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Portland International Raceway

05/08/2001

Portland

Wrap Up

What a race! This is what the ALMS has needed for quite a while. The Panoz victory is just what the Doctor ordered to jump-start this series. All weekend, it looked like Audi was actually human. I have hardly ever seen the Audi Joest team step wrongly, but this weekend, I actually saw their cars spin, venture off road, and eventually not win a race. Notice I said not win instead of lose. This was a victory that was wholly deserving for Brabs / Jan, and the whole Panoz Team. It was too bad that Graf had the brake problems late, as who knows, there could have been two Panoz on the podium. Yes, Audi had some problems in the race, but they were actually pushed, for maybe the first time in a while. Can you imagine what would have happened though, if Jan had not realized his mistake in not crossing the finish line, and let the Audi through for the victory?

The relief and satisfaction on David Brabham's face was a joy to behold. Even the Audi teams seemed genuinely happy for the victory of their competitor. Now maybe we can truly have a racing series this season. Just think what it would have been like if Panoz had stuck with the old car all season.

The GTS battle was very interesting early on, but was let down by the black flag for the Saleen. It is really too bad that the Saleen was stopped, as this battle looked to be as good as any. At the time, the smoking, which only appeared to occur when backing out of the throttle, did not affect the performance of the car at all. In a way, we were robbed of another great race within a race, but then we shouldn’t be too greedy. Barring any mechanical problems down the road, look for the GTS battle to remain tough if not intensify, as the 'Vettes will be in it for the remainder of the season. It was nice to see a Viper team back on the podium again, and if the Podium Celebration was held after post race inspection, we would have had more Viper drivers up there, following the DQ of the #4 'Vette. There is now news that there could be up to five Saleens at Petit Le Mans this year, and there looks as if a tire battle could even surface in GTS, as the Dunlop tires seemed to work well on the Saleen for this event. Time will tell...

Word has it that Ron Fellows actually contacted Franz Konrad about the possibility of a ride, when it appeared that Chevrolet was not going to compete in the full season. Sounds like the GTS Championship means quite a bit to this driver. I wonder if this is what finally pushed Chevrolet into making sure that the team was able to run in the rest of the races for this season?

The LMP 675 class battle was not really exciting. The single Barbour car ran well with all three drivers, and their second car will be back at Mosport. Look for some interesting developments down the road as Barbour continue to develop in the Prototype class. When a car arrives at the 675 kg weight limit (witness MG at Le Mans), this class could be very interesting.

While it seems that the verbal sparring is over for now, the battle on the track is as intense as ever in GT. Yes BMW did win this race, which is supposedly a Porsche track, but the battle was very close all day. Unfortunately, of course, only the Alex Job Team is able to challenge BMW. Porsche cannot be used to being out-numbered. On the driving front, it appears that PTG is getting the most out what they have. JJ Lehto appears to be somewhat disinterested in the GT class now. Is he looking towards Prototypes in the future?

Now that some of the whining appears to be over, let me throw some fuel on the smoldering fire. Ever see the bottom of a BMW GT Racecar? I was told that it is a flat bottom car, and couldn’t believe it when I saw the car go through scritineering. There up on the hoist in all its glory, a very smooth, flat bottom, for a streetcar. Further examination shows that there are even NACA ducts in the floor. And do you see an exhaust system dirtying up the airflow under the car? No, of course not. It is actually routed through the interior passenger floor area, complete with heat insulation panels.

Looking under the Porsche looks like pretty much any normal 911 variation. There are some flexible panels, which appear to assist in smoothing out the airflow, but other that that, this looks like a car straight off the production line. A friend, who saw the “street” version of the BMW, noted that it did not run when it was on display at an ELMS event. He said that there was no way that the car would work on the street, as the clearances were way too tight in the engine compartment. Just starting up the motor with rubber insulated engine mounts would have caused binding.

Just to be straight, I am not saying that the BMW is illegal. It meets the rules that are stated for the class (other than the question of a street version). I think that BMW has learned from Porsche how to find loopholes in the rules, and design a car that can drive through them. Remember the Porsche 935-78 Moby Dick? To me, the new BMW appears to be of the same mould. Just keep pushing the envelope... How will Porsche respond? Who else might jump in? Is there a Japanese Manufacturer ready?

As a track, Portland International Raceway will always live in the shadow of fellow West Coast tracks Sears Point and Laguna Seca. That is the nature of the beast, with the track being a City Park. It is actually a nice facility for what it is. What is unfortunate is that the public does not support the event as it should, although estimates of 18 to 20 thousand spectators is not too bad. Ticket prices may have driven some fans away though, as it cost $40 of general admission on Sunday, and another $10 for a paddock pass. We are talking close to CART prices here, and that is for something that does not yet have the public interest that it should have. Living here, I know of more than a few people that were driven off by the high cost of admission for this ALMS Event. When I was at the CART Race here earlier this year, I believe that most of the fans were corporate guests. Maybe we just need the corporate people to step in and hand out the tickets (easier said than done). If you compare the actual walk-in, non-corporate tickets buying numbers, maybe they were the similar. I do hope the ALMS will be able to return in the future to Portland (and Sears Point), but the competition to hold these events appears to be getting very tight.

But is it not just for the fans that the facility falters. As a photographer, this track is truly un-friendly. The people running the Media Room were top notch, but the out in the photo areas it was chaos. I know that the corner workers have a tough job, and I have a great amount of respect for them, but whoever is in command runs the event like it was a local SCCA event. I was moved out of usual photo places more times than I can remember this weekend. I was also locked in the “circuit” as the corner workers would routinely lock and unlock gates in a random fashion. I believe that it comes down to, as mentioned in the Photo Meeting, a lack of security people. These things need to be addressed before this track will be able to compete with Sears Point and Laguna Seca, not to mention Seattle International Raceway - if the rumored improvements come along down the road.

All in all though, it was a great weekend, in which it may be historically remembered as when the ALMS made another large step in its hopefully long future. Numbers of cars may not be great, but the quality and competition must be there. This weekend we saw the best in the world of sportscars go at it, and it was racing at its best. Too much for one guy?