LAMB: Traveling Circus

GRAND-AM

LAMB: Traveling Circus

The lifestyle of a professional racecar driver is nothing short of unusual. And by unusual, I mean a lot of time on the road.

Todd Lamb | http://www.toddlamb.com | Posted May 07, 2010

Leading his first laps in Rolex GT competition was one of the highlights for Todd Lamb at VIR. (Courtesy of Todd Lamb)

The lifestyle of a professional racecar driver is nothing short of unusual. And by unusual, I mean a lot of time on the road. Sometimes it seems a bit like a rock band on tour, at times it’s more like a traveling circus, and other times it feels like a professional bullriding tour (apologies to IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard). The past few weeks have been a combination of all the above.

After the race at Barber I did some last minute testing at VIR with the Atlanta Motorsports Group team to do a final shakedown on their cars for the opening round of the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series. The cars are always such fun to drive – I am smiling every time I come off track. With the 7-hour drive, we spent more time on the road driving than we did at the track itself. We were there during the test day for the SCCA double national weekend, so it was nice to reconnect with all my club racing friends from Spec Miata.

A week later I was back at VIR for the GRAND-AM weekend – driving the Racers Edge Mazda RX-8 in Rolex GT and the i-MOTO MAZDASPEED3 in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge ST. And as if I wasn’t busy enough, I was coaching some of AMG’s MX-5 Cup drivers. It was a bit hectic jumping from one paddock area to the next, but in the end it was an all-consuming experience that immersed me in the nuances of the VIR track. Brad Rampelberg won the first round of the MX-5 Cup series, driving my car from last season with AMG.

The Rolex race was on a two-hour tape delay on SPEED, so it was interesting see the facebook and twitter updates from teams as the race progressed, and then see the delayed online reactions from fans as they saw the start of the race on SPEED two hours after it began. Many of the hardcore fans were getting most of their information from live timing and scoring and social networking sites, adding to the online frenzy. It’s good to see GRAND-AM generating that much excitement with fans – and it’s good to have so many great fans out there (just ask McDreamy, I’m only up to 12 so far)!

The quick highlights of the GT race: my co-driver, Jordan Taylor, did a fantastic job hustling our Idemitsu RX-8 to pole position on Friday afternoon. We knew the car was quick for a few laps, we just weren’t sure how the additional 75lbs we were carrying due to the GRAND-AM weight penalty would affect the car in the race. Jordan and I sat down before qualifying and discussed our different lines through the esses, where an accurate turn-in point allows you to get through the esses flat in a GT car. Yes, FLAT through the esses at 150mph! Jordan made a little correction based on our discussion and zoom-zoom! we were on pole.

Here’s a video of Jordan’s pole lap:

Jordan dominated the opening 45 minutes of the race, putting the RX-8 out to a sizable lead before the first stop under green. The weight was affecting the car a little but we had a pretty good setup for the long run. I jumped in the car during the driver change and everything went well except getting blocked in our pit stall by a DP car. We lost precious time pushing the car back, but I was very aggressive on the out lap on cold tires despite feeling like I was on ice. It paid off as a lap later the #70 car pitted and came out just in front of me. I made the pass in turn 4 and drove away to lead for my entire hour stint – it was pretty exciting to lead my first laps in Rolex! We pitted under caution and that’s where things went astray. The pit stop went okay but due to an unusual situation with the pace car waving by GT cars to pick up the DP leader, we fell back in the pack and couldn’t recover, finishing 6th.

Final pit stop:

After VIR we traveled to Lime Rock for a cold one-day test for the Rolex series. The test went very well for us, and many of the Mazda teams were there. Many of the other GT teams were missing – probably stands to reason that Mazdas should be doing so well in GT. We’re looking forward to the race on May 31st, just one day after I turn 29 (again). I’ll also be running the Continental Tire race the 29th in ST with i-MOTO.

And finally, last weekend I was at Road Atlanta for Round Two of the MX-5 Cup series, coaching with AMG. It was great to have free time to talk with some of the drivers and teams – something I didn’t get much of a chance to do last year as I was focused on racing. Lyonel Kent won the race, with Brad Rampelberg and Mat Pombo rounding out the podium after a wild 45 minute race. It’s going to be a tough battle for the championship if the first two races are any indication. The MAZDASPEED ladder is a desirable place to be for all of the racers.

And we finally have a few weeks off. I’d like to think that I’ll spend some time at home enjoying some quiet time, but the reality is that I’m addicted to the traveling circus. You’ll probably find me hanging out at a few club racing events or doing some private coaching.

~Todd

Todd Lamb has been involved with racing since the age of 10. Growing up in Michigan, he got his start racing karts on dirt, asphalt, and street racing circuits throughout the Midwest. Lamb took some time away from karting to get a Mechanical Engineering degree, but his passion for racing brought him back to the sport soon afterward. He took a Skip Barber Racing School at Road America and entered his first Professional SportsCar race in 1998.

In 2002, Todd left his automotive engineering job in Detroit and took a break from racing to start a magazine publishing company. Producing both car and motorcycle magazines, he wasn’t too far removed from the racing world and kept his driving skills sharp with track days, tire tests, and vehicle evaluations on track.

Recently, Lamb returned to sports car racing, winning 3 straight championships with Mazda – two in Spec Miata and one in the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series. In addition, Todd ran in the Grand Am Continental Tire Challenge in both the Street Touring (ST) and Grand Sport (GS) classes the past few seasons, with an eye towards stepping up to the Rolex GT series.

This year follow along as Lamb achieves his dream, competing in his rookie season as a driver for Mazda in the Racer’s Edge Motorsports RX-8 in the Grand Am Rolex series. Keep track of Todd at toddlamb.com, twitter.com/toddspeed, facebook.com/toddspeed, and mazdausa.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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Todd Lamb

ToddLamb.com

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