ST. PETERSBURG, Fla—The American Le Mans Series brought its high-speed, high-tech road show to the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida for the second race of the ALMS season. The deafening thunder of high-performance racing engines shook the normally quiet bayfront streets of this Gulf Coast city, as sleek racing machines screamed through the narrow thoroughfares where tourists would shop and sip their coffee on any other weekend morning.
St. Petersburg is one of two races held on city streets closed off and converted into racing courses (the other is Long Beach, California.) The St. Petersburg course is tight and twisty in section but still offers long straights where the fastest prototypes can hit 175 mph.
American Le Mans Series prototypes are the most advanced sports racing currently competing in North America; with traction control, electronic engine management and telemetry, and 600 horsepower stuffed into 1900–lb. chassis, these cars can corner, brake, and accelerate at 3 gs.
The Gran Touring classes feature Aston Martins, Porsches, Corvettes, Vipers, Ferraris, and BMWs, as well as specialty cars like the Panoz Esperante and Doran Ford GT. These are the cream of the high-performance street-car crop, modified to be lighter and more powerful. With huge brakes and tires, festooned with aerodynamic aids, the cars can are to a street-legal Ferrari or Corvette, as a Ferrari or Corvette is to a Ford Fiesta.
With many different chassis and engine manufacturers competing in four different classes, with fuel-injected big-blocks competing head-to-head against tiny turbocharged four-cylinder motors, ALMS offers the greatest variety of high-tech engineering, advanced aerodynamics, and state-of-the art electronics, put to the test of high-speed road-racing.
All That and IndyCar, as Well
Along with the sports cars, St. Pete hosted America’s fastest open-wheel racers, the IRL IndyCars, which were preparing for tomorrow’s St. Petersburg Grand Prix. These tiny, lightweight racing machines consist of nothing but the engine, suspension, and just enough carbon-fiber bodywork to enclose the driver, capped with a pair of giant wings at either end to keep the cars stuck to the track.
Powered by 650 horsepower 3.5-liter V8 engines, and weighing only 1600 pounds, IndyCars are as much missiles as automobiles; seeing them snaking through the streets of St. Pete at speed can raise the heart rate of even non-enthusiasts.
The Indy Lights, cars similar to IndyCars but a bit less powerful, also raced on Saturday. The Indy Lights are a training ground for future IndyCar drivers, and the series offers intense competition as drivers strive to attract the attention of the IndyCar teams.
Other activities during the race weekend are rides around the track in specially prepared race cars, an air show, live music, and several exhibitions of drift car-racing. But it is the racing that attracts the crowds, and on Saturday, ALMS is king. All the rest is pleasant and diverting, but the screaming sports cars are what really matter.
Offering exciting racing, beautiful weather, and a picturesque location on the St. Petersburg yacht basin, the St. Petersburg race weekend is a great spring vacation destination. Visit www.gpstpete.com for ticket information.
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