This weekend, BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team goes to Mid-Ohio for a new race in the American Le Mans Series competition. The BMW RHL team comes after second double-podium finish and an exciting race at Lime Rock and continues to “eye” the first position in the manufacturer’s standings.
Introducing us to the upcoming race is once again Bill Auberlen who drives the No. 92 M3 GT and takes us aboard for a lap of practice.Introducing us to the upcoming race is once again Bill Auberlen who drives the No. 92 M3 GT and takes us aboard for a lap of practice. Auberlen was also featured earliner on our website with an interview he has recently granted to SportsCarInsider.
The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m. Saturday. The race will be broadcast on CBS television at 12:30 p.m. on August 15th.
SportsCarInsider interviewed Bill Auberlen of BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team, and “one of the fastest drivers in sports car racing for fifteen years and has raced just about every type of car, from street stock BMWs in World Challenge and Continental Challenge to Grand Am Daytona Prototypes and cutting edge GT cars.”
Auberlen, 40,of Redondo Beach, CA, joined BMW RHL in 2009 Auberlen, and first drove for BMW of North America in 1996 when he joined the previous M3 racing program, then in its second year of competition. Auberlen would go on to become the team’s most successful driver, winning driver titles in both 1997 and 2004.
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
Haueter: Is ALMS GT this year the most competitive racing you’ve ever experienced?
Auberlen: Yes, absolutely. The ALMS has always had manufacturers involved, but the lap times have never been down to the second and third digit past the decimal. That makes it very competitive, and you see the driver lineups and they’re all ex-champions. The series has gotten the cars to be very close and the tire manufacturers each have their own strong suits, but ultimately on the lap times we’re all very close together.
Haueter: Does it take more effort outside of the cockpit to compete at this level?
Auberlen: BMW Rahal Letterman Racing is different than other teams I’ve raced for. After every race, we get an Excel spreadsheet that’s usually around ten pages of data showing how you compare to every other car out there –how fast you were compared to every car in the field for the first ten laps, how fast you were out of the pits, how fast you were for a twenty lap run, where you were quickest in the turns… . you need to take it all in and figure out where you need to improve.
Haueter: How does the M3 you’re racing this year compare to other M3’s you’ve driven in the past?
Auberlen: This M3 is cutting edge. It’s almost like they made a work of art and then decided to turn it into a race car. Nothing is compromised with the car. It makes more downforce than I’ve ever felt before in a GT car, and that was with the older bodywork. The motor is beautiful and runs like a champion. We’ve run it hard every single race and it’s been very reliable. You just want so badly to do a good job and do what the car is capable of.
Haueter: The ALMS M3 and the tube-framed M6 you drive in Grand Am Rolex GT are both front-engine race cars with BMW V8 motors, but are they similar at all to drive?
Auberlen: No, not even close. The Rolex GT M6 is one of the highest performing cars in the field, but it’s also one of the heaviest, so it has a very heavy feel to it. Once you get that car pointed straight and step on it though, that BMW M5 V8 motor gets going and the car just takes off like a rocket. The thing about that car is you can be in a gear too high and the car will still pull strong, it has so much torque. It would pull a tree right out of the ground. The ALMS M3 is perfection – everything is right on target. It has the perfect balance of power, braking and handling. Everything just feels in perfect proportion.
In one of the most spectacular races of this ALMS season, BMW Rahal Letterman delivered an impressive performance on the home turf at Lime Rock Park.
Recovering from an unfortunate qualifying result which placed the team at the rear of the starting grid, drivers Tommy Milner and Bill Auberlen finished 2nd, while co-drivers Dirk Muller and Joey Hand scored 3rd place and set the fastest GT-class lap of the race (Hand) at 0:55.943 seconds.
The day before the race, the qualification session took place through heavy rain, and in the video below, we see Bill Auberlen shaking down the No. 92 M3 GT in a very wet first practice session.
We can never get tired of BMW videos and especially those involving some sort of race cars and drifting. Today, we have a special video involving the ALMS BMW M3 GT2 and its drivers, Joey Hand and Bill Auberlen.
The two drivers took the M3 GT2 around the Lime Rock Park in Connecticut and gave us a feel of what this special M3 can really do. The engines powering the M3 GT2 are V8 derivatives of the factory M3 engines. They displace 4 liters and output 485 horsepower and 368 lb-ft of torque. The stock block and cylinder head castings are used. No titanium is used anywhere in the engine under homologation rules.
We will have a more detailed article on the M3 GT2 soon, but in the mean time, enjoy the video.
BMW is a company known for successful, succinct advertising campaigns. In fact, BMW would not be themselves without a clever yet interesting ad – whatever their message may be. However, sometimes even more interesting than the ad itself is how BMW go about producing the advertisement that will go on to entertain and speak to millions.
Last year, BMW shot an incredible commercial for their entry back into the ALMS GT2 class with the E92 M3 showing the M3 GT bombing around the famous former airbase in Sebring, Florida.
For the 2010 season, BMW have decided to double the fun by producing a commercial with both the #90 M3 of Bill Auberlen and Tommy Milner and the #92 M3 of Dirk Muller and Joey Hand versus a single car theme of last year. However, to capture this special, high-paced scene and package it successfully into a commercial is no easy task. To do this, BMW NA called upon the highly respected advertising group GSD&M of Austin, TX and the notable Bandito Brothers, a full service media group with a penchant for the extreme, guerilla-style approach to advertising allowing the viewer feel like a part of the action.
GSD&M is a Texas-based advertising group who’s work it is impossible for someone to have not seen as they manage the advertising of a diverse portfolio of top tier companies such as BMW, LL Bean, Southwest Airlines, and PGA TOUR. Some might recognize the Bandito Brothers already as they released another M3-themed short film called Living in the Lights featuring a beautiful woman, an E92 M3 and a similar theme of the BMW The Hire series in which an anonymous driver is paid to entertain clients behind the wheel of his BMW.
Other bodies of work by Bandito Brothers include a handful of action-filled promotional videos for the U.S. military as well as some extreme drifting ads for BF Goodrich and an over-the-top Mountain Dew commercial just to name a few.
When I arrived trackside for BMW’s testing of the M3 GT’s on day 2 of the session, I found the Bandito Brothers team, a handful of stuntmen and action junkies with a wonderful eye for film, already hard at work getting their E90 M3 “chase car” ready for a day of shooting with a number of members from the creative team of GSD&M on hand to steer the project – no pun intended.
Interestingly, the M3 chase car was a replica of the Alpine White M3 that ran in the 2009 One Lap of America and was donated by the BMW Performance Driving School in Spartanburg, South Carolina. However, after being driven down from South Carolina to Sebring, Florida the car looked quite different from the last time I’d seen the One Lap E90 M3(pictured below). Most of the advertising removed had been removed from the car in addition to the power-bulged hood and front passenger door.
In their place, sophisticated camera rigs, two long bars reaching just beyond the full width of the car at the front and rear and a small rig protruding from just beyond the front passenger seat. Across the rig at the rear were 3 Canon EOS 5D Mk II’s(yes, those that shoot video in 1080p HD!) all on actuating arms to help position camera angles correctly. The front rig carried similar mounts and cameras as did the rig in the in place of the passenger door.
According to our hosts and the members present from Bandito Brothers, the previous day during filming on track, Dirk Muller was being a little too aggressive while following the chase M3 and managed to end up running into one of the Canon 5D’s causing the innards of the camera to come spilling out of the bottom and thus writing off a $2,500 camera body with a likely similarly priced lens. However, it seems that BMW NA and the Bandito Brothers both have a good sense of humor and took the loss of the camera in stride.
Moving into the afternoon, the Bandito Brothers team were crawling around the paddock and capturing video of the pair of M3 GT’s as they turned hot lap after hot lap around the circuit with the rest of the field undergoing testing. As the sun began to slip behind the horizon, the chase M3 was wheeled back onto the circuit and allowed to run about three laps with pair of M3 GT’s to round out two full days of filming and documenting the M3 GT’s in their natural habitat. The majority of the focus of the session allowing the cameramen to get excellent rolling shots of the cars in action as they dueled back and forth – no cameras were harmed during this session!
Having already seen the work of the Bandito Brothers with their hands on a BMW; not to mention their already impressive portfolio of work of GSD&M, we’re confident this commerical will not disappoint. Look for the commercial to debut during the airing of the 58th 12 Hours of Sebring race that kicks off today on SPEEDTV with coverage starting at 10AM EST and the race starting at 10:30AM EST.
BMW have also posted their own coverage of the making of the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Bandito Brothers hard at work with their own feature in BMW Magazine.
The news sweeping throughout the BMW racing world is that Turner Motorsport has expanded into the GT class of the Rolex / Grand-Am Sports Car Series. They are entering a BMW M6 to compete in 2010 season, starting with the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Turner Motorsport brings with them championship winning experience, a race-proven crew, and a “Dream Team” driver line-up that means business.
In what appears to be a “perfect storm,” the most successful BMW race team in North America has paired the new BMW M6 and the best BMW drivers in the business to compete in the prestigious 48th annual Rolex 24 at Daytona, a grueling 24-hour survival of the fittest, taking place at Daytona International Speedway on January 30 and 31. Their driver line-up includes veteran BMW factory drivers Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand, who surprised many competitors with their fast pace while driving the BMW M3 GT2 in the American Le Mans Series last year. They will be joined by fellow road-racing legend and NASCAR driver Boris Said, as well as rookie sensation Paul Dalla Lana who had an impressive 2009 season driving the Turner Motorsport E90 328i.
“We’re feeling really confident,” said team owner and company president Will Turner. “The Rolex series is definitely ‘the big show,’ and we knew we had our work cut out for us when we made the decision to run the M6 in the 24. Our goal is to win, and we believe we have the right combination to do just that.”
The news of Turner’s move into the GT class and entry in the Daytona 24 has not only captured the attention of BMW racing fans worldwide, but also documentary filmmaking company Veloz Media, who is producing a behind-the-scenes Web TV series to chronicle the team’s tremendous efforts and journey to the 24 hour race. This video production will provide a behind-closed-doors experience of preparing for and making it through this race of endurance and perseverance. A “teaser” video has been posted on the web and can also be viewed at http://www.TurnerMotorsport.com/journey24
Turner Motorsport’s latest weapon in the BMW arsenal is a very special BMW M6 coupe. The chassis is built by Riley Technologies and features a tubular frame and all-carbon-fiber-body-work to keep the car both light and strong. The team had initially looked at bringing an M3 to the event; however it was felt that the superior aerodynamics of the slippery M6 coupe would be better suited for the long banked straights of Daytona. The power plant is an M Power 5.0 liter BMW V8 specially built to be both fast and reliable for the Rolex 24.
“Our biggest challenge is going to be staying out of trouble and running a smart race strategy so that we can be up front in the end,” said Turner. “I know we have a great car, great drivers and a great team ˆ it’s going to be all about putting it together.”
The Turner team will also be debuting their new V8 powered GS class E92 M3 at the opening of the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series, previously called the Koni Challenge Series. The opening race is scheduled at Daytona on 1/29, the same weekend as the Rolex 24. The team has worked closely with its existing sponsors and technology partners to once again bring the best prepared BMW M3s.
Last year Turner Motorsport BMW M3s finished 3rd and 5th in the GS team championship, with Turner Motorsport driver Matt Bell taking 3rd in overall drivers points. Turner M3s mustered 9 podium finishes (the most ever for Turner), 3 wins, 5 poll position starts, and 14 top 5 finishes. Despite not taking the overall championship, and narrowly missing giving BMW the manufacturer’s championship by 1 point, 2009 was the most successful season since 2005, when Turner Motorsport, Bill Auberlen and Justin Marks scored 5 race victories.
Live TV coverage of the Rolex 24 at Daytona will be provided by SPEED TV on Saturday January 30 at 3:00 PM eastern and on Sunday January 31 at 7:00AM eastern. Tape delay coverage of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge will also air on SPEED TV, with the time to be announced.
About Turner Motorsport
Turner Motorsport is the leading BMW tuner in North America, bringing technology and expertise from the racetrack to the street. Turner Motorsport is not about clever marketing tricks or gimmicks. Racetrack results speak themselves. The Turner Motorsport team has won five professional racing championships in two different series since 2003. This storied success is passed into every component that Turner Motorsport designs and sells through their website catalog. Our race team, R&D engineers and Sales team work together, allowing practical knowledge and state-of-the-art engineering to flow in both directions. Few companies in North America can claim such a close relationship to what they sell and what they race.
About Veloz Media
Veloz Media started with a vision to push the limits of film production by uniting a love of the adrenaline rush with creative technology. Do More. See More. Veloz prides itself on having an ideal blend of professionals who understand the newest video production technology and who have the tenacity to do whatever it takes to get the project done. Our creative process begins with a concept that is carried through to the final product, and our obsession with perfection ensures optimal results. Every project is of utmost importance, regardless of size or budget; each is approached with the highest production values and limitless creativity.
We are a company that pays no attention to the details, Why? Because we craft the details. We reveal the details. We are proud to be a company that not only tells a story by words and scripting, but also pays close attention to the best ways of visually telling your story. All of our equipment is broadcast quality High Definition, from our lipstick cameras to our more robust camera systems. It does not matter what the budget is, we Do More so our clients can See More.
2010 ROLEX GT SCHEDULE
Television coverage by SPEED
Jan. 29-31 | Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach FL
March 6-7 | Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead FL
April 9-10 | Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham AL
April 24-25 | Virginia International Raceway, Alton VA
May 28-29 | Lime Rock Park, Lakeville CT
The SPEED Channel will provide LIVE TV broadcast for all Rolex GT races, and tape delay coverage for Continental Tire Challenge races throughout the year. Stay tuned to TMSRacing.com or SPEEDTV.com for broadcast dates and times.
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