2014 United Sports Car Championship

[IforceV8]

So, anyone ready to start that NBC Sports petition? And please, don't give me the "Not everyone gets NBC Sports" argument because the exact same can be said about Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2. This is about getting a network that gives a damn about the sports it covers.

Fox's Rolex 24 broadcast made ABC's Indy 500 coverage look really good.

 

[G.T.Ace]

Oh I see, so races like Shanghai and Bahrain are vastly bigger than this race because Audi P1 team races in it. Oh dear me, how could I ever forget about that. Once again considering the amount of people that come from other racing walks of life such as GT3, Indy, NASCAR, DTM and so on to do this race shows why it is second to Le Mans which is the biggest race of the year.

You're getting him wrong (*cough high horse cough*) he's talking from Audi's perspective, considering it was not even a works team.

You are arguing like you think the Audi was a car length in front - it was literally centimeters. And nope, whatever happens, if you're making a move off the racing line then you're taking a huge risk.

One meter or five meters shouldn't matter.

 

[BROHAM]

Isn't Brumos supposed to return later this year?

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

You're getting him wrong (*cough high horse cough*) he's talking from Audi's perspective, considering it was not even a works team.

If you say so, this is more of an argument of him trying to claim that an American race isn't anything in the international spectrum of things.

 

[GTPorsche]

Isn't Brumos supposed to return later this year?

Yes, but no announced time of returning yet.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

wait....so because Joest (which doesnt field a car that is eligible for any of the classes at Daytona) doesnt race there...it automatically makes it a "minor" sports car race??

Oh I see, so races like Shanghai and Bahrain are vastly bigger than this race because Audi P1 team races in it. Oh dear me, how could I ever forget about that. Once again considering the amount of people that come from other racing walks of life such as GT3, Indy, NASCAR, DTM and so on to do this race shows why it is second to Le Mans which is the biggest race of the year.

No. You're misunderstanding. If the OP mentioned Audi and Ferrari from the perspective they have the Daytona 24 Hour has 0 impact on the races they're entering this year.

Trying to get my point across to people who have been up for 24 hours watching a race =

 

[Neovre]

I want a replay of both incidents...

 

[Metfanant]

You're getting him wrong (*cough high horse cough*) he's talking from Audi's perspective, considering it was not even a works team.

only the most ardent of fanboys could possibly label an entire race (and by extension an entire championship) as "minor" because Joest does not participate....

No. You're misunderstanding. If the OP mentioned Audi and Ferrari from the perspective they have the Daytona 24 Hour has 0 impact on the races they're entering this year.

Trying to get my point across to people who have been up for 24 hours watching a race =

i understand what youre saying...youre wording however made it seem like the whole race itself is "minor" which i just couldn't buy into...

 

[G.T.Ace]

If you say so, this is more of an argument of him trying to claim that an American race isn't anything in the international spectrum of things.

He never said that, just that it doesn't matter for team Joest in Le Mans, what happened today and he's right.

EDIT: He meant it's minor for Joest because they didn't participate.
Audi won't care about today at Le Mans, because it was minor for them, not the race itself.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

He never said that, just that it doesn't matter for team Joest in Le Mans, what happened today and he's right.

Then say that originally rather then making it sound like a peg at the entire race itself in the world of auto racing. It's quite simple "Audi P1 team couldn't care less what happens to a customer car in a series they don't operate in". I'd argue Ferrari probably would since every Ferrari is a diamond to them back at the factory and should be treated as such, Ferrari do have an ego.

 

[Metfanant]

He never said that, just that it doesn't matter for team Joest in Le Mans, what happened today and he's right.

EDIT: He meant it's minor for Joest because they didn't participate.
Audi won't care about today at Le Mans, because it was minor for them, not the race itself.

well thats somewhat obvious no? considering Joest fields an LMP1 car...which cant even compete at Daytona if they wanted to...

 

[G.T.Ace]

well thats somewhat obvious no? considering Joest fields an LMP1 car...which cant even compete at Daytona if they wanted to...

GOTMAXPOWER only replied that because someone mentioned Le Mans before, of course it's obvious.

 

[RampageRacing]

The only way the Audi was going to win is with this penalty. The Ferrari was clearly faster on the banking and would have drafted around the Audi before the finish line. I am sure the driver of the Ferrari never dreamed he was going to get a penalty for holding his line in the twisties or he would have let the R8 go and repassed him before the finish line.

I do not like Ferrari or Audi so I have no horse in this race. Just an opinion based on the race I just watched.

 

[Carlos]

Missing the point - no contact was made. And real men will act with their brain engaged and not try and thunder round corners like angry 4 year olds.

I'm sorry but I really see it different..

You're asking for a watered down version and calling it racing. The fact remains that the driver in the racing line has priority over the driver off the line. If the driver can make it stick and pass on the outside more power to them, but if they cant and wreck or have to drive off because their opposing is faster on the race line then they don't get to cry foul because their ego is hurt.

I'm going to hold my answer because I'm not 100% sure the 458 was on it's racing line. I really doubt he was.. To me both went in and the 458 could easily have made it without going that wide. I totally understand what happened because that is THE move to win the race. How I remember it the Audi was along side and far enough to make the Ferrari driver aware he was in a worse position than he thought.

Exactly! That's why there was no contact in this incident except for the Audi trying to squeeze the Ferrari the corner before!

No the Ferrari squeezed the Audi I guess it's better to agree to disagree...?

 

[Bo]

Are we all focused on mocking each other now? Getting really irritating.

EDIT - @Carlos agree to disagree sounds good to me, don't want this thread to get caught up with petty squabbles.

 

[Earth]

How do we know the Audi didnt go off course to avoid contact? If the Ferrari didnt use up the whole road on exit there would have been no call.

Also Im sure the Ferrari 's dirty driving in the bus stop earlier that damaged the same Audi played a part in the steward's decision.

 

[Metfanant]

GOTMAXPOWER only replied that because someone mentioned Le Mans before, of course it's obvious.

i get it, i do...but its somewhat akin to me saying that the FIA GT Championship is so minor because the Factory Vipers abandoned it to focus on ALMS, and the Corvettes never even bothered to race there (since those two teams dominated Le Mans for so long like Audi)

Edit: both scenarios are equally absurd

 

[RACECAR]

So apart from Fox being Fox (or ESPN, I can't tell anymore as my rage for both is blinding), IMSA turning out to be NASCAR in disguise (that or they made a last minute change we didn't know seeing as they never heard of "Local Yellows") and controversial call, not bad for the first race. Obviously not perfect yet seeing as the BOP was equalizing cars which have only raced at certain tracks more then the other (and I really expect the advantage to completely flip the other way come sebring), but we still have a whole season to get it right. Not everything turns out perfect the first time (look at Top gear, not all that good at first but it works well now) so I'll give this season a chance before writing it off. Lets just hope IMSA is more open to listening then NASCAR is because I'm still convinced the Cup series will trumph all the illogical stuff seen so far.

only the most ardent of fanboys could possibly label an entire race (and by extension an entire championship) as "minor" because Joest does not participate....

Which hilariously would mean by that logic, Sebring now means nothing.

 

[G.T.Ace]

How do we know the Audi didnt go off course to avoid contact? If the Ferrari didnt use up the whole road on exit there would have been no call.

Also Im sure the Ferrari 's dirty driving in the bus stop earlier that damaged the same Audi played a part in the steward's decision.

This is exactly my point, I think everyone got what they deserved, so it's fine.

 

[Swagger897]

For now, it seems the WEC is limiting itself to one round per country. That's why Petit Le Mans isn't on the calendar - the FIA went with Sebring instead. Sebring was the better choice, I think, since it was on earlier in the year and it allowed the organisers to have the bespoke events (like the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo) later in the season once the series is established. Limiting the calendar to one American event also prevents cars that only particpate in the American races from winning a World Championship. Maybe the series will consider expanding to include new races in America in the future, but I can't see a calendar dominated by American events.

Didn't they do Sebring and road Atlanta one year?

 

[Mac K]

Apparently avoidable contact can still be called without any actual contact...

48.3. AVOIDABLE CONTACT. Any Driver who, in the sole opinion of the Race Director, initiates
avoidable contact with another competitor, whether or not such contact interrupts the other competitor's lap times, trac position or damages other competitor's Cars, and whether or not such actions result in actual contact, may be warner or penalized pursuant to Art. 60 of the RULES. In accordance with Art. 62.2.1.B any action or decision (or alleged inaction or non-decision) taken by or imposed by the Race Director, Supervisory Officials or IMSA Officials in this regard is Conclusive.

Easily the dumbest rule to exist in anything ever.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I'm going to hold my answer because I'm not 100% sure the 458 was on it's racing line. I really doubt he was.. To me both went in and the 458 could easily have made it without going that wide. I totally understand what happened because that is THE move to win the race. How I remember it the Audi was along side and far enough to make the Ferrari driver aware he was in a worse position than he thought.

...No he couldn't have, it's called racing they're pushing the cars hard and both had slight oversteer out of the corner go watch the video again, and stop trying to run off memory. That is a very tight area and the racing line runs out toward the outside, the Ferrari could have still passed the Audi on the banking easily so no that wasn't the race winning move. Do you know much of Daytona? They were door to door, it wasn't like the Ferrari was at the rear quarter panel or C-pillar and the R8 was ahead on the outside.

 

[G.T.Ace]

Apparently avoidable contact can still be called without any actual contact...

48.3. AVOIDABLE CONTACT. Any Driver who, in the sole opinion of the Race Director, initiates
avoidable contact with another competitor, whether or not such contact interrupts the other competitor's lap times, trac position or damages other competitor's Cars, and whether or not such actions result in actual contact, may be warner or penalized pursuant to Art. 60 of the RULES. In accordance with Art. 62.2.1.B any action or decision (or alleged inaction or non-decision) taken by or imposed by the Race Director, Supervisory Officials or IMSA Officials in this regard is Conclusive.

Easily the dumbest rule to exist in anything ever.

It's just a name for the rule, if you force someone off track (not talking about this race, but generally) you should get a penalty, never mind if the other guy could avoid a contact or not.

 

[Bo]

...No he couldn't have, it's called racing they're pushing the cars hard and both had slight oversteer out of the corner go watch the video again, and stop trying to run off memory. That is a very tight area and the racing line runs out toward the outside, the Ferrari could have still passed the Audi on the banking easily so no that wasn't the race winning move. Do you know much of Daytona? They were door to door, it wasn't like the Ferrari was at the rear quarter panel or C-pillar and the R8 was ahead on the outside.

What I was getting at the whole time.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

Time to revisit my pre-race predictions:

In Prototypes - #90 Corvette
In PC - #25 8Star Motorsports
In GTLM - #911 Porsche
In GTD - #48 Audi

In prototypes a DP will win, the Ganassi Riley's will break down and nothing else will match the Corvette's, I think SoD will come good.

I was right about the Ganassi's breaking down (they lasted longer than I expected though) and I was right about a Corvette DP winning, I picked the wrong one though, #90 finished down in 4th.

In PC all the cars are the same so I picked the team with the best drivers.

#25 finished 2nd which isn't too bad of a prediction.

In GTLM the Corvette is too new to be reliable for 24 hours and it looks like the Viper's have a few weak links in the driver line up. The Ferrari has the best car/drivers but the team isn't on the same level as AF Corse which nulls their chance of winning. I've said the #911 Porsche because it should run all day with no problems and is pretty quick.

I got one right! The #911 Porsche was the best car most of the race and was totally bulletproof, the plastic missiles (the Corvette's) were too new to win because of reliability problems as I predicted.

In GTD Audi have sent loads of factory drivers and the #48 car has the best of them, the number 48 seems to be a good number at Daytona recently too.

This was my worst prediction even if I got the winning manufacture right #48 was 16th in class, it did take fastest lap though.

I think I did well enough to consider myself as Paul the octopus' replacement

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

It's just a name for the rule, if you force someone off track (not talking about this race, but generally) you should get a penalty, never mind if the other guy could avoid a contact or not.

You actually have to force them off the track though. Forcing off the track would be something like Schumi vs Barichello in 2010. This is a racing incident and should have been treated as such.

@GOTMAXPOWER Oh so bulletproof yet they had a car break down due to mechanical issues as well due to be just as new and yet still didn't care to fully inform the fans as to why. They weren't too new to win, and I'm sure they'll take the class championship.

 

[Earth]

If the Daytona 24 is considered a minor sportscar race, what else besides Le Mans can be considered major?

 

[MatskiMonk]

Almost makes sense, if someone makes a totally bone head move, but the other car manages to avoid contact but goes off course to do so, the first guy is still in the wrong.

 

[RACECAR]

Apparently avoidable contact can still be called without any actual contact...

48.3. AVOIDABLE CONTACT. Any Driver who, in the sole opinion of the Race Director, initiates
avoidable contact with another competitor, whether or not such contact interrupts the other competitor's lap times, trac position or damages other competitor's Cars, and whether or not such actions result in actual contact, may be warner or penalized pursuant to Art. 60 of the RULES. In accordance with Art. 62.2.1.B any action or decision (or alleged inaction or non-decision) taken by or imposed by the Race Director, Supervisory Officials or IMSA Officials in this regard is Conclusive.

Easily the dumbest rule to exist in anything ever.

Totally agree. I honestly I think if your going to penalize someone for an incident that didn't have contact, it shouldn't be "for avoidable contact". If anything, running someone off the road without contact (assuming that's what they are going off of) would more under "forceful driving" (or driving dirty).

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

If the Daytona 24 is considered a minor sportscar race, what else besides Le Mans can be considered major?

You're misreading that post by ignoring the context and post it was in reply too.