Baltimore Grand Prix

Next week we’ll be receiving our first glimpse of the 2010 ALMS!  Before the beginning of each season, the series schedules an annual testing event.  The two day event will be held Monday, February 22^nd and Tuesday, February 23^rd at Sebring International Raceway – a 3.7 mile 17-turn road course in Florida.

The two day test event will basically offer teams a vital opportunity to break their cars before the season actually begins.  All aspects of a typical race will be challenged.  Drivers will have the chance to showcase their skills in a competitive environment, pit crews will operate as if under the clock, and cars will be put through the rigors of endurance racing.  This is a pretty big event for competitive teams who relish the opportunity to perform under race-like conditions without the pressure of winning or losing.  Teams can determine where they need to make the necessary improvements, adjustments and changes to remain competitive throughout the season.

Additionally, fans will have the opportunity to take a look at some of the new and returning drivers and cars to ALMS.  We should also be able to establish a better perspective on the class changes or rather additions of the challenge classes and how this will affect a race.

As of February 10^th, a record-breaking 27 teams are scheduled to participate in the 2010 Winter Test at Sebring with possibly more entering before the 22^nd.  Scheduled for testing are two P-1 cars, three P-2 cars, eleven GT-2 cars (my favorite!), five LMPC (Le Mans Prototype Challenge) cars for the new prototype challenge class, and six GTC (Grand Touring Challenge) cars for the other new grand touring challenge class.  In all, 10 different manufacturers will be represented.

All classes of cars, in endurance race fashion, will be on the track testing simultaneously simulating an actual race-like environment.  Testing will be from 8:00am to noon and 1:00pm to 5:00pm both Monday and Tuesday.  Make sure you check it out on the SPEED channel; this is what Baltimore Racing Development is hoping to bring to Baltimore!

Jason Schiavone

One of the exciting characteristics of the American Le Mans Series is the type of courses the races take place on.  Of the nine scheduled races in the 2010 ALMS season, eight will be held on road courses and only one will be a street race.  A road course is a purpose-built race track comprised of a series of bends and turns – left, right, U or otherwise, linked by straight-aways in a continuous circuit. Street races, similar to road courses, differentiate in that instead of taking place on a dedicated race track, they take place on daily driven streets that have been temporarily “roped off” to create a race track – think F1 Grand Prix of Monaco, F1 Telefόnica Grand Prix of Europe or the IRL Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg…all street races.

The eight road courses of the 2010 ALMS are at Sebring Raceway in Florida, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in California, Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, Lime Rock Park in Connecticut, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Road America in Wisconsin, Mosport International Raceway in Ontario and Road Atlanta in Georgia.  The only street race on the 2010 schedule is the Long Beach Grand Prix in California.  So…it seems the ALMS could really benefit from an additional street race in the mid-Atlantic region…enter Baltimore Racing Development (BRD).

Expert race course engineer Martyn Thake and BRD have created a world class street venue right through downtown Baltimore!  The race would primarily utilize Pratt, Light, Conway and Russell streets.  The 2.44 mile clockwise course has been designed with 12 strategic turns, technical chicanes, +180mph high speed straight-aways and impressive elevation changes.  One of the most attractive and key elements of this course is its competitive nature.  In other words, some courses though fast and furious, offer little to zero passing opportunity which means cars tend to finish in the order they began – not so exciting.  A primary and successful goal in designing the Baltimore course was to keep the race competitive by providing plenty of passing opportunity areas for drivers.  All of which will make for an aggressive though challenging street course that will appeal to both team and spectator.

American Le Mans Series, GT and Prototype race cars, +180mph, flying down Pratt?….yeah, count me in.

One of the more difficult feats in racing is overcoming an opponent driver.  In endurance sports car racing this can become even more difficult because of the interactions of different classes of cars racing on the course at the same time.  The American Le Mans Series consists of four classes of cars racing all together.

In the racing world there’s something called the “racing line”.  It’s basically the route that will minimize the time around the track.  With multiple classes of cars set up, engineered and geared to promote their strengths, the racing line may become vague and unassuming at best.  Drivers are often faced with the moral dilemma of yielding to the faster car or blocking to maintain their line – sounds funny but traffic can and does become an issue.  Slower cars are striving to keep up with faster cars and faster cars are striving to keep up with even faster cars.

Let’s take a look at the four different classes of cars competing in the American Le Mans Series.  There’s two main categories comprised of Le Mans Prototype (LMP) cars and Grand Touring (GT) cars.  These two groups are divided into two more classes; LMP1, LMP2, GT1 and GT2 for a total of four classes.  The least powerful of the four classes are the GT2 cars which produce, based on production figures and ALMS regulation, between 450 and 500 horsepower and must carry a minimum weight of 2,480lbs.  This is my personal favorite class to watch because we actually see these production-based cars in the streets, even here in Baltimore, on a regular basis; BMW M3, Porsche 911 GT-3 RSR, Ferrari F430, Aston Martin Vantage GT-2, Corvette C6.R, Competition Dodge Viper, Ford GT-R, Panoz Esperante GTLM.

The GT1 cars produce between 600 and 650hp and are required to carry a minimum weight of 2,535lbs.  So they may be slightly heavier than GT2 cars but they produce significantly more power.  In this class you’ll see super cars like the Saleen S7R, Aston Martin DBR9 and Maseratti MC12 to name a few.  They’re pretty cool too.

The Le Mans Prototype 2 cars are pure-bred race cars bearing little resemblance to any production-based car.  They produce between 500 and 550hp but carry a minimum weight of only 1,820lbs.!  Their power to weight ratio is incredible and certainly displayed when they win overall victories.  Porsche, Acura and Lola are three manufacturers represented in this class.

At the top are the Le Mans Prototype 1 cars.  These cars incorporate the highest levels of engineering and innovation with the fewest restrictions.  Much of the technology found in the cars we drive on a daily basis was and is developed under racing conditions and from some of the manufacturers racing in this class.  Audi, Acura, Peugeot and Zytek P1 cars all produce between 600 and 700hp and have a minimum weight, slightly greater than P2 cars, of 1,985lbs.  LMP1 cars sustain speeds in excess of 200mph….These guys are fast!

…counting down the days to season opener 12 hours of Sebring, March 20^th, 2010!

When one thinks of racing the images that come to mind may not necessarily include green initiatives.  We know that cars pollute the environment and so cars that race at high speeds for sport must be even worse…right? Wrong.  Actually green racing, a trend that has been rising in the motor sport industry, does the exact opposite.  Not only does it promote environmentally friendly practices on the racetrack, green racing reduces pollution in the consumer vehicle sector as well.

In fact, the goal of green racing is to use racing competitions to help develop cleaner, more fuel efficient vehicle propulsion systems that will eventually be implemented in consumer vehicles. The green technologies developed for racecars can lead to faster introduction of technologies that reduce greenhouse gases, reduce exhaust pollutants, and increase fuel economy. From a marketing standpoint the large fan base for motor sports could draw attention to these technologies more rapidly, hastening their acceptance in the general market.

Many racing venues have already made the move towards green as several racing series have begun using renewable fuels.  The Indy Racing League has been racing with 100% ethanol fuel since 2007, which means the Baltimore Grand Prix would be a green friendly event. Ethanol burns cleaner and produces better mileage, even though it results in less horsepower in the IRL cars.  In addition to social responsibility, use of ethanol is also motivated by an attempt to make racecars more relevant to general consumer vehicles to increase the fan base.

The good thing about the Green Racing Protocols is that they can be used in any racing series.  The protocols support the development of energy efficient technologies, the reduction of greenhouse gases and auto emissions, and the use of renewable fuels and hybrids.