During the ALMS Petit LeMans @ Road Atlanta Mazda driver's placed 3rd, 4th, 5th,6th and 8th in the Speed Challenge Touring Car race. Real Time Racing's Peter Cunningham along with his Acura teamate Piere Kleinubing paced the large field of import sedans. Tri Point's Jeff Altenburg rallied to a excellent 3rd place finish while OPM's Chuck Hemminson Protege was right on his bumper in the 4th spot. TRi Point's very own, Shauna Marinus followed Chuck with her blue and white Protege, finishing in the 5th points paying position. To add insult to injury fellow Mazda campaigner Robert Baxter held down 8th palce.

All in All, while Mazda Protege's didn't get the top-spot they certainly showed everyone involved in this fine series that they are "a potent force to be reckoned with".


See ya, Speedbump.

 

It was a great race with lots of close racing up front. The Protoges proved to be tough all season long and have one more chance at VIR this year.

Here are some shots to hold you guys over.











Enjoy.

 

excellent job, as usual

 

Hope you will be at VIR, to give a race report and some more of your EXCELLENT photo's..........


Later, Speedbump.

 

I cannot wait till next year. Because if they will allow the Mazdaspeed Pros to race, then there will be no chance for anyone else. Those Pros would own every track they will go to. IMO

 

Yup, will be at VIR to finish out the season. Should be an exciting weekend. The championship races are going down to the wire and should have some exciting racing.

I will be sure to post some reports and photos. Anyone that can make it should surely head that way.

 

The Mazdaspeed Protoges will not be allowed to race because turbos are not allowed except in the GT class. Then they would have to compete against the 911s, NSXs, Corvettes, and S4s. I dont think they would be competitive there unfortunately.

However, with the progress that the Protoges made this year, they will be sure to compete next year.

 

Well in that case, lets wait for the next gen, Mazda3, to come out with a 2.3 L engine. That should be a great boost as well. Though Mazda did very outstanding this year, scoring, I think 3 wins, and improving everytime. Time will tell, hopefully for good.

 

Man, I didn't realize BMW, Acura, and Mazda are so close point-wise in manufacturer's championship!!!! it's going down the wire!!!!

(I checked out motorsportvortex )

and while I was perusing through the results from Road Atlanta, I saw this, the successor of Realtime Racing's successful Integra Type R's



I will see if any of the fellow Protege owners in the area would like to head down together to VIR to see the season finale, it should be an exciting finish!

 

here's a wild crazy thought...

is there any kind of silly rules in Speed World Challenge like they have in ALMS that in effect disallows ROTARY cars to be entered in the series???

because I think a race-prepped, twin-turbo RX-8 just may give the NSX's and 911's and 'Vettes some competition in the GT class

 

The rotaries are allowed in the GT series. The last generation RX7 is still on the list of allowable cars.

When the RX8 comes out I'm sure it will be on the list, it will just be a matter of how much help Mazda is willing to give and who wants to do the developement. With cars like the 911 and Corvette already developed it will take some cash to get the Mazda competitive. But with the help that Mazda has given the Protoges, maybe we will see the same amount of help given to someone that wants to run an RX.

 

I think I saw a 3rd gen Rx-7 that finished 14th at Laguna Seca in the GT Race.

 

dang jimmy. did you take those pics? they're so much better than mine. I got a few shots from turn 5 at RA and several up close shots of Fowler's and Hemmingston's pros in the paddock. I'll post em on my page one of these days, heh.

I'm very pleased to see how well the Pro's did out there....and I'd be even more pleased to get my hands on one of OPM's motors, all $16k of it