[WEC Race] WEC Round 7: Bahrain

[CyberMotor]

Originally Posted by joeb

Is interest in this series waning on here?

No way! More interested than ever. Can't get enough of the WEC. Wish we could see them in person here in North America at some of the 'classic' tracks. Love the cars, love the technology and love the continual tweaking and new ideas being tried by the teams. 'Clever' stretching of the rules has produced interest as the teams try new things.

Thanks for keeping the links and threads going!

[joeb]

Great response to this thread early on, glad to see interest is indeed still high in WEC! Maybe I should have started this thread earlier!

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Rennen

For me every F1 circuit is a 'proper race circuit'...as they all have their own unique challenge, be it rain or extream heat.

Bring it on, this year has been a bit of a nail-biter here!

That is a really good point, the demands of any individual circuit can be quite different from another. Heat and sand can be extra demanding on cars, teams, and drivers over a 6 hour period. Adding a race in the middle east is extra variety to the series, which is a good thing in my mind.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Pandemonium

This track, Bahrain that is, is waaaaaaay better than Sebring. I think that, the FIA thinks that, and F1 fan thinks that, and anybody who does not know Sebring says "what crappy track is that". You need to respect opinions and to be more open minded.

There seems to be a contradiction here. But hey

[Paradise City]

I think the type of people who look to the WEC to escape F1 when they finally sit down to watch it they find themselves watching a series that's becoming a clone of that which they were trying to escape.

It is tanalising - with so many great tracks around the world, we've wound up with a series with a slate of powerful manufactures mostly bottled up within a collection of Tilke's Turkeys. We've finally thought we've escaped that blasted man and his souless tracks he pops up like a cackling, mocking jack-in-the-box. Unnecessary stuff like entry-caps at thirty-whatever cars, stand-offish approach to other series, legalistic approaches to venue selection and the paywall debacle just shows the same humourless, ultra-bureaucratic ideology that santised F1, is loose in the WEC.

I don't care about world championships. I much prefer it if every race was considered a major/classic/festival worthy in its own right - and then use that as a nucleus for a world championship. I don't like it when there's so much stress placed on the alleged prestige of a championship that it distracts from the races as events in of themselves. WEC could be an antidote to F1, not a sportscar version of it.

All that said, I'll be watching this weekend.

[TF110]

Wec is only partially like F1. Just because they race the same circuits, but imo that doesnt mean its the same environment. Imo, f1 is too short. Its over in 90 minutes. At least with the wec you get a quarter of a day worth of racing in one go. Hopefully in 2016 they visit more tracks. But even at Bahrain or Shanghai, you get actual racing. I know Toyota has made the front of the field a little boring lately but the Audi and Porsche have had good battles. And theres no multi-class in F1 either.

[Deleted]

It's not about the details, but general way of running the show that make people, here and elsewhere, feel the championship is copycatting Uncle Bernards rules of conduct. It's the 'standardization' of sports car racing in comparison not to F1, but the (very recent as well) past of this league, as well as other major series out there today. And many of those things are done for the reasons of unneeded luxury and quick cash. But I cannot bother participate in another multi page flame war of boringness again, so whatever, response what you want, I won't grab on to it.

[TF110]

People have different opinions, thats not unreasonable. No reason for an argument over something trivial. Btw, Bernie doesnt make the rules in F1, thats the FIA. Though he is in charge of where they run. But those are still FIA grade circuits. So an FIA sanctioned series runs on FIA sanctioned tracks. Thats about the only thing thats alike looking at it from a pov of a casual. Standard race lengths are kinda predictable, but that can all change when the series 'grows up'. I think people want a lot, but you shouldn't expect it. It can go one way or another. Lets wait and see.

[seanyb505]

Reading the practice reports on DSC it seems the darkness is quite overwhelmed by the spot lights. "Near perfect visibility" takes away from pulse quickening danger induced by running at night at all. I'm still planning on watching, but that exciting element is being pushed out. #fudgespotlights

[Deleted]

Visibility's not "near perfect", it is utterly perfect, making headlights useless.

2012 - normal circuit lighting (more visibility than at most other tracks in night, but still relatively dark-ish overall)


2013 - F1 floodlights at 60%


2014 - F1 floodlights at 100%

[isynge]

I see a lot of people's arguments about floodlighting, and I've loved watching cars racing in the dark (just ask my wife about the size of my smile when I first saw cars in the proper darkness wind their way up to Dunlop at Le Mans in 2007), but I'll maintain until the cows come home that cars racing in the dark makes for really lousy TV.

Take a case in point - dig out footage from the 2005 LMES round at Silverstone where the McNish/Ortelli Audi chased down the Minassian/Campbell-Walter Creation - which was a fantastic battle and real edge of seat stuff but, if we're being honest, more or less incomprehensible when peering at the footage.

Does this mean I'm entirely in favour of daylight effect floodlighting? No - I'm probably not, but I'll take that well in advance of 6 hours of peering at a screen figuring out which set of headlights is which.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by isynge

I see a lot of people's arguments about floodlighting, and I've loved watching cars racing in the dark (just ask my wife about the size of my smile when I first saw cars in the proper darkness wind their way up to Dunlop at Le Mans in 2007), but I'll maintain until the cows come home that cars racing in the dark makes for really lousy TV.

Take a case in point - dig out footage from the 2005 LMES round at Silverstone where the McNish/Ortelli Audi chased down the Minassian/Campbell-Walter Creation - which was a fantastic battle and real edge of seat stuff but, if we're being honest, more or less incomprehensible when peering at the footage.

Does this mean I'm entirely in favour of daylight effect floodlighting? No - I'm probably not, but I'll take that well in advance of 6 hours of peering at a screen figuring out which set of headlights is which.

For me, it can make the TV even better. Night racing isn't just about the ambiance, is the mystery of it as well.

That last lap of Sebring 2008 was made all the more magical exactly because you weren't quite sure what you were seeing. It just wouldn't have been the same in broad daylight.

[codename_47]

TBH night driving is something that is a lot more exciting to participate in than it is to spectate.

Can't speak for everyone but watching headlights go round just gives me a headache after a while of all the lights dazzling you.

As much as its a great event, as soon as it gets dark at Le Mans its "switch on radio le mans and have a snooze" for me.
(Of course it doesn't help the french camera operators around the circuit go home about 11:30pm and you have hours upon hours of pitlane TV )

There's a reason Le Mans is scheduled for mid-June. IE able to run in as little darkness as possible without making it the Greenland 24 hours or something

[pach233]

I'm interested in the race as well. There's plenty to criticize the WEC for but in the end when you're watching the races it still feels like a classic multi-classic endurance race. The P1s are really awesome cars and there's not too many opportunities to watch. Decent time for Eastern NA viewers helps too.

[Deleted]

I would prefer total darkness of course, but Sebring/PLM/LM moderate lighting level can be adequate as well. Using these night-for-day-F1-floodlights however is just unnecessary, they could've dimmed them down to like 30% or something to make use of the headlights since they do have them. Even Daytona 24 dims the speedway floodlights for NASCAR (however little that may appear). But I guess since I won't be watching it doesn't matter to me, it's just a general note of the direction of the future

For CotA, Webber said he was expecting almost total darkness for the track outside start/finish straight. But they just ended putting big floodlight posts everywhere anyway, despite F1 not turning up. Regular circuit lighting would've done it

Spa is a weird one as while the track has otherwise totally been butchered, it is pitch black during the night which makes it ever so mysterious.

[TF110]

Practice 3 is now live. Qualifying in about 6 hours time.

[TF110]

Audi #1 has yet to set a time. Wonder what gives?

[ederss7]

Bad news... It seems the loophole isn't working anymore... Have to find another way to watch the race.

[chernaudi]

Originally Posted by TF110

Audi #1 has yet to set a time. Wonder what gives?

They're changing the tub on that car for the second time in as many days.

Bahrain might be a race to forget for Audi at this rate.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by ederss7

Bad news... It seems the loophole isn't working anymore... Have to find another way to watch the race.

Thats too bad. But if you tried video, they only broadcast qualifying and the races, not practice sessions.

[wdave0]

Originally Posted by seanyb505

Reading the practice reports on DSC it seems the darkness is quite overwhelmed by the spot lights. "Near perfect visibility" takes away from pulse quickening danger induced by running at night at all. I'm still planning on watching, but that exciting element is being pushed out. #fudgespotlights

The lights were the first nail in the coffin for me at Daytona, DPs and LDWB were the caulking. Unfortunately the lights are better for tv/video than live viewing and I think tv is where the money and sponsor interest are. It also seems to me that the modern featureless track needs more light and is also more optimized for tv/video.

[kaivo]

Live Timing is dead ?

[Robbo28]

Originally Posted by kaivo

Live Timing is dead ?

Same for me!

[kaivo]

http://www.porsche.com/usa/eventsand...ivestreaming/#

can see timings

[joeb]

Originally Posted by kaivo

Live Timing is dead ?

Originally Posted by Robbo28

Same for me!

Glad to see IMSA doesn't have the monopoly on timing going out!