IMSA USCC in 2016 and 2017

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by MoMedic9019

The car was likely right on the limit at pre-race tech... they in no doubt were told, or knew it from their own setup. 1 mil is nothing, if they we literally low in one place without appreciable damage, it probably was in the stewards eye that the car was low, here is your penalty.

Who knows, it's always tough to say what goes on. I've had to grind off extra epoxy on repaired CF parts because it made the floor too low in one spot. It's their discretion.

Was exactly that, they were told and IMSA admitted everything on the car but the broken part was clear and no violation. It was a race broken part that hung down too far and I believe 1mm for less than .5 in wide. If they couldn't demonstrate where it broke on film, I'd say yeah, you're screwed. But they could show where and how it happened in the race. But then it was early and they could have done something about it before the end too so...

[JLGarcia]

Originally Posted by jjvincent

Any news on why Black Swan Racing is racing at Sonoma for the PWC race as opposed to the IMSA one at CoTA?

A very specific clause in Pappas' father's will.

[chernaudi]

You also have to remember that Audi got penalized at Silverstone in the WEC race because of hide height issue due to a worn skid. Ironically, the Audi that won Sebring in 2013 ground off a big chunk of the skid because of a broken floor, but both IMSA and the ACO ruled that it was incidental damage and there was no performance gain.

You can argue either rules are rules, or extenuating circumstances/judging intent. But either way, the sanctioning body needs to be consistent.

[jjvincent]

But they could show where and how it happened in the race.

That's just a video of a car getting into it with another. If I was in tech I would then want to see the actual damage on the car and where the car was broke as to cause it being too low in that spot. I would assume they did this as I think any team would be going over the car like crazy to prove my point.

But then it was early and they could have done something about it before the end too so...

That's easier said than done. Since this was such a small infraction, I doubt anyone on the planet would have had the eye to see a 1mm deviation on a half inch area of the lower part of the body.

Every time a car bumps into you doesn't constitute a full pulling the car out of the race and making sure it's 100% OK. In this case, it's not like you can check ride height on pit road, determine the splitter is 1mm too low in a spot and then go ahead and start changing it out, then letting it down, doing a lap, come back in, check ride height and then repeat if necessary. If that was the case, the whole field would be in the pits for 10 minutes every race just to be in 100% compliance.

You can argue either rules are rules, or extenuating circumstances/judging intent. But either way, the sanctioning body needs to be consistent

That's correct. With the current PR disaster going on with IMSA, last thing they really needed to do come down on this team right now. They are not in this sport because they have sponsors to answer to, so they can easily be another team to walk away. At this point, IMSA has been seeing too much of that.

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Was exactly that, they were told and IMSA admitted everything on the car but the broken part was clear and no violation. It was a race broken part that hung down too far and I believe 1mm for less than .5 in wide. If they couldn't demonstrate where it broke on film, I'd say yeah, you're screwed. But they could show where and how it happened in the race. But then it was early and they could have done something about it before the end too so...

Perhaps part of it was proving said contact caused the imperfection. In my eyes is it okay? Especially with a tiny issue that probably caused ZERO performace gains? No. Perhaps the rule is just crap.

Regardless, they violated it, time to move on.

[MaskedRacer]

Now I am starting to think something is up. IMSA is making way too many teams angry and all for different reasons. There P.R. really stinks right now. Going back to the whole manufacturer fee. And there TV ratings stink. Sad really. Sportscar racing is something that should appeal to the mainstream.

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

Now I am starting to think something is up. IMSA is making way too many teams angry and all for different reasons. There P.R. really stinks right now. Going back to the whole manufacturer fee. And there TV ratings stink. Sad really. Sportscar racing is something that should appeal to the mainstream.

Becasue NASCAR?

Nah. TV ratings suck becasue FS1 blows, FS2 is stilll non-existent. Races are kinda boring, and have one-dimensional coverage. The venues, like Long Beach are uninteresting.

There just isn't much passion around, just lots of micromanaging.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by jjvincent

That's correct. With the current PR disaster going on with IMSA, last thing they really needed to do come down on this team right now. They are not in this sport because they have sponsors to answer to, so they can easily be another team to walk away. At this point, IMSA has been seeing too much of that.

It kind of reminds me of the van Der Steur incident.

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

It kind of reminds me of the van Der Steur incident.

They weren't exactly flush with cash, but, yeah... total agreement.

[chernaudi]

What is it that they say about the past, that if we don't learn from it, we're doomed to repeat it? Too much of that going on in racing, not just repeating past errors, but also ignoring what worked well in the past as well.

[MaskedRacer]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

What is it that they say about the past, that if we don't learn from it, we're doomed to repeat it? Too much of that going on in racing, not just repeating past errors, but also ignoring what worked well in the past as well.

One of the things that worked well was tobacco/cigarette sponsorship. That is not an option anymore.

[chernaudi]

Yet they let teams peddle booze, unless you're in the WEC and race at LM or Bahrain, which have restrictions on both tobacco and liquor advertising.

[WolfsburgRS]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

It kind of reminds me of the van Der Steur incident.

What happened? Gunnar has been a customer of mine on and off over the years.

[chernaudi]

IMSA fined his time $500 back in 2009 over what IMSA alleged was misuse of a team credential. Instead of paying the fine, the team left the series after PLM that year.

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

IMSA fined his time $500 back in 2009 over what IMSA alleged was misuse of a team credential. Instead of paying the fine, the team left the series after PLM that year.

I think they left FROM PLM.... I vaguely remember, but, I think they ended up packing up and leaving.

[FormulaFox]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

What is it that they say about the past, that if we don't learn from it, we're doomed to repeat it? Too much of that going on in racing, not just repeating past errors, but also ignoring what worked well in the past as well.

What worked in the past is not automatically going to work in the present. Looking to the past to find the way forward more often than not is a losing prospect.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by Matt

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/vi...ley-lmp2-deal/

Seems VF.com has a hard time making up their mind. Anyway, in the end all that matters is we'll see them in the series next year.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by WolfsburgRS

What happened? Gunnar has been a customer of mine on and off over the years.

I believe the wife of one of the vDS brothers had left her credentials at the hotel. This was discovered when the arrived at the track. So everybody went in but her, and then they passed a credential over the fence. As per above, they were caught and the team fined.

Really it was an epic act of stupidity on the series part, they should have just given out a new credential, and let the team know, that if something like that happened again in the future, to call someone to have it taken care of.

So, they packed up and left before the race.

[WolfsburgRS]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

IMSA fined his time $500 back in 2009 over what IMSA alleged was misuse of a team credential. Instead of paying the fine, the team left the series after PLM that year.

Originally Posted by MoMedic9019

I think they left FROM PLM.... I vaguely remember, but, I think they ended up packing up and leaving.

Interesting. He had never mentioned any of his racing and I wasn't familiar with his team as I was just getting back into sportscars in 2009. After one of my guys went up to his facility to pick up his Audi for work (this was maybe 2012?), and he mentioned to me that all the race equipment and car are sitting up there in the corner of the warehouse. I did some research and mentioned it to Gunnar next time he was in, and perhaps understandably he didn't mention the penalty issue.

The long and the short for him was that it "wasn't fun anymore" and they couldn't compete with the higher budget LMP2 teams. He specifically mentioned the weather at Petit and a 2-lap CV joint ended Sebring, and he was tired of spending money to not have fun. His son Rory is racing karts and does fairly well so you never know, they may pop back up at some point.

Both this and the Magnus situation (and I suppose Weathertech as well) speak to the classic gentleman driver-funded teams issue. While no-one would say Magnus has been anything other than dedicated and supportive to IMSA and Grand Am over the years, once it stops being fun and they feel they're being treated unfairly, JP is not going to stick around.

[J Jay]

Apologies if this is a repost, but a quick search didn't turn up anything.

An interesting revelation from Jonny Mowlem's retirement announcement on MWM. The Motec traction control system is based solely on wheelspin, as there are no yaw sensors in the FLM09s. It was also developed entirely by CORE (as expected), and their numbers took some teams a while to get used to if at all - Starworks & PR1 were mentioned addition to BAR1 as having issues initially.

It's not a silver bullet that explains away every incident with PCs, but this puts at least a few of their offs in a different light.

[Ephaeton]

sympathy for FLM09 issues, are you sure you're in the right forum?

[Matt]

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/pr...type-for-2017/

PR1/Mathiasen moving up to the Prototype ranks in 2017.

[Coach Ep]

Very good move! I guess Mike Guasch could be involved with the team again?

[broadrun96]

To me their release, and hints from Keating, Core, ESM and others makes me think the DPis may have to seriously balanced to the base LMP2 car as these guys all have LM in mind and the Trueman award. I'll at least give IMSA it seems like they are listening and noticed the limits of what the manufacturers can provide in 2017. Thinking 4/5 DPis (2/3 Caddy 2 Mazda) might be tops until late season, if HPD or another team pops up.

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

To me their release, and hints from Keating, Core, ESM and others makes me think the DPis may have to seriously balanced to the base LMP2 car as these guys all have LM in mind and the Trueman award. I'll at least give IMSA it seems like they are listening and noticed the limits of what the manufacturers can provide in 2017. Thinking 4/5 DPis (2/3 Caddy 2 Mazda) might be tops until late season, if HPD or another team pops up.

I hope Honda show, it'd be nice to see a few ESM DPi's at Road Am next year or somehing


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