Acos
Attention Whore

Completely missed Sebring! I won't trouble you with the details. Lack of coverage on SPEED this season will be a real blight to the series, in my opinion. U.S. network coverage of anything other than NASCAR is typically an embarrassment.

At least I caught the opener in Australia at that was at least some consulation.

Hope you are well.

My error - I was not as explicit as I should have been. I was referring to my attraction to - and for - the Aston Martin-powered prototype in the LMP1 category. When Audi and Peugeot are through beating up each other I have this minor fantasy of A.M. managing a third place as a result.

Thank you for the update from ground zero. Work continues to be nearly overwhelming so I'm only managing bits of information. But I decided to take a vacation day on Monday and that simple fact should provide me with a clear head for Saturday & Sunday.
I should probably be rooting for the American Corvettes but... (between you and me) I've never been much of a fan. They're good guys and a well run team but my heart will always go out to Ferrari or Porsche: those were the two marques I cut my racing teeth on. Long shots?? I would love to see an Aston Martin on the third step of the podium. Beautiful car and an underdog against the might of the factory teams.

Hope you'll be able to provide your comments and, more importantly, insight and expertise on Le Mans at the "Motorsport" thread. I'm going to try and watch as much as possible this weekend. It could be real competitive in the GT2 class this year; of course, ideally there are enough worthy players in each class to make it captivating through the ranks. Here's hoping for a great race.

RE: USF1, a rather sad and somewhat disgraceful matter. I will grant them good intentions at the inception but as I have read bits and pieces over the months I'm inclined to think it was mostly a pipe dream (or, if I was feeling rude, a wet dream). While there are of course F1 fans in the U.S. it remains somewhat curious that most racing fans either have no idea of what it is or just keep it at arm's length. Don't know: reverse snobbery perhaps?
As you said, this season promises to be exceptional and I'll watch it come hell or high water because (1) I care and (2) I'm starved to see any good racing. I've got my fingers crossed that the competition will be particularly close and fierce.

With F1 set to start in Bahrain in a little over a fortnight and Sebring the following weekend it's almost as if the drought is over. Found this info at SPEED Channel's site:

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...test-notebook/

ACOS: Fess up. A trigonometric reference or something tied to the French governing body for Le Mans? Personally I like Automobile Club of Scotland but that's my small fantasy.

My brain invariably "undoes" the ludicrous chicane whenever I think of Lime Rock; another advantage of being old. I do remember the Super Touring period from the bits and pieces I have read. Also, I picked up a video game on the cheap a number of years back - I think it was called TOCA 2(?). It features the cars from that era. Oh well, I have to be satisfied with current BTCC status because, as I said, there's nothing in the U.S. that's comparable and heaven knows I need something to get me through the winter!

I haven't been to any races in many years regretfully. However I'm only about a 3 hour drive from Lime Rock, a lovely, somewhat old track that's perfectly suited for vintage events and smaller sports cars but too short and too narrow, I feel, for some of the ALMS events they stage. If I had any sense (pregnant pause) I would plan a weekend visit to that part of Connecticut with my son and treat us both.

Speaking of all things British... The U.S.-based SPEED TV cable channel has a tradition of showing the previous year's BTCC races in the off-season and I have been enjoying watching the 2009 season immensely for the last 6 or 7 weeks. The U.S. has had similar series - and they were quite good - but they never seem to stick. I don't have to tell you that the bulk of American motor sports fans only know NASCAR; not all, mind you, but most

Thanks for responding promptly, and (in the process) jarring my old brain a bit on 2010 regulations/rules. Do you live in England or perhaps, as was once said, on the continent? You know more about the European series than most Americans I've chatted with and your visit to Silverstone (I envy that) leads me to presume as much. And, without wishing to sound like a whining old snob, it's so refreshing to read messages or posts that employ actual words (rather than contemporary acronyms), sentence structure and, by golly, punctuation. I don't particularly mind the more accepted abbreviated approach with some communications but I am finding more and more people struggle to compose simple, traditional sentences. Sorry to ramble; I'm watching the late afternoon snow blowing horizontally and already thinking about the joys of shoveling my way out early tomorrow morning. Take care.