FIRST IN ENGLAND & THIRD IN CANADA

IRVINE, Calif., August 18, 2002 — Saleen S7s were sighted around the world this past weekend, including a Lizstick Red road version at Detroit’s Woodward Dream Cruise and a Speedlab Yellow supercar at Concourse Italiano and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Four other Saleen S7Rs were busy with their assault on several sports car championships on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

In spite of a terrific downpour at Oulton Park, Graham Nash Motorsports’ team of Brazilian Tommy Erdos and Brit Ian McKellar continued to dominate the British GT Championship with a victory yesterday. The duo has been on the podium eight out of nine races this year winning an amazing seven of them. McKellar was the 2001 European Le Mans GTS Drivers’ Champion and one of the teammates is certain to win the British GT Championship this season.

Not quite as lucky has been the Konrad Motorsports’ team of Terry Borcheller and team owner Franz Konrad in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). In spite of Borcheller being the “fastest gun in the West” by claiming most of the GTS poles last year and finishing is the 2001 ALMS GTS Drivers’ Champion, the car has been hampered by an ACO imposed restriction that has reduced performance by approximately 100 horsepower.

So it was a huge surprise to everyone, especially Corvette driver Ron Fellows who was going for his seventh-straight pole, when Borcheller pulled off a record breaking time of 1: 15.xxx in Saturday’s qualifying session. “That one belongs to the Pirelli guys who raced back to their transporter during the session and re-balanced the wheels for me and let me set that flyer just as the checker fell,” commented Borcheller. “We’ve been struggling all year with that restriction and the pole and our third-place podium finish felt real good.”

The next race for Konrad Motorsports will be at Laguna Seca on Sept. 22 live on NBC-TV. There is some hope that the ACO will lift the restrictions by then and Borcheller and Konrad will be allowed to race the Corvettes and repeat their victory of last season at the beautiful Monterey Coast circuit.

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 19, 2002 — After two heart-breaking race weekends at Mid-Ohio and Road America, Konrad Motorsports is still looking for its first victory of the 2002 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) season at this weekend’s Cadillac Grand Prix of Washington, D.C.

After breaking a half Shaft while racing nose-to-tail with the two factory Corvettes at Mid-Ohio, Terry Borcheller, the 2001 ALMS GTS Drivers’ Champion, was leading both Chevrolets at Road America in the #26 Konrad Motorsports Saleen S7R when his engine expired. He did manage to salvage fastest lap at Mid-Ohio. But he and team owner, Franz Konrad, are looking for a little of Lady Luck Sunday in the 2-hour, 45-minute race on a 1.9-mile, 10 turn temporary racing circuit constructed in the parking lot of RFK Stadium. The race will be televised live nationally on NBC beginning at 1 p.m. (EDT)

Besides Lady Luck, Saleen would also like the ACO restrictions of 10% air reduction and 50 kilos of weight decreased but that likely won’t happen until late August when the 12th Saleen S7 road car is due for completion. Then, hopefully, the Saleen S7Rs will return the their 2001 form when they were recognized as the fastest guns in the west. The first Saleen S7 road car was delivered on June 6th to Jerry and Kathy Ritzow of Milwaukee, Wisc., who had the opportunity to witness Borcheller’s short-lived lead at Road America.

Elsewhere in the unrestricted race world, Saleen S7Rs are piling up victories in a mode similar to last year’s inaugural season when four S7Rs set 27 poles and fastest laps, won 19 out of 32 races and four GTS Drivers Championships in four different series. Racing again in four different series, Graham Nash Motorsports currently leads the British GT and Spanish GT Championships with three Saleen S7Rs, while Park Place Racing is out in front in the Grand-Am Rolex Cup for the second straight year.

In addition, Ford Motor Company announced earlier this week that Saleen would manufacture the production version of the Ford GT40 concept car — the supercar that dominated Ferrari and Porsche at the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1966 through 1969.

LE MANS, June 12, 2002 – After quite possibly the finest inaugural race season ever last year, a trio of Saleen S7Rs find themselves considerable underdogs at this weekend’s classic 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Consider this…The new Saleen S7R set 27 poles and fastest laps and won 19 out of 32 races last year, including the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring where they upset the factory Corvettes. At last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, Saleen S7Rs set the fastest lap in practice, qualifying (with a record run of 3:52.849 nearly 3 seconds faster than previous) and the race and finished a respectable third in spite of an early race accident.

So why the underdog status?

Per the original ACO regulations requiring the construction of 12 cars, Saleen built 18 chassis including seven racecars prior to the American Le Mans (ALMS) season-opening race at Sebring. In a “rules clarification” the week before Sebring, the ACO advised Saleen that 12 “road” cars would be required thereby imposing a 15% restriction in air and 70 kilos of additional weight on each car. Saleen built another chassis before the
ALMS race at Sears Point only to have one of its crash test cars disqualified from the ACO head count. Saleen now clearly understands that it must build one more car before the restrictions are lifted which the company expects to occur shortly after Le Mans.

“We’re certainly disappointed with the recent rulings,” commented Steve Saleen, president of the Southern California-based manufacturer of high-performance automobiles. “With nearly 9,000 Saleen Mustangs built in the past 19 years, we truly believe that we’ve done everything that the ACO has asked including demonstrating the ability to build 12 S7 supercars per year,” Saleen added. “With our racing success of the past 18 months, it’s a shame that our Saleen S7Rs won’t be allowed to compete on a level playing field. But our focus now is on delivering more S7 road cars to our customers which will automatically eliminate the restrictions in the near future.”

Just last Thursday, June 6, Saleen presented the keys to the first S7 road car to Jerry and Kathy Ritzow of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, (see www.RacingPR.com) keeping his promise to deliver the first supercar in the spring of 2002. The proud owners of a Lizstick Red S7 were the very first to purchase the new American supercar after its debut at the Monterey Historic Races in August of 2000. Saleen currently has orders for 50 supercars and plans to begin regular production of one S7 per week at its Irvine, Calif., headquarters this summer.

In spite of the restrictions imposed by the ACO and the “success ballast” that is part of the British GT rules, Saleen S7Rs are seeking to repeat their performance of last year when they won GT Drivers’ Championships in four different series around the globe.

Chris Bingham, the 2001 Grand-Am GTS Drivers’ Champion, continues to rule the Grand-Am Rolex Cup winning three straight races after the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona. In a similar fashion, Graham Nash Motorsports (GNM) is dominating both the British GT and Spanish GT Championships with three Saleen S7Rs. Ian McKellar, the 2001 European Le Mans Series (ELMS) GTS Drivers’ Champion, and Tommy Erdos currently lead the British GT with five victories in the first six races, while Pedro Chaves and Miguel Ramos are on top in the Spanish GT.

For the second year in a row, three Saleen S7Rs are entered in this weekend’s classic twice-around-the-clock race through the French countryside. Although very similar to last year’s line up, the drivers have played some musical chairs. Although Ray Mallock sold his ELMS Championship car to Graham Nash recently, the team has an automatic Le Man entry and will borrow GNM’s car, crew and Portugese duo for the race. Chaves and
Ramos will be joined by England’s Gavin Pickering in the #68 Saleen.

Although the driver line up is very similar to last year, the two factory entries will be replaced by two Saleen S7Rs from Konrad Motorsports. Toni Seiler of Switzerland moves over from the second car to assist the team of Franz Konrad of Austria and Terry Borcheller of Phoenix, Ariz., in the #66 Saleen which placed third on the podium last year. Borcheller won the 2001 ALMS GTS Drivers’ Championship driving with Konrad. Charlie Slater of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and Switzerland’s Walter Brun will be joined Saleen by Rodney Mall of Riverside, Calif. in the second Konrad car (#67).

Konrad Motorsports Faces Up Hill Battle At Sears Point

SONOMA, Calif., May 16, 2002 — While the Park Place Racing S7R of 2001 Grand-Am GTS Champion Chris Bingham has scored three straight victories in the Grand-Am Rolex Cup and the Saleen S7R of Graham Nash Motorsports has won three out of four races in the British and Spanish GT Championships, the Konrad Motorsports team is still looking for that elusive first win in the 2002 American Le Mans Series (ALMS).

Team owner, Franz Konrad, and co-driver, Terry Borcheller, last year’s ALMS GTS Drivers’ Champion, hope this weekend’s 2 hour 45 minute Grand Prix of Sonoma, presented by Foster’s Lager will be the time and the place for their first top podium finish of the year. The challenging 12-turn 2.52-mile up-and-down-hill event on the Sears Point circuit is the second ALMS round of the season, following the 12 Hours of Sebring in March.

Konrad Motorsports finished 3rd at the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona (a Grand-Am Rolex Cup race) and 2nd to the factory Corvette at Sebring. This latter podium finish was in spite of penalties assessed by the ACO that resulted in a 15% reduction in airflow to the engine, along with having to add 70 kilos (150+ lb) of lead to the car because of confusion over how many S7s have been produced.

Borcheller and Konrad are out to avenge their 3rd-place finish last year at Sears behind the Corvette Racing team, which will be back to defend their title with two cars, including the Corvette of Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell winner of last year’s GTS class at Sears. Last year Terry Borcheller put the Saleen on the pole and set fastest race lap, but the overall GTS win eluded the Konrad team when a problem occurred with its Goodyear tires. The team has switched to Pirelli tires this year, but unfortunately will have to race with a 10% restriction and 50 kilos of weight at Sears Point.

“We were really quick at Sears last year; the very first time an S7R has raced at that rack,” commented Borcheller. “Poles and fastest race laps are certainly satisfying, but this year Franz and I would prefer to put our Saleen in victory circle more often.”

Not that the Konrad team expects an easy time of it. Besides the Corvette factory racing team, the Konrad/Borcheller duo will face stiff competition from a GTS field that also includes Dodge Viper GTS-Rs and a newcomer to the ALMS, the Ferrari 550 Maranello.

ALMS cars will test the circuit for the first time on Friday, May 17, with official practice and qualifying to be held on Saturday, May 18. The race will be televised live by the SPEED Channel beginning at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 19. Live coverage by the American Le Mans
Series Radio Web can be heard online at www.imsaracing.net beginning at noon with a one-hour pre-race show. ALMS Radio Web also will have two hours of coverage of qualifying for the Sears Point race with several drivers as special quests. The broadcast will start at 5 p.m. on Saturday May 18. Listeners will be able to email questions for the drivers to answer. The names of the drivers and the email address will be listed on the web site.

With four Saleen customer teams entered in four series around the world last year, the Saleen S7R customer teams set 27 poles and fastest laps and won 19 out of 32 races this season — quite possibly the finest inaugural race season for any marque in history. And, hopefully, more in store for 2002.

Saleen was crowned the SCCA World Challenge Champions in 1996-1998, while an ex-Le Mans Saleen SR won the Spanish FIA GT in 1999. In 2000, Saleen swept the Grand-Am GTO Championships winning the Team, Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ titles. Last season’s remarkable success with the S7R makes this the sixth straight GTS Manufacturers’ Championship for Saleen Motorsports — and looking for lucky #7!