#32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: Bret Curtis, James Sofronas
After the desert heat of Utah, we were looking forward to the cool mountain breezes of Eastern Connecticut and the alpine majesty of Lime Rock Park. Silly us. Friday started out well enough with partly grey skies, but the day kept creeping towards monsoon season. The 1st practice was slightly wet and damp, but afternoon practice and quali were full wet conditions. During qualification, I was standing in the pit lane watching a small river run across my shoes. The conditions on track had to have been horrendous for the drivers.
#37 Intersport Racing Lola B06/10 AER: Jon Field, Clint Field (Darren Pierson)
The rain on Friday finally let up towards the end of qualification and as the times started to drop, David Brabham went out and laid down a monster time and took P1 pole. My entire body was soggy, so as soon as the grid was set, we headed out from the track to our campsite nearby in New York.
#1 Patron Highcroft Racing Honda Performance Development ARX-01c: David Brabham, Simon Pagenaud (Darren Pierson)
Lime Rock apparently had an issue in their park, because they no longer allow people to bring dogs. Last year, we stayed inside and were bummed not to have our girls with us. This year, we have been traveling with them so we had to find a place nearby. We ended up staying at Rudd Pond State Park a few miles away in New York, which was really nice and tranquil until the three cop cars and two ambulances and a flatbed pulled up at the campsite next to us. Apparently, our neighbor had been going around stealing things from other’s tents and had been caught. Not sure why it took so many vehicles or what the ambulances were for since he seemed to go quietly. It was quite odd, normally you assume your camping neighbors are on the level and trust that your belongings are safe. In our case, it helps to have locking doors and two german shepherds with us as well.
Saturday, race day, was forecasted as hot with a 40% chance of thunderstorms. We didn’t see any rain, but they did get the hot part right. I was looking forward to putting on my black fire suit and standing out in the sun, this was going to be a great day. This season, the ALMS decided to do away with morning warmups, not sure why exactly, but until Lime Rock, on race day, we had no chance to shoot the cars in morning light. I assume since the Northeast Grand Prix is only two days: two practices and quali on Friday and the race on Saturday, they brought back the warmups to have cars on the track. For whatever reason, it was good to be shooting in the morning sun. I did hear talk in the media center that they were considering reinstating the morning warmup sometime this season, I hope that they do. The fan walkabout on the grid looked to be too crowded, so I skipped it and went straight to turn one to shoot the start of the race. Turn one at Lime Rock is an enigma as there isn’t a convenient way to get there. Essentially, you have to use a pedestrian bridge to cross over the front straight to get to the outside of the track. Before you are completely off the bridge, you have to climb over the railing using the bars as ladder rungs and jump down onto the ground. Once down, you follow the armco down to a break where the runoff area starts and cross over the track to outside turn one. At the start of the race, as soon as the last car passes, we have to run across the runoff and get behind the frontstraight armco.
Northeast Grand Prix 2010 Race Start
If we don’t cross back on the 1st lap, we have to stay at Turn One for the entire race, not fun. Lime Rock is under 2 miles, so there isn’t much time to do this. I imagine it looks rather odd to see 20 photographers all running across the track at once. Getting back out is the reverse except you jumped down, so getting up to the 1st rung on the railing is no easy task especially if you are holding cameras and lenses. As I type this, I realize that an easier way to get out there, you could cross the cold track from the inside T1 flag stand, but what would be the adventure in that?
#61 Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT: Mika Salo, Pierre Kaffer (Darren Pierson)
#37 Intersport Racing Lola B06/10 AER: Jon Field, Clint Field (Darren Pierson)
My plan was to shoot the start and then work the pits through the first stop, after that, I was going to shoot around the track until about forty-five minutes to the end and then go back to the pits for the finish and podiums. I’m not sure why I planned it that way, since it caused me to have to wear my fire suit for the entire race, something that wasn’t exactly pleasant in the heat. At one point, I was standing in pit lane, leaning against the pit wall in front of Level 5, trying to find some shade, sweat pouring down my face. The IMSA pit boss walked up to me in much the same condition and said, “Funny that so many people think we lead glamorous lives out here in the pit lane”. Did I mention it was hot? There had been so many yellows, that nobody was pitting and I started to worry that I was wasting time and needed to get out on the track. Finally a few cars came in and I got my shots and left to shoot from the slight coolness of the trees. I found an area near a new fan viewing spot that I though might yield a good look and shot there for a while. All too soon it was time to head back to the heat of the pits for the finish.
#6 Team Cytosport Porsche RS Spyder: Greg Pickett, Klaus Graf (Darren Pierson)
The finish was actually pretty exciting since I could hear Hindy on the PA and for once actually had an idea of what was happening. Klaus Graf had the CytoSport Spyder in the lead, but to me the surprise was Gunnar Jeannette running in P3 in an LMPC car. He actually ran out of gas on the last lap and lost his overall placement but still won the LMPC class. I really enjoy shooting at Lime Rock, hopefully you can see that in my images. We are headed North to Mid Ohio, hope to see you there as well. My entire Northeast Grand Prix image gallery is online at DPerceptions and is available for viewing and purchase. Thanks for reading and looking!
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