American Le Mans Series
with Corvette Corral sponsored by Chevrolet
Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, CT
June 30, July 1, 2006
This trip included another venture into New Jersey, this time to install
the new wheels and tires that Chuck Mallett donated for the new car.
Thursday, June 29
Leaving home.
Mileage was doing great...
...until the George Washington Bridge.
It took 1 hour to go the last 3 miles to get onto the bridge to NJ!
At Paul Eggermann's Milltown home at last, we shuffled wheels and tires: I got the
new Mallett wheels with Michelins, Paul got my original polished wheels & Goodyears.
After washing both cars, we went to Dayton Chevrolet to have both computers reprogrammed to
the sensors in the new wheels. Paul then took the opportunity for a photo shoot. Artist at work...
Paul exits for home, while I continued on to Lime Rock. Thanks, Paul! Again!
Friday, June 30
Corvette's 53rd Birthday!
After a night in Danbury, I arrived at Lime Rock Park about 8:30.
I was directed to set up right inside the entrance to the Corvette Corral.
No usual table display this time. (Ask me about it sometime...)
Olivier Beretta and Ron Fellows wait their turns in practice session.
Johnny O'Connell goes by at speed; then discusses the session with program manager Doug Fehan.
Back in the corral: a Z06 rolling chassis, and an "Atomic Orange" 2007.
View of the pits as the teams prep for start of qualifying session.
The evidence of Aston Martin's unsuccessful amphibian exercise.
Saturday, July 1
An absolutely perfect day for a race!
Same setup in the Corral; Callaway neighbor; interesting street replicas.
Details of the gorgeous new Mallett wheels.
The powder coat with a light tint makes for beautiful highlights!
Speaking of Mallett, J. R. Amantea (the Corvette Kid) was there with his street/track Mallett.
Johnny O'Connell, Oliver Gavin & Olivier Beretta flew by with Roc Linkov at the wheel.
Ron Fellows visited for about 10 minutes. He knew about the campaign to buy us
the new C6 and wanted to see it. Here he autographs the fuel rail cover.
The Race
Note: by ALMS rules, the Corvettes, which had been dominating the series, were assigned
penalties to make the competition more even: They had to carry 200 lb. more weight than the
Aston Martin competition, they had smaller restrictors for the intake so they produced less power,
and the carried 2.5 gallons less fuel. "Balance of Performance (BOP) they call it!
Typical scene: green, yellow, green, yellow...
Contact... and safe recovery.
More close competition.
As the final lap begins, Johnny O is on a mission to pass the leading Aston!
On the final straight he pulled alongside the lead A-M...
This is the finish line... I can't tell!!!
It was so-o-o close, but not quite - .033 seconds short: about a fender!
What an incredible effort on Johnny's part!
Back home, final stats.
