I'm going to Sebring in March!

For Christmas I got tickets to the 24 hours at Sebring in March!!! Great wife and kids!

My son and son-in-law are going too and then we are going to a 3 day Dude Ranch someplace nearby. We're going to recreate City Slickers!!!

Nope I got it all wrong. I'm not going to the Dude Ranch afterwards, I've just been told that the Dude Ranch is my hotel for Sebring. There were no hotels available so they put us up in the Dude ranch.

Westgate River Ranch - Dude Ranch

you mean the 12 hours?

Sweet dude, I may join you.

I'm so excited that I'm going to do it twice.

Sure wish GRM did their extravaganza at Sebring rather than/also with Rolex. I like Rolex, but Sebring is better. There's a wider variety of cars and (a big plus) it's warmer.

I happy for you... wish I could go... but Sebring is another 3 - 4 hrs drive... so all I'll do is the Rolex

While I like Rolex, I love Sebring.

I'm sure I would... just it's a 14 - 15 hr trip instead of a 12 hr trip

carguy123 wrote: While I like Rolex, I love Sebring.

It is statements like this that make me feel that Sebring would be a better trip than Daytona. The 24 is better on TV anyway.

hmm i like the Rolex better due to viewing possibilities. for some reason Sebring has never caught my attention and i lived within 3hrs of it my whole life.

Sebring is a less Nascary track which is good and bad. The bad of being a Nascary track is that the track must fit within the confines of where the seats are. Sebring requires you to walk more, but it gives you an old school road course feel.

I'm flying to within a short drive regardless of which track I go to so travel time isn't an issue.

I've driven both tracks and even tho Sebring is much rougher it's still more challenging and more fun.

I much prefer Sebring. Daytona for me is still like walking into a cathedral, but Sebring has a totally different vibe. Much more Old School. Find a place to set up camp, light a big fire destroy many beverages, watch a great race, commune with a bunch of crazies, er.. enthusiasts.. Daytona is Corporate to me. Many great memories from both, but much prefer Sebring.

cwh wrote: Daytona is Corporate to me.

THAT'S IT!

cwh wrote: Find a place to set up camp, light a big fire destroy many beverages, watch a great race, commune with a bunch of crazies, er.. enthusiasts..

I want to sit at your campfire. I will bring provisionary firewood and beverages. Can I? Please? Can I?

As someone who's been to almost every 12hr since '88, I'll be taking my money to Daytona this year. Grand-Am puts out a much better "product" than ALMS right now. I don't care to watch a bunch of bottom dweller open wheel feeder series at Sebring. I'd much rather watch the Continental Challenge cars, with some of the bigger names in sports car racing, at Daytona.

Absent the GRM tent you'll find the atmosphere is quite a bit different. The pile of people right on top of each other is a turn off.

I like the Conti Challenge a lot, but I like the diversity that Sebring brings.

If you're close by do both and get the best of both worlds.

Anyone know if the new Audi will be there?

The old audi will be running sebring with updates. It will be called the R15 ploos ploos.

Eight or nine races of Barber Mazda is not diversity. And they've all but told the vintage group to stop showing up.

I've watched Sebring go from starting close to 70 cars, to somewhere around 30 now. Used to be, LOTS of people from around the area were involved in actually racing at the Sebring 12hr. Now, unless you have TONS and TONS of money, you don't even get to see all the track as a spectator.

For the same amount of money, I can go see people that I actually race against in SCCA run a pro race, and see an endurance race that still has five cars within a lap of one another for the overall lead with 2hrs. left to go.

And why do you think there's a pile of people at Daytona, and Sebring has been losing people?

Last year was the first year I've noticed a paucity of cars at Sebring and we were told it was mostly due to the economy with hopes the crowd would be bigger this year. It's been presented as the drivers/teams choice not as any changes in ALMS or Sebring. I've heard nothing about telling the vintage people not to show up. I like the vintage crowd.

I discussed this with Sebring's management last spring when I was there not long after the race and they said they were working on schemes to get more entrants for this year.

Regardless I'm going to Sebring. While I like the Conti Challenge and many of the Mazda cars that run at Daytona I wouldn't go to Daytona simply due to weather, timing and facilities.

The fact that GRM is at Daytona is the biggest factor going for them, but not enough to offset potential cold weather and atmosphere issues.

Regardless of which race I could attend I'd have fun, but I'll have more fun at Sebring and get to see some cars run that I haven't seen in person for a few years.

I know the track better at Sebring so I can relate more to the drivers and their problems.