So I went to the St. Pete GP last weekend.

"AntiSpeed" (AntiSpeed) 04/03/2015 at 23:25 • Filed to: None

1

6

It was my first time seeing the Pirelli World Challenge since they were known as the SPEED World Challenge in the late 2000's.

HOLY BALLS was it amazing. There must have been at least 25-30 cars in the GT class, all of them exotics like the McLaren 650, Mercedes SLS, lambo's, Ferrari 458's, R8's and others.

If any of you have never seen it, go search world challenge tv videos on youtube.

desertdog5051 > AntiSpeed 04/03/2015 at 23:55

0

Never been. But that is some of the best racing to be had on the planet.

Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight > AntiSpeed 04/04/2015 at 02:07

0

St Pete isn't great for spectating the race. I was there three years ago and was a little disappointed having been so impressed with Mid-Ohio and Road Atlanta. I try to attend one or two a year (have been going since 2011), I support Team Cadillac Racing and they support their fans with an outstanding VIP Package, infield parking, drinks, meals, a paddock tour, meet & greet with the drivers, etc., etc., etc., a great time even if it rains. Also our VIP Package is good for the whole weekend so when Indy cars race following PWC, I get in there, too.

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/not-at-all-my-…

ITA Hondaboy > AntiSpeed 04/04/2015 at 10:14

0

If you liked St Pete, as Gizmo suggests, you really should come to the show at a real track. St Pete is terrible for getting to watch the actual race, but see if you can go to Barber or one of the other races this year.

No doubt though, the racing is superb. Catch the St Pete race on TV tomorrow on CBSSports at pm.

AntiSpeed > ITA Hondaboy 04/06/2015 at 14:54

0

I absolutely love street racing but you're right, unless you have a grandstand seat with a jumbotron it's more about enjoying the atmosphere than actually following the race. I'm hoping to catch Long Beach on the live stream, since I'm really not a fan of tape-delay.

AntiSpeed > Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight 04/06/2015 at 14:58

0

Awesome! How did you get the VIP package?

I have a friend that lives in St. Pete and on Saturday we were invited to a party on the 6th floor pool deck of the Signature Tower (the really tall white apartment building at turn 4). We were able to watch the GTS race from there and although we didn't have a tv screen, it was much nicer than standing on the fence by the track.

Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight > AntiSpeed 04/06/2015 at 22:32

1

Awesome! How did you get the VIP package?

Personally, I know a guy that knows a guy...

But seriously, the VIP Package is for the "V" corral that they have at every race. If you own a Cadillac V Series car or an XLR (more on that later), I believe you need to sign up for the Cadillac Racing email updates and a few weeks before every race they send a link for you to sign up and buy the VIP Package for the race. If you had gone into the Cadillac display area when you were at the St. Pete race, you could have signed up for the email list there (and got a nice Cadillac Racing T-shirt for your trouble). My biggest bitch about this process is you have to wait waaaaayyyyy past normal tickets go on sale and the interest is so high (and parking limited) that the VIP Packages usually sell out in two or three days, i.e., you have to wait till the last minute and you only have a short window to buy.

There are always exceptions to the rules. The first year of the Cadillac Corrals there was no race in Detroit so they brought the corporate guys don to Mid-Ohio. Now that they race in Detroit, there are way more corporate VIPs than V owners with VIP passes.

Oh, almost forgot from above... my XLR car club has had a corral at Cadillac Racing events well before Cadillac "thought it up." Us at Mid-Ohio 2011:

(Notice the CTS-V on the end - it's Johnny O'Connells, imagine that ... before there was a V corral he parked with us cause we were closest infield parking next to the Cadillac display.)

He'd also come over and have a beer with us at the end of the day.

So we applauded their efforts to recognize V owners. I had a meeting with the head of marketing for the Cadillac race team and he wanted to absorb us into the Cadillac corral for their first year and all was well until some temp worker at the track stopped a base model XLR and told him he couldn't park with the V cars. I went ballistic! The head of Cadillac Racing was found, informed, and he, himself explained to this temp that ALL XLRs were welcome. I guess my rage was so violent that even the invites and fliers for all the upcoming races were updated with a footnote that all XLRs could buy the VIP Package and join the V corrals. Since then, it seems everyone at Cadillac Racing and Cadillac marketing knows me by name. They seek me out at Detroit and Mid-Ohio to show Elwood (my XLR-V) to all their friends and corporate visitors. They lay in ambush for me at the Chicago Auto Show and kidnap me for lunch. They have provided swag for our annual XLR car cruise. And have kept watch as I abuse Elwood in the many racing events I enter. My fire suit that I designed to mimic theirs was signed by both drivers, Johnny and Andy, in Detroit in 2012 when they found out I was attempting a Land Speed record later that year.