Thank you. Yes, 24 hour endurance races are always wars of attrition!
Paddock access is included with most multi-day tickets. I remember some years ago, it was an extra cost if your ticket was just event only. It's one of my favorite things to do. We try and arrive early on race day to roam the paddock area and see the teams making final adjustments and prepping the cars for the race. The teams are cool about letting you get up close as long as you aren't in their way. The GTP teams don't allow this close access at their garages. They're kinda roped off, possibly due to the hybrid electric systems and the potential for injury if they are active. There's a large segment of fans that go to the garages during the race if the cars have been damaged or wrecked in crashes hoping to get some damaged parts/bodywork that the teams toss as garbage. Unfortunately this year there was an incident in the AO Porsche (Rexy) garage where some people actually took things without permission, including tools etc. There were reports of some actually entering the team's hauler and taking things. Pretty shitty behavior to be sure. This kind of thing is what can ruin future fan access for the rest of us.
It’s cool that they let the fans up close. The kids especially would be thrilled, I’m sure as well as the adult kids!
It is a lot of fun. Plenty of team members will answer any questions you have about the cars, setup etc. I think they like it. Talked to a Cadillac tech guy at tech inspection. Talked to one of the inspectors who was taking pics of all the cars from various angles, anything to do with the aero set up. He said that they were the aero police. All the pics can be digitally compared to the cars' homologation specs and any deviation from those is a violation. Last year at Sebring we talked to a Dallara team member who was there to assist any teams that use the Dallara chassis as the base for their prototypes. I always come away learning a bit more every year.It’s cool that they let the fans up close. The kids especially would be thrilled, I’m sure as well as the adult kids!
And yes, there are always a few bad eggs to ruin it for everyone else.
