'09 ALMS Round One Sebring Mar.18-21

[Audi Racer]

Originally Posted by td2001

Ferrari got zero in terms of "help" with homologation, in fact, this year they had to reduce the restrictors even more because they were no longer allowed to use the air conditioning "waiver" that allowed the use of a larger restrictor when air condition was in use as had been possible in previous years.
In 2008 with no A/c the Ferrari had to use a 28.1 mm restrictor. The use of A/c allowed it to use 28.3 mm. This year they must use 27.4 mm.
Of all of the current cars in GT2 the Ferrari is the "weakest" in terms of restrictors Vs weight etc.

I kinda think it is a tie between the ferrari and the BMW. IMSa did not want the M3 GTR repeat of 2001.

[Audi Racer]

Rockenfeller realy needed the race that he put on at sebring. The crash at Lemans 07. The crash at Sebring 08(not race ending). The Monza mistake(though not his fault but it is easy to say it is). Winning the LMS championship and the great Sebring Drive really helped alot though i highly doubt his position was in jeopardy ever. Audi know they caught big(young) fish in the names Luhr and Rockenfeller

[fjn356]

I will stick to my contention that, for all it's progress over the past winter, the 40 is well off the pace of the top teams. In qualifying they were 1.3 seconds off pole in 5th place and, in the race, their fastest lap was a whopping 2:04.987 behind the 007, the 21, the 92 and, of course, all the Porkers and Fiats (2.5 sec behind the 45).
I am not trying to denigrate the 40 team and am happy they are making such progress. What is clear is that the top four entrants to Sebring bring money, technology, experience and drivers that the "privateers" cannot match. ALMS will be a very different, and to me, less exciting series if the top teams leave. We only have to look at P2 to see that.

And, I may have had a different driving school instructor than others, but I still think trying to pass a competitor on the outside of Sebring 7 is a boneheaded move. Not that all drivers don't make boneheaded moves at some point.

[surfsoccer]

does anyone have an r-u invite code.... i missed the last few hours and would love to see how it all unfolded

[cmk]

Originally Posted by fjn356

I will stick to my contention that, for all it's progress over the past winter, the 40 is well off the pace of the top teams. In qualifying they were 1.3 seconds off pole in 5th place and, in the race, their fastest lap was a whopping 2:04.987 behind the 007, the 21, the 92 and, of course, all the Porkers and Fiats (2.5 sec behind the 45).
I am not trying to denigrate the 40 team and am happy they are making such progress. What is clear is that the top four entrants to Sebring bring money, technology, experience and drivers that the "privateers" cannot match. ALMS will be a very different, and to me, less exciting series if the top teams leave. We only have to look at P2 to see that.

And, I may have had a different driving school instructor than others, but I still think trying to pass a competitor on the outside of Sebring 7 is a boneheaded move. Not that all drivers don't make boneheaded moves at some point.

You're definitely entitled to that opinion, and I do confess that it is very difficult for a privateer to ever touch the top factory-supported teams, no matter what they throw at the car in terms of development, and no matter whether or not they get additional concessions over the factory.

I still take umbrage over this notion that Murry made an irrational outside pass, however. He was ahead going into the turn, with Jorg trying to outbrake them down the inside, and he held his line around the outside through the safety pin. To me, he couldn't be 'making the pass' since he was leading coming into the corner. Whether you argue he defended his position to aggressively or not, I don't really feel he did, but certainly it can only be that which is pinned on DM.

[WMUCarGuy]

Here are my pics from Sebring. I narrowed them down from 3300 original shots, but still have a lot.

http://www.supercars.net/PitLane?vie...D=0&tID=173234

[porsche91722]

Originally Posted by WMUCarGuy

Here are my pics from Sebring. I narrowed them down from 3300 original shots, but still have a lot.

http://www.supercars.net/PitLane?vie...D=0&tID=173234

You have taken some great shots there, well done. I don't know whether you do this for a living or not, but your some of your pics are first class. Thankyou.

[The Badger]

Love the bikini shots dude ..... definetly part of the whole motorsport package !!!

[gwyllion]

http://www.sportscarpros.com/cottonb...e-of-progress/

[WMUCarGuy]

Originally Posted by porsche91722

You have taken some great shots there, well done. I don't know whether you do this for a living or not, but your some of your pics are first class. Thankyou.

Thanks for the kind words! I cover the races occasionally, but Sebring wasn't one of those. I was just there to have a good time with some buddies. I'm pretty happy with my shots for the most part, but they could obviously still be better.

[WMUCarGuy]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Love the bikini shots dude ..... definetly part of the whole motorsport package !!!

Haha, yea. 12 Hours is a LOT of racing, so we figured we'd take a few minutes to admire the "scenery".

[Audi Racer]

Originally Posted by Dunlop Corner

Did you guys even watch the race?
How on earth can you beleive Audi sandbagged. After Bourdais stint, it was Peugouts race to lose. Had McNish and Montagny lapped at the same pace (and with the stint Bourdais did i beleive the Pug was at least as capable as the Audi), Peugout would have won by around 40 seconds.
I cannot beleive Audi would sandbag neither on pace or fuel. If you beleive that, it means sandbagging is more important than winning Sebring. As i said, when Montagny took over the car, it was Peugout's to lose. Had Montagny driven as Bourdais did, nothing that McNish could do could have won Audi the race. But fortunately for Audi, Montagny was on average i would guess more than 1 second slower than Bourdais. If Audi knew this was coming, great strategy for them. Running the race just slow enough to win it by 20 seconds after a really poor final stint for the Peugout...
If Audi had bags of fuel remaining, why not use it at the end and win because of one fewer stop? I don't beleive Audi had that much more fuel left than Peugout, but at the same time i would not be surprised if Audi in the middle of the race pitted a little earlier than they had to.


If Audi suddenly is way ahead of Peugout, i would take it as a sign that the R15 has come a long way, NOT that Audi was sandbagging at Sebring.

I guarantee you Audi were sandbagging.
Also its scary imagining the kind of car acura has created. A car that can only run 50 percent of its capability because the weak link is human. Apparently the car is fast enough to match the diesels. It's just that running with with that much downforce would be impossible for a human to do(Mulsanne's) with all the Heavy exceeding 5 g loads.
This is all too exciting. Porsche supposedly for 2010 or 2011. Quite frankly the rules need to stay were they are. Just give the Petrols more power. Why would we have 500 hp p1s. An M5 has more power. A mercedes roadcar does to. Stop messing around. Clearly this rear wing concept is all messed up. In F1 and Lemans they made the wings smaller yet the the cars got faster.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by Audi Racer

Quite frankly the rules need to stay were they are. Just give the Petrols more power.

call me silly, but wouldn't you have to change the rules to give the petrol cars more power?

[Audi Racer]

Originally Posted by skycafe

call me silly, but wouldn't you have to change the rules to give the petrol cars more power?

Don't read the post looking for faults to attack. Read and know that what is right is what i meant. I mea just give the petrols more power. So they are on par with the diesels. Don't go and redo all the rules for all the classes

[skycafe]

Well I would certainly agree there is still a gap between the two engine types

[Lola T70]

Originally Posted by Audi Racer

I guarantee you Audi were sandbagging.
Also its scary imagining the kind of car acura has created. A car that can only run 50 percent of its capability because the weak link is human. Apparently the car is fast enough to match the diesels. It's just that running with with that much downforce would be impossible for a human to do(Mulsanne's) with all the Heavy exceeding 5 g loads.
This is all too exciting. Porsche supposedly for 2010 or 2011. Quite frankly the rules need to stay were they are. Just give the Petrols more power. Why would we have 500 hp p1s. An M5 has more power. A mercedes roadcar does to. Stop messing around. Clearly this rear wing concept is all messed up. In F1 and Lemans they made the wings smaller yet the the cars got faster.

Not sure how you can say guarantee Audi sandbagged but hey ho.

In other categories they have more cornering and braking force, often 1 g more than Sportscars and drivers cope with it and use all performance of the car. If the drivers in Acura cannot cope, which I doubt, then they should go to the gym.

Saying that I agree the rules should stay the same and also we should wait until Acura have sorted their car out, it looked awful on the bumps at Turn 1 and was very late on the throttle out of the turns, when they get the big front tyre drag and balance issue they will be competitive and we will see the balance of rules between Diesel and Gas.....then the races will be even better with Audi, Peugeot and Acura fighting it out

[gwyllion]

Marshall Pruett's Sebring analysis: http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...uras-intrepid/

[chewymonster]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

Marshall Pruett's Sebring analysis: http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...uras-intrepid/

Should have put a pair of snails on the V8.

[chernaudi]

I'd bet the Audi R8 could've done similar damage to the Acura from a preformance stand point-the 3.6TT V8 has plenty more torque than the Acura 4.0NA lump-even the old Ford 351 Windsor based Panoz Elan V8 has more snort-and it's a production based engine that Ford designed in the late '50s! Do the math-4.0L/244CI vs 6.0L/366CI.

[Lola T70]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

I'd bet the Audi R8 could've done similar damage to the Acura from a preformance stand point-the 3.6TT V8 has plenty more torque than the Acura 4.0NA lump-even the old Ford 351 Windsor based Panoz Elan V8 has more snort-and it's a production based engine that Ford designed in the late '50s! Do the math-4.0L/244CI vs 6.0L/366CI.

Does anyone know the reason Acura decided to go with only an uprated LMP2 4 litre V8 normally aspirated when they were allowed to go up to 6 litres?

You would have thought 50% more CC = something in power and torque?

[fiend540]

Originally Posted by Lola T70

Does anyone know the reason Acura decided to go with only an uprated LMP2 4 litre V8 normally aspirated when they were allowed to go up to 6 litres?

You would have thought 50% more CC = something in power and torque?

I thought there excuse/reason was a lack of time.

[Lola T70]

tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93149

post from January 2007 saying LMP1 in 2009!

[Audi Racer]

Originally Posted by Lola T70

Not sure how you can say guarantee Audi sandbagged but hey ho.

In other categories they have more cornering and braking force, often 1 g more than Sportscars and drivers cope with it and use all performance of the car. If the drivers in Acura cannot cope, which I doubt, then they should go to the gym.

Saying that I agree the rules should stay the same and also we should wait until Acura have sorted their car out, it looked awful on the bumps at Turn 1 and was very late on the throttle out of the turns, when they get the big front tyre drag and balance issue they will be competitive and we will see the balance of rules between Diesel and Gas.....then the races will be even better with Audi, Peugeot and Acura fighting it out

A ha that was what i had been meaning to mention as i was replaying the race this past weekend. I noticed the drivers were very late on the throttle out of the corner but Dixon was the different driver. He stood out because he would get on the throttle way earlier than the others

[Audi Racer]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

I'd bet the Audi R8 could've done similar damage to the Acura from a preformance stand point-the 3.6TT V8 has plenty more torque than the Acura 4.0NA lump-even the old Ford 351 Windsor based Panoz Elan V8 has more snort-and it's a production based engine that Ford designed in the late '50s! Do the math-4.0L/244CI vs 6.0L/366CI.

Yeah but the R8 engine was quite large. Don't know about weights or anythingbut it was somewhat bigger and messier looking than the Acura engine

[cmk]

Originally Posted by Lola T70

Not sure how you can say guarantee Audi sandbagged but hey ho.

In other categories they have more cornering and braking force, often 1 g more than Sportscars and drivers cope with it and use all performance of the car. If the drivers in Acura cannot cope, which I doubt, then they should go to the gym.

I'm not sure it's really the g force in the turns that may mark the difference between the standard Acura boys and, say, Scott Dixon. They should all be used to the high g-forces applied to the neck by the massive cornering speeds the car carries, as the Acura P2 car was possibly the downforce champ last year with the drivers coping perfectly fine with some extremely high speed flat-out cornering at tracks like Mosport.

Rather, it likely has to do with the physical effort of steering the car, so more about arms than necks. We know from the driver's comments that the car is much more physical to manhandle because of the large front tyres. Indy cars, because of the lack of power steering, are much more demanding on the upper body than sports prototypes are from a position of manning the wheel. There is an interview somewhere with Romain Dumas on his time testing the Penske IRL car at Sears Point last year, and it is this difference, and how sore his arms and related muscles were after his test day, that he comments on as being the major difference. Dixon, unlike the other drivers (even Franchitti) is totally used to that, so he may be able to extract something out of the Acura right now that other drivers will have to train extensively to do.