So we are at the hotel, tomorrow will be heading into VIR to watch some racing, then Sunday for main event. Looking forward to seeing these cars I've been racing in R3E! Will report back after the races, hopefully with pics. Here's a link to the race series http://virnow.com/events/michelin-gt-challenge/
So the continental tire sorts car race started, then got rained out! Will start back soon supposedly. Massive rain, wife and son drove home to get dry so..... I'm by myself, with a golf cart, in the paddock!!!
watching it live , that wasnt rain , someone picked up the track and dunked it in a bucket of water , the onboard shots were truly frighting , zero visibility before they red flagged it....; Andi
Lol Andy you are right it was hard core downpour. I was blinded driving the cart back to car. Found a great spot after roaming paddock for awhile.
Few more pics.... 1. A Badass viper i hope we eventually get in R3E, they do run GT3. 2. Golf cart?!?! Well, I post because this is the first and only time I will ever make an outside pass of team Scuderia Ferrari at a race track! Smoked em!! 3. In this last pic of track, it is painfully obvious how much better the surface is on the racing line! Cool example I thought. Lots of cars losing the rear end for a second at this corner, didn't see any spin though while I was there.
The Huracan GT3 might be the coolest Lamborghini I've seen in a long, long time. Since the first Gallardo (ugh) basically.
I'm heading out tonight for tomorrow's race. Camera gear ready, cooler ready, couple cigars, Sun glasses, comfy walking shoes, Texmex munchies. Yippie!!!
Is that the gas monkeys viper ? We go see this series at mosport every year. There was more competition in the continental series last year as they lost some of the camaro and mustangs. It could have been a function of not heading north of the border if there not running a full season. Scott maxwell was the class of the field a month ago. Was pretty cool , Gilles Villeneuves wife was there for the start of the race . Weathertech is great and nice to see with the new m6' and Ford gtlm cars.
@higsy I'm not sure on viper, might get another look tomorrow. Love the Ford GT vs Corvette action, should be fun tomorrow. The Ford GT looked amazing in person, what a car. I'm a newb to these races....without R3E I'd be home this weekend!
I would love the Viper so much. I've always been a massive fan of that car, even the road versions. It just feels so harsh, brash, and unapologetic in every way. In terms of racing, they get little to no help from Dodge, but still manage to do a great job with Keeting and Bleekmolen in that car. Unfortunately it won't be running in 2017 as they're shifting to a different category for that team
They had a factory team a couple of years ago with Kino Wittmer driving , he was awesome. Now he's a backup driver for bmw. Hard to bump Lucas Luhr from his seat. The gtlm vettes have long been a favorite of mine. Two weeks ago I got a ride along with Ron Fellows around mosport in a C7 Z06 vette. He drove the crap out of it (I'm sure he could have gone harder) hit 150 mph on the back straight. Did 4 laps and was the thrill of a lifetime !!!! If I knew how to post pics I'd do that. Lol
I'm lucky enough to have been all over the place spectating sportscar racing and rallying and, circuit-wise, the US has the best venues in the world. Such a pity that road racing isn't more popular there, because the venues you have deserve reverence; Road Atlanta is there with Spa for the best spectating venue I've ever been to. Enjoy it, however good Raceroom and other games are, nothing can capture the sound and spectacle of top class GT racing.
The corvettes sound like 70s muscle cars with the big cross plane v8s. Nothing at track like them. The Audi and lambo v10 sounds the best to me, and the viper v10 is surprisingly similar. Porsche flat 6 sounds raciest. As if running 11k rpm. Ford GT turbo 6 sounds like Japanese tuner car. BMWs just sounded flat, by far the worst on the track to me.
@higsy confirmed one of the Vipers was the Gas Monkey Viper - saw the gas monkey sign in the pits. Home now in Norfolk. We moved into one of the Villa rentals at the track to stay there tonight - it was an awesome place to lodge, right on the back straight - but decided to drive home to avoid having a travel day tomorrow. If we go back, we will definitely be staying at the villas the whole time. The Holiday Inn Express was like a shanty compared to the cheaper Villa. Plus my brain surgery attempt on the wife after sleeping there failed, those commercials are bogus! Oh, and the golf cart was the best money we spent - reserve a cart if you plan to hit one of these races! For the price of a few shirts, you have full time shade, cooler/chair/food storage, and can explore the entire track and paddock - awesome. Like I said before the few hours i had alone with the golf cart were fantastic. As a family, we all rode up front with my 4 year old in the middle - fond memories for sure
That's awesome glad you enjoyed it. Pit access is second to none for this race series. They used to run with the pirelli world challenge guys but split a few years ago (not sure why) Now it's the continental boys. Pirelli has much better cars !!!! The golf cart thing sounds like a great idea , I'll have to suggest that at mosport. They have Golf cart shuttles , here but there difficult to find empty so we never use em. We always bring our bikes. The ford gtlm cars were built about half an hour from my house , although they look great , the sound is terrible. Need a v8. Scott maxwell did alot of the testing with multimatic in the development of these cars. I see corvette did pretty good this weekend. My kids got to sit in the vette gtlm a couple of years ago.
If you visit the VIR - Virginia International Raceway the next time, then please take some more pictures, because the Sector 3 team still need more dates for modeling this beautiful U.S. track. It is about time for some American Track Pack updates ...