VIR

Drove up to Virginia International Raceway for the American Le Mans Series race yesterday. Previously, the big race of the year had been a Grand Am event. Grand Am and AMS are combining in 2014. Not sure how the various prototypes will be sorted out, but hopefully
it'll be with the fans in mind. Nice field of 30 cars for yesterday's race although that was spread over 5 classes. The Vettes were the loudest and won the GT class.

A pleasant laid back afternoon passed effortlessly by on the hillsides while on the track the passing was hot and contested.

Before the race started the public was invited out on the grid to mingle with the race cars and race teams.


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cameras were everywhere

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pit row

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The 6 was the eventual overall winner by 3 laps.
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looks like fun!

Looks like a great day for a race. Is the general public allowed access to the cars and drivers? Or do you have special credentials?

Beautiful pics and excellent TR. :2thumbs: Thanks for sharing.

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Originally Posted by Sandstone Addiction

Looks like a great day for a race. Is the general public allowed access to the cars and drivers? Or do you have special credentials?

Beautiful pics and excellent TR. :2thumbs: Thanks for sharing.

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Been to three previous races at VIR. No paddock pass required. General admission gets you full access. This race; however, proved unusual in that an hour before the start at 1:30 pm the track announcer invited everyone out onto the grid to see all the cars and converse with the drivers and crew. And we all stayed out taking photos of the cars, the folks in the race uniforms, and occasionally ourselves standing next to a lovely model promoting tequila or whatever, just passing the time of day; and just minutes before the 2:30 pm start, we left the grid and soon after the cars and drivers calmly departed on their pace lap. And the roaring, banging, and paint trading began shortly thereafter.

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That is so cool, that's one of the reasons I enjoy NHRA races so much--it adds so much to the experience to see the teams and cars up close.

Made it back out to VIR Sunday for the TUDOR sports car race. One innovation I as a casual fan liked: the cars all came equipped with an easily viewable electronic square that lit up with the place/position number of the car in its class at that point on the race track.

It's easy to keep track of a racer's position while at home watching tv, but particularly while at a road course figuring out who's racing for position can be challenging. This innovation made it easy. Ol' Hawk 73 was already lagging behind in 14th position when he went off course:



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