ALMS Round 8: Circuit of the Americas

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Mechanic Z

I thought the exact opposite! The WEC looked pretty amateur, IMO. It probably had something to do with the cars hitting the orange pyramids so often!
Not really a big fan of the WEC streaming, either, but it's nice to have it.
I don't have cable, so I'm not sure about the ALMS ESPN2 broadcast, but the ESPN3 broadcast was pretty good, almost completely focused on the epic GT battle!

How many cars hit the orange pyramids in the whole 6 hours? It was far from "so many".

Seems like this turned into an alms vs. wec thread. The GTE cars were slower in ALMS. Maybe from the difference in the timing line? Same with Rebellion being a good deal faster than Pickett.

[nkoske]

I went to the race. First time to Austin and have to say it is a pretty cool town. We definitely got lucky with the weather (excluding the deluge on Friday). Humidity was manageable for this wimpy Californian. Saw the bats, walked down 6th, visited the capitol building, ate some great food (The Salt Lick is SOLID, anywhere you can saddle up to a table with booze you brought from home in a winner in my book), etc...

The track is cool, good amount of elevation change and cool spots to watch from. Like all of the other F1 tracks I've been to, taking photos is challenging with all of the catch fencing. At least there weren't militant ushers and such not allowing people to stand on the bridge and take photos and the grandstands were open to all so you could get high enough to get over the fence. It was pretty impressive to stand on the bridge over the esses and watch the speed the prototypes through that area.

The race was a good one and the fans seemed to be into it. Lots of cheering during the GT battle at the end. Sure wish Dyson and Rebellion hadn't given up the season to MM.

Decent crowd on Sat. Hopefully next year for the race is not on the same weekend as a UT home game. I'd say 2/3 of the weekend crowd was there on Sat. visibly less people on Sun for the WEC race. Had to sit in some minor traffic Sat. going back to Austin. There was zero traffic on Sun. If you're a one day casual motorsports fan Sat. was the day to go, as you got to see all of the cars. 6 hour races are tough for people to get. To me a 6 hour race during the day on a Sunday doesn't make a ton of sense. Put it on a Sat and go into the dark, make a spectacle of it. In my opinion all endurance races (4, 6, 10, 12, 24) should go until it's dark.

Will I go back to Austin? Maybe some day, but I have Road America, Road Atlanta and Sebring still to check off the ole list.

[Mechanic Z]

Originally Posted by TF110

How many cars hit the orange pyramids in the whole 6 hours? It was far from "so many".

Fair enough, there was three on the broadcast. I'm wondering if perhaps the 98 Aston hit one as well, but that's just speculation.

Seems like this turned into an alms vs. wec thread. The GTE cars were slower in ALMS. Maybe from the difference in the timing line? Same with Rebellion being a good deal faster than Pickett.

That wasn't my intent, sorry if it was taken that way.

As for the speed differential, I'm guessing that if all the GT cars were a on track at the same time, speeds would probably be about the same, because in the test sessions, I believe the ALMS cars were a bit quicker. More rubber on track and cooler track temperatures may be the speed differential in the two races.

[TF110]

According to some on twitter, the timing lines were different. But not sure how that would make the variations. The best wec GTE car was in the 2:04.2's. The best alms GTE was a 2:05.0

[TRspitfirefan]

Originally Posted by TF110

According to some on twitter, the timing lines were different. But not sure how that would make the variations. The best wec GTE car was in the 2:04.2's. The best alms GTE was a 2:05.0

Didn't the Risi Ferrari set a 2:04.1 during one of the practice sessions?

[joeb]

Originally Posted by TF110

According to some on twitter, the timing lines were different. But not sure how that would make the variations. The best wec GTE car was in the 2:04.2's. The best alms GTE was a 2:05.0

Times for the weekend in all classes are pretty meaningless since the conditions change so much from hour to hour and day to day.

[Mechanic Z]

Originally Posted by TRspitfirefan

Didn't the Risi Ferrari set a 2:04.1 during one of the practice sessions?

I believe that was in morning warm up.

Originally Posted by joeb
Times for the weekend in all classes are pretty meaningless since the conditions change so much from hour to hour and day to day.

Pretty much sums it up.

[chernaudi]

ALMS teams in GTE still running the older generation Michelin tires? I know that the LMP2 teams got the WEC-spec hard compound tires for the first time that weekend.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by joeb

Times for the weekend in all classes are pretty meaningless since the conditions change so much from hour to hour and day to day.

I don't believe it was a huge difference. According to the alms saturday pit notes, the track was 105º F and air was 85º F at the start of the race. Then compare the WEC temps were 104º F in the 2nd part of the race.

[HORNDAWG]

Do you really believe that both series are running under the same BoP?
As well as the track conditions, and weather differences.







L.P.

[chernaudi]

The question is why were ALMS GTE cars slower than the WEC GTE cars. BOP is slightly different between the two series, and, as far as I know, ALMS GT teams are still running the 2012 spec Michelin tires, while the WEC GTE teams have the newest generation tires from Michelin. I believe, if that's the case, that tires are probably the biggest difference. Track conditions were very similar on both days.

Series specific BOP, and especially series specific tires are probably the bigger difference makers.

[Mechanic Z]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

The question is why were ALMS GTE cars slower than the WEC GTE cars. BOP is slightly different between the two series, and, as far as I know, ALMS GT teams are still running the 2012 spec Michelin tires, while the WEC GTE teams have the newest generation tires from Michelin. I believe, if that's the case, that tires are probably the biggest difference. Track conditions were very similar on both days.

Series specific BOP, and especially series specific tires are probably the bigger difference makers.

Like was said above, I'm pretty sure Risi ran a 2:04.1 in ALMS warm up on Saturday. I have no idea where to find this info, but I'm pretty certain I saw it on Timing and Scoring.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by HORNDAWG

Do you really believe that both series are running under the same BoP?
As well as the track conditions, and weather differences.







L.P.

Dont know where I "same bop". But usually the GTE cars in both series are very close. I already said the track temps were only 1º difference. You can find that information on their websites. I'm questioning the timing lines that was mentionedm

[Ginaro Zukovsky]

ALMS http://www.imsaracing.net/2013/alms/...IN%2013-26.pdf
WEC http://www.fia.com/sites/default/fil...BOP-190713.pdf

Make of it what you will...