2009 American Le Mans Series Thread

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Crashbroke23
Being at the track for the race was something else. You cant tell just how loud they are with the tape delay on Speed. Those American GT2's are LOUD.
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I really need to upload the audio I recorded on my phone. You can tell when the Corvettes go by without a doubt.
Loudest car I ever heard was when Mazda had a P2 with a rotary engine a few years back. My ears rang for a week.
 
What a great motorsport this is! Wow, just wow. After hours of driving these races are so much closer than a 1 hour F1 race. As long as Flying Lizard has been using the same livery, I still love it oh so much. What a beautiful Porsche, and that sound still sends the shivers down my spine. The spin at the end was nasty though.
 
Not sure if I asked this, but how you do you like the setup of next season of the ALMS? You know... no St. Petersburg on the calendar, but the series will start at Sebring and end with Petit Le Mans. I actually like it since you start and end with major races. But what about you?
 
JohnBM01
Not sure if I asked this, but how you do you like the setup of next season of the ALMS? You know... no St. Petersburg on the calendar, but the series will start at Sebring and end with Petit Le Mans. I actually like it since you start and end with major races. But what about you?
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I agree with what Brian Till said during the broadcast, I think thats the way it should be.
 
Crashbroke23
Now, the crash. Where Jan hit the wall, I WAS AT. It was something else.
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You must've been within yards of me & juana b., we were stood right at the end of the grandstand ready for the finish and the fireworks.
The "bang" as the 'Vette hit almost directly in front of us was enormous. :scared:
I haven't uploaded my pics & vids to the PC yet, but I have some footage of the field coming through the Corkscrew after the first safety car incident, and yes, those 'Vettes were LOUD!
 
Shame i missed out metting you guys. Talk about getting into the moment. Perhaps if one of you wore a GTPlanet T-Shirt, we coud have met up eariler during the day, or weekend for that matter. Oh well, there is always tomorrow! Right?

In other news, PTG and Panoz are working on a new GT2 for next year. Codenamed Abruzzi, It should be a good racer. Hasn't the road car been in development for years?Good to see PTG back in the ALMS though, shame that they dont have the balls to have a Lambo GT2 program.
 
I got the following from Twitter earlier today...

"Want to relive 2009? Online shoppe has race DVDs available for purchase"

So, I clicked the link that I got with the message and sure enough, there it is. DVD sets of all of the ALMS races that have taken place this year, sans Petit Le Mans(and what a downer that was with what happened. :()

Probably a good way to get your fix of Le Mans styled sports car racing during the off season along with Radio Le Mans audio until next March in Sebring. ;)

Would it be OK if I posted the link to where the DVD's are sold? It's part of the Official AmLMS shop website if I'm not mistaken.
 
CAMikaze
I got the following from Twitter earlier today...

"Want to relive 2009? Online shoppe has race DVDs available for purchase"

So, I clicked the link that I got with the message and sure enough, there it is. DVD sets of all of the ALMS races that have taken place this year, sans Petit Le Mans(and what a downer that was with what happened. :()

Probably a good way to get your fix of Le Mans styled sports car racing during the off season along with Radio Le Mans audio until next March in Sebring. ;)

Would it be OK if I posted the link to where the DVD's are sold? It's part of the Official AmLMS shop website if I'm not mistaken.
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Thanks for that info. I need to check my Yahoo! account to see if they sent out an email too.
 
Hun200kmh
Wow ... just watched the video posted above, went to find news about Jan's condition and ... I guess it could be worse. :scared:

http://www.janmagnussen.com/news.asp?NewsID=1256620742


Isn't Bergmeister going to be punished for this? Such a stunt deserves at least a temporary ban from my POV
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I don't know what the official word on this is, but from my point of view Magnussen is equally responsible and Bergmeister could easily argue that he was just trying to recover from an overly aggressive bump and maintain his lead (It would likely be a lie, but he could argue it). I'd also like an angle from the front because it doesn't look like Bergmesiter is even touching him when the actual accident happens, but there is too much dust/smoke to tell. All I know is the last clear image shows about six inches or more between the cars and then Magnussen spins out in front of Bergmesiter.

Magnussen had already been penalized (had to give up his lead) in an earlier lap for an illegal pass and he was obviously willing to really push it.

It is clearly controversial, but this isn't the first time officials turned a blind eye to some questionable behavior. Last time though Bergmeister was the one that got shafted. And that may just be why nothing is being done here.
 
Hun200kmh
Isn't Bergmeister going to be punished for this? Such a stunt deserves at least a temporary ban from my POV
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But one could argue that if Magnussen didn't tap Bergmeister up the back end, this wouldn't have happened but, unfortunately, you could have seen something like that coming ten laps prior.
 
I'm hearing Peugeot has chosen Gil de Ferran to run the 908 for the 2010 season.

Though De Ferran ran the entire 2009 ALMS season, I think Peugeot will probably just have him run 4 races again, Sebring, Spa, Le Mans, and Petit Le Mans
 
Earth
I'm hearing Peugeot has chosen Gil de Ferran to run the 908 for the 2010 season.

Though De Ferran ran the entire 2009 ALMS season, I think Peugeot will probably just have him run 4 races again, Sebring, Spa, Le Mans, and Petit Le Mans
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Really? I thought Gil De Ferran retired and last I checked, I haven't seen anything about his team switching to Peugeots.
 
I think Earth meant as in driving for Peugeot, I dunno if that's true or not because he did retire at season's end.
 
TS
I think Earth meant as in driving for Peugeot, I dunno if that's true or not because he did retire at season's end.
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Which is why I find it hard to believe. In fact, I'd like to know where he heard about that.
 
Hun200kmh
Wow ... just watched the video posted above, went to find news about Jan's condition and ... I guess it could be worse. :scared:

http://www.janmagnussen.com/news.asp?NewsID=1256620742


Isn't Bergmeister going to be punished for this? Such a stunt deserves at least a temporary ban from my POV
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Last I heard, both are on probation for the first three races of the year. If anything like this happens during that time period, they will recieve a three race suspension.
 
FoolKiller
I don't know what the official word on this is, but from my point of view Magnussen is equally responsible and Bergmeister could easily argue that he was just trying to recover from an overly aggressive bump and maintain his lead (It would likely be a lie, but he could argue it). I'd also like an angle from the front because it doesn't look like Bergmesiter is even touching him when the actual accident happens, but there is too much dust/smoke to tell. All I know is the last clear image shows about six inches or more between the cars and then Magnussen spins out in front of Bergmesiter.

Magnussen had already been penalized (had to give up his lead) in an earlier lap for an illegal pass and he was obviously willing to really push it.

It is clearly controversial, but this isn't the first time officials turned a blind eye to some questionable behavior. Last time though Bergmeister was the one that got shafted. And that may just be why nothing is being done here.
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It sucks when a ruling doesn't come out fair, but that doesn't mean that a rule should be ignored next time that person is involved. I wonder if it would have turned out if it were someone else. Personally I think he should have let Jan passed since the vette was the faster car. He had secured the championship already, what does the race matter at that point?
 
jmb27
It sucks when a ruling doesn't come out fair, but that doesn't mean that a rule should be ignored next time that person is involved.
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Nor do I think it should.

Personally I think he should have let Jan passed since the vette was the faster car. He had secured the championship already, what does the race matter at that point?
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Money, sponsors, and an even larger lead in the points to use when renegotiating his contract.

Or, he could be an "If you aren't first you're last" kind of guy.
 
Earth
I'm hearing Peugeot has chosen Gil de Ferran to run the 908 for the 2010 season.

Though De Ferran ran the entire 2009 ALMS season, I think Peugeot will probably just have him run 4 races again, Sebring, Spa, Le Mans, and Petit Le Mans
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TS
I think Earth meant as in driving for Peugeot, I dunno if that's true or not because he did retire at season's end.
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That's what I heard as well, he was retiring to concentrate on his IRL team
 
FoolKiller
Nor do I think it should.


Money, sponsors, and an even larger lead in the points to use when renegotiating his contract.

Or, he could be an "If you aren't first you're last" kind of guy.
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I wasn't trying to imply that you thought it was fair, just stating an opinion.

I think he's a "If you aren't first you're last" kind of a guy. The sponsors should be happy with a championship and nobody remembers the point lead that he had, I personally think the point margin is irrelevant. Getting into a boxing match on the track like that would look worse to his sponsors, imagine if he were the one who went into the wall.
 
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Great news for the ALMS

Aston Martin will race their LMP1 cars at The Sebring 12 hours and the Long Beach GP

They must be very serious about Le Mans this time out. Hopefully the new restrictions on the diesels will give them a chance. If they were a bit more reliable at the 24 last year they would have gotten a podium.

No word on Petit Le Mans but I'm hoping.

Source
 
jmb27
That great! Too bad Audi won't be at Sebring.
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They're still making changes to the illegal R15, now the R15+.

Missing Sebring will hurt them at Le Mans.

The 4 908s will be near bullet proof at Le Mans, Aston Martin will be much more quicker and reliable.

Thats not good for Audi one or two mistakes and they could miss out on the podium.

I wonder if Aston Martin will run 3 cars at Le Mans.
 
Yes, they did. But a photo gallery that showed the test showed something more interesting; A Matech-Ford GT GT3 and a Audi R8 LMS! Perhaps they are going in the SCCA World Challenge or as another GTC car in the future....

But anyways, the Official Sebring Winter test starts tomorrow. A total of 28 cars means a record for the test. Probably my favorite car from the photos of the teams preparing their cars is the Black Swan Porche, Black and Green look good.

BSR_022110_1.jpg


Anyways, here is the entrylist.
Link!
 

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