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It’s time once again to experience great Southern hospitality as we visit George Barber’s wonderful Barber Motorsports Park in the rolling hills near Birmingham, Alabama, to do the …
Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
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Barber Motorsports Park was designed as a race venue for motorcycles, and the facility is the home of the best racing motorcycle museum in the world. When IndyCars first explored racing there it was feared the track would be too narrow for such cars, but that hasn’t turned out to be the case, and every year Barber produces some of the best racing of the season.
The 2.38-mile permanent road course has 17 turns and features 80 feet of elevation change that make it feel to the drivers like a roller coaster. In fact, the first few corners are known as the Carousel but also as the “Alabama Roller Coaster.” The race fan has a wonderful experience, with hillside race viewing all over the place, in sight of giant sculptures that dot the track. And with any lull in the action the museum is just across the way, loaded with motorcycles but also with a number of race cars.
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Barber track map
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Barber elevation map
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Those fans won’t find much lull, however, as there are no less than 9 races scheduled over the weekend, rain or shine, and we may have rain in the forecast. Last year, we had rain so torrential that the IndyCar race had to be suspended for a day and finished on Monday. The rain forecast this weekend is expected to be a lot less, but possible, nonetheless. Racing this weekend will be:
- Mazda Global MX-5 Cup - 2 races, on Saturday
- SCCA Formula 3 Americas - 2 races on Saturday and Sunday
- IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA - 2 races on Saturday and Sunday
- Lamborghini Super Trofeo - 2 races on Saturday and Sunday
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…and, of course, the IndyCars race on Sunday.
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Let’s take a look at sll that support racing:
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Mazda Global MX-5 Cup - Though sanctioned by IndyCars, MX-5 Cup is really a great training ground for SportsCar drivers. All driving identically-prepared Mazda Miata race cars, the series has huge fields and lots of action, with the goal ultimately to capture the series Cup and with it a huge scholarship to be applied to a racing career in SportsCars. MX-5 Cup has no IndyCar drivers in it, so we will wish them safe and happy racing and concenttrate on the rest…
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Mazda MX-5 Cup cars in action
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continued…
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