I'll be a Flag Marshal at the Lone Star Le Mans

[gckless]

That's right, going to be a flag marshal at the Lone Star Le Mans next week here at Circuit of the Americas in Austin. Super excited! FIA WEC has a 6 hour race into the night on Saturday, TUDOR has a 3 hour race Saturday, there are a bunch of supporting races on Thursday and Friday, and qualifying in between. 16-17 hour days for me, but I don't care. Going to be awesome. My first time as a marshal, doing it right at COTA. I'll probably be on yellow flag duties all three days, but hopefully I can hop on blue at some point for a bit. I'm stoked.

Here's a video from last year's WEC race, racing starts like 1/3 the way in:

[gally]

so you also get the best view?

damn..looking good man

[gckless]

so you also get the best view?

damn..looking good man

Hell yeah I got the best view! Was awesome!

I had a great time. I worked Turn 16 the first day, Turn 12 the next two. I rotated through flagging positions (yellow flagger, blue/green/white/everything else flagger, and observer), which is actually good because you wouldn't get too tired. The WEC race was good from a marshal standpoint, tons of blue flagging, and the captain and observer were busy with car contacts and track limits. I really got a sense of importance, it's pretty crazy that you hold some lap times and car positions in your hands when determining track limit calls. I was able to get into the paddock, which was cool. I was able to break away during WEC quals and an IMSA Porsche GT3 Championship Cup race, so I did snap a few photos. I am sooooo tired and sore and it was super hot and long days and all that, but it was a really great experience. I'll be doing more for sure. MotoGP in April, and I'll definitely be doing this event again next year.

Here are a couple of the photos I took:

More and hi-res found here: http://www.gilbertklessphotography.com/Racing/Lone-Star-Le-Mans-2015/

Formula 1 is here next month, and I'm going to marshal that too!