IMSA Race TUSC Round 4: Laguna Seca

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by nkoske

I passed this sign a while back.
Made a Pliny the Elder clone/hybrid a friend, hopefully it will be ready.

Sounds quite tasty! Enjoy.

[CyberMotor]

Originally Posted by Beetle

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/ev...-for-monterey/
Eversley joins BAR1 for the race!

This is great. I've known Ryan ever since he was a teenager hanging around the tracks. He worked and drove for lesser-funded teams and I have one photo of Ryan, rebuilding his own gearbox so that the could get back into the action.

My friend, Ryan, is the real thing. Glad to see him given new opportunities.

[schmidder]

Originally Posted by ATLFalconsFAN

Same thing happened with Sebring tickets. For as long as I can remember the ticket had a picture of the previous year's winning car on it. This year there was no picture at all, just a boring ticket.

It's obvious that they want to change everything to make it new again and ruin it all during the process.

I used to fly cross country to be at Laguna for ALMS, this year it may just sit on my DVR for a few weeks until I get around to it. It's all shameful really.

You guys really complaining about a piece of paper that gets you into the race? I understand some collect them, etc...but is this really even worth sweating...

[Gulf]

Originally Posted by ATLFalconsFAN

Same thing happened with Sebring tickets. For as long as I can remember the ticket had a picture of the previous year's winning car on it. This year there was no picture at all, just a boring ticket.

It's obvious that they want to change everything to make it new again and ruin it all during the process.

I used to fly cross country to be at Laguna for ALMS, this year it may just sit on my DVR for a few weeks until I get around to it. It's all shameful really.

It was like they were trying to hide any evidence of P1 cars, but hey it could be worse and was at Daytona all they have me was a wrist band like some stupid night club.

[ATLFalconsFAN]

I do have better things to complain about. It is however just another example of the many things that prove that this new series is worse than what we used to have.

[JHamilton]

I get twisted up over lame tickets as well. However, it is usually the track that handles the entire ticket process.

[BullMan]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

I get twisted up over lame tickets as well. However, it is usually the track that handles the entire ticket process.

And NASCAR owns Sebring now.

[Mechanic Z]

Originally Posted by FstrthnU

http://www.dailysportscar.com/?p=28605
Pierre Kaffer in for Risi at Long Beach.

That's a good lineup for Risi. Hopefully they can avoid the lousy luck they seem to keep running into this year.

[joeb]

I seemed to have missed this earlier, but with Pla being at Spa for WEC action, Oak has brought Brundle in for Laguna.

[jasonjessica09]

Qualifying pole times from last year to use as reference. I don't know if GA ran at Laguna last year but the DP pole time is probably irrelevant since it was under 2013 spec:

LMP2 1:16.6GTLM 1:22.7



Me thinks that the DP/LMP2 pole will be slower than last year's LMP2 pole perhaps in the low 17's while GTLM will go slightly faster into the low 22's.

[nkoske]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

I don't know if GA ran at Laguna last year but the DP pole time is probably irrelevant since it was under 2013 spec:

They did. 1:21.557 was pole.

[Danathar]

Originally Posted by BullMan

And NASCAR owns Sebring now.

Actually I think The Sebring raceway is still owned by Don Panoz but is leased to IMSA long term.

Edit:

Ooops...was wrong.

[FstrthnU]

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/st...r-in-monterey/
Can you say Martini Racing!?

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by BullMan

And NASCAR owns Sebring now.

But NASCAR doesn't own LS, which the original ticket comment was about.

[TRspitfirefan]

Originally Posted by FstrthnU

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/st...r-in-monterey/
Can you say Martini Racing!?

FANTASTIC!!!
That livery is just classic.

[BullMan]

Originally Posted by Breitling24

But NASCAR doesn't own LS, which the original ticket comment was about.

And I was responding to the comment made about tickets at Sebring.

Originally Posted by ATLFalconsFAN

Same thing happened with Sebring tickets. For as long as I can remember the ticket had a picture of the previous year's winning car on it. This year there was no picture at all, just a boring ticket.

[mimi1969]

Originally Posted by Salamus

Do I dare watch these races after the horrible coverage at Long Beach?

Probably not. Honesty looking more forward to Talladega.

If USCC had any sense left, they would give the P2s a better chance at a victory. GTLM battle will be fun as always. I hope Viper can come out with a good result. The "Am" race will be fun too...hope some of the PC drivers got driving lessons during the break.

What do you think they did?

P2 would have won at Sebring if not for Ganassi pit strategy, as it is they still had two of top 3 and three of top 5 places. Ran near top of leader board at Daytona also until mistakes both on the track and in the pits took them out. P2s have been very competitive all season at tracks which were favorable to the DP.

Even before the BoP, the P2 were favored to win a MLSR due to it's long sweeping turns. Now with them cutting the HP of the Dp it should be a P2 sweep. The first three races favored the DP with it's HP and torque. Yet the P2 remained competitive and should have had at least one win. Yet before going to a track which favored the P2 as MLSR is, the decision was made to cut the HP of the DP cars. Waiting till after MLSR would have given IMSA a baseline to actually know where the two cars stand between each other. And most likely a P2 still would have won. But now the only way to do that is to wait for another three races and make changes after each to see where things stand.

[Somatosis]

Originally Posted by mimi1969

P2 would have won at Sebring if not for Ganassi pit strategy

Ganassi pit strategy = we seem to have saved enough fuel to make it home without another stop thanks to this mysterious 40 minute caution period.

[Maelochs]

mimi169:

First off, the way to tell where the two types of P-cars stand would be to test them on various tracks--something which hasn't occurred to TUSC management. Instead we get guessing games.

Also, lap times in themselves don't tell the story. The fastest P2 lap times looked close to DPs at every event, but the actual on-track racing told a different story. DPs' torque and HP gve them such an advantage on restarts (where their greater weight and suitability to the tire which developed expressly for DPs) and in traffic, and also exiting slower turns plus of course on the straights meant that P2 cars never really had a chance to make a pass and make it stick through the course of a lap.

P2s might get an edge through a long, seeping turn, but if the DPs can eat it up on any straight bit of track, then it only takes one slow corner or one slow car for the DP to push past and drive away from the P2.

The idea that a certain type of car simply cannot win on some tracks is ridiculous. How is that "Racing"? Sure, some tracks will suit certain car characteristics, but P2s did not have the capacity to Race with the DPs.

Yes, at Sebring the cool are and inability of AXR engineers to adapt to the changing conditions as well as ESM (whose turbocharged engines also gained extra power compared to the naturally aspirated V8s, due to the cooler air, effectively adjusting the BoP) But how many more 12- or 24-hour races are on the schedule? Oh, yeah ... none.

Series management analyzed the first three races and took Back some of the extra horsepower they had given DPs based on the fact that P2s weren't cutting it. Pretty much everyone who didn't care who won so long as it was fair said the DPs needed to lose a few hp. Now they have.

Unfortunately TUSC hasn't figured out that it is allowed to run tests, so we get testing during races, but the first three races pretty much proved the BoP was off. Would you really expect the P2 teams (including ESM, which is contributing significant cash to the series) to accept that their cars simply could not win on many tracks? How does that make any sense?

[andy_b]

Big update to the Spotter Guide yesterday with the Martini Starworks livery (thanks to the team for the heads up last week), BAR-1 details, and a sweep of driver updates in TUDOR and CTSCC.

www.spotterguides.com which is hosted by Ten-Tenths

[Breitling24]

Thanks, Andy

[Lagunaseca_4life]

The paddock is packed! The vibe here is much much better than long beach,lots of stuff going on.the new camaros in conti are awesome but you can feel the grid is just missing something with the roush mustangs gone.the super trofeo cars are cool but quite dull on track.i hope both TUSCAR races turn out good because I love being here.

[schmidder]

Paddock is packed...totally agree...atmosphere is good. Corvette paddock is insane, never seen anything like it. Will be great to finally see the TUSC cars on track tomorrow...

[jasonjessica09]

The new live timing graphic display looks to have good potential. I look forward to it. I hope that when the timing updates that the filter I have remains on. For instance if you want to see live timing for GTLM only you can filter out the other categories. Under the old timing whenever the timing refreshes the filter goes away. I did not like that.

If this works out the last step would be to have a live displa of the cars circulating the track with colored dots.

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/mo...iday-notebook/

[TzeiTzei]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

The new live timing graphic display looks to have good potential. I look forward to it. I hope that when the timing updates that the filter I have remains on. For instance if you want to see live timing for GTLM only you can filter out the other categories. Under the old timing whenever the timing refreshes the filter goes away. I did not like that.

If this works out the last step would be to have a live displa of the cars circulating the track with colored dots.

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/mo...iday-notebook/

I dont know, seems a bit gimmicky to me. All I want is gaps, laptimes and as many cars shown on the screen as possible. But I'll have to try it before judging.