I plan to attend my first Grand American Rolex Cup race, the Porsche 250, Sunday (July 31) at Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham AL. This is a very new 2.3 mile course with 80' of elevation change.

http://www.barbermotorsports.com/grandam.html

I expect to see 20-odd nearly equal DP (Daytona Prototype) cars start and lots of lead changes, a far cry from the 5 unequal P1 cars on a typical ALMS grid (i.e., which Audi will win?). This is the only opportunity for southren(sic) US sports car racing fans west of GA to see professional racing this year.

Great idea Steve. You should have a hell of a show ! These Daytona prototypes are having the closest road racing battles outside of DTM and World Touring Cars.

crossle 32f, could you believe that Mont Tremblant race? 4.5 of 6 hours in the wet and three DP cars are banging for the lead in the last half hour!

The Grand Am online rulebook this year specifies approved chassis. The '04 online edition gave detailed specs. I wish I had downloaded it.

Grand American Racing is a subsidiary of NASCAR. The attitudes of racing sanctioning bodies in the US were profoundly affected by the death of Dale Earnhardt/#3. To a huge percentage of race fans of all stripes, he was an icon, a Superman. A good friend and frequent TV race watching companion told me that he never understood Elvis fixation until Dale died. He doesn't watch nearly as much racing now.

Some armchair tech race fans on this forum have said DP cars are ugly. The high/wide/safe rollover structures specified for these tube frame cars dictates their somewhat humbacked shape. Sidepods and rear wings are spec. Suspension/brakes are all steel; mag is not even allowed for trans cases. Engines are production with rpm limiters and/or intake restriction.

All of these cost limitations mean that 4 or 5 DP cars can race for the puchase price of an Audi R8. There are 20 DP cars racing at most events.

Alex Gurney (Dan's son) has the pole for the Grand American Rolex Cup race tomorrow at Birmingham Alabama(!). Christian Fittipaldi starts outside. Talk about new generation...

I've heard of Barber Motorsports, it's open to the public assuming you have the paper, and it's pretty technical, including one turn simply named, "The Bit*h".

Have fun dude!

Another pretty good race yesterday but sadly too many yellows. The 66 team endured another frustration...Good Porsche/BMW battle in GT, settled in the last 3 laps same as the DP class !

Incredible place/track/race/experience!

Barber Motorsports "Park" is not a figure of speech. The place is beautiful. Except for a few crushed stone entry paths, the (irrigated) parking areas would embarass most golf courses this time of year in the Southern US. The compact, folded in layout means the perimeter road is only about 1.5-1.75 miles. Trams (metal roof) circulate every 3-5 minutes.

There are places where you can see 50% of the course. You can sit in wooded spectator areas on rock outcrops! SpeedTV's camera's are in the WRONG places. They see/show the 4 short straights and the infield U-turn, 5a/5b/5c, the slowest, most level point of the track. I never knew what was going on on TV. EVERY turn is up/down/transitioning elevation. They appear to be glass smoothe. If you screw up, it's YOUR fault.

SpeedTV had a cam in line with turn 1 exit/pit exit. 337' of straight climbing 25' transitions to the 2/3 combo, 762' on a 213' radius covering 205 degrees. Turns 2/3 peaks about 30 degrees in, then drops 45 feet to the exit. The camber is relatively favorable, but heavy sprinkle dampening track made for some hairy outside passes by 6 DP cars (fighting for 4th place!) over lapped GT class cars in the last 20 minutes. Good stuff!

The #10 SunTrust Pontiac/Riley of Wayne Taylor & Max Angellelli stalked and caught (through lapped traffic) the #66 Krohn/TRG Pontiac/Riley of Christian Fittipaldi & Jorn Bergmeister in the last 20 minutes. This incentive caused the #66 car to set fastest lap of the race with 8 to go. Alas, they had to splash & go, finishing 1 lap down in 9th, giving the win to the #10 car.

The 2nd, 3rd, & 8th(polesitter) place finishers set their fastest laps with 7 to go. 7th place set his fastest lap on the last lap. The spirit was in the air.

I will be back.