The warm and sunny week leading up to the October 6th through 8th east coast debut of GT LIVE at VIRginia International Raceway couldn't have been better had Norman Rockwell himself painted it. But by Thursday night, all hell broke loose when a hard, cold nor'easter blew across the Mid-Atlantic region unleashing the kind of cold, damp weather that has been known to bring a motorsports event to its knees.

In spite of the biting cold, threatening skies and frequent downpours, the GT LIVE, VIR and Grand Am organizers pressed on and by Friday morning, the "interactive motorsports theme park" that had been hyped up for the prior two months to tuner and motorcycle enthusiasts in the region slowly took shape and came to life. Hardly a hotel room in a 60 mile radius of VIR was available and by Saturday morning the faithful arrived. At first in dribs and drabs, then en-masse, as the inaugural east coast GT LIVE weekend got underway.

Props have to go to the east coast tuner and motorcycle community for coming out in less than ideal conditions and clearly having a blast at this event that offered few opportunities for boredom. In spite of the constant threats from the persistent nor'easter, enough breaks in the weather kept most of the GT LIVE activities and the Grand Am races on schedule and as exciting as ever. For the faithful, it was a weekend to remember.

For the uninitiated, GT LIVE launched their first event in 2004 and bills itself as an “interactive motorsports festival”. Aimed at younger enthusiasts who are fans of the Japanese tuner-car scene, that first event drew 45,000 through the gate and is still considered to be the biggest import oriented motorsports event to date.

The appeal of GT LIVE is a "theme park" like setting where virtually everything is motorsports or automotive oriented. Some activities run according to a predetermined schedule and some are perpetual. The variety of options appeal to every level of enthusiast, from those who just want to watch to those who want to ride along to "see how it's done" and even to those who actually want to drive. At the end of the day, GT LIVE's objective is to connect young, predominately urban consumers to the types of cars, drivers and motorsport activities that appeal to them, while also connecting the traditional motorsports community to new, young fans.

As stated by VIR General Manager Josh Lief, “...the GT LIVE program allowed us to introduce our facility to a large number of younger enthusiasts who had never been here before. We see this as a good way to cultivate a new generation of road racing fans, and we look forward to more of the same in the future.”

While the format of each version of GT LIVE is slightly adapted to suit both the local market and the facility infrastructure, some of the "constants" have become the backbone of the event series.

Always a fan favorite, the GT Sim Race is like a live version of your favorite driving simulation game. Spectators wait for a chance to be issued a helmet then they get strapped into the passenger seat of some of the world’s hottest tuner, time attack and race cars with a pro driver at the wheel. This time the GT Sim Race ran on the full 3.27-mile VIR circuit where the cars were green-flagged in two separate groups to facilitate efficient loading and unloading and to maximize track time. The drivers in each group are instructed to maintain a tight formation around the circuit but are forbidden from passing due to insurance regulations. Nonetheless, the door-handle-to-door-handle action is about as close as a spectator can safely get to the sounds and sensations of road racing and no other GT LIVE activity connects more people to the excitement of sports car racing and professional driving like the GT Sim Race. If you aren't a fan of road racing before you take this ride, you will be after.

GT LIVE also played host to the second and final 2006 round of the GT Track Attack Series, a professional-level time attack competition that pits the best American tuners against their Japanese counterparts for a $10,000 purse. According to many of the competitors, the GT Track Attack has quickly become the most highly regarded series in the sport thanks to events taking place on the best circuits and a unique "elimination round" format that is more spectator friendly and also requires teams to have a thoughtful strategy as much as a fast car. More teams from Japan, where the time attack sport was popularized, are showing interest in participating in the GT Track Attack series and several showed their stuff at the VIR event. Eiji “Tarzan” Yamada, the fastest man in time attack in Japan, took the overall and AWD honors in his famous Unlimited Works/Sun Auto Mitsubishi “CyberEvo”, laying down a blistering 2:08.018 at 91.956 mph in the wet.

Also making its second GT LIVE appearance was the Zero/Sports BTZ601R Subaru Impreza, the fastest time attack Impreza in the world. After several impressive runs and providing quite a number of rides to fans in the GT Sim Race, an unfortunate early GT Track Attack session in the wet sent the Zero/Sports Impreza off the course where it sustained moderate damage. The Zero/Sports crew worked feverishly to put the Impreza back together and just when it was looking like things were back to normal, a hairline crack was revealed in one of the drive shafts which was deemed too unsafe by the team to continue.

At the end of the day, Mark Daddio in his AMS Mitsubishi EVO VIII took 2nd place honors in the AWD class with Phillip Grabow in the Element Tuning Subaru WRX STi finishing off in 3rd.

Making its U.S. debut from the JDM camp was the Autobacs ASM Honda S2000. Piloted by accomplished 19 year old Champ Car Atlantic driver and 2004 Formula BMW USA champion Andreas Wirth, the ASM S2000 laid down consistent impressive laps and turned out to be a fan favorite. The unmistakable roar of the VTEC constantly turned heads and increased the pulse rate of fans standing near the circuit during both GT Track Attack and GT Sim Race sessions. Yes, the ASM S2000 was also on the impressive roster of demo cars in the GT Sim Race and it quickly became one of the most sought after rides of the weekend. Bill Washburn’s Dent Sport Garage Nissan 240SX ended up edging out the ASM machine in the GT Track Attack to take the win in the RWD class but nobody could deny the appeal of the S-car to fans and racers alike.

The Honda Civic was the machine of choice in the FWD class with Chad Slag’s SLUGGO/PIC Performance/HASport Honda Civic taking top honors. Coming in a close second was David Pratte in the Modified Magazine Civic followed by Don Hill in his PI Racing Civic.

True to GT LIVE form, track time wasn't provided exclusively to the pros. The unique "dual circuit" format provided by VIR allowed GT LIVE to introduce it's newest driving activity geared more towards amateurs looking to dabble in the road racing experience, Tarzan’s Lap Battle. Fans with either a Honda/Acura, Nissan/Infiniti, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Mazda or Toyota/Lexus/Scion street legal car could register to drive their cars on the 1.1-mile Patriot Course in a time attack format and compete against other fans for lap times. Under the watchful eye of the outstanding crew from the Mid-Atlantic region of the National Auto Sport Association, Tarzan’s Lap Battle competitors were assigned to groups and provided with basic instructions and safety information then staged to partake in some serious track time.

Near the end of the day on Sunday, the three fastest in each category were announced, complete with trophies, then Tarzan Yamada himself appeared to show each of the top 3 from each category how to devour the Patriot Course "Tarzan Style"! The top 3 winners from each category were given the option of letting Tarzan drive their car solo in an attempt to beat the car owner's time in his own car, or ride as a passenger with Tarzan in their car to see how he attacks the course. Most opted for the latter and even with the weight of a passenger and without ever having even been in any of the cars prior to that moment, Tarzan topped all but two of the winner's times. More importantly though was the experience for the riders who were all impressed with the sensation of seeing their own car go so fast around the circuit. Mission accomplished...most left with a new appreciation for the road racing experience and were eager to improve their driving skill after being shown "how to do it" by the master of time attack himself, Tarzan Yamada.

Another participant activity carried over from the May 2006 GT LIVE event was the Rally-X. In stark contrast to the dry and dusty southwest debut of the GT LIVE Rally-X in Phoenix, this time it was a very soggy but well received event in which local rally drivers and even a few fans registered to pilot their cars around VIR’s gravel-turned-mud rally stages. While Rally-X is hugely popular with the owners of AWD Subaru Imprezas and Mitsubishi EVOs, this event had its share of other interesting machines as well including a Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, a couple Nissan Sentras, VW GTis and Jettas and, rumor has it, someone's rental car which will remain unidentified.

Once again, the crew from the Mid-Atlantic region of the National Auto Sport Association stepped up to manage the rally course and provide extractions of those who get stuck in the mud. Everyone had a great time though and a surprising number of spectators managed to make their way over to that corner of the VIR property to witness the muddy Rally-X spectacle.

For those wanting a little more tame but equally exciting wheel-to-wheel racing experience, the VIR Karting Zone put fans in the seats of quick little touch-and-go racing karts on VIR’s professional grade 5/8-mile Plantation Valley Kart Track. While standing water from the on and off downpours kept open track time fairly limited throughout the weekend, those who got the opportunity to tear around the circuit had a blast and rated the track as one of the best they've ever driven on.

The Impact Custom Bike Show, presented by Impact Paint & Coatings, brought out some of the regions hottest street bikes. Fortunately for participants and fans, a large covered concrete slab kept everything high and dry. Also under the roof with the bikes was a DJ and a video game pavilion.

Less fortunate victims of the inclement weather were the NCCA Car Show and the vendor midway. Only about 20 brave souls converged on the 300 foot square asphalt skidpad to compete for national points in the NCCA Car Show. But those who made the trek to VIR and stuck it out were rewarded with easy series points not to mention some really cool GT LIVE trophies. Best of Show went to Eddie Farcon for his immaculate 3 Series BMW.

To round out the participant activities, GT LIVE organizers teamed up with various local and national enthusiast groups to create "fan festivals". Each fan festival was like an event within an event and gave participants some exclusive perks like paddock parking areas for their group and organized private sessions on the kart track. Among the fan festivals was the NICOfest (Nissan/Infiniti Car Owners Club), Mazda Days presented by MazdaSport Magazine, EVO Owners Day presented by Virginia tuning company, DTM Motorsport, the Subaru Meet hosted by SubieSports Magazine and finally for the Honda faithful, the inaugural International Spoon Sports Festival presented by Opak Racing.

If getting behind the wheel wasn't your thing and you just felt like taking in the sounds, sights and smells of sports cars in action, GT LIVE offered plenty to experience.

Both hard core sports car racing fans and those new to the scene were treated to two six-hour Grand Am Cup endurance races. Four 50 minute practice sessions on Friday, two for the ST class and two for the GS class, gave fans a chance to see the sports cars of Grand Am Cup take to the full 3.27-mile VIR circuit under both daylight and night conditions. On Saturday both classes vied for starting grid positions in two 15 minute qualifying sessions then at 3PM under light rain conditions, the GS class cars launched into the Wheel Enhancement GS Enduro presented by EMC Mechanical, a 6-hour battle that ran well into the night. The 2006 GS championship came down to this last race of the season and while the #83 BGB Motorsports Porsche Carrera took the checker, Anders Hainer in the Turner Motorsport BMW M3 took the championship. Porsche clinched the manufacturer's championship.

On Sunday afternoon, the ST class took to the track in the Bill Black Chevrolet Street Tuner Six-Hour Enduro which concluded under bits of blue sky and a dry track. The race win went to the #27 Bill Fenton Motorsports Acura RSX with second place and the driver’s and team titles going to Turner Motorsports and the #95 BMW 330i of Will Turner and Don Salama, marking an unprecedented sweep of the GS and ST driver and team championships for the Turner organization. Third place in the ST race was taken by the #68 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 of Ken Dobson and Scott Schlessinger.

GT LIVE didn't leave out the two-wheel crowd either. The U.S. Stunt Riding Championship East Coast Eliminations presented by Warped Toys brought out the best east coast motorcycle stunt riders in a battle on the front straight between the car racing. Competing for a total of $10,000 in cash prizes, the invitation-only event guaranteed only the highest level performers and a tough competition. Fans were allowed out onto pit road and up to the front straight guardrail to witness the spectacle up close. Whether the track was wet or dry didn't seem to matter to these death defying athletes as they performed all sorts of mind boggling tricks like stoppies, wheelies, and tricks with more exotic names like Christ, High Chairs and Twelves. Top honors went to Chris McNeil with the Sick Innovations Sickest Trick award locked in a tie between Bill Dixon and Josh Clem. Finally, the Warped Toys Team Battle went to the "Super Stunnas" featuring Bill Dixon, Jacob Brunelle and Chris Theis.

Another highly anticipated competition by spectators at GT LIVE was the USDrift Shootout, presented by the National Auto Sport Association (NASA). Using the "top" section of the Patriot Sourse, the best amateur and professional drifters from the region competed for a large cash purse. A combination of wet and dry conditions over the course of the weekend made the already technical top section of the course an interesting and difficult challenge for the drivers. By Sunday afternoon, attrition from a number of transmission and engine failures and one Corolla that nailed the wall hard enough to remove it from contention had slimmed down the field. After the "Best 8" tandem round was whittled down to the semi-final then final round, the Ford Mustang of Doug Van Den Brink emerged victorious. Taking the second spot on the podium was James Evans (Nissan 240SX) and third was claimed by Matt Martin (also in a Nissan 240SX). The GT LIVE SuperGirls, Mayumi and Misaki, braved the cold to join the USDrift Shootout podium finishers on the grid for their trophy presentations, interviews and photo ops.

As the event wound down on Sunday afternoon, Mother Nature decided to toy with everyone one last time by parting the clouds enough to show some blue skies then teasing everyone further with a beautiful sunset over the tree line to the west. Nonetheless, as VIR started drying out a day too late and people were packing up after the long, action packed weekend, different variations of the same comment seemed to echo throughout the crowd. "There has never been anything this cool at VIR before...I hope they bring it back again next year." Well, although the 2007 schedule for GT LIVE is still being determined, the folks at both VIR and GT LIVE confirmed that GT LIVE would be back next October running in conjunction with the Grand Am Cup weekend on October 5th through 7th. Keep an eye out on gtlivetour.com for event details and also for a 2007 schedule announcement.