Portland... Land O' Birkenstocks and Beer
Posted 11-07-2007 at 12:42 AM by Hallen
As most of you will find out, I am an adamant believer that Portland (specifically, PIR) is a great place for an ALMS race. But, I am prejudice because I live 1.5 hours south of Portland.
My first ever experience with racing was at PIR. I went because a friend wanted me to go with him and because World Challenge was one of the support races. I had been following WC for a while and I liked the racing. They had BMW's in both GT and Touring that year and I am a BMW nut. Watching Bill Auberlen in a Turner Motorsport E46 was a thing of beauty.
Anyway, there was also this ALMS race thing going on and my friend convinced me to stay for it after the WC race. Well, duh! This is great stuff. I was hooked.
The Dysons and the Audi's had a great fight. The little P2 cars went screaming around mixed in with the thunder from the Panoz and the Corvettes. What a great experience.
The next year, I rented an RV slot and borrowed my Dad's 5th wheel. I towed it from my Dad's place which is about an hour from the track. We setup and had a jolly good time. It was hot and our generator was really loud so I couldn't run the AC much, but we had a very good time. (Except James Weaver rand out of gas on the last lap which gave the win to the Audi. JJ had crashed out earlier on. The rear wing came off at the end of the back straight... he hit a TV camera.)
I was sunburned and tired, but we had great food, great beverages, and great racing. It doesn't get much better than that.
I got an RV slot the next year too. It was even hotter in 2006 than it was in 2005. What a roaster. It was something like 140°F track temp and my RV was only 30 feet from the side of the track. It was hot! I was worried about my 12 year old son. I had to work at keeping him hydrated and cool.
Our generator died on us, so we had no AC. It was miserable.
But the racing was again good and we had a lot of fun. We were looking forward to 2007.
2007 never happened. It broke my heart. Stupid politicians in Portland, and in my opinion, lousy promotion of the races did not help at all.
So why should the ALMS come back?
Well, firstly, there are race fans in the PNW that don't have a race within 1000 miles.
Second, because Portland is a good venue, even if it is flat and not very photogenic. But, it usually leads to good racing and generally, very few cautions.
Third, because I want them too. I think this is the most important reason. Well, it kind of goes beyond all reason, but we all can be irrational at times.
The track is flat. But it has some good longish straights with interesting corners. There is lots of action from Turn 1 all the way through turn 7. You can see most of that section of the track from a couple of different viewing spots, so watching the race is good.
The access to the pits is very open and tickets are generally very reasonable.
You are only 10 minutes from downtown Portland with all it has to offer for good food, beer, and... and... good coffee. (I really had to stretch to think of something else good in Portland)
There is always good participation from the car clubs. There are lots of cool rides to drool over.
The down sides
The track is flat, lets just get past that now, OK?
Parking sucks. There is no tram service.
There is only one bridge into the infield and the pits. If you are over by turn 8, turn 10, or up at the RV slots, you have a long walk ahead of you to get to the pits. Bring a bike.
The stands suck. There are only about 4 good viewing stands. The rest are all down the front straight, which is a boring place to watch.
The facilities suck. Both for the fans and for the teams.
There is not enough shade.
The vendors generally suck (but that is not uncommon from what I hear)
We get lots of fans from the Seattle area, and even some from BC and Idaho. With the right promotion, it will draw more people... well, as long as it isn't so darned HOT during the race. Something in June or late August would be good.
PIR has been repaved over the winter. It has been widened in many spots including turns 4,5,6, and 7.
Lower, wider curbs (FIA style) are being installed.
And, turn 7 has been changed. It is now a tighter corner so it is a harder braking zone. This should allow for more passing in turn 7.
The facilities aren't any better, but the track will be.
My first ever experience with racing was at PIR. I went because a friend wanted me to go with him and because World Challenge was one of the support races. I had been following WC for a while and I liked the racing. They had BMW's in both GT and Touring that year and I am a BMW nut. Watching Bill Auberlen in a Turner Motorsport E46 was a thing of beauty.
Anyway, there was also this ALMS race thing going on and my friend convinced me to stay for it after the WC race. Well, duh! This is great stuff. I was hooked.
The Dysons and the Audi's had a great fight. The little P2 cars went screaming around mixed in with the thunder from the Panoz and the Corvettes. What a great experience.
The next year, I rented an RV slot and borrowed my Dad's 5th wheel. I towed it from my Dad's place which is about an hour from the track. We setup and had a jolly good time. It was hot and our generator was really loud so I couldn't run the AC much, but we had a very good time. (Except James Weaver rand out of gas on the last lap which gave the win to the Audi. JJ had crashed out earlier on. The rear wing came off at the end of the back straight... he hit a TV camera.)
I was sunburned and tired, but we had great food, great beverages, and great racing. It doesn't get much better than that.
I got an RV slot the next year too. It was even hotter in 2006 than it was in 2005. What a roaster. It was something like 140°F track temp and my RV was only 30 feet from the side of the track. It was hot! I was worried about my 12 year old son. I had to work at keeping him hydrated and cool.
Our generator died on us, so we had no AC. It was miserable.
But the racing was again good and we had a lot of fun. We were looking forward to 2007.
2007 never happened. It broke my heart. Stupid politicians in Portland, and in my opinion, lousy promotion of the races did not help at all.
So why should the ALMS come back?
Well, firstly, there are race fans in the PNW that don't have a race within 1000 miles.
Second, because Portland is a good venue, even if it is flat and not very photogenic. But, it usually leads to good racing and generally, very few cautions.
Third, because I want them too. I think this is the most important reason. Well, it kind of goes beyond all reason, but we all can be irrational at times.
The track is flat. But it has some good longish straights with interesting corners. There is lots of action from Turn 1 all the way through turn 7. You can see most of that section of the track from a couple of different viewing spots, so watching the race is good.
The access to the pits is very open and tickets are generally very reasonable.
You are only 10 minutes from downtown Portland with all it has to offer for good food, beer, and... and... good coffee. (I really had to stretch to think of something else good in Portland)
There is always good participation from the car clubs. There are lots of cool rides to drool over.
The down sides
The track is flat, lets just get past that now, OK?
Parking sucks. There is no tram service.
There is only one bridge into the infield and the pits. If you are over by turn 8, turn 10, or up at the RV slots, you have a long walk ahead of you to get to the pits. Bring a bike.
The stands suck. There are only about 4 good viewing stands. The rest are all down the front straight, which is a boring place to watch.
The facilities suck. Both for the fans and for the teams.
There is not enough shade.
The vendors generally suck (but that is not uncommon from what I hear)
We get lots of fans from the Seattle area, and even some from BC and Idaho. With the right promotion, it will draw more people... well, as long as it isn't so darned HOT during the race. Something in June or late August would be good.
PIR has been repaved over the winter. It has been widened in many spots including turns 4,5,6, and 7.
Lower, wider curbs (FIA style) are being installed.
And, turn 7 has been changed. It is now a tighter corner so it is a harder braking zone. This should allow for more passing in turn 7.
The facilities aren't any better, but the track will be.
Total Comments 3
Comments
 | mmmmm... Mcmenamins and Pelican. And the humidity along with that heat in '06, whew. |
Posted 11-07-2007 at 03:16 PM by porschefan  Updated 11-07-2007 at 05:32 PM by porschefan |
| |  Portland looked quite impressive when Champ Car was there this year, its kind of like Lime Rock's big brother. When the ALMS were there did they use the chicane? |
| Posted 11-11-2007 at 04:26 PM by johnlemans |
| |  Yes. The ALMS always uses the chicane. The drivers like it. It serves a purpose (slowing the cars down for turn 4) and it is a good place to watch the race from. The chicane is very technical and there are 3 or 4 ways to do it right. However, there are about a million ways to do it wrong. |
| Posted 11-11-2007 at 08:41 PM by Hallen |
Recent Blog Entries by Hallen
- Live For Speed (12-02-2007)
- Portland... Land O' Birkenstocks and Beer (11-07-2007)
- Hallen (11-05-2007)
- Intro (11-04-2007)
