Photos from Day 2 of the 2011 Long Beach Grand Prix

Some more photos from day 2 of the 2011 Long Beach Grand Prix.  Photos by Danger Dave.

Another crazy beautiful day in Long Beach for racing!

The day kicked off with practice sessions for the Indy drivers.

The big event of the day was the Pro / Celebrity race

Drivers and media pile onto the start grid
before the Pro / Celebrity race

Pole Sitter William Fichtner (Blackhawk Down, Entourage)
chats it up before the race 

Every car in the Pro / Celebrity race was
a modified Scion tC with StopTech brakes.

Hey Sons of Anarchy fans!
Here is Kim Coats getting ready to race

Tito Ortiz is a big man for a small Scion.

A skydiver aims for the starting grid
just before the Pro / Celebrity race

Ready to roll!

William Fichtner wins the Pro / Celebrity race overall, even holding off Japanese drifter Ken Gushi who came in first for the pros.

Nice gas station in the middle of the paddocks

The Indy rescue vehicles had StopTech brakes and made for a postcard perfect picture in the staging area.

These guys have to whip around the Long Beach Grand Prix track
at speed with a heavy pickup truck in hazard situations.
Guess they need great brakes!

A two seater Indy car. Bet it makes one hell
of a taxi when you are late to the airport.
Just leave your luggage home.

The Long Beach Convention center was surrounded by the track
but had plenty of race related activities going on.

It was very crowded (with fun) in the expo at the Long Beach
convention center during the race weekend.

Centric Parts / StopTech CEO (and GMG Racing driver)
Dino Crescentini has a laugh during
the autograph sessions for the racers.

Younger racers had an option too...

There were Indy cars littering the staging areas all day.

Now that is a complex steering wheel.
Which one changes the radio station?

The American Le Mans series had a race as
part of the weekend. They bring the coolest cars!

The great thing about American Le Mans races
is you see cars like this share the field with
Indy racers, production BMWs, concept cars
- a real mashup of racing goodness.

Pit Row gets all types of cars during the American Le Mans races.

 

Meanwhile the StopTech techs 

get the cars ready for the next day's big race .

Photos from Friday at the 2011 Long Beach Grand Prix

Our favorite photos from the first day of the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Photos by Danger Dave...

A beautiful day in Long Beach, California kicks off a great weekend of racing!

The street track encircles the Long Beach Convention Center, several hotels, bars, restaurants, and a man-made lake.

StopTech brakes are used on the pace cars.

Packed in like a sardine.

There was lots of Indy practice sessions on the first day.

Usually there might be some soda cans tossed on the street but this weekend is a different story.

How much do you think a tank of gas costs these guys?

Is that Danica?

Yes it is Danica.

A soap star and former race winner gets ready for some practice laps before Saturday's Pro/Celebrity race.

Every driver in the Pro/Celebrity race drives a Toyota Scion modified for racing with StopTech brakes.

Kevin Jonas was one of the rookie drivers this year

Tito Ortiz barely fits into his Scion for the Pro/Celebrity laps

There was plenty of food for the fans, ranging from moderately unhealthy to very unhealthy, but all very tasty. Live the dream!

The StopTech Porsche rests up for a practice round in the GMG garage inside the exhibit hall.

The Sofronas steed gets ready for practice

All Aboard!

Yes, that is Centric Parts big brain Steve Ruiz, head engineer for StopTech.

Taking practice laps...

It may look like Dino is parked, but trust us that he is whipping around that corner like all get out...

Looking good racing through the neighborhood at the Long Beach Grand Prix practice session

Photos: Long Beach Grand Prix pre-party at Circle Porsche

Circle Porsche of Long Beach threw a party in their dealership to celebrate the Long Beach Grand Prix 2011 coming to town this weekend.  StopTech was there with one of the World Challenge Porsche racecars...

Though the event ran into the night, it all started with the sun up...

Lots of sweet cars parked out front

Very crowded inside the dealership

If your drink gets warm just hack a hunk of ice off of the frozen Porsche emblem

Like we said...very crowded

The 2008 StopTech World Challenge Porsche GT3 Cup Car made a nice centerpiece

Porsche America President, Jens Walther, stops by to say a few words

introducing some of the Porsche drivers for the Long Beach Grand Prix

All in all, a great evening to get ready for a full weekend of exciting racing action

New StopTech Big Brake Kit for Volkswagen Golf R32

StopTech,  the ultra-performance division of Centric Parts, has introduced front Big Brake Kits for the 2008 and 2009 Volkswagen Golf R32.  StopTech Big Brake Kits provide shorter stopping distances, better brake modulation, firmer pedal feel and less brake fade resulting in stronger, more reliable performance on and off the track. 

The front StopTech Big Brake Kits for the 2008 and 2009 Volkswagen Golf R32 comes with a pair of 355X32 slotted or drilled floating directional AeroRotors featuring billet aluminum mounting brackets with stainless steel hubs, DOT-compliant stainless steel braided Teflon brake lines, StopTech's highly-praised high performance street pads plus the company's patented, forged, high performance, four-piston ST-40 calipers.

The R32’s muscle is provided by its namesake, the 3.2 liter naturally aspirated narrow angle VR6 engine, which provides 250 horsepower and 236 ft. lbs. of torque. Combined with Volkswagen’s gripping 4Motion all-wheel-drive system and dual clutch DSG transmission, the R32 accelerated from 0-60 in approximately 6.4 seconds.  So there may be some need for stopping power there, right?  First introduced in the United States in 2002, the first edition Golf R32 quickly sold three times as many units as VW initially expected.

StopTech, the ultra-performance division of Centric Parts, is a leading innovator of world-class brake components and brake systems for production-based racing cars and high performance vehicles on the street and track.  StopTech was the first to offer balanced brake upgrades for production cars and remains the worldwide leader with more than 700 platform offerings to dramatically improve overall braking performance.

StopTech ultra-performance braking systems and components are available through motorsports distributors and performance automotive aftermarket retailers.  For more information on StopTech, visit www.StopTech.com.