ALMS 2013 Round 3: Laguna Seca

[Lagunaseca_4life]

Theres always the grip strips they could put on the asphalt like Paul recard to slow em down.

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by Lagunaseca_4life

Theres always the grip strips they could put on the asphalt like Paul recard to slow em down.

They'll slow down a car, but I don't think they'd help a downed bike and rider. The gravel traps are there to also soften the landing of bike and rider. As long as the FIM bikes are Laguna Seca's biggest money maker...

[Lagunaseca_4life]

Yup I was thinking more of turn one at Watkins glen.removing the gravel at laguna will personally ruin it for me, he'll even the asphalt they added to turn two bugs me it just looks weird.

[Purist]

Even the grip strips are tricky. If they work too well, the vehicle will shred its tires, and be stranded in the run-off just as if it was gravel.

As for cranes, many tracks don't have them. They can be expensive, and then there's clearing the space to position them and the maintenance of the equipment. If you have large run-offs, like F1 and other FIA series seem to go for, the cranes have to be quite tall/long, which takes substantially higher-spec equipment, both to lift at that extremity, and also to support its own weight when it has a 100+foot arm.

Tractors are easier, but that's an extraction vehicle within the primary lines of defense, and the operators have to know that they will be reasonably safe to work out there when they deploy to a stranded vehicle.

Apart from the issue of arresting wayward vehicles, I have a general distaste for the abuse of track boundaries that paved run-off leads to. Also, I don't recommend those speed bump things; Scott Pruett found out at Austin what hitting something of that sort can be like.

And before anybody brings up the Aston Martin at Mid Ohio, or Jimmie Johnson in the Busch Series at Watkins Glen, both of those incidents were a function of grading leading to the car going over portions of the run-off. No amount of asphalt replacing gravel can fix that.

Honestly, most of the issues would be solved by having gravel traps start further back from the edge of the designated racing surface. Have actual grass verges to give an automatic grip penalty to abusers. At the same time, those who run just a bit wide will lose some speed, maybe have to saw at the wheel a bit, but will be able to continue, rather than getting beached.

[JHamilton]

I thought this was a great race and very entertaining. I find it interesting the the FCL discussion comes up at LS every year. I didn't think any were thrown that shouldn't have been... that's just how Laguna Seca goes. Maybe it's because I grew up watching Nascar, but like the current IMSA procedures. Just go to the fridge, grab another beer, and mutter to yourself how Tracy Krohn (just for example ) shouldn't be on track.

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

No, it´s not, the Code 60 [aka purple flag] procedure easily beats it.

I'd be concerned about this creating problems ahead of an incident at smaller tracks. You know what they say, "purples breed purples".

[Breitling24]

A question... while at the race, it sounded like the track PA announcers were talking about something being incorporated into the rearview mirrors of the P2 HPd's, which is why the housings are so large. We couldn't hear what they said it was, with race traffic going past. Anyone know what they were talking about?

[Ferrari333SP]

For those wanting to relive the race, Part 1 below:

http://youtu.be/BTCYzfXh4Lc

[Ferrari333SP]

Rebellion's battle with the Muscle Milk car:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUVBTEAcKE0

[KSR88]

Originally Posted by Ferrari333SP

Rebellion's battle with the Muscle Milk car:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUVBTEAcKE0

The last time we will see cut and thrust like that at Laguna Seca.....the P1's will be missed.
P1's turned 1:14's this year--P2's 1:18----not many years ago both were doing 1:10's when we had Audi's, Porsches and Accuras.
For reference DP pole time last year was 1:21..yawn. They have almost slowed the P2's down enough....to the point it is a challenge for a P2 to pass a GT on the straight.

[Lagunaseca_4life]

Not only that leave the p2's out, they say dp is close exciting racing.its not.its over welmingly boring and slow in person. One of my favorite places to watch is against the fence at the kink between 4 and 5 looking down.its an amazing place to see some good drafting and passing even in the conti challenge, but for Rolex it's boring.big gaps to the next dp and they all sound the same and it takes a few laps to start passing traffic even then it's dull.

[skeeskirrt]

I liked the race better when it was in the fall. From what I remember, the fall race actually ends in darkness, or at least twilight.

The crowd seemed much smaller from what I remember during the times I've been in the past (between 2004 and 2007).

I wish they'd broadcast the PA over the radio.

[Lagunaseca_4life]

Yes the crowd was smaller even compared to last year, on Friday and Thursday was so little people that it almost seemed like grand am.

[GTfour]

Originally Posted by Lagunaseca_4life

Not only that leave the p2's out, they say dp is close exciting racing.its not.its over welmingly boring and slow in person. One of my favorite places to watch is against the fence at the kink between 4 and 5 looking down.its an amazing place to see some good drafting and passing even in the conti challenge, but for Rolex it's boring.big gaps to the next dp and they all sound the same and it takes a few laps to start passing traffic even then it's dull.

Agreed. In my opinion, the DP's are just not real racingcars. Very lowtech tubular frames with largely the same engine configurations and hardly significant downforce. I think it's a very sad thing to see that IMSA has been able to make use of the fact that cars adhering to ACO rules have slowly been faded out.
You americans'll dearly miss the true sportscars for quite some time I guess.
Gone are the grand races were Audi R8's battled it out against Panoz GTR's against BMW V12's against Porsche RS Spyders. Epic races on the great american sportscar tracks. Sad.

[Lagunaseca_4life]

Yes sir, those days are long gone. I always stick around for scruteneerimg and walk around the paddock after the race as teams pack up.this year I stayed extra long left almost at ten as the ocean fog was starting to roll In.it was a weird feeling knowing this era was over and would never happen again, only to wonder how long it would take for it to come back

[abruzzifan]

Originally Posted by GTfour

Agreed. In my opinion, the DP's are just not real racingcars. Very lowtech tubular frames with largely the same engine configurations and hardly significant downforce. I think it's a very sad thing to see that IMSA has been able to make use of the fact that cars adhering to ACO rules have slowly been faded out.
You americans'll dearly miss the true sportscars for quite some time I guess.
Gone are the grand races were Audi R8's battled it out against Panoz GTR's against BMW V12's against Porsche RS Spyders. Epic races on the great american sportscar tracks. Sad.

There hasn't been any significant manufacturer involvement in ALMS prototype classes in 6 years. The "Audi/BMW/Panoz" battles (with the total of 25 cars on the grid) years were 13 years ago. Saying "oh, you'll miss out on the P1 battles" is moot, because there haven't been any in the ALMS for a long, long time. I'm also kinda curious why you think that P1 cars from 1999 were racing against a P2 Porsche from 2006, but that's neither here nor there.

When over half of the ALMS grid right now is made up of cars which don't confirm to ACO regs (GTC and LMPC spec racers), it doesn't really seem like the ACO link is doing much good.

[Chris Draper]

As long as GTE exists, that's good enough for me.

[Lagunaseca_4life]

muscle milk's laguna video. gotta say i think this is the best produced one ive seen from them.
http://youtu.be/EAhnqAtBwBA

[NightStalk3r]

Originally Posted by abruzzifan

When over half of the ALMS grid right now is made up of cars which don't confirm to ACO regs (GTC and LMPC spec racers), it doesn't really seem like the ACO link is doing much good.

LMPC does conform to ACO regs.

[ATLFalconsFAN]

Originally Posted by Lagunaseca_4life

muscle milk's laguna video. gotta say i think this is the best produced one ive seen from them.
http://youtu.be/EAhnqAtBwBA

Strange choice in music. I mean I love Sigur Ros, but I never associated their music with something as up tempo as racing. Yet somehow it strangely works. I think the video could have been better though with more appropriate music and more engine sounds.

[Canada ALMS fan]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

LMPC does conform to ACO regs.

And they're just as bad as DPs. The chassis is better but the engines are just low revving sealed production Chevy motors. Oh, and spec tires too...
So we have 2 low tech spec "prototype" classes in USCR with a few castrated P2 and all on spec tires - no thanks. Too bad the ELMS has Pro Am driver rules as their class format is much more palatable. They embrace both the ACO and FIA rule sets to some extent, not the disaster requiring bespoke cars (DP, GTD, GX, and low downforce P2s) no one cares about (excluding GTLM) the USCR has.

[Maelochs]

Should I point out that ELMS also has PC (called FLM) and GTC (though like Rolex it includes a few castrated GT3 cars like Ferrari, BMW Z4, and at Imola, Lamborghini)?

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by ATLFalconsFAN

Strange choice in music. I mean I love Sigur Ros, but I never associated their music with something as up tempo as racing. Yet somehow it strangely works. I think the video could have been better though with more appropriate music and more engine sounds.

Yeah, the music worked since so much footage was slow motion.
More track sounds at speed would have been nice, too.

[Canada ALMS fan]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Should I point out that ELMS also has PC (called FLM) and GTC (though like Rolex it includes a few castrated GT3 cars like Ferrari, BMW Z4, and at Imola, Lamborghini)?

I am well aware, it is not perfect but I like it better than the USCR mix for the next 2 years. The pro am requirements really hold it back. Difference is there are no tube frames to dilute the real protos and GTC is not a spec class. The GTC cars are fully legal GT3 cars with either different restrictors or ballast, not goofy sized roll cages, smaller spoilers, different clutches and brakes a la GAGT so it is a lot more inclusive of cars raced elsewhere.
Say all you want about low car counts in P1, but there absence is definitely noticeable.

[Mechanic Z]

Originally Posted by Chris Draper

As long as GTE exists, that's good enough for me.

Yeah. Why do we need prototypes, again?