Track Chic

The American Le Mans Series is the premium brand of motorsports in North America. Featured in the Series are the elite manufacturers of some of the most technologically advanced sports cars and racing machines in the world including Acura, Aston Martin, Audi, Chevrolet, Courage, Ferrari, Lola, Mazda, Panoz, Porsche, Radical and Zytek. With four classes of top level sportscar manufacturers, teams and drivers competing head-to-head at the same time in each Series race, the American Le Mans Series has established a unique and ultra-competitive format and boasts an international driver roster comprised of the best road course racers from around the world including countries as Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, Monaco, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

The American LeMans Series system of actually hosting four races within each Series event is considered the most intriguing of all forms of motorsports competition. This Series always proves for thrilling racing because all four classes also have different top-speed capabilities creating added drama and difficulty as drivers within each class must navigate the challenge of twists and turns of demanding circuits while also navigating through faster and/or slower classes of race cars on the track at the same time. The Le Mans Series color coding system, a revolutionary state of the art Leader Light System developed in 2002, identifies and tracks the four difference classes of high-tech sports cars competing together in each race. The system signals the top three positioned cars in each class via lights located on the sides of the race cars. The number of lights represents the position:

The color of the light represents the particular class of competition. Here is some helpful information about each of the four series that will assist you as you watch the constant passing and on-track battles throughout the field given the speed capabilities between the classifications and other competitive variations.

The American Le Mans Series events also vary in length ranging from the two-hour 45-minute sprint format to the famous 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race. The Petit Le Mans is the only Series race that is not solely based on time but rather the founding event is a 1,000 miles or 10 hours competition. Given the physical and mental demands of the competition, this Series has teams of 2-3 drivers.

The American Le Mans Series has several official connections to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, considered to be the world’s greatest motor race due to its long history dating back to 1906 and the founding of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO). In founding the American Le Mans Series, Georgia-based entrepreneur, Dr. Don Panoz, purchased the rights to use the name ‘Le Mans’ from the ACO and other applications including the naming of Petit Le Mans’ and the ACO’s technical rules used for all Series events. Its official connection includes automatically extending Le Mans invitations to Petit Le Mans winners as well as class champions from the Series, but the American Le Mans Series is its own series and does not include the 24 Hours of Le Mans on its schedule or in its official statistics and records. IMSA is responsible for sanctioning and conducting all competitive aspects of the American Le Mans Series event and for administering the technical rules for the sports set forth by the ACO.

The American Le Mans Series and its promoters encourage fan interaction and include a paddock pass with every event ticket. Fans have the opportunity to view the cars, drivers and teams in the paddock as opposed to from far-away seats or from behind barrier fences. Fan-based activities are also included throughout the event weekend including a Driver Autograph Session and an Open Paddock, Tech Talks, Driver Chats and Fan Forums that offer fans of all ages access to the Series’ drivers and teams who are more than happy to interact with the them – granting access that is rare in today’s professional sports world.