IMSA Race 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona(IMSA @ Daytona) - Jan 25-28

[ATLFalconsFAN]

Originally Posted by Dyson Mazda

Can anyone else not stand Shea Adam? I thought I was just annoyed with her after the Amazon Le Mans Series but yeah I cringed a lot when she came on the radio during the Rolex 24.

I can't stand her. Constantly comparing everything to Daytona, obvious infatuation with the Taylor brothers. Her voice is grating too.

Give me Johnny Palmer, Trussers, and Hindy and I am a happy camper.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by ATLFalconsFAN

I can't stand her. Constantly comparing everything to Daytona, obvious infatuation with the Taylor brothers. Her voice is grating too.

Give me Johnny Palmer, Trussers, and Hindy and I am a happy camper.

I thought everyone had an infatuation with the Taylor brothers?

[Akrapovic]

And here was me loving them all. None of them are perfect, but I wouldn't have it any other way. IMSA was absolutely unwatchable before IMSA.tv, and WECs paid stream is horrible compared to when it was RLM providing comms.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

I thought everyone had an infatuation with the Taylor brothers?

They're from Grand-Am, in Scott's world that's no bueno.

[chernaudi]

Marshall Pruett on the Land penalty:

http://www.racer.com/more/viewpoints...rsport-penalty

[Damian Baldi]

I been reviewing the Daytona race these days, and some moments and some performances need to be addressed.

- The first four hours are a blast to see. Good action (really bad captured by the cameras in some moments) at the front and middle of the field. After the first yellow flag, the restart and the next laps are a gift to watch. The Nissan almost take the lead before than the Acuras, lot of punctures, the door of the Acura and the shame of the Mazdas.

- The Ligier cars were weak on qualifing (aside their bad luck on the race), but that chassis is always good on race (here at IMSA or in Europe). It looks like this car is more gently with the tires than the Oreca.

- If you check the onboard camera from the #10 car after the first yellow flag, it follows one of the Nissan cars. The Nissan cars have had an incredible strong pace at the race. In this case, it desapears in front of the Cadillac going out of the hairpins, and even on the straights. If these green cars would have had a better luck with the punctures and the gearbox, they could has been fast enought to win at the end of the race. They passed the Cadillac cars several times on the race. I think this is the package with more potential on the grid, but it depends on the team to translate that potential in facts.

- By middle of the race, the fight at the front was the best of the race. Cadillac vs Acura, side by side, Nars doing a double pass going into the bus stop, and the Nissan just in front of the leaders going as fast as they could to not loss the lap.

- With a bit more of 7 hours to go, the Acuras were 24 and 25 laps down with the leaders, but at the end of the race they were only 15 laps down (both cars). 10 laps in 7 hours. Take in mind that for the rest of the year. I think we will get bored to see those cars winning every race as we were with the Cadillacs in 2017.

- Mazda and the Riley for rent, never mind.

[Damian Baldi]

Who is the man you all are talking about? The one that make interviews at the pits that shout like a drunken sailor from a pirates movie?

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Damian Baldi

Who is the man you all are talking about? The one that make interviews at the pits that shout like a drunken sailor from a pirates movie?

That would be Andrew Marriott! Perfect description, too!

I believe we've covered everyone now.

[Matt]

That description is gold.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

That would be Andrew Marriott! Perfect description, too!

I believe we've covered everyone now.

I was getting visions of Harry Carey a few times during the race too.

[Damian Baldi]

Don't misunderstand me, I like how he talks, but the first time I heard him I thought it was some kind of joke, or that he was interpreting some kind of character.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by joeb

I was getting visions of Harry Carey a few times during the race too.

Originally Posted by Damian Baldi

Don't misunderstand me, I like how he talks, but the first time I heard him I thought it was some kind of joke, or that he was interpreting some kind of character.

I like Andrew, but IIRC, he's only recently come back to broadcasting after a few years away, shortly after he described Adrian Fernandez at Sebring as "being pretty calm for a Mexican" while the team sorted out some issues on pit road. There seemed to be no ill intent on his part; just came out wrong!

[MaskedRacer]

Thoughts on the race:

1. Ford sped away from the start it was obvious the others could not keep up. The field had a brief chance when the #67 had some issues and fell behind but the safety car in the 3rd hour ended that deficit. The #62 Ferrari and the #91 Porsche may have had the pace to compete but only if they did not run into issues which they did have

2. Nobody knew why the Land Audi was so far ahead. They did not look that much faster than the other GT3 cars. But by midnight we figured out the secret. No loopholes allowed!

3. Glad we finally got some attrition by the morning hours in prototype. That is what I prefer. I was starting to think they were bullet proof even in constant green racing. Still overall these cars are quite reliable. Nothing like the attrition we saw to the WSC cars in 2000-2001 at Daytona.

4. Awesome to see the constant green racing. The best way to offset the horrible IMSA wave around safety car procedures. Sebring should offer the same especially with projected smaller grid.

[MaskedRacer]

Thoughts on experience at Daytona:

1. Facilities are brilliant. Especially the stadium area. Watching the race from the grandstands is great. I prefer those views for the 24 itself. The other stuff like qualifying, practice, and CTSCC is still infield all the way.

2. Driving on International Speedway Blvd in Daytona is a pain. For a major highway the red lights are quite long.

3. The speedway desperately needs a tram station over at the NASCAR turn 4 side. Probably takes 30 minutes sometimes to get to your parking space to the place you want to watch the race.

4. Lot 6 on the backstretch used to be available to the general public to park. Not anymore! Uggh.

[fergus_r]

I found the parking to be an absolute nightmare all weekend. Getting out on Friday after the Conti race was a complete joke.

Sebring and Road Atlanta (and I'm sure many other tracks) couldn't be more different, it's an absolute breeze at those places.

[ATLFalconsFAN]

I have been to lots and lots of race tracks, and this too was my first time at Daytona.

I'll just be upfront and admit that I was not optimistic about what I would experience as far as facilities and the track are concerned. I am not a fan of NASCAR to the extent that I can't even stand seeing things related to it, so yes I had a bias coming in. Besides that I just found the layout (watching on TV) to be completely boring and lacking character.

What you see on TV and what you experience in person can be very different, I am happy to report that this was definitely the case for me as it relates to Daytona.

First I'll get the negatives out of the way. It's too bad that there are only two locations on the far end of both sides of the grandstand to enter the infield. It would be nice if there was a tunnel of some sort half way between them. Yes, I saw a lot of ugly NASCARs, but it wasn't as in my face as I had thought it might be.

We parked outside (this was a bit of a last minute trip, infield parking had long since been sold out), and while it was a bit of a walk, it wasn't nearly as bad as I think it could have been. There's an impressive amount of parking just across the street, and loads and loads of places to eat and drink and shop at, I was impressed.

Things that were way better in person and unique to Daytona.
1. Watching the cars on the longer stretch of banking before they get to the grandstand, wow, that is something else! I've never seen anything like that and seeing it at night was especially a treat. It almost felt as though my eyes and brain were having a hard time with what I was seeing, as the cars just kind of darted forward in a strange motion if I didn't look away for a moment. Very cool!
2. Getting down to the lower section of the grandstands right before the breaking point for turn 1. Seeing just the tops of the cars as they whooshed by at terminal velocity and then seeing them working the brakes for the entry of the turn, again very cool stuff! I imagine that's what it must look like on the Mulssane before the first chicane.

The facilities themselves are very, very impressive. Along the lines of a modern baseball or football stadium on steroids. Three decks of concourses that go on forever. I understand that they probably have a very good grasp on how many places need to be open for the number of fans they are expecting, but I wish they had had more food vendors open and more variety.

The infield section is also a bit more interesting in person. Especially enjoyed the view from the little grandstand that's just before they head back onto the banking.

All in all a good time and a place that I would be happy to return to.

[fieldodreams79]

^ Happy to hear this, ATLFalconsFAN. I thought you'd like it, because if nothing else, it's not like anything else! Other rovals have tried, but the banking, the location and it's Daytona make it a neat place.


Interesting discussion on MWM (which I'm just now listening too) where there was defense of the Conti tires...

[sccaflagger74]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

Thoughts on experience at Daytona:

Facilities are brilliant. Especially the stadium area. Watching the race from the grandstands is great. I prefer those views for the 24 itself. The other stuff like qualifying, practice, and CTSCC is still infield all the way.

The speedway desperately needs a tram station over at the NASCAR turn 4 side. Probably takes 30 minutes sometimes to get to your parking space to the place you want to watch the race.

This year was my first time back since the new stadium opened, and I must say it's a fantastic facility.

The tram situation needs work, however. From the general parking lot at the Bass Pro Shop it's 0.8 mile walk to the tram stop. Luckily we only had to do it once a day as I was able to get a ride back Thu-Sat, and Sunday we were already in the stadium. But with being that far away I had to pack all of my gear I might possibly need that day as there was no way I was hiking all the way back to the car to lighten the load, get warm weather gear for evening, or reload on snacks. They really need a tram stop at the base of the pedestrian bridge over International Speedway Blvd.

We walked in via turn 4 tunnel on Thursday and I think that was even farther since there was no tram (infield shuttle buses weren't running yet).

The revised infield midway was a great improvement and the new tram stop seemed to help traffic flow as well. Infield shuttle bus was handy as well to get from turn 6 to the fan zone.

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Interesting discussion on MWM (which I'm just now listening too) where there was defense of the Conti tires...

What was the defense? I haven't heard the most recent MWM.

I like the people behind Conti at the track and online, but the race slicks we pay big $$$ for are garbage.

-mike

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

What was the defense? I haven't heard the most recent MWM.

I like the people behind Conti at the track and online, but the race slicks we pay big $$$ for are garbage.

-mike

Quoting a few drivers (namely Ryan Dalziel) that at least some of the cars that got punctures were misusing the kerbs at the Bus Stop and those were degrading more and more during the race.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

What was the defense? I haven't heard the most recent MWM.

I like the people behind Conti at the track and online, but the race slicks we pay big $$$ for are garbage.

-mike

Dirty track from lack of cleaning that normally we get plenty of under FCY, long green flag runs = heat / wear and Ryan Dalziel (I believe was the driver) mentioning that on more than one occasion, the drivers / teams having issues were taking more of the curbs than maybe "they should".
Edit: thx for clarifying, Vic.

There were also some counterpoints made towards the tires being 5 years old and maybe not specific to the track.

Honestly, from this sophomoric bystander, it seems like there's blame to share...

[MaskedRacer]

Originally Posted by sccaflagger74

This year was my first time back since the new stadium opened, and I must say it's a fantastic facility.

The tram situation needs work, however. From the general parking lot at the Bass Pro Shop it's 0.8 mile walk to the tram stop. Luckily we only had to do it once a day as I was able to get a ride back Thu-Sat, and Sunday we were already in the stadium. But with being that far away I had to pack all of my gear I might possibly need that day as there was no way I was hiking all the way back to the car to lighten the load, get warm weather gear for evening, or reload on snacks. They really need a tram stop at the base of the pedestrian bridge over International Speedway Blvd.

We walked in via turn 4 tunnel on Thursday and I think that was even farther since there was no tram (infield shuttle buses weren't running yet).

The revised infield midway was a great improvement and the new tram stop seemed to help traffic flow as well. Infield shuttle bus was handy as well to get from turn 6 to the fan zone.

Yep I was parked at the garage just past the Bass pro shop and guitar store too. A tram stop at the end of the bridge and the Toyota sponsored entrance is needed badly.

[MaskedRacer]

I agree with Marshall Pruett in his new sportscar podcast with Graham that it was a GOOD thing we got attrition in the race. Especially in the prototype class where it should happen the most. All the cars running in a parade for 23 hours and having a last minute dash at the end is not special anymore.

Lets hope for Sebring we get some serious challenges. I want to see some equipment break. The integrity of endurance has won the day at the 24 hours of Daytona probably for the first time sine 2003 maybe. It was in the Grand Am DP era where frequent safety cars and wave arounds became the norm. The frequency of the yellows have probably helped reduce the strain of the vehicles over the hours of the race.

[Akrapovic]

The talk about dirty track and dangerous kerbs is fair enough. Valid reasons. But I've never understood why "the tyres are 5 years old" is a valid defense.

The cars have changed massively in 5 years, and the product hasn't. So that just tells me that the product may no longer be fit for purpose, due to the changes in the cars. The excuse of "we haven't moved forward" is not a good one.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

There were also some counterpoints made towards the tires being 5 years old and maybe not specific to the track.

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

The talk about dirty track and dangerous kerbs is fair enough. Valid reasons. But I've never understood why "the tyres are 5 years old" is a valid defense.

The cars have changed massively in 5 years, and the product hasn't. So that just tells me that the product may no longer be fit for purpose, due to the changes in the cars. The excuse of "we haven't moved forward" is not a good one.

They (MWM) and I mentioned the "Older tires" and not a special tire for a special track being counterpoints for lack of fault on behalf of Conti, not as a defense.