5th & 10th at Barber Motorsports Park!!! (Grand-Am PICS)

caracas_e30 · #1 (**permalink**) 08-05-2005, 05:47 PM

Hey guys how is everyone?! As i write this it is 9pm here in Trois-Rivieres, Canada and i am extremely fatigued after 2 full blown days of working on the 996's but i just cant wait any longer to show you guys the results of our last weekend's race. It was my first time at Barber and it is now my #1 track! It is absolutely beautiful and the paddock area is great. I flew down with Tomas to Alabama from Toronto and went straight to the track to get to work. Our 996's were flawless except for the fact that we werent making sound (104DB limit and we were hitting 108DB's). No problem, we just put on different pipes with some cats but now we werent making good power. We finally got it sorted out and we ended up 1-2 after thursday's practice! Friday during Qualifying we managed to end up 19th and 28th on the grid for the start. This was my first time ever going "over the wall" in the pits to service the 996's and i was somewhat nervous but full of excitement! I have been looking forward to this since i was a little kid and now it was actually happening. Tomas was assigned the fuel man and i was the bottle man. Pits need to be fast but precise too and we pulled them all off with great speed and precision. My job was simple but required the most responsibility and balls. If i see even a hint of a spark or flame during the process of fueling...no hesitation just fire away the extinguisher and i have to stay and put out the fire no matter what. I cant touch anything, just have my eyes glued to the fueling process. A bit nerve-racking but it was awesome! With the help of our strategist we managed to inch up on the grid during full course yellows and before we knew it we finished 5th and 10th!!!! It was by far the greatest result from LNS Motorsports and you cant just imagine what went on afterwards the race! It was an awesome time no doubt.

Tom Milner JR was there racing in Rolex with PTG and driving a 330ci in Cup ST class i believe also. Congrats on great driving Tom!!!

Carlos Roncajolo

caracas_e30 · #2 (**permalink**) 08-05-2005, 05:56 PM

Damn, seems like DTM is giving me trouble uploading pictures right now. Sorry guys, ill have them up as soon as possible.

As of now, we are in Trois-Rivieres for the Grand Prix (3-Rivers GP) and it is proving to be one of the tougher weekends. We have been wrenching away for 2 days now changing setups. Springs, camber toe etc etc etc non stop. We have Charles Espenlaub onboard to drive for us and he is an incredible driver! Many of you know him from Speed World Challenge series that airs on Speed Channel. He is a wonderful guy to work with. Most importantly we have JF Dumoulin and his brother driving for us also this weekend. This is big news since JF has won the Dayton 24hrs in 2004 and has won many championships before and he knows this track like the back of his palm. Everyone is excited because there are good chances to get on podium and even win the race. Since the brothers are from this town, we have mass media attention and it is proving rather difficult to work around the cameras and TV personnel. We have COORS LIGHT as our sponsor now too!!! We have over 300 beers in fridges here with us courtesy of Coors Light!!! We also have huge parties downtown at big clubs all in the name of LNS and the Dumoulin brothers. This weekend is so far going very "upstage" so far but it is being extremely tiring. I have been up for over 37hrs without sleep working on these cars.

Those who think having a job in motorsports is an awesome job, you guys are correct. Those who think it is an easy job, i laugh at you. If you are looking to get into the business, expect all nighters for 2 or 3 days in a row.

Again sorry for the problems with the pics, i will try to get them up shortly i promise....until then, take care all you DTM'ers!

schussey · #3 (**permalink**) 08-05-2005, 11:20 PM

I went to this event. Was incredible, and much bigger than last year.

-chris

bigrojo37 · #4 (**permalink**) 08-08-2005, 08:22 PM

I had an amazing time working with my brother for LNS that weekend too. I was supposed to watch the race but instead worked the pits with Carlos and Tomas...very tiring weekend but worth every second of it...cant wait for mid ohio

caracas_e30 · #5 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 03:53 PM

Update:
Whats up guys, as you know this past weekend was the GP3R (Grand Prix of 3 Rivers) here in Canada. Grand-Am Cup racin at its finest on a wonderful street course with a wonderful crowd. I have never seen such beautiful women in such mass at a race ever...they love to take care of themselves and it shows! We got there on Wednesday morning, set up our paddock area and started to set up cars and what-not. Coors Light was a sponsor and the rig was stacked with Coors! Surely going to be a great weekend we all said to ourselves. JP and JF Dumoulin were driving the #89 LNS Motorsports 996, Joe Fox and Charles Espenlaub driving the #85 car and Barry Ellis/Frank Rossi driving the #88 car. We had 3 cars to look after and it was very likely, with a bit of luck, that we would end up on pole. Charles Espenlaub is an incredible driver and the driving he did was just amazing to watch. Him and Auberlen would duke it out the last few laps in an intense race that wasnt even for position! Auberlen was the leader and Espenlaub was 7th just trying to get by him to get a lap back....but hell no, Auberlen the ass he is on the track wouldnt let him by. We had Grand-Am officials asking us to back off the leader...WTF!? You want us to back off the leader!? We were furious but what could we do, Auberlen wasnt giving up and Espenlaub even bumped him. The race was great. The Dumoulin brothers suffered a blown tire caused by the damn #55 mustang, they drive like animals out there, and it caused them to go a lap down trying to get the car back to the pits. It was a real bummer because we all knew they were bound for the podium. It was an up-down weekend for us but now we look forward to Mid-Ohio in 3 weeks time. See you there!

Enjoy the pics (Courtesy of Grand-Am.com)
Espenlaub ass-out!

Dumoulin brothers #85 car

The Famous Arch at Trois-Rivieres

Race start, Mustangs everywhere! SHIT!

caracas_e30 · #6 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 05:34 PM

Here are some more pictures from the GP3R:
E46 M3, if you think they sound raspy stock, wait till you hear one of these live

Mustangs Mustangs Mustangs, no one can compete agaisnt pure hp/tq

RacePrep996

Turner

Impulsed7 · #7 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 06:39 PM

Nice pics. Its always fun to work the pits and worth it when they place well. I think the more valuable the car the better it is to work on it.
You need some help at mid ohio let me know! I'll be glad to rep dtm.

caracas_e30 · #8 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 08:39 PM

well this has nothing to do with the DTM team. I have no idea whats up with the DTM team but i hope we can get something going with it for next years season. Im in canada far from home so i have been out of touch for quite some time.

If we need any help, no doubt ill ask. Thanks!

Impulsed7 · #9 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 08:41 PM

I just meant german racing represent. I dont think DTM will get a team at that level for awhile.