Joel Feinberg takes the Primetime Race Group's IMSA Lites Car around Sebring - Chase Cam Telemetry included

This is a great demonstration of how far telemetry and video / data syncronization has come in the last few years courtesy of ChaseCam.  Besides providing some great footage of what the driver sees during a lap around Sebring, the multiple data sources provide, steering angle, speed/RPM, throttle/brake, oil -water temps, g-loading and tire temp.  Quite an impressive set-up. 

Plus I love the sound of Joel banging through the gears of the IMSA lites Car.

Enjoy!

Recap - Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring - Battle of the Titans

The Audi R15 and Peugeot 908 waged war for the entire 12 hours of the race, acting as though it was a 20 minute sprint instead of an all out endurance race. This battle proved to be an amazing way for the American LeMans Series to celebrate their 100th race. If you didn't have an opportunity to catch the action, here is small example of the type of racing that went on for the entire 12 hours.


I was excited to see the action in GT2. As I expected, the Ferrari 430's dominated the class, with an amazingly strong showing by PTG with their 3 year old Panoz, piloted by Ian James and Dominik Farnbacher. A special word of congratulations to Ian James in holding off Marc Lieb in the Flying Lizard GT3RSR. Unfortunately the battle ended in tears, but it must have taken some amazing driving to hold off the brand new Porsche with the under-powered and under-developed Panoz.

Of course my greatest disappointment of the weekend were the new BMW M3's, with both cars out of the race before the half-way point. According to Bobby Rahal, team Principal of Rahal Letterman Racing, the cars developed oil leaks and needed to retire. According to spectators at the race, this is exactly what happened, except that the oil leak was likely caused by a connecting rod ventilating the crankcase. That having been said, enjoy some (poor quality) footage from the brief time that the M3's were running.


Congratulation to Audi for winning a tough race and Peugeot for giving the Audi team a real run for their money. While these two titans won't be around much in ALMS this year, the 24 Hours of LeMans in June promises to be a true fight to the finish.

As for ALMS, if Porsche and BMW can up their game, the 2009 season in GT2 class may prove to be as exciting as P1 at Sebring, if they do not, I see many podiums for RISI Ferrari and (yikes) Panoz.

12 Hours of Sebring - ALMS Spotter's guide

American LeMans Series 2009 - Sebring testing

So if I understand the final list of attendees there will be no one in LMP1, as Audi has pulled out, (although its unclear if the new Aston LMP1 car will come to the states to test for LeMans.)

Acura and will be the only major player in LMP2, (with maybe a Dyson Mazda entry).

GT1 will be unoccupied, (except for maybe the  LISTA Maserati MC12 that shows up on occasion).

The real excitement will be in GT2, with the return of the BMW M3, the newly launched Porsche GT3 RSR and Corvette now competing with an actual Corvette, (not the Pratt and Miller beast disguised to look like a Vette) and Ferrari F430’s.  

Although I am very sad to see the current M3's in white instead of team PTG colors, it is nice to see BMW back in the series.  I wonder how long it will be be until Tom Milner dumps the Panoz's and finds his way back to Munich's finest.

From what I have read of the current Sebring testing, (although very early) there should be some fantastically close racing action in GT3. Thanks to SpeedTv for the Winter testing photos.

The BMWCCA

While reading through some back issues of Roundel magazine I noticed that many of the letters addressed to the editor were negative and some were truly nasty. Most of the negative ones were complaints about the cars themselves, i.e., the look of the cars, the feel of the cars, how the cars had grown to be too big, or how some models were too small inside. Some folks complained about the transmission, or squeaks behind the dashboard, or uneven tire wear, the list seemed to go on forever. Still others complained about the club itself. How it didn't provide enough of one thing or another

I was saddened by their comments, not only because their grew boring quickly, but because my experiences as a BMWCCA member have been completely different from theirs. In the short three years that I have been with the BMWCCA I have had the opportunity to,

• Meet Steve Dinan and have him show me downloads from their Grand-Am program as well as invite me to Morgan Hill to drive a M5 prototype
  
• Have Sabine Schmitz as a driving instructor at Road America with the Badger Bimmers (thanks again to Jeff Joy)
• Tour the Team PTG paddock with Tom Milner and meet Bill Auberlen, Joey Hand, Justin Marks, and Tom Milner Jr.
• Meet the Bimmerworld team, James Clay and Seth Thomas,
  
• Learn car control and become a better driver
• Meet a bunch of non-famous, but really decent people.

I hope that the folks that take to the time complain about the club experience end up finding something to like about the club. I know I have. It's not that hard to find something you like, and I was able to do all of these things without a lot of effort on my part.

And in the interest of providing some example of the things that make the BMWCCA a blast I thought that I would post a couple of clips of drivers that I have had the opportunity to meet and chat with. One from Bill Auberlen, factory BMW pilot, and another from James Clay, who started his career as a BMW Club Racer and progressed from there.

Here's Bill Auberlen at Road America




Here is James Clay at Sebring