OK, I take back my quip about British cars putting down oil.
They ain't go nuthin' on the amount of oil a GT1 car puts down when it blow!!!
I dont have much info on the IT races, since I spent a lot of time between sessions cleaning all the oil of my car!
But here's something you should know:
After racing IT7 for five years and moving to B Prepared, I can tell you that the q
uality of drivers in the IT groups is far superior to that in the Big-Bore classes.
In all my years of racing, I never had a special drivers meeting for the IT class where the SOM told us he was going to void the results of all the classes in group if the drivers continued to drive as poorly as they had been.
Well, that's what he told 'us' on Sunday before our last race.
Before I get to the last race of the weekend, let's back up to practice.
15 minute session on the Sebring short course. About half way through the session, a GT1 Camaro passed me coming out of the carousel. Just before the walk-over bridge, he puts out a big plume of smoke and starts to slow. As I come up behind him, my car gets totally covered with oil from his car. (I think he blew an oil line).
Other than the oil-down, practice was ok.
Qualifying:
What a joke.
I go out on my out lap. The SAME GT1 CAMARO passes me in the same place and blows up again!!!!!!
He puts down GALLONS of oil on the straight and more in the safety pin, where he spins out.
I pass his stalled car and go to start my first lap. As I enter turn 7, the caution flag is being franticly waved. A GT1 Monte Carlo has hit the oil and has gone head-first into the tires/guardrail on drivers-right at the walk-over bridge. The GT1 Camaro is still sideways in the the safety pin, and the session is black-flagged before I finish a lap. I was the first car to take the black flag and pulled into pit lane. (the entrance to pit lane is just past start-finish) They kept us on pit lane for 5 minutes, then told us the session was over.
SAARC race: (30 minutes)
They put me in 30th place on the grid (out of 40).
How they could of determined where to grid the cars, I don't know. The field was really jumbled up. Lots of fast cars were at the back of the field. The did see fit to put another BP car directly in-front of me. A '93 Mustang coupe owned and driven by Al Wicht. Neat car. BIG wing on the back!
Al also has a 98 Camaro that he is going to run at the World-Challange race at Sebring. He says it is fast enough to get the pole. (for the year 2001

) Look for him on Speed TV. He's a nice guy.
The race. A lot of fast cars behind me made the first few laps well, intense. I got by Al at turn two. A C5 Corvette blew on the first lap in the braking zone for the safety pin and oiled down the track pretty good.
Al passed me back after a couple of laps and a AS Mustang got between us. However, I don't think a lap went by were there wasn't a local yellow somewhere on the track.
I think about the middle 10 minutes of the race were under full course caution. Several cars were parked in 'impact' areas and needed to be removed. Also, while under caution, Al was given a mechanical black-flag because his tailpipe came loose and was dragging on the ground.
It was all the "local' yellow's that cause problems for the 'faster' drivers apparently.
The SOM said so many cars were passing under the yellow that he was going to penalize the whole group. (if I recall correctly, he gave a estimate of 13 to 15 passes under the yellow)
And yes, at least one GT1 or SPO car did pass me under one of the yellow's.
I ended up in second in BP. (there were only 3 BP cars) The only time I saw the lead BP car. (A C5 vette) was when he lapped me!
It was before the afternoon race,
while on the grid, the SOM pulled all the drivers from their cars and read them the riot act.
I didn't witness any passing under the yellow during the 8 lap regional race. However, the GT1/SPO cars still weren't well behaved. On the forth lap a GT1 Vette and a Monte Carlo got together in the carousel. The Corvette was able to continue and the Monte Carlo was
sideways in the middle of the track and could not re-fire.
THEY LEFT HIM THERE FOR THE REST OF THE RACE!!
The just put out a
local yellow and everyone had to squeeze by him for the final 3 laps!!!
My guess is they were trying to send all the drivers a message by leaving him there.
You guys were a lot better to race with.