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| Talking With Andy Lally |
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© Andrew S. Hartwell
With sunshine in abundance here at Virginia International Raceway, we made our way over to the TRG race compound and caught up with Andy Lally, driver of the #66 TRG Porsche GT3. He told us how his weekend has gone so far, what it was like to drive an LMP2 Prototype for Dyson Racing, what he thinks of the VIR circuit and who he has to compete with on and off the track.
TRG Status This Weekend
It's been a pretty good weekend. I think we have a good handle on the car. I went out on Friday with a set of stickers to do a lap and I got a little messed up but the lap was still pretty darn good. The best thing about it was it felt pretty darn good. It's one of those deals where you have got to put together a good race car for the stint and I was pretty happy about that. The characteristics we look for at the beginning of the stint help us to determine what they will be like at the end of the stint. And the characteristics that we want are exactly what we have.
Commendations To VIR Management
VIR is a little narrow but I am extremely happy with VIR management on the safety issues they have addressed in the last few years. For instance they had some areas here a few years back that were pretty dangerous. They did an excellent job of addressing those issues. This is probably now one of the safest tracks in which to have an off in high speed areas. What were the biggest problem areas have now been turned into some of the safest areas in the country.
The changes started a few years back - I think it was 2003 or so. The biggest improvements came at the end of the back straight and the front straightaway. Those two places had the room and, unlike a lot of other tracks, VIR used the room to put big tire walls in with several rows of tires separated by fifteen feet of open space. Having lost my Brakes at the end of the front straightaway after they made that improvement, and literally backing out of it and driving to pit lane in a car that wasn't damaged nearly as much as it could have been, yes, I have to commend them on a job well done!
On His Sebring Ride with Dyson
It was wonderful! To drive the #16 car for Dyson Racing having such an historic number was an honor and a lot of fun. I really enjoyed running with Chris Dyson and having Andy Wallace and Butch Leitzinger as co-drivers was a dream. You couldn't have asked for more! It was a dream for me. We had some bad luck in the race. We were running really well, in third place and really in contention until the issues with the gearbox selector.
The electrical problems with the gearbox selector meant it wouldn't downshift. You would go into the hairpin at 170 miles an hour, jam on the Brakes and go down four gears and it would only go down one. We would go into the hairpin, come out standing on the gas and the car would be in fifth gear. It would do that repeatedly so we had to come in and change that out.
Then we just got unlucky with a flat and ended up ninth overall. But for me, the experience was just a blast. It was an honor to be with those guys and I would love to run with them again.
Maybe at the Petit Le Mans Andy?
Where He Wants To Race
I wouldn't care what series, and if money wasn't an issue, I would want to run in a series that is very competitive and has a ton of cars. That is one the things that is most appealing about NEXTEL Cup (NASCAR). You've got 50 guys every week fighting for 43 spots. You can't be a second off. That is simply unacceptable. A half a second off and you are in trouble. I love the Rolex series because we are getting close to that. In GT and DP they are fighting for Tenths of a second every week. We are seeing the same thing in the ALMS.
The thing that makes it more thrilling for me is car count because I want a dog fight. When we take the green I want to be door to door, or side pod to side pod, or mirror to mirror, whatever you want to call<
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