Not The War

What with all the war talk I'll write about something else. Many other web sites have the war thing covered anyway.

We went to Sebring, Florida this past weekend to experience the 51st running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring sports car race.

Charlotte and Max Papis

The cars were fast and we had a great time despite a torrential downpour that threatened to wash us away Friday night.

In my excitement at just being there, I picked probably the worst spot to camp in the entire track. We were camped beside the road that takes cars over the bridge into the infield. A steady stream of cars paraded by Friday night spewing exhaust fumes on our tent accompanied by with all the sounds of drunken revelry. Periodic war whoops, screaming girls, breaking bottles, racing engines with loud mufflers, car horns of all kinds including those diesel-rig blasts. We also had a travel trailer right next to us with one of those little lawn-mower-engine-powered generators running.

I finally tried to go to sleep at midnight. Charlotte was already asleep, although for the life of me I don\'t know how with all the racket. The party went on right outside our tent until at least 2 or 3 in the morning. And to top it off, our air mattresses leaked all their air out and before long we were sleeping on the hard, hard ground.

The next day, Saturday, started foggy but turned clear and sunny. There were some clouds and after Friday's tropical rains I was a little worried that we would get wet. Because I carried two umbrellas with me all day it didn't rain.

I was surprised at how fast the Bentley's were. The Audi R-8 has been the undisputed leader in the American LeMans Serries for the past few years, but the Bentley's were putting in higher top speeds during qualifying. They qualified faster than the Audi's but because of some rule violation the Bentley's had to start from the back of the grid.

Shortly after the start of the race the Bentley's slashed their way to the front of the field. For most of the last half of the race the top cars were:

1. Champion Audi R8
2. Joest Audi R8
3. Bentley Speed 8
4. Bentley Speed 8
5. Audi U.K.
6. Panoz

Near the end of the race the Champion Audi had to pit for a mandatory driver change. The lead went to the Joest Audi and they went on to win the race.

We had a great time and want to go back next year (with better accommodations, however). Charlotte got to meet one of her favorite drivers, Max Papis, and I got to ogle some shapely race babes.

You can see pictures of the event here.