while John Brooks and Linhbergh were off shooting the race, I've been sitting here watching the Speed TV feed and listening to Radio Le Mans. Out the window I can see one corner of the track, but I might as well be in my living room as I'm mostly getting a sense of the race through media, rather than direct experience. Not that I'm complaining! The weather has been pretty rubbish...
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Posted
Sep 25 2009, 08:41 PM
by
John Brooks
with 14 comment(s)
Friday dawned in Georgia with those of us sporting media track access passes dragged from our beds to attend the mandatory photo meeting. Coffee and grumbles were, as ever, the order of the day at the hot and steamy Road Atlanta track. On the circuit things had a familiar ring, with BMW topping the GT2 class during the final practice session. And still at the top of the timesheets was the #08 Peugeot. Plus ca change............... Friday at Petit Le Mans is also the day when the fans can get up close...
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Posted
Sep 25 2009, 12:00 AM
by
John Brooks
with 12 comment(s)
Yes, it is time for SpeedHunters' Petit Le Mans coverage to start in earnest. Hartsfield International, Atlanta's airport will be Check-Point Charlie for Motorsport pros this weekend. Heading East will be Linhbergh who should hook up with a West bound Rod later today. Me? I am already here in the humid confines of Road Atlanta. The official sessions leading up to the race are now underway, so here is a quick look at what is to come. SpeedHunters will be looking at all aspects of the event...
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Posted
Sep 18 2009, 03:45 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 1 comment(s)
Here's another high res desktop wallpaper to celebrate the end of the work week - the ALMS M3 GT2 at speed on Pine Avenue in Downtown Long Beach. Widescreen and standard versions available now in the Desktops section. -Mike Garrett
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Posted
Sep 14 2009, 05:19 PM
by
Andy Blackmore
with 7 comment(s)
Regular Speedhunters photo contributor, and SpeedTV.com Auto Racing editor, Marshall Pruett has been working on an excellent new website, grandtouringprototype.com , which showcases the IMSA GTP Series, a golden era in North American Sports car racing. The predecessor to the current American Le Mans Series. The site now has more than 50 hours of video, in conjunction with IMSA/ALMS, from old telecasts from years gone by. It is an amazing Aladdin’s cave for anyone into Sportscar racing. Also...
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Posted
Sep 09 2009, 07:00 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 33 comment(s)
I'm sure that you are all somewhat familiar with this beautiful piece of engineering -the Rahal Letterman Racing BMW M3 GT2.... And lucky for you, BMW agreed to let me get under the skin of the GT2 during my recent trip to Rahal Letterman Racing a few weeks ago. I've been following the development of this car with some interest since the racing program was first announced and made sure that John Brooks took tons of snaps of the car at Sebring earlier this year. The debut of the new racing...
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Posted
Sep 03 2009, 08:33 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 28 comment(s)
You know, not just anyone can show up with a stack of video cameras to an American Le Mans race expecting to be allowed to shoot footage. If you are a professional photographer, then you might be allowed trackside access to shoot photos, but permission to shoot video is a whole other matter and often requires a week of negotiations and conference calls. On top of this, not just anyone would be able to convince BMW to mount video cameras all over brand new race car -- and even onto the driver! The...
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Posted
Sep 02 2009, 04:00 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 34 comment(s)
Well BMW Month seems to be off to a good start huh? I'm pretty excited about what's in store for the site for September but am also a bit stressed out by how much work there is to do!... Oh well... All part of the game I suppose. For my first proper BMW feature I thought I'd take you on a quick tour of Rahal Letterman Racing, the team that runs the two M3 GT2s in the American Le Mans series. Based in Hilliard, Ohio, RLR is based out of a whopping 60,000 square foot facility split between...
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