American Le Mans Series

[HardScrabble]

SPEED: 12 Hours, 25 Cameras at Sebring

SPEED Channel will kick off the American Le Mans Series season with live, flag-to-flag coverage of the 51st Annual Mobil 12 Hours of Sebring, offering 13 hours of coverage from Florida’s famed 3.7-mile Sebring International Raceway this Saturday, March 15.

Using multi-shift production teams, SPEED Channel will deliver comprehensive coverage from Sebring with 25 cameras, including multiple on-boards and the popular Visor Cam used in SPEED Channel’s coverage of The Champ Car World Series. Coverage from the track, built on a World War II military training airfield, begins at 10 a.m. ET with a half-hour pre-race program.

“SPEED Channel is proud to be able to bring our viewers one of the finest endurance races of the year,” said Doug Sellars, SPEED Channel VP and Executive Producer/Remote Productions. “The American Le Mans Series will grid more than 60 cars at this year’s race, making it arguably the finest field of cars and drivers this event has ever seen.”

Audi drivers Emanuele Pirro, the 2001 ALMS champion and a three-time 24 Hours of LeMans winner, and former Formula One driver JJ Lehto, a 1995 winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be outfitted with SPEED’s Visor Cams.

The Visor Cam consists of a Sony camera body with a spy-camera head and some magical lens work. The result -- a control box that is ¾ of an inch in diameter and about 1½ inches long with a camera head that is less than ½ inch in diameter and a little more than 1½ inches in length. The camera head fits inside the visor behind the driver’s field of vision in the helmet padding, giving the SPEED audience a true driver’s eye, panoramic view of the race.

As the oldest endurance race in the United States, Sebring attracts a road-racing crowd second only to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The on-air talent, which will split into two shifts for Sebring, includes play-by-play specialists Bob Varsha and Leigh Diffey, color commentators David Hobbs and Bill Adam and pit reporters Calvin Fish, Brian Till, Andrew Marriott and Martin Haven. (Speed Channel Press Release) (3/11)

 

[The_Mad_Hatter]

I heard somewhere over the weekend that ALMS dropped two races this year. One was the DC race - do you know why?

 

[HardScrabble]

No I don't know why and don't understand it either.

I heard the race was considered a success in terms of crowd turnout and acceptance. I also thought that when the deal was done to run the first one it was a 10 year deal.

The only thing I know is the same as you, it is gone from the schedule.

 

[NateDogg]

First of all, hats of to SPEED Gotta love that channel. Coverage is outstanding for these events.

All I have heard is that both the Mexico City and the DC race were cancelled. Mexico, all they said is that is is a complex situation, which doesn't tell a whole lot. THe DC race became a victim of operational problems on behalf of the event organizer.

 

[HardScrabble]

I wonder if the Mexico is not mostly political. There were some issues, which I don't remember the details of, concerning the teams getting all their stuff across the border for the Baja 1000 race last year.

Operational problems in DC could be almost anything, but somehow it does not surprise me. Gotta dem near impossible to get anything large put together there unless it is some kind of advocacy march.

Thanks for the info, and Speed is great!