General Chat
Q:
This is for all my Car Talk brothers that dont frequent Z32 tech... I thought some of you might appreciate these photos.
Yesterday I went down to meet Zcar.com member JT240Z and his wife at Road Atlanta for the 2006 Petit Lemans. If you all aren’t familiar with the Petit Lemans or road racing in general - this is a great place to see a race, and learn alot about endurance racing. This is a race with some of the fastest most durable cars in the world that run over 200 MPH for 1000 miles or 10 hours, whichever comes first. (Its almost always is the mileage)
Just as good as the racing were the fans - specifically - the fans' cars! There were thousands of people at this race and more cool cars assembled together than you could image. Enjoy the pics!
Start your engines!
Check out this video of the big growling 7 liter Corvette being chased by an M3 with the LMP2 Pack getting ready to lap them and finally the Audi R10 diesel TT joining in.
Here is a short video clip of the Audi making a fast pass:
This race is awesome cause anyone can go right down into the pits and watch all the action first-hand. For an endurance race, it’s amazing to see drivers hop out after a 2-hour mind-frazzling ride and take a nap! Only to get back behind the wheel later on in the race. The pits were exciting!
The Mazda rotary in the pits:
Cant race at night w/o lights - this one had a headlight problem
Where else do you see pit crews replace AN ENGINE in a pit stop?! HAH
Michelin did all the tires for the day. The quality of their work was much in debate..
Because we saw these shredding off of wheels several times on different cars through the day. Oops! (yup - that’s a tire that separated from a wheel. again)
There were all kinds of cars. Panoz had a mini museum set up. Here is a wild Panoz.
And of course the Porsche and Vette paddocks were full, but it was the snooty Ferrari owners that would allow us to get close to their precious cars. Bah!
After 6 hours of racing, we decided to head up to the hill near turn 5 where JT and his wonderful wife Rita had a luxury RV setup with Satellite TV and a Grill! JT hooked up all of us with mouth watering steak and baked potatoes (and some strange beer that packed a punch!)
Man - you are so close to the cars here.. and they are FLYING!
This 7 liter vette pushed hard all day fighting with the Aston Martins
Here is a short video that shows you the hard braking. Watch the rotors glow!
All this from the comfort of "Command Central"
Looks like its time for some steak!
The flashes have to be annoying to the drivers after racing in the triple digits for 9+ hours.
Well after a long and fun day - Chuck and his buddy headed out to their hotel and I pitched my tent and Z1 snagged a couch in the RV. We were pooped. Many thank to JT and his wife for being such excellent hosts - and thanks to David and Chuck and his bud who came down to see it too. Hopefully we can get even more Zcar.com folks to join us next year. It was a blast!
Hope you enjoyed the pics.
...
A:
man! i passed up the race!!
a friend of mine, Nate, (owns my 300ZXT) went with his mom---
i should have gone :-/
==============================================
High Performance NA L28 engine, Performance Suspension, Full Interior, 2500lbs, and room for 3 HOT girls in the car!
shift_2+2
13.9 @102.7 on 205mm street tires and 110 octane :-)
A:
great post Zazu! thx for all the pics and vids.
1978 280Z Turbo MS
1981 280ZXT - scrapyard
A:
WOW! Small world. I was in the green tent, 2 tents up from you guys and did not know who you were. MOF, I was chatting with JT and his wife on Wed when he was "securing" his tent and then again when we were checking out the old-school hybrid Mini down by turn 6.
Great weekend of racing.
Scottie
71 240Z/GN Power/Corvette IRS
10.08 @ 134.44, 1.36 60'
A:
lol @ "securing" his tent. That sucker wasn't going anywhere! He says he eventually hopes to have a row of anchors installed.
Which green tent?
-----
Pete1978z: "It's not that I think stupidity should be punishable by death, I just think we should take the warning labels off of everything and let the problem take care of itself."
Post Edited (Oct 1, 8:30pm)
A:
nice pics...thanks
---------------------
03 CS Touring
VIN #189
A:
Next to the big red tent. That's my leg with the blue jeans, white socks and black sneakers.
Scottie
71 240Z/GN Power/Corvette IRS
10.08 @ 134.44, 1.36 60'
A:
Haha, SO close! Would've been great to meet the famed GN-powered Z owner!
There's always next year, right?
-----
Pete1978z: "It's not that I think stupidity should be punishable by death, I just think we should take the warning labels off of everything and let the problem take care of itself."