IMSA USCC in 2016 and 2017

[Matt]

Pit Bull is my homie.

I can't ever knock that dude. As formulaic his music is, every single time I see that guy hosting a show or performing, he looks like he is having an absolute blast.

[airbusA346]

"Risi Scales Back 2017 IMSA Programme"

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2017/0...programme.html

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by skycafe

Hey now (Roadkill riff?).

First they quit giving Pit Bull millions, now this! Being Floridan is tough these days.

Sorry, it's ingrained in me!

Originally Posted by seanyb505

Alternatively:

Mobil1 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Visit Georgia

Why would anyone visit Georgia?

[jimclark]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Why would anyone visit Georgia?

Why? Let me 'splain....

There's this town called "Braselton". There's a place nearby where race cars and race drivers go vroom-vroom.

I think it's called "Road Alanta" (which I know is silly 'cause it's near Braselton, not Atlanta)....

That's why.

[FormulaFox]

Originally Posted by joeb

Should be easy picking up a sponsor given the performance of the Riley.

Two days ago I got rumors dropped in my inbox about a new Riley being sold to an unknown party. But it was very quickly debunked by some guys closer to the company. It truly seems that nobody else wants the Mk30 at this point.

Maybe they should follow in the footsteps of Ginetta and drop an LS3 back there to sell it as a track day car. "Why settle for an LMP3-based car when you can have our SUPER AWESOME LMP2 DERIVED TRACK CAR?!!! BUY NOW PLEASE WE'RE DESPERATE TO STAY RELEVANT!!!!!"

[jimclark]

Originally Posted by FormulaFox

Two days ago I got rumors dropped in my inbox about a new Riley being sold to an unknown party. But it was very quickly debunked by some guys closer to the company. It truly seems that nobody else wants the Mk30 at this point.

Maybe they should follow in the footsteps of Ginetta and drop an LS3 back there to sell it as a track day car. "Why settle for an LMP3-based car when you can have our SUPER AWESOME LMP2 DERIVED TRACK CAR?!!! BUY NOW PLEASE WE'RE DESPERATE TO STAY RELEVANT!!!!!"

The Riley name will always be relevant to me as it first became when he (Bob) designed AJ's Coyotes (netting AJ his fourth 500 in '77), along with all the other successful (and fast but not so successful, such as the Mustang GTP) and plain unsuccesful. The Rileys have had their day and may again.

[carbsmith]

"We're looking very hard at manufacturers because if we're going to be competitive, we'll have to come back with a manufacturer," he said.

Hah

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by jimclark

Why? Let me 'splain....

There's this town called "Braselton". There's a place nearby where race cars and race drivers go vroom-vroom.

I think it's called "Road Alanta" (which I know is silly 'cause it's near Braselton, not Atlanta)....

That's why.

Never heard of it.

[fieldodreams79]

Road Atlanta Esses have been semi restored. Can't wait to see them in person at PLM.

https://www.facebook.com/RoadAtlanta...87731051286064

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Road Atlanta Esses have been semi restored. Can't wait to see them in person at PLM.

https://www.facebook.com/RoadAtlanta...87731051286064

That just made my day. Thanks bud!

[joeb]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Road Atlanta Esses have been semi restored. Can't wait to see them in person at PLM.

https://www.facebook.com/RoadAtlanta...87731051286064

Are they moving the fence as well?

[carbsmith]

The little strip of leftover asphalt is pretty ugly in its own right though. By the looks of things I guess it's because they're in a repaving phase so they reached the point it was cheaper to rip the unused pavement out than maintain it.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

That just made my day. Thanks bud!

Mine too.

Originally Posted by joeb

Are they moving the fence as well?

Doubt it. You couldn't really get down there or see much of anything before because of the catch fencing and the angle of view. The openess of it now makes me think you can actually see better. There's no need for catch fencing anyways. We should allowed to have a picnic on the grass there now!

[Lanky Turtle]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Road Atlanta Esses have been semi restored. Can't wait to see them in person at PLM.

https://www.facebook.com/RoadAtlanta...87731051286064

Cool! The motorcycle chicane is finally gone. Once that grass grows over it'll look good as new (old?).

[MaskedRacer]

The way this season has gone I can see why the prototype teams have time to think about 2018. DPI/LMP2 only have 3 races left. LMPC is down to just 2 races. The GT classes have 5 left. They are the busy ones. But that's a good thing now that GTs will really take mantle and grab most of the attention in the last part of this season. DPI will take a slight back seat for the rest of 2017 before the big Penske Acura debut at the Daytona tests/Roar.

Its hard to believe that BMW is in for a shot at the season GTLM title. That #25 car has turned the corner big time. Sims is fantastic (he did win the Spa 24 last year in a BMW) and Auberlen still has it.

I think there must have been a BoP adjustment that really hurt Mercedes. The #33 car has slid down the grid lately. The consistent Scuderia Corse Ferrari is in the season title lead now without having won a race. But they have placed 2nd-4th just about everywhere.

[Jonerz]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

But they have placed 2nd-4th just about everywhere.

Obviously you can't sandbag to that great a degree, with the electronic monitoring IMSA does, but it seems the sensible play in modern racing (BoP classes) is to aim for podiums for most of the season, and you'll get hit less with the BoP Hammer, allowing you to get a more consistent haul of points over the course of the season.

Chris

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

I think there must have been a BoP adjustment that really hurt Mercedes. The #33 car has slid down the grid lately. The consistent Scuderia Corse Ferrari is in the season title lead now without having won a race. But they have placed 2nd-4th just about everywhere.

The 488 is the best GT3 car available rite now -- not just in terms of ultimate pace, but in terms of drivability (look at the differences between Pros/Ams in the same cars across all the chassis). And when you're the only one running the car, it's pretty easy to control pace and results to keep from getting a negative BoP. But, they've still done a kick ass job... the class is super competitive. You can't just roll off the truck and poke around and get podiums every weekend, no matter what you're driving.

Compare that to the Mercs where there's multiple cars and one with a fast young guy from Europe who's trying to make a name for himself... even if the suits told him to "take it easy", once the helmet goes on that goes out the window. They might have been able to lobby for some BoP after Mosport until that car put in a super fast lap during the race, lol.

-mike

[RWill2073]

Originally Posted by RWill2073

This was a solid rant. Well done. Would read again and I agree.

Off topic from the paint job, does anyone else expect a Ferrari/bmw fight for the gtlm championship this year? Think about it: it's all bop nonsense, two years ago Porsche won, last year we got the Ford/Chevy battle, now it's Ferrari/bmw's turn. Then next year or the year after, whichever has a greater significance to the historic lemans battles, we'll get a Ford/Ferrari fight. One way or another, each make will get their turn in the spotlight over a four year or so span.

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

The way this season has gone I can see why the prototype teams have time to think about 2018. DPI/LMP2 only have 3 races left. LMPC is down to just 2 races. The GT classes have 5 left. They are the busy ones. But that's a good thing now that GTs will really take mantle and grab most of the attention in the last part of this season. DPI will take a slight back seat for the rest of 2017 before the big Penske Acura debut at the Daytona tests/Roar.

Its hard to believe that BMW is in for a shot at the season GTLM title. That #25 car has turned the corner big time. Sims is fantastic (he did win the Spa 24 last year in a BMW) and Auberlen still has it.

I think there must have been a BoP adjustment that really hurt Mercedes. The #33 car has slid down the grid lately. The consistent Scuderia Corse Ferrari is in the season title lead now without having won a race. But they have placed 2nd-4th just about everywhere.

Hmm.... My post above was from before Daytona... Ferrari was fast but unlucky before leaving. But looks like this was those two make's year.

Even so, I'm enjoying the racing this year and not letting cynicism spoil some great racing.

[MaskedRacer]

Looks like 8 DPI's at most for Road America and Laguna Seca. But I am iffy on the status of PR1 Matehsian and VisitFlorida racing right now. Would not be surprised to see that drop.

I think the rest of 2017 is going to be focused on the GT races....as it should it.

[Dyson Mazda]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

Looks like 8 DPI's at most for Road America and Laguna Seca. But I am iffy on the status of PR1 Matehsian and VisitFlorida racing right now. Would not be surprised to see that drop.

I think the rest of 2017 is going to be focused on the GT races....as it should it.

PLM should be good with Rebellion and possibly Penske

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Dyson Mazda

PLM should be good with Rebellion and possibly Penske

Yup! It has potential juiciness and I can't wait, whatever happens.

Now if we can just get the race itself back to 1,000 miles OR 10 hours.......

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Yup! It has potential juiciness and I can't wait, whatever happens.

Now if we can just get the race itself back to 1,000 miles OR 10 hours.......

fite me irl

[Matt]

nah, 10 hours is good.

it was always whatever comes first.

now its just ten hours, potentially over 1k miles.

[chernaudi]

We do have to remember, to be fair, that nature didn't always agree that PLM should run to either 10 hours or 1000 miles; remember 2009 and 2015. Granted, having a flooded out track and a lot of clean up to do to allow the race to resume didn't help matters.

Fuji in 2013 and Silverstone in 2014 were other cases in point. You can't beat nature.

But for PLM I'd rather it go back to being time or distance. There's been 1000km races in the past that were called short of doing 1000km and becoming 6 hour+1 lap races as even those distance races still in reality had a 6 hour time limit.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

We do have to remember, to be fair, that nature didn't always agree that PLM should run to either 10 hours or 1000 miles; remember 2009 and 2015. Granted, having a flooded out track and a lot of clean up to do to allow the race to resume didn't help matters.

Fuji in 2013 and Silverstone in 2014 were other cases in point. You can't beat nature.

But for PLM I'd rather it go back to being time or distance. There's been 1000km races in the past that were called short of doing 1000km and becoming 6 hour+1 lap races as even those distance races still in reality had a 6 hour time limit.

Weather happens at times for many races....and I recall 2009 and 2015. I was there!

Originally Posted by Matt

nah, 10 hours is good.

it was always whatever comes first.

now its just ten hours, potentially over 1k miles.

You're WRONG! Distance race more better.

2016: 412 laps = 1046 miles
2015: The rain won
2014: 400 laps = 1016 miles

Times are harder to come by but I think the closest was early 2000s at 9.5 hours. Always went distance.