24 Hours of Portugal

[Rick]

I was talking to some guys from 333 Racing and they said that this event is even better organized and more fun that the 24 Hours of America. It might be worth checking out.

http://www.24horas-camperakarting.com/

http://www.nkn.com/news.asp?item=110

"The 2005 race marks the fourth time Team USA has participated in the 24 Hours of Evora, but it has already proven its strength against its international competition. The team won in 2003 and finished third in 2004. Team USA consists of three teams: Team Eagle, Team Spirit and Team Red, White and Blue."

333 Racing definitely has more experience than our team.

:D

[JP Smith]

Hello everyone. Great forum. This is my first time posting on it, or any forum for that matter. My teammate Jonathon Jacques and I met Rick and Martin at the 200 lap indoor race a few weeks back. Great meeting those guys.

I just thought I'd mention that I did this race in 2005 with Endurance Karting. It is a better organized race. Johan modelled alot of elements of his 24 hours of America after this event. For example the mandatory stops at 45 minutes. In 2005 Stefano Modena (ex formula one driver) was on the Bridgestone team in the pits next to us, and I was lucky enough to talk to him at length. Pedro Lamy was also there (ex formula one driver and Le Mans winner) and I got to meet him too. I know Jan Lammers has showed up at this track and they have pictures of Senna driving a kart at the track back in the day. It's a cool place. The event is a massive party with a few thousand party-goers and spectators as well as the teams. There's also local and regional media swarming around the paddock mostly interviewing the ex F1 guys. It's a fiercely competitive event, and practicaly all the teams have some sort of major corporate sponsor. That being said they are all still beatable. There's actually alot of attrition. Oh and the heat is stifling. The ambient air temperature during the day was way over 100 Fahrenheit. and the seats got so hot from the mufflers that half of the drivers had burns on their backs from morning practice. It's a pretty crazy event.

The karts were lightweight Parolin chassis with 13 hp Hondas, with very hard compound tires like Johan runs. So good speed and no grip. I would love to do this one again sometime if anyone else is interested.

[Rick]

Hi Joseph!

It was very nice meeting both Jonathan and you. I'm glad you like the forum. The Portugal race sounds very cool and it also sounds like a great vacation spot. When is that race run? I think Roberto, one of our resident karting meistros, may have mentioned this race before.

[JP Smith]

It was in July in 2005. This year it's May 28th and 29th. It's a good track too. I still have my track notes. The organizer is a guy named Voss or Boss Peters. He seemed like a very good very experienced organizer.