COVERAGE> ALMS Last Lap At Laguna Seca
Racing today has become about closeness. Photo finishes, improved safety and lowered operating costs have made many sanctioning bodies look to spec racing, where all the cars are the same and the contest then becomes a driver vs. driver battle.
The major casualty in these forms of racing (ie: IndyCar, NASCAR, etc.) has been truth in engineering and innovation. There is not much you can do to innovate without breaking the rules - and being hung out to dry for it.
When the American LeMans Series (ALMS) came to the Monterey Coast at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, this theory was thrown to the dogs as multiple chassis, motor, and tire combinations had no hindrance on the level of competition. The four hour enduro proved to be an absolute slugfest. It looked far more like a 20 mile sprint as it proved one of the most closely contested, nail biting, bump-and-rub fests of sports cars and prototypes lapping the twisty, hilly 2.238 mile circuit in 1:13.948 while making insane 10,000 rpm noises. Read more...
The major casualty in these forms of racing (ie: IndyCar, NASCAR, etc.) has been truth in engineering and innovation. There is not much you can do to innovate without breaking the rules - and being hung out to dry for it.
When the American LeMans Series (ALMS) came to the Monterey Coast at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, this theory was thrown to the dogs as multiple chassis, motor, and tire combinations had no hindrance on the level of competition. The four hour enduro proved to be an absolute slugfest. It looked far more like a 20 mile sprint as it proved one of the most closely contested, nail biting, bump-and-rub fests of sports cars and prototypes lapping the twisty, hilly 2.238 mile circuit in 1:13.948 while making insane 10,000 rpm noises. Read more...
GALLERY> Lunch With A Mazda 787 LeMans Racer
The past few days has been an incredibly hectic for the MotorMavens Crew! Those who have been following our adventures live via the @MOTORMAVENS Instagram and Twitter will already know that we were in San Francisco for the past few days, but returned to sunny Southern California yesterday morning, just in time to meet a particular Mazda 787 Le Mans car at the annual Mazdaspeed Motorsports luncheon.
This year's luncheon was held at a venue that we would be visiting for the very first time - the Crevier Classic Cars Collection in Orange County. While there were a ton of rare and expensive cars already on display at the Crevier Museum, Mazda brought some very interesting vehicles out from their own collection of historic cars... a vintage Mazda Cosmo, the Car&Driver Mazda RX2, and the belle of the ball - one of the three Mazda 787 race cars that competed in the 1991 Le Mans 24H, where Mazda became the first (and only) Japanese car company to win 1st Place at the world's most famous endurance race. Read more...
This year's luncheon was held at a venue that we would be visiting for the very first time - the Crevier Classic Cars Collection in Orange County. While there were a ton of rare and expensive cars already on display at the Crevier Museum, Mazda brought some very interesting vehicles out from their own collection of historic cars... a vintage Mazda Cosmo, the Car&Driver Mazda RX2, and the belle of the ball - one of the three Mazda 787 race cars that competed in the 1991 Le Mans 24H, where Mazda became the first (and only) Japanese car company to win 1st Place at the world's most famous endurance race. Read more...
