Rolex/Koni at Laguna Seca, and a couple of oddities

MadCat360

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I went down to Laguna Seca on Saturday to talk to some teams about a Koni Challenge ride. Got a few pics:

First I stumbled upon a ZR-1 and a Fiesta on Ducati Island:

ZR-1-Fiesta.jpg


ZR-1-Fiesta02.jpg



Then I walked down to the garages and found Alex Roy's Polizei 144 M5 (the one that went cross-country in under 32 hours). Most of the illegal stuff was removed:

PolizeiM5.jpg



Then I wandered the paddock:


KrohnGarage.jpg


PaddockActivity.jpg


PirelliFactory.jpg


CorvettesGarage.jpg


FR500s.jpg



Then I got some interior shots of the cars:

Ford Racing FR500s (Mustang Challenge):

FR500sInterior.jpg



Turner Motorsports BMW E46 M3 (Koni Challenge):

TurnerE46inside.jpg



TRG Porsche 911 Cup S (Rolex Grand Am):

TRGGT3Interior.jpg



And then I watched the track:


DPTurn2.jpg


KoniGSStartTurn10.jpg


KoniSTStartTurn10.jpg


Turn8-1.jpg


Turn8-2.jpg


Turn8-3.jpg


Turn8-4.jpg


Turn8-5.jpg
 
One of the guys in my Mustang club has built a number of those FR500's that have gone overseas for races.
 
nice pics! one of my fave racetracks in the world. definitely my fave in the US. :)

that corkscrew looks terrible!!! (in a good way)
 
I WANT A CHALLENGE MUSTANG.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3uYauwhsVI[/youtube]
 
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I WANT A CHALLENGE MUSTANG.

Well, one of the guys I was talking to, Peter Parrot (used to run Jackie Stewart and Jack Brabham in F1), can hook you up with one for $130,000 per year. All you need is a Grand Am license.


One of the guys in my Mustang club has built a number of those FR500's that have gone overseas for races.

Yeah, probably the FR500c or the FR500GT4. FR500c is used in Koni Challenge, FR500GT4 is FIA GT4, obviously. The Mustang Challenge car is the FR500s and those are assembled on production lines. One of the very few race cars in the world to be so. The FR500s is about 1m:40s around Laguna.
 
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Watched this on the TV this morning, love Laguna Seca!!

Some great cars there.
 
I want to hear more about the Koni Challenge ride!

Steve

Not even a fizzle. Not too many teams are interested in listening to a 19-year-old with 2 years of competition experience in karts. Some humored me but no one in Koni got too interested.

I was pointed at the MX-5 Cup or Skip Barber instead of trying to go for The Show right out of the gate. The Koni Challenge ST teams want about 100k for a year's ride if I pair up with another amateur, possibly double that to team with a "pro". I can get a good Playboy MX-5 ride for 50 or 60k, or I can go for the Skip Barber regional MX-5 races for about 24k including every Friday test session and licensing and then probably winning that championship and going to a shoot-out with a few other Mazda club racers for a free Playboy ride.

Right now I'm thinking my options for next year are either American Touring Car Championship (60k), Skip Barber MX-5s (24k) or MX-5 Cup (50-60k).

I just hope to high heaven that the business venture my dad and I are putting together works out... otherwise I'll still be in karts and going nowhere fast.
 
christ, how many miles does alex roy put on that thing? I saw the M5 in MASS this past summer, and I know he lives in NYC... and now he's in cali lol

He was there with his Porsche team, I should have found him to ask him.
 
MadCat good luck with getting a ride. I mean I really would love to be able to do that maybe once I get some money haha!
 
MadCat good luck with getting a ride. I mean I really would love to be able to do that maybe once I get some money haha!

Luck helps, but what I need is money, too. If I can approach a team with money in-hand then it's usually a done deal. Seats are pretty easy to get right now. Hell, Compass 360 (the orange Civics) showed up with 4 brand new drivers just for this event. Lots of shuffling around right now. The driver forums for pretty much every series are alight with seats and not a whole bunch of asses to fill them.

The closest cheap thing to The Show, really, is the MX-5 Cup. You can get a decent ride there for about 50k, and you get to hang out with the Playboy grid girls (they're not as hot in person. The Seca girls are cuter). Koni's the cheapest in The Show generally, though you might be able to find a mid-pack World Challenge touring car ride for cheaper (80k???). But the MX-5 cup will get anyone a good fix.
 
@ the first two pictures of the thread. Is it wrong to want the Fiesta more? Because I do.
 
@ the first two pictures of the thread. Is it wrong to want the Fiesta more? Because I do.

Not at all I want the Fiesta badly haha heck if I can get some decent savings from work instead of putting it into my Focus I might just be able to get one when they come out :)
 
Doesn't the cool suit also need some sort of pump for the water? Do they take it out when they do a driver change if say the other one doesn't use it?
 
Doesn't the cool suit also need some sort of pump for the water? Do they take it out when they do a driver change if say the other one doesn't use it?

I dunno, depends on the team. They usually leave it in with a quick-release valve, and there's a pump atop the can. Some teams have the "cooler" system in the back. Some drivers carry the bottle out, sometimes you can catch a glimpse of it in pit stops on TV.

I don't know how some of those guys were driving without a cool suit. 4 layers of nomex in 120 degree cabin heat would not be fun without it... seems like a cheap way to gain a lot of speed to me. Plus it makes you look like a super soldier or something. But those little hoses that cover it are uncomfortable in the hard racing seat.
 
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