C6R's @ Houston ALMS
05-14-2006, 01:06 PM
#4
Burning Brakes
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Location: Birmingham AL
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Hopefully they'll (IMSA) know when to say "when"-- the Vettes already had 176 lbs added in Houston, and walked away with it! And we already saw at Sebring that the Astons had more get up & go on the straights. How many "adjustments" do the Astons need on the Vettes to be competitive? 
05-14-2006, 04:59 PM
#5
Race Director
Actually, I thought the Houston course looked horrible. It was an extremely difficult track for traffic, and it looked like even one car could barely get around that chicane.
I generally like street courses, but that one didn't do much for me.
I generally like street courses, but that one didn't do much for me.
05-14-2006, 05:18 PM
#6
Safety Car
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We did some parade laps with the Corvette Corral there and the course was incredibly narrow. The chicane was way, way tight infact it was so tight that the car in front of me completely missed it
and he was only going maybe 40mph.
a few pics..
C6400hp with Ron Fellows
MRS. C6400hp with Johnny O
The Ollie's
Gavin and Beretta
The Car!
The Course that was dominated by Corvettes
All in all it was great time and the C6R race drivers were very friendly and accomodating.
Johnny Oconnell is really friendly and it was great to talk with him,
now if he would just bring his Corvette Camp to MSR Ft. Worth TX.
It was great to get a chance to talk to Ron Fellows as well as Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta.
Big thanks to the entire Corvette race team and all the hospitality they showed to us.
Congrats on the win guys....
Last edited by C6400hp; 05-15-2006 at 02:46 AM.
05-15-2006, 09:46 PM
#7
Safety Car
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About the chicane, I noticed at least one guy cut on the inside, apparently to avoid getting hit since it wasn't for position. I almost looked like they left it open just for that purpose.
05-16-2006, 12:00 AM
#8
I had the opportunity to go to the Houston race track on Thursday. Business took me to Houston last week and I had some time to kill on Thursday so what better to do that go walk around an ALMS/CART race. What I noticed about the track was that in several sections it was very bumpy, especially turn four, a long sweeping turn area, with high speeds, turning and several large bumps where the concert sections joined each other. The chicane was not originally part of the track, it was added Wednesday night and the teams were told Thursday morning to check out the track because a “major track modification” had been made. The chicane was very narrow. It was said they added it because they felt it was unsafe going into turn one without any run off area and the high speed into the turn one braking area. So probably the best thing they could do for a last minute fix. I did not get to watch the ALMS race but if you saw the Champ car race the drivers agreed to run the chicane single file on the first lap and begin racing after the chicane-probably a wise idea. The venue is a nice venue and it looked like a decent street course layout. Maybe if they keep racing there they will find solutions to the few issues they have in this first year. Always cool to get to see the various cars, people, and listen in on some of the issues various teams are working through during the course of a race weekend.
Brian
Brian