A look back the IMSA Championship Laguna Seca 2017



A Report By David Harbey

In part one of our look back at a motorsport holiday in California, we visited the IndyCar race weekend at Sears Point / Sonoma Raceway and saw Josef Newgarden clinch the 2017 Championship - A look back at the IndyCar race at Sears Point, Sonoma Raceway 2017

A week later we were 150 miles south just outside the towns of Carmel and Monterey at Laguna Seca. It was sportscars this time with the penultimate round of the IMSA Championship. It wasn’t our first visit – we had been there in 2002 for the American Le Mans Series.

Equipped with only my state of the art Fuji Finepix 1400 Zoom, I captured a few photos of the event; with file sizes of under 500KB and point and shoot only, I wasn’t going to win any camera club competitions ! 

So, to the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix or is it the America’s Tire 250, at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Laguna Seca is Spanish for dry lagoon and the track was built around a dry lake bed in the late 50s; later, when the track was re-configured in the late 80s, a couple of artificial ponds were added. The track is 2.3 miles round and has an elevation change of 180 feet – we will come back to the drop at the infamous Corkscrew later ! 

We headed up to the track on Saturday morning, arriving there as the Lamborghini Trofeos were out for their first of two races in the weekend. Between Turns 4 and 5 there is open seating with a view back to Turns 2 and 3. 

The plan for the day was to walk the track after lunch, but first there was qualifying for the IMSA race – cars qualify in short, sharp 15 minute sessions by class. We stayed around Turn 4 and first up was the GTD class – essentially the Pro-Am class.

Then GTLM – the Pro GT class - and what better way to illustrate it than an American Corvette. At most races there will be a well attended Corvette Corral. You may already have spotted that there ain’t much grass at Laguna Seca and running wide tends to throw up dust clouds.IMSA Championship Laguna Seca 

The Prototypes were last to qualify – the Cadillacs had proving to be a formidable weapon since their debut win at Daytona earlier in the year. The black #10 Wayne Taylor Racing car had won both Daytona and Sebring and were looking for another victory with Ricky Taylor putting the car on pole.

The main support race for IMSA was the four hour Continental Sportscar Challenge on Saturday afternoon. These races are often as tightly contested as the main race with a good mix of cars.

The quicker class is Grand Sport - GT4 if you know your GT class structure including Mustangs, Porsches, BMWs, Aston Martins.

Street Tuner is the “junior” class and includes Minis, MX5s, Porsches and Audis. The class was designed to allow independents to develop and run cars (although this has since been replaced with the now globally accepted TCR class). The Minis are quick even if they do shed bodywork along the way !

Time to move on and perhaps even see if we can find some shade from the strong Californian sun. There’s a good shot of the cars into and out of Turn 5

There’s a road traffic bridge further up the hill and it is possible to cross over and look down at the cars braking for Turn 6.

Crossing back to the inside of the track, there is a dramatic backdrop to Turn 6.

Turn 6 is a quick uphill left and the way the kerbs (or is that curbs ?) are marked up gives some welcome relief and colour to the sandy edge of the track.

It’s then a steady climb up to Turn 7 and 8 at the highest point of the track. There’s great views back to Turn 3 and 4.

And so to the Corkscrew – made famous by outrageous overtakes – Rossi on Stoner if bikes are your thing; Zanardi on Herta if it’s cars. I stopped first at the top though as there was a rather neat shot with no fencing, just the cars and a corner worker. So, set the shutter speed to slow and see what happens …

There’s shade and refreshments here – we were ready for both ! Sadly, there is also now a lot more fencing courtesy of IndyCar returning to race at the track in 2019. I’m glad that we made it there before it was changed. There are shots at the top of the Corkscrew –

The middle of the Corkscrew –

The bottom of the Corkscrew -

Or even through the trees at the Corkscrew !

We crossed the bridge after Turn 8a to see the cars head through Turn 9 on the run back down the hill.

By now we were into the last hour of the race, the shadows are starting to lengthen and deepen. Time to rest our weary legs and see the finish of the race from the open seating opposite the pit lane. 

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny – no surprise there – and the sun block was applied generously. We arrived in time for IMSA warm up and grabbed a few shots at Turn 4.

A walk across the Paddock – spotting British racer Katherine Legge’s Acura NSX in bare carbon and a slightly battered Cayman from the Continental race the previous afternoon among other things.

The howling Huracans were up next for their second race.

I headed round to the outside of Turn 11 for a lovely rear shot of the cars heading across the start line and towards the slight kink over the brow at Turn 1. There’s great heat haze – from the weather and the power unit in the back of the Lambos.

Walking on to the terrace above the run into Turn 11 gives a different shot of the cars braking for and taking the corner.

Then it was back for that rear shot again, perhaps with a little Dutch Tilt. There is also a shot through to the corner using a photographer’s window in the fence a little way ahead of me. Not sure it fully works, but it was worth a try.

A feature of IMSA races is the grid walk with the cars lined up in pit lane. A nice chance to get some detail shots – most of the drivers were also around to talk to, get autographs, etc

For the start of the race, we set up on the inside of the track between Turn 9 and 10. It’s a decent enough panning shot, but nothing too exciting in hindsight.

The light was lovely (of course !) and really highlighted the bare carbon of the Legge Acura.

Walking up towards the Corkscrew, there’s a good shot on the inside of Turn 9. The Patron cars always looked good with their dayglo green and black livery.

Just before the footbridge to the outside of the track at the bottom of the Corkscrew, there’s an interesting rear three quarter shot with some added foliage and spectators if carefully composed.

There’s a really nice range of shots at the Corkscrew – or at least there was in 2017. With the new fencing it will be a “suck it and see” as and when we go back there. 

Heading down the steepest part of the Corkscrew -

Through Turn 8a -

And the panning shot near the bottom -

It doesn’t always go to plan …

By the time the race finished, we had reached as far as Turn 6 with that shot looking down on the cars as they just clip the kerb.

So, another excellent couple of days motorsport in California. It really does make a difference if the sun is shining and the sky is blue !