2012 Petit LeMans And Dragon Run, Post 4

This is not a Petit LeMans race report--that would be old news to those primarily concerned with winning and losing.  And TV viewers (well...ESPN3 live stream viewers...) always know more about what's going on in a race than people at the track anyway.  As "everyone" knows, the Rebellion Racing Lola/Toyota had the Prototype field covered and won by three laps.  The Muscle Milk HPD Honda won the championship by completing 70% of race distance.  A Patron/Ultimat Vodka Ferrari 458 Italia won the GT class, with a Corvette and a BMW still on the same lap.  Corvette had already won the championship.

The point of attending a race, for me, is the sights, sounds, and smells.  To crib from Apocalypse Now, "I love the smell of Castrol R in the morning." Saturday morning.  Early.  I vividly remember an SCCA Regional race I went to 45 years ago at Connellsville PA, in which pouring rain gave a Porsche 906 a chance to battle a Ford GT 40 for the lead.  I vividly remember my first CART race at Road America 25 years ago (Mario Andretti's "game, set, match" covering of the field), and my last CART race there 13 years ago (Dario Franchitti's win in the "last of the real IndyCar racers").  I will remember Petit LeMans just as vividly because seeing a race there was on my Bucket List and ALMS GT is the best road racing going these days.

Road Atlanta track map.  Our base was toward the center of the infield near Turns 10A and 10B.  My own viewing was mostly there, with some time spent at Turn 8, and a lot of time at Turns 11 and 12.  Spent some time on Spectator Hill, between Turns 5 and 9.  As a younger man, in an earlier day, I'd have walked the infield from there down to Turn 1.

Assuming that you get the rest of the lap right, this braking zone into Turn 10A is key to a hot time at Road Atlanta.  Note the lines across the course (ignore the one near the top of the hill).  The GT cars were hard on their brakes at the furthest of the 3 lines.  The Prototypes generally used the second one.  The Last Of The Late Brakers were beginning to trail-brake across the closest line.  The Prototypes were truly amazing: they lost 100+ m.p.h. of speed in 200 feet.

A BMW GT demonstrates the right line out of 10A: stay to the inside upon exit so you can nail the apex of 10B.  Road Atlanta is a hard course to drive fast consistently.  It's tempting to crowd the braking zones in Turns 1 and 10A, which blows the lap time for that circuit if you get into them too hot.

The other Rahal-Letterman BMW GT demonstrates the wrong line: too much speed into 10A and ran wide at the exit.  This makes you slow through 10B, and up the hill into 11 and 12.  You don't want to screw up those turns because the downhill at 12 leads onto a straight.  From the exit of 10B you should be flat or nearly so all the way down to the braking zone for Turn 1.

The proper line through 10B.  Not as easy as it looks, especially if you over-drove 10A.

The proper line out of 11 into 12, illustrated by a string of mixed traffic.  In a Prototype, 12 is flat-out and, frankly, terrifying to Pilote.  Your suspension reaches full compression just as you begin the turn-in for the apex of 12.  Mess this up and you will collect some of those green and white tires in the background at a speed north of 150 m.p.h.

The exit of Turn 12 looking toward the braking zone for Turn 1.  If you've done it right, you've been flat-out since the exit of 10B, but plenty busy with steering angle.  Road Atlanta is a very challenging course, with no place to take a breather except, maybe, after Turn 7.  In a fast car, you have 12 chances per lap to mess up; opportunities to lose time are everywhere.