1999 12 Hours of Sebring - BMW wins - IMSA GTP 333SP - Lola Judd

[mackc6r]

I sure miss these cars

[leylandcarsloverslea]

2:49 That man sitting on the far right is funny.

[mackc6r]

Wow, the vettes sound almost the same as they do now

[dontbecutk]

This is back during the time of the Grand Touring Prototypes welded together with the LMP cars and it made for great racing. VLR looks absolutely awesome.

[TDDWEST]

They have a Race there?!?!?!? LOL

[troever]

love the sound of the corvette

[Nikateer]

WOW! BMW makes me so proud to own their products!

[SpencerWhiteSTFC1]

The BMW LMR first pictures were only released a couple of months before this race, and I remmembered thinking, what a great looking car. It sounded fantastic as well.

They were deserved winners of Sebring and Le Mans. They really entered into the spirit, doing their development on the racetrack where the fans could watch. Unlike Mercedes, Toyota and Nissan who did thousands of miles hidden away in testing. Bravo.

[Drew7433]

nice video!

[cevert4ever]

Kristenten, déja! a real legend of motorsport.

[waterpolodan]

Thank you so much for posting this! '99 was my first year at Sebring, and I didn't manage to make it back until this past weekend for the '09 edition. I really miss the number of cars and particularly the sound of the BMW LMRs and 333SPs, but it was still a VERY exciting race and it's amazing to me that the 13th place Krohn racing F430 GT2 car did more laps than the winning BMW LMR in '99! Now that's progress!

[rudfil]

WOW ! a lot of action in this video. Those BMW's sure were quick and sounded good doing it.

[AlmsAudi1]

Nice video, very well put together. Are you going to Sebring this year? Gonna be a great battle, Peugeot, Audi, and the new Acura in LMP1. Wish I could go to Sebring to see that.

[mmmatthewww]

Thank you for your comments. I actually do quite a bit of editing to hopefully enhance my videos, so I do appreciate your compliment. We are going to Sebring this year! I haven't missed a year in thirty-four. Been going since 1975. This year should be a great race as you pointed out. We are the La Bomba Racing group camped in Turn 11. Check out our 2009 12 Hours of Sebring video that we just posted to YouTube. You can follow our journey to Sebring and beyond. Wish you could make it!

[AlmsAudi1]

Ya I might be headed up in a couple of years. But ya I've been to Mosport International every year as well, can't miss this ALMS and all the other action.

[FormulaOneSpy]

Great video. That BMW V12 sounds awesome, and the Panoz sounds just so badass. Funny how the Corvette is almost the most silent car in this video... overall cars sound seem to sound so much better and louder than nowadays - the noise level regulations are getting really too excessive, and only getting more excessive according to ACO's plans. Or what do you think?

[mmmatthewww]

Thanks FormulaOneSpy! It's always a pleasure to be at Sebring, and with camera in hand, to capture just a bit of the magic. Personally, I say let the racing fans, pit crew teams and track workers have a say in the regulation of the noise level. In all the years that I have attending racing events, I've never heard anyone complain about excessive noise. We dig it. Maybe try some earplugs. The early days of Mazda Rotary powered race cars was truly brutal on the ears, but that was remedied.

[DeanoTheLegend87]

I always wanted to know what sort of things happened to the TWR Castrol Jaguars at Sebring, what sort of Problems kept them from winning.

[mmmatthewww]

I was so hoping for the Jags to have an overall win in the modern era at the 12 Hours of Sebring. From the Bob Tullius Group 44 Jags to the Tom Walkinshaw Castrol Jags, a gallant effort was made year after year, and although they were always competitive, fate denied the Jaguars a triumphant finish. The Jags had plenty of top five postings at Sebring however. 1955 will probably have to stand as Jaguars one and only Sebring win.

[redriverman2006]

Was this year the biggest prototype grid in Sebring history, or IMSA history... perhaps ALMS history...? It was one of those, right?

[mmmatthewww]

I'm not sure about the largest prototype grid in Sebring history, but I do know that the largest starting field was in 1983 when 84 cars took the green flag. That was also the race where all the prototypes had issues during the race which led to the incredible upset win by a GT Porsche that won the race overall. The last hours of that race were incredibly exciting as the Coca Cola (Akin) Porsche 935K3 cranked the turbo boost to max pressure, and tried in vain to run down that GT Porsche.

[redriverman2006]

You are quite the bastion of Sebring knowledge! I'll be sure to stop by and say hello this year!

[mmmatthewww]

I can also tell you that one year at Sebring, not too long ago, I met a guy who had been to every single Sebring Race (from 1952 on), including 1974 when the race was canceled (fuel shortages) and a few thousand fans showed up anyway. He told me there were a few more guys in this small and sacred fraternity. I wish that I had gotten some contact info from him. Definitely, come by and visit us at Camp La Bomba in Turn 11, beers on us.

[discgolf22]

Great victory lane footage! I'm so glad I was there to see my favorite marque win their second overall victory. When I left the track I used masking tape to put "BMW Wins" on the back glass of my Bimmer,people went nuts. Steve L.

[mmmatthewww]

Thanks for your comments Steve! The first win for BMW was in 1975 and that was the year that I started my unbroken streak of attending Sebring 12 Hour races. The winning BMW CSL in 1975 was driven by Brian Redman, Allan Moffet, and Sam Posey, Hans Stuck. Wow...2009 will be my 34th year in a row! Every year has its own script, and they are all special. There is a small fraternity of guys who have been to every race, 1952-2008, including 1974 when the race was canceled. Can you imagine!