2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona

"No, the avoidable contact regulation is actually quite clear in the rule book, as well. It's called avoidable contact, but contact isn't necessarily needed to invoke the penalty."

It's all very clear.....

 

How long have you followed F1 and their various championship point structures?

I think in '56 an American finished 5th in the F1 driver's championship without ever racing an F1 car that year!

High level road racing died decades ago man.

 

wonder how that makes Michael Andretti and Scott Speed feel?

 

Kirby and the people he interviewed make a point of how the series was so happy to announce their chosen name. A competitor told me back in the fall how the series was announcing the pay structure for the series head but everyone was still waiting to find out what the classes and rule book would look like. His point was that the series had their priorities pretty much backwards.

Jeff

 

Upwards of 45 years. These changes seem to me to be particularly egregious. See the Kirby piece...competitors agree. Vettel called the change in F1 'absurd'. Fans agree.

I don't throw hissy fits....

 

I agree, I think the focus was on money/logistics for the promoters and sanctioning body, not the teams and drivers. hopefully they play a little catch up

the bits in Kirby's article about money were telling...$50k/day for testing, an extra $1.5mm for the full season. IMSA needs to work with teams on bringing funding to the table.

 

I think finishing 5th in the F1 driver's championship without driving a F1 car trumps having the last few races count double in points....

A frustrating thing about F1, is you have teams announce "We are not winning this year, so we're not going to try to improve our car anymore." Making the last races count more, makes it worth it to be committed for the season, rather than seeing how your first few races go, then abandoning the season to work on next years car.

I do have to say, I'm not too happy about how pretty much every sports car series hands out changes to each car to keep them "competitive" based on their results each race. Different cars having different rev limiters in their rules package, one can bea tube frame shell and not related to the road car at all, the other can't, etc...

The Peugot/Audi slug outs at Le Mans for the past few years have been one of the only highlights. Otherwise I've been more interested in spec racing series that do not attempt to create an illusion of not being a spec racing series.

 

That era of motorsport was not too much more than sandlot baseball, so the commercial importance likely wasn't the motivation for such a result as it is today. I disagree with your conclusion.

I'd be curious if 1956 was the year this happened and who it was who finished 5th.

 

I think Mike's comments were meant to be even harsher. His team has a major auto mfg underwriting the majority of their costs but they are in a class that had serious questions on how it would be integrated. I would put a paraphrasing of Mike's meaning as: they were worried about their individual office decorating but couldn't be bothered with the thought that there would be no series if the teams didn't show up.

 

My thoughts:
1. The Ford DPs need some relief so that they are equivalent to the Corvettes on power, and the P2 cars need some relief so that they are equivalent to all the DP cars. I expect that some adjustments will be made by Sebring.
2. All of the "road course" sections of Daytona need to be widened, as does the pit exit lane. (The accident between the 99 and the 62 might not have happened then.) The verges of the chicane where cars were continually throwing up dirt from should be paved.
3. The last yellow was far too hasty, as the car that apparently precipitated it was already back on the track by then! The incident between the 555 and the 45 never would have happened if the green had been allowed to stay out.
4. I agree that the reversal of the penalty on the 555 was correct, and I'm not saying that because I'm a Ferrari fan!
5. Perhaps a reasonable limit on car entries should be used, perhaps the 56 that Le Mans is using. Of course, at some tracks the length of the pit lane will be a limiting factor.

 

I want to know what happened to the AirForce flyover at the start of the race? Government cutback?

 

A kinda silly government cutback - as the crews will still fly navigation training flights flying over specific areas anyway...refueling practice, etc....

So The $$$ for the flyover is being spent anyway. No one wants to cut their own pork, but they have to make a show of "deep cuts". :\

 

Agree completely with you.
If the present trend continues, both F1 and Le Mans will eventually be reduced to other editions of Nascar, where the attraction is represented by the crashes.

 

For the first merged race I felt like it went pretty good. Looking forward to Sebring.

 

Racing is entertainment as are all sports. NASCAR knows how to fill the seats and get the air time. That equals higher pay for the drivers and teams. More exposure for sponsors. I'm with you on the rules,yellow flags,bogus finish set ups but the game needs more than a few knowledgable purists to sell the series to if it is to grow let alone survive. GTS Bruce

 

agree to a point. yes it's entertainment for the fans, and to keep fans engaged you need to provide a good show. but what defines a good show in sports cars is different than NASCAR (or Indy, F1, drag racing, etc)

but racing, particularly sports car racing, is and always has been very economically driven by manufacturers. if they aren't getting an ROI from fan exposure and/or good technical development, they pick up stakes and go home.

also, sports car racing is largely funded by teams with wealthy owners out of pocket-if they're not making money, and losing face or getting frustrated with a sanctioning body or tearing up equipment, etc they too will find something else to do.

fundamentally NASCAR doesn't understand the business model and economic drivers of sports car racing. hopefully they learn fast.

 

Memo update...

Memo Gidley undergoes surgery, remains hospitalized | MotorSportsTalk

 

Sequester is over and the fly-overs can resume, but there was not enough time to get it done.

 

I'm more interested in competition than entertainment.

"This ain't no disco!"

 

On one of the last restarts a P2 car was in front of the Wayne Taylor Racing car. The Wayne Taylor car came up beside the P2 car without issue, stayed beside it until the green was waved (mind you the P2 car is full throttle simply trying to keep up with the Action Express car in front of it while this goes on), then applied full throttle and walked away from the P2 car like it wasn't even trying. Some balance of power.

 

Daytona is a horsepower/torque track that rewards large displacement engines. Sebring SHOULD favor the LMP2 cars

 

As I recall Risi Comp also lost an Italia in a big crash at Baltimore last year. You have to admire his dedication in continuing to field a Ferrari for the races!

 

Lime Rock too.

they're giving Lord Brockett a run for his money!

 

Joey Hand was pretty good at pushing the dirt to!

 

stolen from Jeff Segal's FB page, this is a great shot...love the intensity in the driver's eyes.
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