BAM! - Mid-Ohio preview

fast change

BAM! (British American Motorsport) did a fast turnaround from France to the 
United States, changing the No. 43 YES Network Porsche 911 GT3 RSR from 
endurance to sprint mode in three days. The car returned from the 24 Heures du Mans 
to BAM!'s Florida race shop late on June 17 and left for the Mid-Ohio Sports 
Car Course on June 21. In between, the crew scrambled to strip and inspect every 
part of the car, repair bodywork damaged at Le Mans, rebuild and paint the 
chassis, and load the team transporter.

"The biggest headache is the time frame, getting all the bodywork repaired, 
painted, fitted and prepped in one week," crew chief Matt Bishop said. "The 
good thing is France is a lot less hard on cars than some tracks because the cars 
are spaced so far apart on the track, so there is less body damage. We went 
through truckloads of parts trying to prioritize what went on the transporter 
because we'll be doing 40 per cent of the car prep at Mid-Ohio. We hate to use 
the catchphrase, 'We'll do it at the track,' but we don't have any other 
options."

Leo's laps

Leo Hindery, Jr. of New York is BAM!'s lead driver. Not one to follow 
convention, he offers his unique view of the 2.25-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 
Lexington, Ohio:

"Mid-Ohio is bucolic, beautiful and one heck of a race track. I must confess, 
however, that since I have spun going around turn one more times than Tonya 
Harding used to spin before she switched from skating to boxing, I am 
absolutely not the one to give advice on how to race this track. I do advise everyone, 
however, to thoroughly enjoy the fans, who, thanks to the brilliant racing 
exploits of [former Indy car driver] Bobby Rahal during his years there, are 
among the most engaged, engaging and informed in the country."

speed vs momentum

Peter Baron of Deerfield Beach, Fla., will do double duty at Mid-Ohio. In 
addition to his BAM! ownership responsibilities, he will partner Leo Hindery 
driving the YES Network Porsche. Baron is a former instructor at the Mid-Ohio 
School, so he knows the track well.

"We're going from Le Mans, the track where speed is king, to Mid-Ohio, the 
track where momentum is king," he noted. "I'm really excited to get back in the 
car and go to the track I have the most experience at. It's also the track 
where Leo and I led an ALMS race for the first time. It's a unique track - a lap 
that's fast on Friday isn't necessarily fast on Sunday. With my knowledge of 
the track and how it changes, we should be good for the race on Sunday."

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Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945