Simon Gregg Wins First Trans Am Race - Bob Stretch Answers Back In TA2

Lime Rock Park Fans Treated To Classic Trans Am Memorial Day Weekend Action

Great weather, great fans and an equally great Trans Am race took place at the annual Memorial Day Weekend at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut.  But no one was celebrating more than Trans Am veteran driver, Simon Gregg driving the No. 59 Derhaag prepared Gregg Motorsport Corvette.

Enjoying is first win in 99 starts, Gregg paid tribute to his team, his family and expressed an emotional personal satisfaction in adding to the racing heritage of his family name. Simon is the son the late, great, Peter Gregg. The senior Gregg himself a winner of 22 Trans Am events.

“This feels really good,” said Simon. “I feel proud for the team, I’m proud for myself and I’m proud for the Gregg family name.”

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Test Drive: Lexus IS-F

With stringent CAFE regulations forcing auto manufacturers to produce cars that are more efficient and deliver greater fuel economy, sport sedans powered by normally aspirated V8 engines are being shown the door in favor of smaller displacement turbocharged engines. You’re starting to run out of choices if you really want a stonking four-door sports sedan with a naturally aspirated V8, but there are a couple of them still around, including the Lexus IS-F.

Lexus is not exactly the brand that comes first to mind when you think sports sedan, but there areplenty of engineers at Toyota that are performance-minded enthusiasts and enjoy nothing better than taking the fight to BMW, Mercedes and Audi in the premium sports sedan market. The IS-F is largely the creation of engineer Yukihiko Yaguchi, a 30-year Toyota veteran who was involved in the creation of the first two generations of the Lexus LS sedan, as well as the Toyota Supra and the first Lexus GS sedan. Yaguchi created his own small team to develop and build the IS-F, which put in plenty of testing and development time at tracks like the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Circuit Paul Ricard, Laguna Seca and its home track, Fuji Speedway.

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Doug Peterson And Pete Halsmer Grab Trans Am Season Opening Victories At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

Canadian racing fans got a taste of true ground pounding thunder this weekend as America’s Road Racing Series, Trans Am, set the fastest times of the Victoria Day Speedfest Weekend. When the dust had settled, it was the 800HP Trans Am cars that rocked the house.

In the Trans Am class it was three Corvettes that jumped out early. Defending Champion Tony Ave in the number 4 Lamers Racing Corvette took the lead. Teammate Doug Peterson in the number 87 3Dimensional.com Corvette was second and last year’s Road Atlanta winner, Amy Ruman, had her new number 23 McNichols Corvette in hot pursuit running third.

On lap 13 Blaise Csida in the 07 Gateway Racing Corvette got around Ruman to take over third position. Just one lap later, Peterson took over the lead as Ave suffered a flat on his Corvette’s left rear. Tony managed to slowly nurse the car back to the pits.

Meanwhile on lap 15, Csida came into the pits with mechanical problems of his own. By lap 18 the running order was Peterson, Simon Gregg in the 59 Gregg Motorsports Corvette and Ian Patterson driving his beautifully turned out number 74 Canadian Heros Corvette.

Problems continued to plague Tony Ave. After his pit stop to replace the tire, he pulled the car off course in turn 6.

By lap 23 Patterson had gotten around Gregg to take over second while both drivers continued their pursuit of Peterson. And in a surprise performance, Trans Am rookie, Andrew Romocki had now moved his number 29 Gateway Racing Mustang into 4th. David “DJ” Jans in the number 70 World Information Systems Mustang rounded out the top five.

On lap 32 a double yellow was thrown due to an off course issue. Ultimately it was established that a large non-race related fire inside the course require outside access to the track. The checkered flag was thrown on lap 34 giving Peterson his first Trans Am win.

“When Tony’s tire finally went down,” said Peterson after the race. “I saw him go in deep into three… smoke.. and I thought gosh, there must be something wrong.. He obviously had a problem and I just drove on by then kept looking in my mirror to see who was following me. It’s unfortunate for Tony, but I’m going to take the W.”

In Trans Am 2 it was Bob Stretch in the number 98 Fix Rim Mobile Wheel Repair Camaro taking the early lead. Stretch would soon find out this would be no Sunday drive. Hot on the trail of Bob’s Camaro was Pete Halsmer in the number 12 Cteck Chargers Camaro followed by his teammate Mike Miller in the number 11 Cteck Chargers Camaro.

On lap 3 the 65 Wheels America Racing Camaro of Tom Sheehan got side-by-side with the 11 car of Mike Miller. The two bumped doors leaving Miller sliding driver’s left and into the tire wall. Sheehan spun and stalled. Miller was uninjured but the car was done for the day. Sheehan made an effort to continue, but retired later in the race with a broken drive shaft.

By midway through the shortened race, Halsmer began pressuring Stretch and eventually wore him down making the pass before the race went yellow. Mike Wilson ran third in the number 8 Monte Carlo and Kurt Roerhig driving the number 04 Roerhig Enders Suspension Camaro running fourth. Mel Shaw driving the number 53 Wheels America Racing Camaro ran in 5th.

This was Halmser’s first race marking his return to Trans Am and his first race and first win in the Trans Am 2 class.

“We’re really pleased,” said Halmser. “This is the first race for both of these cars and Mike Miller’s racing operation.”

“It (the win) was really just a matter who managed their tires the best,” added Pete. “I could see his (Stretch} tires were going off quicker than mine. I think that was always one of my strengths in Trans Am in the past.”

Trans Am returns to American soil to celebrate Memorial Day in the most traditional of ways – at Lime Rock Park.  In a new twist the race will be held Saturday, May 26.

2012 Race-a-Palooza at Long Beach

Maybe I’m grouchy… maybe I’m a curmudgeon. Regardless, I am a fan of the American Le Mans Series. At last count I believe I’ve attended over 100 consecutive American Le Mans Series events… including the winter tests. After last week’s gathering at Long Beach, I wish my event count was 99.

Sorry Mr. Atherton. You know I’m a HUGE ALMS supporter. But Long Beach is not special. It’s a side show and the American Le Mans Series gets teated like a second class citizen. And frankly, why Indy Car (NASCAR’s ugly step sister) is the headliner is beyond me.

Sure, I understand the SoCal market attraction. But at what cost? We lower the standard of our product, our racing format, we lower the standard of our fan’s access and we lower the standard of the on-track show. In short, we lower our standards.

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A Club for Speed

As driving enthusiasts, it’s a safe assumption that many of us have similar daydreams when it comes to our automotive passions. We may dream that we someday have enough skill to make it as a driver in a pro racing series, or find a classic Ferrari in good shape sitting in a barn with an owner that would be happy to get rid of it for $500. Another could be the dream of owning a great sports car that we could take to the track whenever we feel like it. Thanks to the Monticello Motor Club, that last dream can be reality for well-heeled car enthusiasts in the New York metropolitan area. 

Private motorsport and track-day facilities have been cropping up over the last few years as tracks look to expand their business opportunities beyond pro racing or renting to public track-day organizations. Circuits such as Lime Rock Park, VIR and New Jersey Motorsports Park all offer private clubs that give members special track access and privileges that go beyond what you can get through local club chapters or track-day organizations. Problem is, the private clubs at these tracks have to work around the schedules for pro racing and track rentals. Monticello Motor Club (MMC) is one of the relatively few private clubs where members can show up and drive nearly any time they want, except when it’s closed in the winter.  

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The smell of politics wafts over Sebring.

SEE THE FULL GALLERYThe closing lap of this year’s 60^th running of the Sebring 12 Hours was a showcase for some of the most exciting wheel to wheel racing ever seen on our shores. Sure, Audi’s legendary trio of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen, and Dindo Capello had already wrapped up the overall and LMP1 win with time to spare and little competition outside of their Joest Racing teammates, but the battle in GT was once again the knock-down street brawl we’ve come to expect from the production-based class.

So, who won?

The answer to that would seem to depend on where you’re counting from, how you score it, and possibly where you watched the race. The No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola B12/66-Mazda, which finished outside the top 3 overall, still took the ALMS P1 win. The American Le Mans Series GT win went to Joey Hand, piloting the No. 155 BMW Team RLL E92 M3, with the No. 03 Corvette Racing C6-ZR1 some six seconds back, followed by Olivier Beretta’s No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia in third. At least, that’s what we saw on our web browsers or internet-connected TVs, right?

While the BMW team got the trophy for the ALMS GT win, top honors for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) went to Beretta, in a guest drive with the AF Corse team in LMGTE Pro class. So, third place overall can still be considered a win. If you’re feeling a bit lost in the esses, you’re not alone.

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Test Drive: A Pair of Sporty SUV’s

Yea, we know. The name of this website is Sports Car Insider, and these two vehicles are certainly not sports cars. They’re not even sporty cars. Don’t worry – we’ll soon get back to reviewing cars that are at home on a track, but we also know that many of you own an SUV (or a Crossover, whatever you want to call it) as a daily driver or as something to get you through the winter while your sports car is in the garage. I live in northern New Jersey and keep the fast cars off my schedule until at least April, so thought it would be fun to test a couple of the sportier SUV’s from a couple of manufacturers that are involved in road racing. We lined up one model from Germany, the Audi Q5, and one from the USA, the Cadillac SRX. The original idea was to see how good these models are in the snow, but we had one of the mildest winters ever (thank you global warming) with almost no snow at all, so that gave us more of a chance to see if these models are any fun on roads typically reserved for sports cars. First up, the Audi Q5.

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Enduring Appeal

When an overall Le Mans winner, Sebring class winner and double FIA GT champion tells a series organiser “don’t change a thing” about their championship, the series organiser in question had better listen. That’s exactly the message Monaco man Stéphane Ortelli had for the SRO Motorsports Group, organisers of the Blancpain Endurance Series, at the final round of the series’ inaugural season last September.

Unlike Stephane Ratel’s other current venture, the FIA GT1 World Championship, the Blancpain Endurance Series doesn’t aim for manufacturer-blessed teams, international TV deals and a high public profile. Rather, it was created with the competitor in mind. Wealthy European gentleman racers told SRO that they wanted an endurance series, and so SRO obliged, returning to a format of three-hour races on high-profile Grand Prix tracks that the FIA GT championship had gradually moved away from. A driver categorisation system ensures almost everyone has something to shoot for, with a GT3 Pro Cup on offer for all-pro driver pairings, a GT3 Pro-Am Cup for gentleman/professional partnerships and a GT3 Citation cup for all-amateur line-ups. GT4 machinery and ‘Supersport’ cars such as the Lotus 2-11 are also catered for, although there were no entries in the latter category at Silverstone.

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