Who will win the race of 1000 years ?

[marcus]

with just one race to go to close out the year who do you think will take victory on the streets of Adelaide ?

i think the Audi's wil probaby dominate again as they have all year but hopefully the Panoz of Brabham/Bright and Murphy can give them a good run for their money...the new Panoz ??? outside chance probably still needs a bit more development but should do pretty well if it holds together,

I would say allan mcnish will win but there could be some dark horses so place your bets folks !!!!

[KC]

Its a difficult decision. If the Panoz team can stay out of trouble and remian reliable they can push the Audi Sport team hard. However, if the Audi Sport team continue their speed advatage and their advanatage on the bumps they could lalp the entire field.

[Splatz]

DB and the Aussie boys I think. IMO they have an enormous advantage by knowing the track, it'll be like a home race, although its hardly a Road Atlanta, Panoz's best track. Also the weather is cool in Adelaide today, and it has been all week, only about 23-25C degress. Will it rain? It doesn't normally rain at this time of year as usually its +35C degrees plus (thats around 95F for US people, I think.) If it does rain, a Panoz should win.

I hope the Rafanelli Lola/Judd does well. Ill post stuff at the end of each day at the track.

Enjoy the race.

[meatballeyes]

as much as i would like to see a privateer team win, audi will probably cross the finish line first. they have been consistant in every race (well, at least with the 2000 R8R).

also: panoz seems to have found some new speed in the old lmp, and they have matched audis speed at laguna seca and las vegas. the audi vs panoz battle should make for a good race.

too bad we wont get to see the whole race over here in the states.

by the way: have you all seen the "spy footage" of the new panoz lmp07? the new 4.0litre v8 gives an all new soundtrack.

take care!

[Splatz]

Meatballs; you are right about the Panoz speed. I think they actually outqualified audi in the last few races, also they have been quicker then audi sometimes but have had track incidents or car problems, which hampered their race pace. Adelaide is a difficult track, and this will assist the Brabham car because its drivers are the only ones to have recent racing experience on the track. The other drivers who have raced Adelaide raced there years ago. I have lived most of my life within 5 - 15 mins of the track here in Adelaide, and see the streets and park area of the track just about every second day. Its easy to imagine the lines the drivers take when racing. At night time you can practice sometimes with a mountain bike when the roads are dead quiet. Its no where near as flat as, say, Gold Coast Indy. It has many more changes of camber, some are off-camber, with healthy lookin' bumps. There's even a slight incline after the Senna chicane. The local drivers will know all of these little nuances from racing here earlier this year in ATCC V8 Supercars. Murphy, Bright and Brabham will be expecting the tricky corner from Jones straight on to the main Brabham straight, for instance. That's the one at which Hakkinen died at in a crash in his McLaren before being brought back to life by medical staff. The guys in Brabham's car all know how to take that fast, hour after hour. With walls put up all around the track it makes it much more intimidating, and much less forgiving.

I only wonder whether Murphy and Bright really got enough testing done in the car. And Audi certainly have reliability on their side.

Weather for Friday is meant to be sunny, and for Saturday and Sunday, sunny and even warmer. No rain expected, so when can expect an all out fight for the race. The gloves will be comin' off for sure.

Lady and Gentlemen, start your engines.....

[jimclark]

...we can "see" (all right, hear it) the whole thig live on the web. The ALMS Radio Web does an excellent job. I'm going to bed now and getting up at 4:30 am (eastern) to isten to night practice. If you don't already know, go to: http://www.americanlemans.com/pages/00live/index.html There's also a 24 hour race on the web (The Longest Night at Moroso Motorsports Park in West Palm beach) this weekend. I'm gonna go catch much of that live, I only live about 50 miles from there but I'll be home for the ALMS. That ones at: http://floridaregionscca.com/ gonna be a good weekend.....then comes the Rolex 24 that I'll be attending start and watching rest on SPDVSN. Needless to say, I'm a happy puppy.