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Liz Halliday and Intersport Racing end the
season on a high
Liz Halliday and the Intersport Racing team secured
a fantastic second overall in the LMP2
Driver’s Championship of the American Le Mans
Series this weekend, with a podium finish in the
tenth and final round of the season at Laguna Seca,
California.
Halliday and co-driver Clint Field’s
championship position is even more impressive for
the fact that they have finished ahead of two of
their four arch rivals from the factory Porsche
team, despite many observers writing off their
chances as soon as Porsche announced their plans
towards the end of 2005.
To achieve success in the face of such adversity
illustrates perfectly the character of the little
Intersport team, a private, family-owned operation
based in Ohio. Throughout the season they have
fought hard to maintain intense pressure on their
Porsche rivals, seeking to exploit any sign of
weakness. Reliability was one such area in which
Porsche struggled early on in the season and
Intersport capitalised beautifully, being sure to
finish races where their rivals faltered. It was at
this early stage of the year that Intersport built
the foundation to their championship assault,
Halliday’s co-driver and defending champion
Clint Field keen to seal a second title and Liz
herself looking to record her first.
Inevitably however, Porsche soon found the
reliability to match their speed, and finally the
mighty RS-Spyders were able to exploit their
inherent pace advantage.
Yesterday’s race in Laguna Seca summed up
much of the second half of the season, with
Intersport feistily refusing to give up, proving
themselves absolutely the ‘best of the
rest’ as the German steamroller continued.
Jon Field took the start for Intersport,
impressively holding station in third place as the
Goodyear tyres on the Lola-AER struggled for grip
on the dusty circuit. Jon’s son Clint then
took over, continuing the faultless run before
handing to Halliday on lap 65. Despite the
increasingly eventful race being peppered by a
multitude of accidents and crashes, Liz performed
beautifully, lapping quickly and consistently,
maintaining third place with a flawless run.
On lap 80 a ‘full course yellow’
forced the team to review their strategy and Liz
was called into the pits for a driver-change, fuel
and new tyres. Such is the advantage of pitting
during a safety-period that the sacrifice to
Halliday’s remaining run was very much in the
team’s overall interest.
With Jon Field now back at the wheel, the charge
continued for the #37 car, again unabated until
Clint was handed the reigns for a final, clean run
to the flag. With four hours complete, Intersport
finished 12th overall, 3rd in class.
Summing up her weekend, Liz said:
“It’s not too bad a way to end the year.
Although we always race for the win, it’s
great to be on the podium here today –
especially with the class having become super
competitive with the arrival of more Radical
chassis and so on. We're proud to be ‘best of
the rest’. I didn’t get too much time in
the car today but I think the strategy was right.
We had planned all along to switch drivers under
yellow and this is exactly what we did. It paid off
and helped us to secure third place in the race and
second in the championship, so we’re ending
the year on a good note.
“This has been a very educational season
and I have learnt a lot. I would like to thank
Clint, Jon and the entire team for a great year and
my first full ALMS championship. We led the
championship ahead of the two Porsches for the
first six races of the season and this says how
competitive the team is. When a one-car, small
privateer team can get on top of a two-car, factory
outfit like Porsche, it’s a great credit to
the mechanics, their preparation of the car and its
faultless reliability. The boys really deserve this
result and I’m very happy for them. It is a
shame that Clint couldn’t retain his LMP2
title and that I couldn’t secure my first one,
but it is a well fought third place. On the podium,
we had the Penske Porsche drivers saying to us that
we scared them all season and they were relieved
the season was now over! This is the best
compliment we could get!”
Team owner and co-driver to Liz, Clint Field
added: “Liz drove a strong race today and this
is fantastic for the team to end the season on a
high. It would have been great to win the
Drivers’ championship for the second season in
a row and help Liz secure her first championship
but we knew it would be a tall order against
Porsche. As a team we did the best we could since
Sebring in March and I feel we can be proud of what
we achieved. I cannot wait for 2007 which will be
an even more competitive season!”
Source: www.lizhalliday.com/pages/news/latest_news_detail.aspx?nid=89
Preview Laguna Seca - round 10
American Le Mans Series driver, Liz Halliday, heads
back to her home state of California this weekend
for the final round of the season at Mazda Raceway,
Laguna Seca.
The Monterey Sportscar Championships, as the
event is known - in deference to the circuit’s
local town - will mark an exciting climax to what
has been a spectacular season for Halliday and the
Intersport Racing team.
In the nine races so far the private Ohio-based
squad have won three times, had one second place,
four thirds and one fourth. Against the might of
the two-car entry from the Porsche factory team,
they led the LMP2 class championship for the entire
first half of the season and still have a
mathematical chance of taking the Drivers’
title this weekend, despite two of the Porsche
drivers enjoying a slight points advantage.
For Halliday and co-driver Clint Field to take
the series title, not only do they need a win this
weekend, but they also require a seventh-place
finish (or lower) by Porsche driver Sascha Maassen
and either a fifth or sixth-place finish by his
team mate Lucas Luhr. A tall order by any stretch
of the imagination, especially since Porsche appear
to have now found reliability to match their
ever-dominant speed, but experience suggests that
if Intersport can just keep piling the pressure on
their rivals, then they might just break.
The Laguna Seca event is not a long race by
endurance standards, just four hours, but the
eleven-turn, anti-clockwise, 3.6km circuit is as
notoriously demanding as it is rewarding, as Liz
Halliday explains: “Laguna is one of those
famous circuits that every driver looks forward to
racing on. It’s up there with Spa, Monaco and
Road America as a highly revered drivers’
circuit. I’ve now raced their twice, both in a
Porsche GT2 in 2004 and last year with Intersport
in our Lola LMP2. I’ve always loved the
challenge of the place but I have yet to get a
great result there. I plan on doing my best to put
that right this weekend.”
The thought occurred that perhaps Halliday is
looking forward to the off-season more than most,
thanks to the huge demands of pursuing both a
racing career as well as that of an international
equestrian competing in Three-Day Eventing:
“You must be kidding me! If anything it’s
the other way around – I much prefer being
busy and enjoy darting around between races and
horse events. It’s the winter that worries me
the most as I’m not very good at time off!
Having said that, I’m sure I’ll
appreciate the break when the time comes – so
long as we finish the season on a high this
weekend. There’s nothing better than going
into the winter with the satisfaction of a
fantastic result in the final round.”
The race on the West Coast of America’s
most spectacular permanent racing circuit, buried
in the hills which overlook Monterey Bay, will take
place this Saturday, October 21st at 14:45pm.
In the US, Speed Channel will televise the event
live on 21st October from 2.30pm PST For more
information, please visit www.speedtv.com
In Europe, Motors TV will televise the event
live on 21st October from 10.30 UK time (23.30
continental time). For more information, please
visit www.motorstv.com
Live coverage will also be available at
www.americanlemans.com
with American Le Mans Radio and IMSA Live Timing
& Scoring.
Road Atlanta - 10 Hour Petit le Mans.
Liz Halliday enters Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda
CX-7 in a more demanding role this year. Instead of
simply helping Clint Field and Intersport Racing
toward an LMP2 championship, she and Field are tied
for second in the drivers standings behind Penske
Racing's Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr. A second
straight win at Petit Le Mans could go a long way
to helping Halliday, Field, and the rest of the
Intersport team reach championship glory again.
Question: The LMP2 drivers championship
is still up for grabs…
Answer: "True, and Clint and I are still
in the thick of things. Both Petit Le Mans and
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca are multiple-point
events, so we absolutely have to take advantage.
The Porsche cars have been strong lately, no
question about that. But the Intersport Lola has
been ultra-dependable each race, and we have to
continue in that vein. The Porsches did not
(finish) at Sebring, so you have to wonder if
either or both will have the staying power at
Petit. Petit is a very, very important race for us.
The crew is really working hard getting all of us
ready for a challenging event."
Q: Aside from Petit's length (1,000 miles
or 10 hours, whichever comes first), what are some
of the other challenges the teams will
encounter?
Halliday and Clint Field can reclaim the LMP2
championship with a victory at Petit Le Mans
powered by Mazda CX-7.
A: "Well, the fact that you begin the
race in what's often very warm weather and busy
traffic, then you get to late afternoon and the
setting sun becomes a factor, then you're finally
running in the darkness and the only lights you
have to work with are the ancillary ones around the
track and those on the car. Petit is really
America's Le Mans, and in many ways it is quite
similar to the famous 24 Hours in France. The race
may not be as long, but Road Atlanta is an equally
difficult track to do well on, and you have to push
hard if you want to win."
Q: You have been on the podium a lot this
year. Describe those feelings.
A: "Well, it is always fun to be able to
be on any of those steps, but we'd all like to have
been on the top step more frequently. That's all in
the past now though, and we have to do the best we
can in the final two races."
Q: What have you been up to away from the
track?
A: "Working my horses has taken up most
of my time, and I've done a few equestrian events
here in England with some good results. I am also
happy to announce that I have recently partnered
with iZon Eyewear who have come on board as a
personal sponsor. They are a specialty eyeglass
manufacturer and I could not be happier to be
representing a product that I believe in, and to be
associated with such a great group of people."
Q: Has this season unfolded in the way
you thought, or hoped, it would?
A: "I'm not sure I can give a definitive
answer to that actually. Going in, I felt my
biggest challenge was to improve my overall driving
skills. For the most part, I have accomplished
that, and I feel that I have made some big steps
forward in the last two races especially. Now the
real challenge for me is to keep improving on the
pace that I have found, at both Petit Le Mans and
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and the challenge for
all of us in the team is to get back into the lead
in the points championship."
Q: Petit Le Mans is less than a week
away. Any other thoughts?
A: "Only that each of us on the Intersport team
knows what is at stake. We drivers get all the
attention, but neither Clint nor Jon or I would be
able to accomplish what we have without the
outstanding work ethic and determination of our
crew members. If we are fortunate to win the LMP2
championship, and I believe we still can, it is
going to be a true 'team' championship. We don't
have the numbers (of personnel) that some of the
other teams do, but we do have some of the best
crew members in this sport and that counts for a
lot. We all want to win, and I know that we will
continue to put maximum effort into claiming the
LMP2 championship in these last two races."
The 1,000-mile/10-hour Petit Le Mans powered by
Mazda CX-7, Round 9 of the American Le Mans Series,
is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. EDT on Saturday,
September 30. The race will be broadcast live on
SPEED Channel from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT and 3
to 10 p.m. EDT with MotorsTV providing live
coverage in Europe. American Le Mans Radio will
have live coverage at americanlemans.com, which
also will feature IMSA Live Timing &
Scoring.
Mosport International Raceway - 3rd in
class
Californian racing driver and international
equestrian, Liz Halliday, received plaudits from
rivals and team mates alike on Sunday after a
stunning performance in Round 8 of the American Le
Mans Series in Mosport, Canada.
UK-based Halliday started the 2h45m race from
3rd in class, 7th overall, and had onlookers
gripped when, having inherited 2nd place from arch
rival Sascha Maassen of the mighty factory Porsche
team when he pitted early for fuel under a safety
car period, she managed to keep him at bay for
nearly a full stint. Liz was matching his lap times
lap for lap in a tense duel, until she was
ultimately hampered by a couple of brake lock ups
and a flat spotted tyre in the last lap of her
stint.
The entire race was held in dry conditions,
which came as a welcome surprise after torrential
weather caused organisers to cancel Saturday’s
qualifying session and allocate grid positions
according to lap times attained in free practice.
With just half an hour to the start of the race and
with grey clouds still looming ominously overhead,
Halliday’s Intersport racing team opted to put
a full dry-weather set-up on the LMP2 class
Lola-AER, a decisive move which would pay great
dividends later in the event.
Road America - 3rd in class
Californian racing driver and equestrian, Liz
Halliday, traded one paddock for another last
weekend to compete in Round 7 of the American Le
Mans Series: the Generac 500 at Road America,
Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
The UK-based ‘dual-sportswoman’ headed
into the race hoping to build on the five-point
lead in the LMP2 class drivers’ standings that
she currently shares with her Intersport Racing
co-driver, Clint Field.
Whilst the duo did manage to continue their
unbroken run of podiums with a solid third place
finish, their arch rivals in the Porsche factory
squad confirmed that they have now added
reliability to their already exceptional pace, with
a dominant one-two finish in class and 4th and 5th
places overall.
Despite having been pole vaulted in the lead for
the championship by Porsche driver Sascha Maassen,
who now enjoys a two-point advantage, Halliday and
Field remain upbeat about the rest of the season
having perhaps demonstrated their strongest pace
yet and an improving ability to stay in touch with
the Porsches over a race distance.
“So far this year it’s clear that they
have had a significant pace advantage over
us and indeed nearly everybody else,” said
Halliday after the race, “so we focused on our
reliability and made sure to pick up the points if
they encountered problems. That strategy has worked
so far but we need to continue improving our pace
to beat them fair and square on the track. We
struggled a bit in recent races but we weren’t
that far off today and in the ebb and flow of
caution periods we even managed to split them
[the two Porsches] at times. We’re
pretty pleased with the progress we’ve made
pace-wise and that’s a fantastic testimony to
the team’s efforts on the car. We’ll keep
pushing in this area and if we can just stay in
contention then who knows what is possible with the
championship – it’s far from over yet
that’s for sure!”
Halliday and Field were joined in battle this
time by Clint’s father, Jon Field. Well known
for his blistering pace, Jon was given again
qualifying duties and his best effort, a 1m52.453s
lap, was good enough for third in class, just over
a second shy of the class pole set by Porsche
driver, Lucas Luhr, at 1m51.199s. After strong but
fairly short stints from Clint and Liz, Field Snr
also took the helm for much of the race and did a
great job to keep the Lola-AER-GoodYear car in
touch with the leaders.
“Jon did a really nice job today,”
continued Liz. “We focused on making driver
changes under yellow flags and this was the right
strategy to stay in contention with the Porsches.
We’ve got to do all we can to keep up the
pressure on Porsche because we know that
they’re fallible. We’re no longer leading
the Drivers’ championship, which is of course
frustrating, but we’re only two points behind
Maassen so we are certainly not giving up yet!
There are three rounds to go and in this sport,
anything can happen.”
Fighting talk from Liz, who will resume battle
with her Intersport team in two weeks’ time at
the Mobil 1 presents Labour Day Grand Prix of
Mosport, set for 3pm EDT on Sunday, September
3rd.
Portland International - 1st in class, 5th
overall
After winning the class race at Portland
International, Liz said "This one's for the
team," said Halliday. "They are the ones who keep
this Lola going around forever. Slow and steady
wins the race has been our motto. We know we can't
keep pace with the Porsches but they had some
problems today that played into our favor. Great
luck today."
"We came away from Salt Lake a little
disappointed. We took second which was great but we
were disappointed with our pace," Field said. "This
week we were a little closer to Porsche. The grip
wasn't good. Our pace in the race was a second to a
second-and-a-half off. We kept going around and
were happy to capitalize on their reliability.
"When a company like Porsche comes into the
Series, they're going to do it right," Field added.
"We want to beat them outright. Toward the end of
this year and next year, I think we can get closer
and beat them fair and square. We have a good car,
engine package and tires. With the announcement
that Porsche was coming in, we upped our game and
we'll do the same for Acura. Hopefully we'll be as
quick as they are."
Salt Lake City 2nd in class
"Wow, what a facility!” said Halliday when
commenting on the host venue, “Larry Miller
has really done a great job to create a superb
track and venue, and I'm sure it will only get
better over the years. I certainly found the track
very challenging though, and with twenty-four turns
and not many features, along with the lowered grip
from the sand that was blowing onto the track, it
was one of the toughest I have driven - but a great
challenge nonetheless.”
"Today, my first stint in the race was difficult
but I kept going and made sure I stayed out of
trouble. Clint then took over and kept up a good
pace, staying as close to the Porsches as
possible– which, yet again, had incredible
pace. When I took over the car later on for my
second stint, I found it far more comfortable and
enjoyed the push to the flag. Given our ‘David
vs. Goliath’ situation at the moment I’ll
gladly take today’s result even if it was a
bit lucky – The team did a great job to give
us a very reliable car, and it just goes to show
that in sportscar racing sometimes staying out of
trouble and doing consistent laps can go a long
way!
Lime Rock 3rd in class
“Phew – tough day! Given everything we
had to go through, I am hugely relieved to still be
classified and retain our lead in the championship
because with Porsche running so strongly now, we
really can’t afford too many more days like
this. The first part of the race was fine for us
– I took the start once again and felt like I
made a pretty good run off the line, but then lost
a couple places when I got stuck on the outside of
the Highcroft Lola which had lost its gears
suddenly just into the first corner. After that I
settled down and concentrated on putting in some
good lap times. It’s a bumpy, twisty,
slippery, ‘busy’ track – but I
enjoyed it, it’s a really good challenge.
Unfortunately though, we later had to cope with
this braking problem which ultimately caught me out
not long before the end of the race. I was in fifth
gear when I hit the wall so it was pretty fast.
It’s unfortunate for the team who now have a
lot of work to do, but equally I’m really
happy we still grabbed those championship points. A
big thanks to Clint and the rest of the boys for
all their efforts.”
Le Mans 4th in class
“I was in the car for about two hours at the
beginning. It took a couple of laps to get my
rhythm back after we sorted the problem but then it
started to go well.”
“The car felt much better in the second
stint,” she explained. “My lap times were
improving all the time, although the traffic seemed
quite bad at times, so it was important to try to
be safe, as well as fast.”
“My third stint was a really good
stint,” said Liz. “But I still had to be
careful. There was so much debris and gravel on the
track that it was easy to pick up a puncture.”
Indeed, she was one of many drivers suffering from
deflated tyres but this simply served to spur her
on even harder. “We were on another fight-back
at that point but we were already at half race
distance, which was further than I’ve got last
year, so that gave me a boost.”
“I have to say, I’ve never done that
many total hours in a car before – I am
exhausted. The physical exertion and the heat made
it very hard work. I’ve done 24 hour races
before but with four drivers to a team, where we
did single stints. This weekend, I did three
doubles and a triple and I know I’ve been
working hard. Having said that, watching from the
garage as Clint drove the final stint to the
finish, I would happily have got back in and driven
all the way to the end!”
“I’m so happy we finished this year.
In fact, it means a lot more after that finish! Of
course, we would have loved to have been on the
podium, as that was my original goal. But with all
the issues we had, to finish fourth is still pretty
good for the whole team and I’m very proud of
that. I think the important thing is that we showed
we had the pace, comparable with some of our
competitors who did make the podium and I think the
car still has the pace to be able to achieve
that.
“We did the Sebring 12 Hours earlier this
year with the Lola but that was a completely
different event. Le Mans is obviously a lot longer
and the nature of the circuit is very different. At
Sebring, you don’t have the chance to rest for
a minute whereas here, with the long straights, I
was even having to talk to myself at times to stay
focussed.
“I feel I’ve learned a huge amount
this year. We’ve already had some good results
in the ALMS but this is Le Mans – it’s
the ultimate endurance race. And we
finished.”
Mid-Ohio 3rd in class
“I’d like to thank the Intersport boys
because they’ve worked hard all weekend and
did a great job to fix the car at the start. Given
that set back, I think we can be pretty satisfied
with today’s result. We netted some extremely
important championship points and are still in the
lead. Although I think it’s hats-off to the
Porsche guys today because they did a stunning
job.”
Lone Star Grand Prix Houston - 1st in
class
"This is just an awesome result for the team, Clint
and I – not bad for my first street race! It
shows that it is never over until the chequered
flag. We knew we could not beat the works Porsche
on performance – they are in a league of their
own and their speed this weekend was unbelievable.
But the circuit is extremely bumpy and very hard on
cars and drivers. We knew some teams might try too
hard and would have mechanical problems towards the
end of the race and this is exactly what happened
with both Porsches. Third behind the two Porsches
was already a good result for us, but to beat them
for the second straight race is very sweet and
fantastic for the team. Today’s race was
survival of the fittest and we did!"
12-Hours of Sebring - 1st in class, 2nd
overall
"It was pretty huge. I don't think it has sunk in
yet," said Liz Halliday. "What the team has
accomplished is enormous. I don't think anyone
expected us to finish that high. It will probably
take up until Houston for me to realize what
exactly happened."
"We have the best crew in the paddock," Halliday
said. "We were all completely switched on. Our pit
stops were perfect, and that's what wins races.
Even though we don't have 87 people per car like
they do, we don't need it."
March 31
Wow, it has been a pretty great start to the year!
After a successful two weeks in Portugal with my
horses, to then go on and win at Sebring is really
more than I expected!
I have to say though, without lots of effort
from myself and people around me, I never could
have managed the two different competitions back to
back…
The morning of the CCI* show jumping phase in
Portugal (the day before first day of practice in
Sebring) I was up at 5 a.m. to finish packing and
get myself organized to bolt to the airport later
that day. The organizers of the event had agreed to
let me be first in the show jumping regardless of
placing (generally the show jump phase is done in
reverse order of placing after the dressage and
cross country phases). This meant that I would be
first in the veterinary inspection at 8 a.m., and
then would have to have both horses warmed up and
ready to jump by 10:30, and then still make my
flight by 12:45! Well, with the help of my groom,
trainer and others, I managed to get my horses
jumped, and get myself changed and in the car by
11… I then had some pre-Sebring practice in my
rental car on the way to the airport, screeched
into the rental returns, ran to the check-in and
amazingly just made my flight- whew! My day finally
ended at 10 pm Florida time when I arrived at the
hotel in Sebring. After checking my phone messages
I learned that I had finished 5th and 25th out of
85 competitors…not bad for the first time with
new horses!
Sebring – what a whirlwind week it was! A
wild flurry of driving, interviews, photos, media
and autographs…most of it ends in a blur in my
mind accept for the race. What an amazing show it
is at Sebring though: the fans, the cameras, the
carnival, and the cars. It really is a fantastic
event!
When race day arrived, I got up early - not
because I was nervous or couldn’t sleep with
excitement, but because I felt really ill. I must
have picked up some sort of stomach bug during the
week that decided to get me on the one day that I
really wish it hadn’t.
I struggled my way through warm up, and then was
thankful that I was third in the car so that I
could have as much time as possible to get better.
As the driver change from Clint to me got closer, I
knew that I was going to have to just do my best
and try to save some energy for later… Clint
out – Me in – and off I went for my hour
stint. Although my times were not as good as I
would have wanted them, I managed to move into
first in class and third overall and held onto the
position until my stint came to an end. Amazingly,
I felt a lot better after being in the car! My next
time out on track went without drama, aside from
the slight loss of power that was starting in the
engine (We later found that this was due to blocked
injectors). We were still 1st in class and 2nd
overall when I handed over to Jon, but the Porsche
Spyder was approaching fast, especially with the
loss of power that we were now experiencing.
With about an hour and a half left in the race,
we had to take an extra 30 seconds in a routine
fuel stop to make some adjustments to the
management… This was unfortunately all that
the Porsche needed to finally make the pass for 1st
in class. Another half hour passed and basically
the whole Intersport team had accepted that we
would be second on the podium. Standing in my
helmet waiting to get in the car for the finish, I
was telling myself “Hey, 2nd in class is still
pretty good in a race like this!” but its
always hard to accept defeat after such a long
fought battle.
Suddenly, over the loud speaker we heard that
there was a full course yellow…and it was
because the Porsche had stopped on track! Although
we all have the utmost respect for Penske and their
drivers, I don’t think any of us could resist
our excitement at that moment – We could still
win! Moments after that Jon was in the pits and I
jumped in the car for the finish… His words
were “the entire track is covered in oil, and
the engine is still losing power, times don’t
matter, just bring it home!”
Despite the track conditions, the engine
trouble, and a now inconsistent gear change (due to
a mapping issue), it was still a fantastic
experience to hold the car together and bring it
through to the finish. What a result!
The win in LMP2 and 2nd overall that we achieved
was the highest career finish for the team and for
Clint and Jon and I. It also meant that I am now
the highest finishing female in the history of the
54 year long event. No, it still hasn’t sunk
in! But we are fired up and ready for Houston, and
I think that Intersport has proven what a great
team they are. The rest of the year will be
challenging, but Clint and I are ready to push
hard…For me, having won Petit Le Mans and
Sebring, the big one left is the 24 hours of Le
Mans – only 2 months away, the pressure is
on…
March 18
12-Hours of Sebring
March 13
Both horses finished well last weekend and this
weekend, I finished 5th and 24th out of 85
competitors, so a good start to the competition
year with new horses!
March 4
Well, I suppose that its been a while now since the
Sebring test! I am now in Portugal at a horse event
called Barroca d’Alva – an event that
incorporates two international events over two
weeks. I have my two new horses here, Oscar and
Harry (who has now got the nickname
“Happy” do to his predominantly grumpy
nature in the stable). I arrived on Monday and for
the next 3-4 days we had dry and sunny weather and
reasonably warm temperatures, which after England
was a real relief! The horses were in good spirits
and I road them both twice a day as well as had a
run and training session each day for myself, and I
am now feeling pretty good about my fitness for
Sebring. We then started the competition with the
Dressage phase on Thurs and Fri. and my horses
ended up in 10th and 13th position out of 114
entered – for my first competition with them,
and the first of the year, I was really pleased! So
all was going well and I was looking forward to the
cross-country phase today (Saturday) until I woke
up and looked outside… At seven o’clock
this morning the roads by my hotel were half
flooded and the trees were practically sideways
from the wind. I kept holding out hope that it
might improve as the day went on as my first horse
was not due to go until 10:20, but when I got to
the event and set out for my last course walk, the
rain and wind got worse, almost in unison.
Surprisingly, the ground was sort of holding up and
not a complete muddy mess, but I knew that by the
time I got there it would have had forty horses on
it already and would be a bit like water skiing.
Well, 10 o’clock came around and I grudgingly
waded my way through the flooded stables and got on
Harry. We were both completely soaked in a matter
of seconds. Trotting around the warm up area I
could barely see, and although Harry was being a
real trooper, you could tell that he was really
hating the sideways wind and rain. Luckily, before
I had even had the chance to try and jump something
solid, the day was called to a halt for safety
reasons.
So here I am, having a much quieter Saturday in
Portugal than I had planned! Both horses have been
ridden and the competition will start again first
thing tomorrow and finish a day late with the Show
Jumping on Monday.
Its stopped raining now, and we are all keeping
our fingers crossed for a successful and dry day
tomorrow for the Cross-Country!
February 17
I was testing at Sebring right before the 24 Hours
of Daytona and I will be racing in the 12 hour at
Sebring on March 18th (I'm going straight there
from a 2 week competition in Portugal with the
horses!).
Sebring test Jan 23-25
I was first to get in the car for the start of the
three day test and luckily it was dry with the sun
fighting its way through. Basically the more often
I can get out on cold new tires the better really!
The car definitely felt a lot better with full
power, (as compared to our test in Dec. with engine
problems) and I was able to get down to a fairly
respectable time after not too many laps. Now
here’s the good part- it turns out that I was
in fact the quickest driver in the first session
out of everyone! Now, fair enough, some of the new
cars like the Audi R10 and the new Lola LMP1 , were
shaking down there cars and not pushing too hard at
the time, but it still looked good on paper and
felt pretty good too! At any rate, we managed to
hang on to most of the front runners for the rest
of day and throughout the three day test, so the
car held its own really, despite some handling
issues.
The biggest struggle we had was a lingering push
from the front end of the car which made it quiet
difficult to handle, especially in the high speed
corners. I later discovered (the hard way) that
this was actually hurting me more than the others
because the car’s reluctance to turn meant
that upper body strength had to prevail in order to
make the thing turn. After denying it to myself for
some time, I finally accepted that with the bumpy
high speed corners at Sebring, that I MUST get a
bit stronger in order to be quick throughout the
long stints. I also have a few impressive bruises
to remind me of where I am getting slammed into the
body work over bumps – I think some padding on
the for-arms might come in handy for the big race.
All and all, a successful test for Intersport and I
feel that we will return with an even better car
for the race based on what we learned in the three
days.
January 22
Well, after a really crazy week I have successfully
made it back over the pond into the USA. I’m
in Sebring, Florida getting ready for the first
official ALMS test of the year in preparation for
the Sebring 12 hour race in March. It’s been
quite a surreal day really because I came in
yesterday and testing doesn’t start until
tomorrow, so I have had virtually nothing to do in
comparison to my past few weeks of complete
craziness. Basically, this meant that I was able to
do 2 things that have been missing lately: sleeping
and thinking. Seeing that for the last week I have
been moving house, riding, training, etc. those
important things have been somewhat left out
lately!
Anyway, it’s a really great feeling to be
here and to be on the verge of kicking off the 2006
season; I’ve never been any good at time off,
so the holidays for me is always a sense of
waiting! I’m a bit apprehensive about the test
as it’s the first chance this year to compare
ourselves to the rest of the competition, but I am
confident that we have the right combination of the
car and the team to be right up
there…it’s up to us as drivers to deliver
now, and to work on the set up with the team to
make it as quick as possible.
Last week, in and around the moving, I also
started up with a new physical trainer whom I am
confident will help kick me into shape –
he’s helped a lot of very successful drivers,
so I’m feeling pretty good about it. Well,
I’m feeling good mentally anyway, as the rest
of me is still hurting at the moment from the first
few days of training! I know that fitness is an
area that I have to take seriously this year
though, as I feel I left a bit on the table last
year. Arm, neck and core strength…very
important for a racing driver and an area that I
will be feeling a lot of pain in now I think!
Anyway, it’s all about to start tomorrow,
so its time to see where my strengths and
weaknesses are, and for all of us to figure out
where to go from here to make us as competitive as
possible this year. I can’t wait to get behind
the wheel again, and by next week I should have a
pretty good feel for the direction we are going in
2006.
©2008, Liz
Halliday
* * *
Click
here to learn more about Liz and visit:
www.lizhalliday.com
www.intersportracing.com
,
www.americanlemans.com
,
www.roadatlanta.com
For further information on Liz Halliday, please
contact Vincent Franceschini: M: + 44 (0) 7860 410
950, T: + 44 (0) 20 8543 2101, F: + 44 (0) 20 8543
4134, or E-Mail.
Photography by John Waugh, johnwaugh.com
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