ALMS, Long Beach Grand Prix - Friday Morning

Wet, wet, wet...

Good $#%&*#@ Morning from Southern California. 

After doing what we can to keep In-n-Out Burger in business on Thursday, it’s off to Long Beach for the usual yearly episode of Ground Hogs Day, this time Friday the 13th style.  After opening the media center, thanks to a 6:15am photo meeting, right on cue, the same gentlemen who have asked us every year if we’re on the list come up to us (Martin, John Dagys and myself) asking if we’re on the list.   The usual conversation ensues - the same every year.

Here is how it goes:

“Are you on the list?”

Standard reply number 24 comes right out – in unison.  “We have ALMS Hard Cards”. 

“Those don’t count.  They’re not from Indycar.”

“We know that.  But this is a co-headlined event.”

“Doesn’t matter.  This room is for Indy hard card people.”

“Don’t you remember us?  We’re here every year and you ask us the same question every year.”

“Yes, I remember you.  You sit at the same place every year, but you’re not on the list.  You can’t be in here if you’re not on the list.”  (to the melody of “you can’t have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat…)  He leaves the room to find why we’re not on the list.

Then another of the old guard steps in.  “Are you on the list?”

“Aaarrrggghhh!!!”  Finally, this second gentleman asked us to write our names on the list.  Now, finally, we’re on the list, at least until next year.  (This is not meant to ridicule the fine gentlemen here in the media center.  They have a job assigned to them and they’re doing it.  It’s more about the system.  Oh well…)

As far as on track, the cars went on track at 7:15 and the drizzle started right at the same time.  That soon turned into monsoon like conditions which effectively washed out the the first half of the session. 

Being a street circuit, when it rains, especially hard like it did for awhile, there is just nowhere for the water to go.  Some areas of the track were actually under what appeared to be 2-3 inches of water, drastically altering the racing line for those that did venture out.

From pit lane, it appeared as if we actually had boats racing on track, some cars throwing up almost unlimited hydroplane like rooster-tails.  One that found the conditions rather tricky down the straight was Eric Lux, driving, or maybe piloting the No. 20 Dyson Lola.  One the front straight, he found that the rain and the painted surfaces on the street were not a good combination.  While crossing start/finish, the conditions were bad enough to pitch the Mazda powered machine sideways, which he was fortunate enough (and skilled enough) to recover from before finding a wall.

Alex Job was a proud Papa, watching his new Lotus on track.  He reported that testing has gone well.  The only real problem was a reported interference with the suspension, which was readily addressed.  Alex did report that the hoped for engine up grade was not being utilized here – he hoped to have it ready to race at Laguna next month.

As far as on track, the conditions were absolutely terrible.  CORE circulated on a semi-consistent basis, among others.  One of the unfortunate teams was TRG, which was forced to have their Porsche towed back to the paddock from contact with a wall.  Tim Pappas also found a wall in the last half of the session.  As with TRG, the extent of the damage was unknown.

There were numerous spins on track, the vast majority of which appeared to be harmless.  About 50 minutes into the 2-hour session the rain dissipated and eventually the majority of the  crew put away their fishing gear and got back to the business of getting the cars on track.  One of the many problems the teams had to address was the fogging of the windows, which appeared to be quite bad. 

Car count wise, everybody made it out on.  Was it meaningful for them?  Likely not.  Thankfully most incidents were minor and everybody should be ready to go for qualifying, if indeed it does happen.

Next up on track - drifting in the wet.  Oh joy...