12 Hours of Sebring

[Carl]

I never consider watching all or even most of an around the clock event, although if I ever make it to LeMans or Daytona, my attention wouldn't waver and I doubt I'd sleep at all until the following night.

Sebring was worthy of close attention with some excellent racing this year, continuing the long progression from setting a steady pace in order to finish to an all-out sprint race.

Continental tyres performed faultlessly after the several failures in January at Daytona and the race was won by one of the Tequila Patron Nissan prototypes, the other having lost a crowding contest into Turn 1 on the first lap and somehow being damaged despite avoiding contact with a great save by Olivier Pla that may have necessitated some abuse of the drivetrain. 

Wayne Taylor Racing's Cadillac engined prototype was second after a good team effort to overcome erupting coolant and bent bodywork.  The Penske Acura prototypes were very fast to no avail. Helio Castroneves led for quite a while early, eventually losing an engine at half distance.  Juan Pablo Montoya was turned dramatically by another prototype exiting the final long right-hand turn that causes cars to lose contact and vault toward the outside without warning.  Half of the Sebring track is ancient airport concrete slabs that have six foot foundations that defy repaving. 

The Porsche 911 RSRs were remarkably supple over the bumps and finished first and third in GT LeMans and Lamborghini scored another impressive win in GT Daytona.  The Corvette and Ford GT teams each had one car finish and might just as well have stayed in bed after a ton of effort for a kilo of result.

Here is an aerial photograph of Sebring Regional Airport.  Turn 17, the much photographed Sunset Bend, is below and to the left of "Sebring International Raceway", opposite the vertical gray rectangular structure.

   Attachment Deleted            And a beautiful photograph of cars entering Turn 1
                                              with the final turn in the far distance.                                                                                                             Attachment Deleted

                                                                                                  

[charleselan]

Great summary Carl of what sounded like a very interesting race. I have to admit to being all consumed by the MotoGP meeting over the weekend and completely forgot about the Sebring 12 Hours. Hopefully there will be some highlights available somewhere that one can tune into. I also did not pay any attention to the Goodwood Members Meeting either, but as we have discussed previously their take on "Historic Racing" isn't mine these days.

[René]

Thanks for the report Carl. I did not see the race but I had a regular look online for the position of my countryman Renger van der Zande. He finished a strong second overall in the Cadillac DPi so that was cool!

[chrisb]

thanks Carl, I did see that it was on but I was exactly the same as John Charles, MotoGP, and I also ignored Goodwood,

[Carl]

"We are all just prisoners here of our own device"

Not so, but of the broadcast networks.  To enjoy MotoGP I'd have to spend $240 and the 6 Hours of Spa isn't shown here. But I just watched a great IMSA Prototype/GTLM and GTD race from Mid-Ohio that was good consolation.

Roger Penske's Acuras finished 1-2, not bad for a team owner unused to winning.


Attachment Deleted

Cheers, Carl (c/o Hotel California)

[chrisb]

that surely has to be one of the best lines ever written, and so true

[Carl]

Today's 12 Hours of Sebring event was excellent, with sprint quality, hard fought racing all day. The amount of top level racing this weekend has been almost too much, and I had to break away at the 10 1/2 hour mark to have dinner, not having made sandwiches in advance as I would in the past rather than wait in line for greasy concession food at Riverside or Long Beach.

Cadillac Daytona Prototypes prevailed again, as at Daytona, with podium positions in the three major classes decided by scant seconds. A remarkably talented young Brazilian, Luis Felipe Derani, was again the outstanding driver and secured a hat-trick with his third Sebring victory in a row.

[Jamie]

IMSA does it again Carl, I really love this series. It was a pity that the Mazda challenge evaporated by it was great all the same. Good to see Nick Tandy getting a win in GTLM as well.

I would have loved to have been there this weekend what with the WEC race on as well, a real treat for sportscar fans!

[charleselan]

Doing a bit of YouTube viewing last evening and came across a very good highlight film of the 1964 Sebring 12 Hours, again from that excellent Dave Despain "Glory Years" series.

This really is an excellent little film with some very good footage and some interesting camera positions, particularly for that period. I always liked the first 330P and 275P Ferrari prototypes as they had such a good look to them and were genuine prototype sports cars which lead to the 250LM GT car.

Really good to see such a btrilliant driver line up in the Ferrari's and also the Shelby Cobra and Daytona Coupe Cobra's as well, not forgetting the Lightweight Stingray's and multitude of smaller Porsche races.

[René]

That's a great little film JC. Really nice cars, love that period.

I actually made a slot car a while back from this race, the NART Ferrari 330P from Rodriguez/Fulp. It's in the slot car section but I just noticed the image links are broken.

Here is the little Ferrari I made.



And another little film of the same race where you can see this car in action:

[charleselan]

I remember that Ferrari model you produced, it is a very good model indeed. I feel that slot car models of GT and prototypes of that era are the best, they just look right in the slot car situation.

There are some very good models of that period made both by Fly and Monogram, some real beauties in fact; also Monogram's Can-Am cars. Of course we must not forget the excellent MRRC models as well which i believe your Ferrari came from.

[Carl]

Jul 26, 2020 14:24:35 GMT charleselan said:

Doing a bit of YouTube viewing last evening and came across a very good highlight film of the 1964 Sebring 12 Hours, again from that excellent Dave Despain "Glory Years" series.

This really is an excellent little film with some very good footage and some interesting camera positions, particularly for that period. I always liked the first 330P and 275P Ferrari prototypes as they had such a good look to them and were genuine prototype sports cars which lead to the 250LM GT car.  Really good to see such a brilliant driver line up in the Ferrari's and also the Shelby Cobra and Daytona Coupe Cobra's as well, not forgetting the Lightweight Stingray's and multitude of smaller Porsche races.

Excellent film showcasing the greatness of Dan Gurney, John Surtees and so many more!  I would love to have been there with what I know now about these cars and drivers.

[Carl]

Jul 26, 2020 15:00:10 GMT René said:

That's a great little film JC. Really nice cars, love that period.

I actually made a slot car a while back from this race, the NART Ferrari 330P from Rodriguez/Fulp. It's in the slot car section but I just noticed the image links are broken.

Here is the little Ferrari I made.



And another little film of the same race where you can see this car in action:

A great summary of a classic event!

Roger Penske, by running to his car at the start 5 seconds early, may have been refining his concept of unfair advantage. I wonder if he had permission from the owner of the production Corvette to remove one of its half-shafts 

[charleselan]

Jul 26, 2020 22:48:38 GMT Carl said:

Jul 26, 2020 15:00:10 GMT René said:

That's a great little film JC. Really nice cars, love that period.

I actually made a slot car a while back from this race, the NART Ferrari 330P from Rodriguez/Fulp. It's in the slot car section but I just noticed the image links are broken.

Here is the little Ferrari I made.



And another little film of the same race where you can see this car in action:

A great summary of a classic event!

Roger Penske, by running to his car at the start 5 seconds early, may have been refining his concept of unfair advantage. I wonder if he had permission from the owner of the production Corvette to remove one of its half-shafts 

That was quite amusing Carl, and happened quite a lot in those days with parts being pilfered from cars trackside. I remember it happening on the RAC Rally one year back in the 1980's, right out in the middle of a forest stage at night.