If there was ever any doubt as to just how great it can be to live in southern California, the fact that once a year we are graced with an event the likes of the Long Beach Grand Prix just, well... lets just say you're probably missing out if you don't get to go.
This years event can be seen as having some greater importance than normal. Me not even being in my mid-twenties, I have only known open wheeled racing in the US to be divided. Tony George and the Indy cars on one side, racing mostly on the ovals, and CART, a series that included as many right turns as left.
The imminent reunification of both means that what the Long Beach Grand Prix has become through the years will be gone in one fell swoop. While there's no denying that reunification of both is what is best for the two series, really for American open wheeled racing in general, it will loose some of its current magic.
Standing in the pits of KV racing (they were the only team with a timing and scoring screen facing outwards from their elevated booth for all to see) rubbing shoulders with mechanics and other notables, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells, it seemed a shame that it would all be changing.
Their cars are pretty things. Unlike the low slung, grounded look of the made-for-ovals Indy cars, or the proboscis sporting, origami-like intricacy of a modern F1 car, the Champ cars look clean and lithe. High nosed and winged, looking sleek without the large top mounted ram air scoop since the cars aren't naturally aspirated, the cars seem more of the heyday of open wheeled racing around the world than its techno driven present. And there is no greater sight than to see them dancing between the concrete en mass, vying for position.
And as bad as little sponsorship is for team owners and racers, it too proves a definite plus for the series in my. Namely in the looks of the cars. They are blessed with beautiful liveries devoid of excess badging.
They're driver's cars too, obviously malleable at the limit, sliding and gripping; not nearly as affected by other forces like dirty air as the cars of other race series. It became obvious though the weekend that Graham Rahal will definitely be doing justice to his name in his career.
The sound will be missed as well. The final ties to legendary Cosworth DFV will be gone when the series adopts the Honda power plants of Indy. A shame too, no longer will fans be able to hear the whoosh, whoosh and eerie rumble of a beast of a turbo motor zinging off the concrete at Long Beach. As interesting as the shrill, mechanical wail of a naturally aspirated motor is, it simply does not convey the effortless, wells of power that these Cosworths posses; and I have no doubts, especially after speaking with one of the team principles, that the Indy cars simply will not be as fast as the current cars.
For all of the professional nature of the series as well, the down to earth nature of the drivers, teams, team owners, and everyone involved, that they'd see nothing wrong with allowing a nobody like myself to rub elbows with them,and furthermore converse with them, is a trait I hope transfers over to the new series.
Kudos then to Australia's Will Power (best name for a driver ever) for placing his name upon the short list of men who were able to conquer the streets of Long Beach.
Long Beach race weekends have also become part of the American LeMans series as well. They provide some especially interesting racing.
Though the LMP-1 class Audi R10 diesels are guaranteed a class win by default being the lone entrants, the speed of the LMP-2 cars has ensured that they don't have it easy when it comes to overall victories.
The two couldn't be any more different either. The Audi oozing an effortless grace, the voice of its motor stifled by turbos, and never revving high enough to wail, never has a car gone so quickly so quietly. The Acura, Porsche, and Mazda LMP-2 cars by comparison, if only heard, would come across as purely drama and histrionics, that is till you see them and you realize they are breaking later than any other car that has seen the track and are going through the turns with a level of speed and precision that could only be matched by a bran surgeon on speed. It's their sound though that really sells them as being top flight race cars, not a sound of pure power, but of pushing the limits of mechanical knowledge. Brilliant.
Again the Corvettes found themselves alone in the GT1 class and unmatched for pace among the production based cars,the battle within GT2 got better with the addition of a Prodrive prepped Aston Martin V8 Vantage to take on the Panoz Esperante of PTG, several Ferrari F430's and of course the de rigueur 911 GT3 (in latest RSR guise).
The racing in the class is exceptional, Porches of course perfectly developed and piloted by young German stars, the Ferraris with such talents as Mika Salo behind the wheel and the only a Ferrari sounds like that wail, Prodrive simply knows their stuff, and PTG is a top flight operation that was once the factory representative of BMW in America when racing the M3.
Best sight of the weekend was watching from the stands in the complex before the hairpin. A sweeping right leads into a double apex left hander that leads right into the hairpin. To watch a 911 go through that series, first getting tremendous drive out of the right hander only to watch it become unsettled, driver braking hard and sawing at the wheel trying to prevent the inherent inertia of a motor in the wrong spot from overtaking the front end; a symphony of tire squeal, perfectly rev matched downshifts, exhausts notes and cheering crowds...