On Sunday August 8th, the AutomotiveArticles.com Team traveled the 300+ miles from Lexington, Ky to Lexington, OH. Yes, we know, ironic. Over the weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington there had been several series races. The entire event schedule can be found here. We made the trek up north to cover the Grand-Am Cup Race that started at 1 o’clock on Sunday.
Upon arriving at the track, we first checked in and then headed to the pits to see what all the teams were up too. However in order to do that we had to deal with the fearsome security fleet at Mid-Ohio. For those of you unfamiliar with how the pit is setup, we’ll give you a brief run through:
Basically each team transports both the race cars and all the equipment necessary to support them in several semi-sized trailers. These are parked a few hundred yards off the raceway and the crew sets up tents and unpacks most of the equipment at this location. Down on the track, adjacent to pit lane, each team is assigned a slot. These are the pit tents that you see on T.V. when a car is shown making a stop. At these tents, the crew has a small arsenal of tools, a few sets of tires, some spare parts, and of course fuel. What most people don’t realize is that during the race there is literally a fleet of ATV’s hauling fuel, tires, spare parts, people, and supplies constantly from the main trailers down to pit lane. In addition to having a trailer, for some classes of cars such as the prototypes, these teams are also assigned a garage in which to assembly and maintain the vehicles. We got lucky and snapped a shot of one of these prototypes with the body stripped and having the transmission installed.
After making our way through the rows of team trailers and inspecting all of the track cars we came across, we finally arrived down on the course at pit lane. From our vantage point on top of the garage sheds we spied the Performance Nissan crew down below. From here we watched the first half hour of the three hour race. It was unbelievable. For an enthusiast to be that close to the track watching these cars and drivers push themselves to and beyond the limit was amazing. I can still hear the sounds of Porsche 996’s, M3’s, and RX-8’s downshifting through the corners and then going WOT down the long straights. Of course I could only be captivated by the scene at the pits for so long without itching to see these teams attack different segments of the track. Fortunately I was able to drag the rest of the AA staff with me and we set out to watch the more intricate segments of the course. We spent the next two hours trying to get to every point on the track to watch and snap shots. Unfortunately, getting to the back half of the track proved impossible. However we were able to get some pretty decent shots of the cars going through several sections of the course. Below is a map of the raceway along with an in car video of one lap at Mid-Ohio.
The Numbers on the Map Show Where on the Track the Images Were Taken
A quick shot of three of the Rolex Series Porsches sitting in the pit area. These cars competed on the previous day (Saturday) in the 111 lap Road Racing Classic. Most of the teams who had competed before Sunday had yet to leave and still had their cars untrailored. There were several Formula class cars along with the Rolex and American Le Mans vehicles sitting out. These machines are unbelievably impressive in person.
This is the #26 Snipes Motorsport Cadillac CTS-V flying towards the corner at the end of the straight by pit lane. New to Grand-Am the CTS-V is a formidible contender, its LS-1 engine puts out considerably more power than the V-6 powered cars in its class. Even the Mustangs and Firebirds had a tough time keeping up. On the straight aways there was simply no one who could catch the two Cadillacs.
We snapped this photo just after the #7 Power Racing Team BMW M3 spun out completely coming out of the S turns. (Segment #5 on the map above) While we couldn't get the picture quick enough, right after the BMW lost control two 996 Porsches were forced to swerve off the track and into the grass. One of them sustained considerable damage. Fortunately the Integra in the background was far enough behind the accident to smoothly avoid it without incident. Luckily, this was the closest we came all day to seeing a potentially huge pileup.
We caught this 350Z pulling into the pits late in the race for its final tire change and refuel of the race. The #35 car belongs to 350EVO and Wright Tuning. For the last half of the race it was piloted by BJ Zacharias who was making a strong comeback late in the race until his car was spun out by a Porsche 996. The #35 350Z still managed to finish 7th overall.
We managed to steal a shot of our infinite nemesis in automotive coverage - the Speed Channel! It sure must be easy to cover a race from those cushy wooden platforms. I'll tell you one thing though, we sure didn't see any of those Speed Channel guys around by the time we were done hanging out and talking racing with the drivers and crews.
The winning car. The #13 350Z of Performance Nissan being rolled off the track. Why rolled off instead of driven you may ask? Simple, the car was out of gas! Talk about cutting it close. The #13 car barely passed the post race tech inspection because it was questionably light. I guess that's what happens when a car is missing a few dozen pounds of race fuel.
At the end of three complete hours of racing, the winner was still determined in the final turn. As it stood, Performance Nissan took first place with their #13 Nissan 350Z. This win is first for the 350Z in any professional American racing series. Finishing in a close second after an intense final lap battle was the #52 Sean Hyland Motorsports/Steeda SVT Mustang. Taking third place was Performance Nissan’s second car, the #33 Nissan 350Z. A complete team entry list and official race results along with information on the teams and series regulations can all be found on the Grand-American racing series homepage.
Seeing my first race live was an amazing experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone with a serious interest in auto sports. Not only was it incredibly interesting to wander the pit area and look at all the race cars - the body work, aero work, suspensions, interior, all the custom fabrication and tuning was simply unbelievable to look at. We then got to watch these machines utilize all that technology to rip through a road course. I will definitely be attending more races in the future, hopefully this season if time permits. I can only try to express how much more captivating watching a race live is when compared to simply flipping on the speed channel.
Although I am very excited to see my next race, looking at some of the cars as they were towed off the track made me a little gun shy about taking the project cars out for a good hard beating. After joking with some of the drivers and watching as all the teams pulled their cars out off the track, it really looked like there was not a single car that escaped the race without some degree of damage. As you can see below, some were worse, well, much worse than others. I guess it really is true how expensive racing is, but then again, what else are you going to spend money on if not your hobbies and dreams?
AF Project Vehicle | Corporate
