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...

[Manik890]

Amazing Photos!!!!!! :shock:

[MidEngine4Life]

That DBR9 is yummy

[sameerrao]

Thanks

[RC45]

Looks good. Great photos. I would have liked to have made it to this one.

And after the city spent ten's of millions of tax payer dollars to resurface the roads and build that city circuit downtown around the George R Brown, I wonder what the real political reason is that they got banished to the Reliant Center for the return of a Houston race?

[dutchmasterflex]

Real nice pics! You seem to be mastering the D50 very quickly and quite well I might add..

Hopefully I can atleast get to an IRL race this summer!

[sameerrao]

Originally Posted by RC45 Looks good. Great photos. I would have liked to have made it to this one. And after the city spent ten's of millions of tax payer dollars to resurface the roads and build that city circuit downtown around the George R Brown, I wonder what the real political reason is that they got banished to the Reliant Center for the return of a Houston race?

Dunno about that one - it was before my time in Houston. Here there was adequate room for parking and grandstands and the access to the freeway is good. Dunno if these were issues when the downtown races were held?

Damn Politicians!!

Originally Posted by dutchmasterflex Real nice pics! You seem to be mastering the D50 very quickly and quite well I might add.. Hopefully I can atleast get to an IRL race this summer!

Thanks

Well I still goofed up on the flash - forgot how to force it ops: But I am pretty happy with pics overall.

All the circuit pictures except maybe one or two were taken with the Sigma F2.8 lens which performed like a champ. It did very well at night and low light conditions. Sigma lenses are looked down upon by the pros like TT and Martijn but it appears damn good for a rank amateur like me. Having used it under race conditions though I think Image Stabilization would have been a help for sure but that costs mega money.

Go for the IRL race - it should be fun. I think I want to do it once as well. Basically I want to attend one race of each of premier racing event.

[Johns]

WOW..those are some hot lookin girls! nice job on the pics

[666fast]

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.

The R10's are being prepared for LeMans. They'll be back full time in th ALMS afterwards. Which is good, I'll get to see them at Road America then.
The first time I saw the R8's, I was amazed at how quiet they are. If you are close enough to the track, you can actually hear it cutting through the air.

I'm guessing you couldn't actually go into the paddock since it was a street race. Everytime I saw them at Road America you could walk right into the paddock.

[sameerrao]

Originally Posted by 666fast 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. The R10's are being prepared for LeMans. They'll be back full time in th ALMS afterwards. Which is good, I'll get to see them at Road America then. The first time I saw the R8's, I was amazed at how quiet they are. If you are close enough to the track, you can actually hear it cutting through the air. I'm guessing you couldn't actually go into the paddock since it was a street race. Everytime I saw them at Road America you could walk right into the paddock.

I was all over the ALMS paddock - there is a whole photo album dedicated to it in the link I put up in post #1

[666fast]

Originally Posted by sameerrao Originally Posted by 666fast 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. The R10's are being prepared for LeMans. They'll be back full time in th ALMS afterwards. Which is good, I'll get to see them at Road America then. The first time I saw the R8's, I was amazed at how quiet they are. If you are close enough to the track, you can actually hear it cutting through the air. I'm guessing you couldn't actually go into the paddock since it was a street race. Everytime I saw them at Road America you could walk right into the paddock. I was all over the ALMS paddock - there is a whole photo album dedicated to it in the link I put up in post #1

I didn't look at them! I just went by what you said in your post, it seemed like you meant you couldonly look into it. My bad!

[Schwalbe]

Thanks a lot sameerrao for your great report from the Houston GP racing Weekend and for your awesome ALMS pictures, I love so much the "old" Audi R8 and the "new" Porsche RS Spyder.

[Pehtren]

Nice report, and great pics, i like this pic:



^^its really great, fantastic....the cars moving...too bad that you didnt captured whole cars :roll:

Thanks for the pics sameerrao

[sameerrao]

Originally Posted by dani_d_mas Thanks for the pics Sameer!! Very nice coverage of the Huston GP! How did the catalan Oriol Servia perform in the CART race??

He was hit by Alex Tagliani who inexplicably turned on him when they were side by side heading to a chicane. Oriol's car flew up about 5 feet in the air and tagged the wall. Nothing happened to him though. Seem like a boneheaded move on Tag's part.

Originally Posted by dani_d_mas The "old" R8 is already an alltime classic... an icon just like the 956/962 I love it! And the new RS Spyder... damn - that thing is FAST!! fighting against bigger and more powerful cars from the upper class... and leaving them behind!

I agree. I think the R8 has 50+ victories to its name - so it perhaps the greatest prototype racers of all-time from a results standpoint. The 956/962s are also one of my favorites. Hopefully I will see one in the flesh soon.

The impressive thing about the R8 in Houston was that it was built at a time when traction control was not allowed. I believe the R10 has traction control now. On a bumpy circuit like Houston with lots of low to medium corners, traction control would have been a blessing from heaven. Yet despite not having it the Audi won. To be fair though, the RS Spiders were the fastest cars there and if they hadnt run into problems, they would have clinched the win