After the buzz of winning Le Mans in the Aston Martin, it is now time to focus on winning in the ALMS for Highcroft and Acura.
We tested at Lime Rock in preparation for the race coming up this Saturday and things went well, as we managed to try a few set-up changes that might help us this weekend.
The Lime Rock track is really small, with a lap time of 44 seconds, so it is a bit different to Le Mans, which has a lap time of 3min 52secs! There is just one left-hand corner on the track and six right, with concrete patches in the middle of the corners that I am sure have been there since the '50s! When you hit these patches, the grip just goes from underneath you. It makes it interesting in a nearly flat-out third gear corner with no run-off...! Personally, I think these cars have out grown this track, but it will be the same for everyone.
We had a couple of days off for the 4th of July celebrations, so Stefan Johansson and I went to NY for a bit of fun. It was the first time I had been into NY and I wasn't sure what to expect - but I was looking forward to a new experience whatever.
Stefan said he had got us onto a boat call The Highlander.... Some people might know the name of this boat, but some won't...It belongs to the Forbes family from the
Forbes Magazine empire. With this being a special occasion, I was well dressed...not. Still, if I got thrown off the boat for wearing jeans and a shirt, then I would just gatecrash another boat.
I didn't, so we walked onto the Highlander and a line of Forbes brothers and wives where there to meet us. They didn't know who hell I was and I found it interesting going onto a boat with people I didn't know. Stefan and I stuck out like sore thumbs for a while until he met his friend who had got us onto the boat in the first place....thanks Scott.
Then I bumped into Tom Pervus from
BMW USA, who I knew when I raced for BMW in touring cars, and, when I bumped into the head of Maserati USA, Jim Selwa, who used to be at Panoz, I felt comfortable.
