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American LeMans
HOWE: Hitting The Streets
Between visiting Porsche Motorsport North America and Camp Pendleton plus working the Toyota Pro Celebrity and ALMS races, this was one week I’ll never forget.
Jamie Howe  |  Posted April 26, 2010   Braselton, GA
Jamie Howe shares a laugh with Corvette Racing's Jan Magnussen and Oliver Gavin during their experience at Camp Pendleton. (Richard Prince/GM Racing)
The great thing about heading to Southern California each year for the Grand Prix of Long Beach is that there’s usually just as many off track activities as there is there is racing on track! Between visiting Porsche Motorsport North America, having a once-in-a-lifetime experience at Camp Pendleton and working the Toyota Pro Celebrity and American Le Mans Series races, this was one week I’ll never forget.

It all started Wednesday morning when I had the opportunity to visit Porsche Motorsport North America in nearby Santa Ana. We got the entire tour of the impressive facility, but we were primarily there to shoot a feature for the Patron GT3 Challenge by Yokohama broadcast from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca next month.

Porsche performed an actual GT3 engine rebuild for us in their shop. They were able to do the build in just several hours (with the help of extra hands) so the whole time-lapse will be shown in the GT3 broadcast.

I learned that PMNA was truly a one-stop-shop for Porsche teams, as they don’t really outsource a whole lot. After meeting everyone there and learning about the various Porsche Cup series throughout the world, we went over to their parts department. It looks like an auto store for Porsche owners! Anything you could ever imagine needing, they have all it in-house. It was very impressive.

We made an impromptu visit to GMG Racing, which is literally right across the street! Other people in the industrial park would look down the road and see crew members walking across the street with a front bumper or door. It’s a very smart way to save on shipping.
The Marines also wanted to show us their version of a pit stop. We went to the garage and they pulled the 6700 lb engine and transmission out of the AAV and we performed the service! (Jamie Howe)

Thursday was the big day at Camp Pendleton. Before we even went, I was so excited because we had gotten the itinerary from the commander out there and it was all written in military code. I had to call my uncle to ask him what various codes meant. I learned that “MRE”‚ is simply a “Meal Ready to Eat.” In fact, they had it so planned out that they put on our itinerary the exact time we were to leave our hotel in Long Beach to get there in time. It was completely structured, which was fantastic because we got the complete military experience.

Our whole connection at the base came through Chris Neville, as his brother-in-law is commander of the Assault Amphibian School Battalion. Along with Chris, I was joined by Brian Till, a few SPEED producers, as well as Corvette Racing’s PR team, Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta, Jan Magnussen and Doug Fehan.

We basically had AAV 101. They parked three different amphibious units outside for us and we went through each one. It was interesting to learn that they always travel in packs of three. One AAV is where the soldiers are, one is a communications unit while the third one is a recovery vehicle.

It’s insane how small they are on the inside. In my unit, there were only three people in the back, the driver, the second-person in-charge (we would call him the crew chief) and the shooter. Normally, they would put 21 fully loaded soldiers in that space! The soldier that was back there with us was in one that had over 30 people.

It was a pretty intense experience watching the AAVs over the water. They did a whole demonstration just to see what we would be doing. They launched them into the water and did the whole formation and came back onto the beach. Seeing them going from land into water and back to land in a matter of seconds is amazing because they’re such big pieces of machinery. They’re fully diesel-powered and they’re loud and clunky. It’s everything you’d expect from a traditional diesel vehicle and nothing like what we’re used to on the racetrack.

When we actually got in them, it was amazing how much it messes with your mind. You can’t see anything outside, as you’re literally in a box. You can’t see if you’re going into hostile territory, if you’re under water or above water. You completely lose all perception because it’s so loud and dark. I don’t know how soldiers do it for hours. We were in there for 15 minutes and I was already losing my bearings!

It was a very memorable experience. My uncle was in the Marines and was actually stationed at Camp Pendleton. So I’ve always had a deep appreciation for the military and it was great to go and actually see it. But being there and seeing all of the service men and women was very moving. They were so proud and happy to have us there to tell us their story. I have a much deeper appreciation and respect for them now than I did before, and I’ve always been appreciative in the past.

After that once in a lifetime experience, it was time to buckle down into race mode at Long Beach. With cars on track Friday morning, it was our first opportunity to practice everything for Saturday’s broadcast. We quickly found out that working pit lane would be a challenge. Chris Neville and I were joking around trying to figure out where to stand in the pit lane. There were just so many cars! During the race, I ended up going to the island between the track and pit lane. That worked out great because I was able to call all of the GT pit stops.

On Saturday, I was fortunate enough to work the Toyota Pro Celebrity race for my third year. While I won’t give away the finish (the broadcast airs Saturday, May 1 at 3 p.m. ET), there was a really great group of drivers. When you see the race, you’ll notice one celebrity that really held his own against the pro drivers. He came out finishing on the overall podium. It was an exciting race.
The battle for GT honors has been intense and will likely only get more competitive throughout the season. (John Dagys)

After seeing ALMS practice on Friday, I think we were all expecting that there would be 10 cautions in the race. But the fact that there weren't and there were only three total, I think it was pretty amazing. It showed that everybody did figure it out, calmed down a little and got everything sorted for the race. We were all fearing the worst, having made plans of what to fill time with while we were under cautions, but it never came to that.

Having Highcroft win not only showed that the combined LMP format works, but it also showed that the teams in the American Le Mans Series are some of the best in the world. Here, you had Aston Martin Racing, last year’s European Le Mans Series champions, battling Highcroft, which is undoubtedly one of the premier American sportscar teams. It was also cool to see them win on the most historic street circuit in America.

I think LMP is going to change a little bit, with Aston Martin not competing the rest of the season, but there were some other great stories, too. I was really impressed by the strength of the Dyson Racing Lola-Mazda. They had a really good run; if it hadn’t been a street circuit, they probably wouldn’t have gotten caught out and had been in the thick of the battle for the win, too. Now that we see that the single-class LMP format works, and that the cars are pretty well balanced, it’s going to be exciting as the season unfolds.

The GT class right now has to be the best racing in the world. There’s nowhere else with the level of drivers, manufacturers and teams. Everybody has stepped up their game. There’s so much tough competition there. There are so many cars that could win at any point, from Risi Competizione to Flying Lizard Motorsports to BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team and Corvette Racing and we can’t count out others like Team Falken Tire, which has stepped up this year. It’s going to make for a great year.

In LMPC and GTC, there were many unanswered questions that come with going to a street circuit for the first time. The fact that as many of them survived such a difficult street circuit like Long Beach, I think it shows that they are ready for this. It should produce some really great racing as we head to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca next month and the rest of the season!

~Jamie

Sports Car Insider and SPEED personality, Jamie Howe, returns to pit lane for American Le Mans Series broadcasts in 2010. Jamie has covered a wide range of Auto Racing on SPEED including Patron GT3 Challenge, World Challenge and Star Mazda. She has grown as a media professional and also produces race broadcasts airing on SPEED. To learn more about Jamie, visit MY.SPEEDtv.com/Jamie_howe or JamieHowe.com.

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The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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