Re: Sportscars 2014 general

**Forgetful** Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:12 pm

group44 wrote:Well that was quite the finish. Gap of .4 for the win after 12 hours, brilliant.

Yeah, great race. Kinda felt like a couple of teams cocked up their pit strategy just before the 1 hour mark. Had the Erebus Merc changed their brake pads earlier they might have won it. I really wanted to see SVG attack with the McLaren at the end, but they had to splash and go cause they put him in just before the 1 hour to go mark.

It was mighty nice fo those Abarths to GTFO on that last restart, diving down pit lane in tandem. Interesting method to their restart procedure. You can start accelerating at pit-in, but you can't pass until the S/F. Twice there was at least one of the 500s sitting 2nd on a restart and the one time it stayed there to the green, the leader checked out.

**timneyb** Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:35 pm

Forgetful wrote:
group44 wrote:Well that was quite the finish. Gap of .4 for the win after 12 hours, brilliant.

Yeah, great race. Kinda felt like a couple of teams cocked up their pit strategy just before the 1 hour mark. Had the Erebus Merc changed their brake pads earlier they might have won it. I really wanted to see SVG attack with the McLaren at the end, but they had to splash and go cause they put him in just before the 1 hour to go mark.

It was mighty nice fo those Abarths to GTFO on that last restart, diving down pit lane in tandem. Interesting method to their restart procedure. You can start accelerating at pit-in, but you can't pass until the S/F. Twice there was at least one of the 500s sitting 2nd on a restart and the one time it stayed there to the green, the leader checked out.

I thought the same about pit strategy cockups. I think McLaren were just twitching too much to get the rich slow guy out of the car too early. They also needed somebody running shotgun with SVG that was comparible to Salo in skill.

Restarts were a bit weird, because of the partial wave arounds. But, the American style of staying under yellow for 20 minutes to sort out the field in perfect running order is also frustrating, just because an old lady crashed into some shopping carts at a Walmart within driving distance of the track.

**Forgetful** Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:54 pm

Ya, what's the alternative though?

No waive arounds? Yellows are the only way to easily get a lap back these days, and that's what makes for interesting races like we saw yesterday.

Do you try Indy's method of sending a gaggle of cars through the pits? That didn't seem to speed up the process at all for them.

Would it be faster to red flag a race, send eveyone to the pits and then filter them out in order? Probably not. Dat heat soak too.

Just line them up under yellow as they fall? That would make too much sense.

Cranes and local yellows would be a good start.

**timneyb** Sun Feb 09, 2014 1:37 pm

Forgetful wrote:Ya, what's the alternative though?

No waive arounds? Yellows are the only way to easily get a lap back these days, and that's what makes for interesting races like we saw yesterday.

Do you try Indy's method of sending a gaggle of cars through the pits? That didn't seem to speed up the process at all for them.

Would it be faster to red flag a race, send eveyone to the pits and then filter them out in order? Probably not. Dat heat soak too.

Just line them up under yellow as they fall? That would make too much sense.

Cranes and local yellows would be a good start.

I wouldn't contrive much of anything at all, bring out safety cars only exactly when they were absolutely necessary, leave the rest to yellow flags you actually had to slow down for. Wave by until I get to the leader, and if somebody gets lucky with pitting at a fortuitous time then good for them, but otherwise just go race. If you're a lap down then there was probably a good reason for it and you need to get it back the hard way.

Probably, I'd wind up with races that I thought were fair, but that everybody else thought were boring. Also, teams that show up and lose a few races by 5 laps because of mechanical issues would lose their sponsors and have to leave and not play race cars any more. So my favourite sport would mostly disappear. Then I'd have nothing to complain about. So, I probably shouldn't get what I want.

**Forgetful** Sun Feb 09, 2014 1:44 pm

I often feel that way about hosting sim racing. Laughing

**clacksman** Sun Feb 09, 2014 2:13 pm

IMSAs 'code 60' sounded good - everyone goes 60km/h or less with no safety car - but they don't actually help as there's still going to be a 20 minute NASCAR yellow guaranteed in the last hour and otherwise every 10th commercial break.

**clacksman** Thu Feb 13, 2014 2:33 pm

http://sportscar365.com/wec/lemans/le-mans-entry-list-revealed/

**Forgetful** Thu Feb 13, 2014 2:53 pm

clacksman wrote:http://sportscar365.com/wec/lemans/le-mans-entry-list-revealed/

The most surprising thing about that list... 1 driver per car Shocked

Such a great GT class.

Am I a bad person for wanting to see Daytona Prototypes in the 24?

**clacksman** Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:46 pm

Forgetful wrote:

Am I a bad person for wanting to see Daytona Prototypes

Yes.

**Forgetful** Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:59 pm

clacksman wrote:
Forgetful wrote:

Am I a bad person for wanting to see Daytona Prototypes

Yes.

**clacksman** Mon Feb 24, 2014 8:43 pm

This sounds to me like the team is just kinda going away forever. Wonder where Fogerty and Gurney will end up.

http://www.racer.com/index.php/imsa/item/101410-imsa-bob-stallings-shuts-down-for-remainder-of-2014

**clacksman** Fri Feb 28, 2014 8:43 am

DAT LIVERY

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/lexus-rc-f-gt3-great-looking-car-with-a-hideous-livery-1533204863

**timneyb** Sat Mar 01, 2014 9:09 am

Thinking about paying V8 supercars $40 for streaming. Coverage moved to Fox Sports 2, which Verizon has $15 a month up the channel bundle line up. And even then it's two weeks delayed highlights. But they have some Conti Tires and TUSC up there too. I'm already paying more than I'm willing to for channels that show little that I want to watch, so I'm a little torn about whether to give anybody more money.

**clacksman** Sat Mar 01, 2014 9:14 am

$40 seems high for a a race series. MLB.tv is $60 per year for everything.

**timneyb** Sat Mar 01, 2014 9:25 am

clacksman wrote:$40 seems high for a a race series. MLB.tv is $60 per year for everything.

Sadly, $109, or $130 if you want home games. Canadian pricing different?

**timneyb** Sat Mar 01, 2014 9:38 am

timneyb wrote:
clacksman wrote:$40 seems high for a a race series. MLB.tv is $60 per year for everything.
Sadly, $109, or $130 if you want home games. Canadian pricing different?

Oh, wait, $130 for home commentators. I can't get home games if I cut cable off. So, $100 for half the season.

**clacksman** Sat Mar 01, 2014 9:55 am

... maybe the $60 is/was a promo price rather than Canadian difference. I once signed up for a 'free game of the week' stream, so of course since then they email me semiregularly looking for actual monies or space credits (much like iR does).

**timneyb** Sat Mar 01, 2014 10:41 am

I guess I'm just missing all that random Speed2 coverage I binged on during my morning coffees last year: BTCC, WTCC, various European GT things, DTM, Conti. Was good while it lasted, but now back to crap service as usual.

**group44** Sat Mar 01, 2014 4:42 pm

Just a cheap skate chiming in. Since I haven't had cable/satellite tv for years (I know, I know Embarassed

), I'm always amazed at how much content is available out in the wild. Granted there's little rhyme or reason to what I (can) watch or how long after the race the race I see it, but it's usually enough to keep me entertained. Oh, and it's free Laughing

**group44** Sun Jun 08, 2014 8:12 am

So I've been doing a little catch up on some of my overseas series watching.

DTM has proved to be some suitable background. With the two separate races created by the use of the option tires, there is certainly no shortage of passing and flying dive planes.

WTCC is a disappointment for me. With all the new regs on aero, tires, brakes, etc. the formula doesn't appear near as exciting as seasons past.

Was going to get into some V8 Supercars but got sidetracked by the support series. Touring Car Masters for the sights and sounds, Aussie Racing Cars for the frenetic pace of those overgrown go-karts and V8 Utes cause they're cool. All of which have proved to be more entertaining than I expected.

For me, the series that has me the most interested is a home grown one with the World Challenge. Not sure how long the Caddy's can stay competitive with all the newly introduced FIA GT3 machinery, but I guarantee I'm gonna stick around to find out. Then you have all the TC classes which never disappoint when it comes to close battles. Nothing cooler to me than three wide racing while carrying one tire several inches off the ground through the apex. More please.

**Forgetful** Sun Jun 08, 2014 12:08 pm

WTCC has been mildly disappointing to me too. The BTCC has not failed to impress though.

Indy has been pretty entertaining. They seem to have worked out a lot of the kinks in the system. A lot fewer stalled cars, no more uncompetitive engines and not so many damn street courses. Seems like Beaux Barfield seems to be calling it pretty fair and the drivers seem to have figured out what they are and aren't allowed to do.

The USCR Detroit race was decent. Interesting that they had the Protos on track with just the GTDs. They should seriously just give the GTLMs a 24 race schedule all by them selves, with the Daytona 24, Sebring 12, 6 at the Glen and Petit Le Mans being the only time they share the track with other cars.

Haven't watched much World Challenge. I did catch some of the Barber race on the Tube of You a little while back, so I'll go back and look for more.

Where can I watch these antipodean support series'?

**timneyb** Sun Jun 08, 2014 5:39 pm

Funny, I watched race one of WTCC yesterday. After the ultra orchestrated walk to a promotional photo opportunity I figured I'd drop WTCC from my dance card. "These guys need to take a holiday in F1 for a while and learn to relax" was my favourite sarcastic comment.

Not seen World Challenge. Maybe I should check it out.

BTCC, always fun. I probably am most excited when these show up online.

Can't find sneaky YouTube uploads of v8s, and I decided not to pay them for the priveledge, so I guess I'm skipping them. Hadn't checked out support series races though.

Blancpain series are decent and available pretty quickly.

Definitely better organisation with Indy this year, but for some reason I've just fallen asleep during the races. I blame some on the commentary team though that often doesn't really interrogate the strategy for who is really on target for winning. Opposite of this is David Addison that does some of the DTM and other euro commentary that goes out of his way to calculate what is actually developing for the race results.

**group44** Mon Jun 09, 2014 8:55 am

Good old utube will get you some of the down under action.

I haven't had the chance to catch any of the BTCC yet, but am now looking forward to it. And I agree with Timney on the commentating by Addison. Wouldn't have been able to tell you his name, but the analysis is good and will tend to keep one awake more Very Happy

**group44** Thu Sep 04, 2014 6:32 pm

Been enjoying watching some serious curb hopping just recently. First case in point is I finally got around to watching some BTCC, in particular I just finished up the Knockhill trilogy. That is one mighty busy little track that has curb bashing in spades. It's no wonder they don't just roll right over being as aggressive through the chicane as they are. Then there's the other side of the pond action with the Tudor GT only race at VIR I watched the other day. Anyone else enjoy watching the Viper doing wheelies through the climbing esses? Fascinating stuff.

**timneyb** Sat Sep 06, 2014 12:08 pm

group44 wrote:Been enjoying watching some serious curb hopping just recently. First case in point is I finally got around to watching some BTCC, in particular I just finished up the Knockhill trilogy. That is one mighty busy little track that has curb bashing in spades. It's no wonder they don't just roll right over being as aggressive through the chicane as they are. Then there's the other side of the pond action with the Tudor GT only race at VIR I watched the other day. Anyone else enjoy watching the Viper doing wheelies through the climbing esses? Fascinating stuff.

BTCC has been fun. Nice to see that they can make FR and FF play a little closer now. Knockhill physics would send cars into the second row of the stands with sim physics, I suspect.

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