Offseason Races - Week 1 - ALMS Washington DC 2002

[u/Swarley133]

Since we are already well into the offseason, instead of going through one full season of one of the old series, we are going to pick and choose races from ALMS and Grand-Am from any year to watch until we get to the 2020 start of IMSA. If this is popular, next year we'll choose a season to go through.

How This Works:

After a thread is posted, you have until the following Monday morning to watch the race and post comments about it and converse with people in here about it. Have fun with it - this is about reliving some of the glorious moments from the ALMS and Grand-Am years and to make the offseason more fun. In the current week's thread, you can also throw out ideas for the next race to watch, be it either from the American Le Mans Series or Grand-Am. I would like to alternate between each series as much as possible.

WEEK 1: American Le Mans Series - 2002 - Streets of Washington DC

Through the RFK Stadium street circuit, we have a four class battle between LMP900, LMP675, GTS and GT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXgoWIh2a6Q&feature=youtu.be

[u/Swarley133]

So I watched this one last night. This is one I always see recommended and one I hadn't actually seen myself.

What a great race. First off, the track layout was superb. What a cool street course with a good variety of turn types. Was a little bummed the TV coverage didn't show much of the middle two classes. But damn, that LMP900 battle between the Audis and Jan's Panoz was fantastic. Those Panoz prototypes are so goofy looking, but so damn cool.

It's crazy... 2002 doesn't seem like it's that long ago in your head. But then you watch a broadcast from then and see the TV graphics and the six speed manuals in the cars... just goes to show how far we've come in racing.

[u/Swarley133]

Well this didn't go as planned. I'll try one more thread for this week. If it works, great. If not, we'll stop.