2006 Houston GP - Champ car/Am. LeMans/Formula Atl/Renlt

[sameerrao]

I had a blast this weekend!!! :smilecolors:

The three day event had the following classes of races:
- American Lemans (ALMS) with four classes of cars: 2 prototype classes (LMP1 and LMP2) and two GT classes (GT1 and GT2)
- Champ Cars
- Formula Atlantic
- Formula Renault

This was the first time the event was held adjacent to the Reliant football stadium where a bumpy 1.7 mile temporary circuit was carved out. The cars in all classes seemed to be catching a lot of air on the numerous bumps.

It was a treat to see all the ALMS drivers - there were quite a few LeMans winners among them in various classes. ALMS is very cool in that the cars are very visible in the paddock, the drivers are very accessible - easy to get autographs and a quick chat with the drivers. I was talking to Allan McNish for a few minutes about the huge bumps and how his car was sparking a lot on a couple turns. He joked that he was just trying to lighten the Audi. BTW - they brought the old stager R8 and not the R10 out here. The Audi was perhaps the quietest car in the paddock compared to the LOUD Panoz, Lola and Corvette C6R.

On the Champcar side, it was fantastic to see the guys in action - there are a lot of talented drivers here like Sebastien Bourdais, Paul Tracy, da Matta (who seemed to have a rotten weekend here). The cars were seeing a lot of air on the bumps and on the TV we could see that the drivers were constantly correcting for the bumps. I was talking to Justin Wilson's spotter who stood next to me while I was taking pictures. He was saying that the car was bouncing so much that the drivers were more or less braking on instinct - cant see the typical braking points as on other circuits due to the vibrations.

It was clear to see that Bourdais is phenomenally talented. He posted the fastest time in virtually every session and won the race in the end despite staring 5th on the grid due to a technical issue - the car was deemed too light (by 3 lbs) and his fastest time was taken away. Paul Tracy was really on it - on Friday when most of the other drivers were pussy footing it to find the line and learn the bumps he was zipping around at top speed, correcting the car's slides with finesse.

One of the guys at the Ferrari club lent me a VIP pass which gave access to the pits and I could see the cars up close. Some of my pics there are not too clear because I forgot how to force the flash on always - it was around 8pm with darkness setting in. I am so angry with myself - I should have figured that out before. :x

The Formula Atlantics and Renault were good for viewer amusement - the young drivers seemed to be disciples of Takuma Sato - lots of wheel banging and spins. Don't ask me about these cars - I don't know or don't care.

BTW if you are wondering why some of the pics are grainy - its because they were taken at 9-10pm at night.

Here are the pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/speedy_sam

There are 7 sub-albums inside it. Enjoy.

Some preview shots:
ALMS

Champ Car


Enjoy...