2014 United Sports Car Championship

[Mac K]

Apparently he's alright, injured but awake and talking.

 

[joetruckv8]

You guys talking about the Continental Series right?!

 

[IforceV8]

You guys talking about the Continental Series right?!

Yeah it was Marc Miller driving for CJ Wilson Miata.

 

[joetruckv8]

Yeah it was Marc Miller driving for CJ Wilson Miata.

Lol, just making sure

 

[GTPorsche]

CJ Wilson Racing@CJWilsonRacing1h
Broken ribs, a broken ankle & a really cheap foam baseball (signed by CJWR) is all @marcmillershow got in hospitalpic.twitter.com/Jssq4znjZv

 

[raven214]

CJ Wilson Racing@CJWilsonRacing1h
Broken ribs, a broken ankle & a really cheap foam baseball (signed by CJWR) is all @marcmillershow got in hospitalpic.twitter.com/Jssq4znjZv

Glad he's ok -that's the most important thing! I didn't see the accident, only a distant shot after the responders had arrived. Anyone know what happened?

 

[MustangManiac]

Glad he's ok -that's the most important thing! I didn't see the accident, only a distant shot after the responders had arrived. Anyone know what happened?

He was saying on the radio he thought he had a tire going down or something broken in the back, the car swerved and slowed, the guy behind him got into him and he shot off the to the side right into the tires covering the bridge supports.

 

[Bo]

Erm... guys... Eric Lux just sent me a DM on Twitter. He's not very happy after I said he did a Malucelli.

 

[joetruckv8]

It sucks the race is over, but i have to wait a week to watch it straight up once it hits Youtube! The 1st Fox Sports tape sucked with over an hr of yellow flag driving,. 👎

 

[IforceV8]

Hopefully this series uses the weeks until the next round to fix the terrible penalty review process and caution procedures.Having 5 people watching a replay and not 1 noticed the Michelin sticker on the roof of the #912? How is that even possible? The 10 car entered a closed pit and the replay showed confirmed that,but the 5 car did the same thing a few seconds earlier and there was no view of this.Another oversight not having a steady cam shot of pit entry or more blind men watching monitors?

The caution periods should never take 25 min to tow a single car and then pit 2 separate groups of cars.Close the pits for the entire yellow to everybody except those who are out of fuel or have damage that needs immediate attention.Pit should only be open when the track is green,let the teams do their work and let the best car/team win.

Get rid of the wave around,it takes too long and is artificial.

Club racers,check writers,and the oevrmatched need to be shown the door quickly.

Long Beach should be better with a smaller field but the power of the DP's will rule on the 2 long straights.

 

[Mac K]

Personally I think a change in the caution rules and how cautions are conducted would be a big benefit to the series.. Interesting article by NASportscar.com regarding all the "incidents" yesterday.

http://nasportscar.com/stupid-idea-penalty-points-system-and-more-strict-licensing-policies/

 

[Bo]

Yeah... that went well

 

[IforceV8]

Personally I think a change in the caution rules and how cautions are conducted would be a big benefit to the series.. Interesting article by NASportscar.com regarding all the "incidents" yesterday.

http://nasportscar.com/stupid-idea-penalty-points-system-and-more-strict-licensing-policies/

Sounds good.I assume that driving licenses are'nt sold like lottery tickets now but.

This is from that pages sidebar.
Allan Thom @WeatherTechPrez
@WCRacing is looking like an interesting series in my eyes.

I wonder if Alex Job is considering a change after his team was screwed so badly.

 

[cnd01]

Boy I'm pretty much ready to jump on the anti-IMSA bandwagon after this one.

GTLM and GTD need to look less alike. When race control can't tell a GTD Porsche from a GTLM Porsche, we know there are issues. If total idiots (looking at IMSA race control) can't tell the classes apart, they're too much alike

TUSC needs to adopt the former grand am caution procedure. It was actually efficient and didn't take 30 minutes a caution.

Race control has to go! The ALMS guys that are in charge now are so inept

PC needs the door.

Driver ratings system needs the door.

No more mandatory pro-am classes

Needs more efficient tech process

Number plates need to be bigger. Unless your TV/laptop screen is humongous, it's really hard to see what the number is

Now that my rant is over, it was good to see ESM, MMPR, and Oak right there with the DP guys.

 

[RACECAR]

Boy I'm pretty much ready to jump on the anti-IMSA bandwagon after this one.

GTLM and GTD need to look less alike. When race control can't tell a GTD Porsche from a GTLM Porsche, we know there are issues. If total idiots (looking at IMSA race control) can't tell the classes apart, they're too much alike

TUSC needs to adopt the former grand am caution procedure. It was actually efficient and didn't take 30 minutes a caution.

Race control has to go! The ALMS guys that are in charge now are so inept

PC needs the door.

Driver ratings system needs the door.

No more mandatory pro-am classes

Needs more efficient tech process

Number plates need to be bigger. Unless your TV/laptop screen is humongous, it's really hard to see what the number is

Now that my rant is over, it was good to see ESM, MMPR, and Oak right there with the DP guys.

Pretty what I agree with. I always had a problem with the Pro-Am classes because of the crap at Le Mans and what we saw Saturday just makes my disdain for it even stronger. Same goes for the driver ratings. Disagree about GTD and GTLM though because you get rid of the morons in race control, you've solved that problem. Its not hard to tell apart a 911 with little to no aero (GTD) from a full aero bodied 911 (GTLM).

 

[Mac K]

Boy I'm pretty much ready to jump on the anti-IMSA bandwagon after this one.

GTLM and GTD need to look less alike. When race control can't tell a GTD Porsche from a GTLM Porsche, we know there are issues. If total idiots (looking at IMSA race control) can't tell the classes apart, they're too much alike

No, they just need to pay better attention and stop making stupid calls.

TUSC needs to adopt the former grand am caution procedure. It was actually efficient and didn't take 30 minutes a caution.

Isn't a Grand-Am caution rule now? Either way I agree that it needs to go.

Race control has to go! The ALMS guys that are in charge now are so inept

Hard to argue with this

PC needs the door.

Disagreed, drivers just need to stop being so careless regardless of class, license level, or experience

Driver ratings system needs the door.

Won't happen as long as the FIA is involved

No more mandatory pro-am classes

Disagreed, just because someone is classified as amateur doesn't make them a bad or dangerous driver. There are plenty of talented amateur and gentlemen drivers, DHH, Cooper Macneil, Ben Keating, Mike Hedlund, etc. Also they bring in $ for the team and with racing being so expensive and $ involved now more than ever they can't afford to lose them.

Needs more efficient tech process

I don't understand what you're saying here.

Number plates need to be bigger. Unless your TV/laptop screen is humongous, it's really hard to see what the number is

Agreed

Now that my rant is over, it was good to see ESM, MMPR, and Oak right there with the DP guys.

 

[Bo]

Drivers just need to stop being so careless

Don't say that! You'll get this like I did!

 

[IforceV8]

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/imsa-to-review-safety-car-procedures-on-board-camera-ids/


A couple of huge difference in the pit procedures is the reason for the delays.

Now
Page 23 http://www.imsaracing.net/2013/alms/bulletins/2013 ALMS RULES FINAL.pdf

Then
Page 72 http://www.imsa.com/sites/default/f...A TUDOR Championship Rules UPDATED 031114.pdf

Page 53 http://d3pczhwof661ii.cloudfront.net/grandam/assets/2012 Full Rulebook.pdf

 

[raven214]

Boy I'm pretty much ready to jump on the anti-IMSA bandwagon after this one.

GTLM and GTD need to look less alike. When race control can't tell a GTD Porsche from a GTLM Porsche, we know there are issues. If total idiots (looking at IMSA race control) can't tell the classes apart, they're too much alike

TUSC needs to adopt the former grand am caution procedure. It was actually efficient and didn't take 30 minutes a caution.

Race control has to go! The ALMS guys that are in charge now are so inept

PC needs the door.

Driver ratings system needs the door.

No more mandatory pro-am classes

Needs more efficient tech process

Number plates need to be bigger. Unless your TV/laptop screen is humongous, it's really hard to see what the number is

Now that my rant is over, it was good to see ESM, MMPR, and Oak right there with the DP guys.

I agree with everything you said except about GTLM and GTD. I haven't seen the 911 incident because I had limited computer access Saturday after coverage went to online only , but it sounds as though any reasonably competent official could've and should've gotten it right. The competition seems really good in these classes and I like the variety.

My 2 main points are PC and yellow flag procedures:

1. PC needs to go! The fields are plenty big enough - they don't need to be padded with PC cars doing doughnuts in the middle of the race - that was inane btw!

2. Yellow flags are killing the series! This is a little strong, but casual fans are not going to be drawn in by watching cars drive around at pace speeds for a half hour while one car is towed around the track 20 times or whatever took so long for that last caution. If the car is parked safely out of harm's way then a caution should never be thrown in the first place.

The pit cycle under caution is eating up way too much time. Pits should only be opened for long cautions, like when that poor Viper went up in flames. For short cautions, such as small debris or a car parked in a dangerous place, pits should remain closed except for damage repairs or emergency fuel.

IMSA needs to make some serious changes and fast.

 

[MrWednesday]

How many laps were taken under the infamous final FCY, and what was going on in each of them?

I've guesstimated that they need about four laps under FCY to handle pit-pit-wavearound-restart. Were more laps spent on restart prep than just four? Are extra laps taken for the waved-around traffic to reach the back of the conga line? Were there excessive pre-prep FCY laps? Could the FCY have been delayed until service vehicles reached the disabled car?

If cars are to be left parked "late" in a race, what constitutes late? If you say last hour, well, that's more than a third of the race for the "regular" events, which are 2:45 in length.

 

[IforceV8]

How many laps were taken under the infamous final FCY, and what was going on in each of them?

I've guesstimated that they need about four laps under FCY to handle pit-pit-wavearound-restart. Were more laps spent on restart prep than just four? Are extra laps taken for the waved-around traffic to reach the back of the conga line? Were there excessive pre-prep FCY laps? Could the FCY have been delayed until service vehicles reached the disabled car?

If cars are to be left parked "late" in a race, what constitutes late? If you say last hour, well, that's more than a third of the race for the "regular" events, which are 2:45 in length.

Laps 271-279 last FCY,lead changed lap 276 after 1,5,42,2 make last stop.

 

[MrWednesday]

So it looks like five laps to clear the disabled car, then my guesstimated four laps to restart. Seems to me like they ought to be able to shave a lap or two off of the five. Maybe they should up the circulation speed during the restart sequence, too. They might be able to knock a couple of minutes off just by running through at higher speed once the hazard that triggered the FCY is cleared.

 

[cnd01]

Pretty what I agree with. I always had a problem with the Pro-Am classes because of the crap at Le Mans and what we saw Saturday just makes my disdain for it even stronger. Same goes for the driver ratings. Disagree about GTD and GTLM though because you get rid of the morons in race control, you've solved that problem. Its not hard to tell apart a 911 with little to no aero (GTD) from a full aero bodied 911 (GTLM).

For people like us, it's easy to tell the difference. Having to explain the 2 class GT system to people who don't know nearly as much as us on here generates 2 responses. They are "Why?" and "That's dumb." Gotta make it easier to follow even though it might make people mad.

 

[IforceV8]

So it looks like five laps to clear the disabled car, then my guesstimated four laps to restart. Seems to me like they ought to be able to shave a lap or two off of the five. Maybe they should up the circulation speed during the restart sequence, too. They might be able to knock a couple of minutes off just by running through at higher speed once the hazard that triggered the FCY is cleared.

But then Ganassi would have needed to stop for a splash n go and lost the race.

The good thing I guess is that they have until the 6hr Glen race to figure this out since the fields wont have 4 classes until then.

 

[raven214]

For people like us, it's easy to tell the difference. Having to explain the 2 class GT system to people who don't know nearly as much as us on here generates 2 responses. They are "Why?" and "That's dumb." Gotta make it easier to follow even though it might make people mad.

I get what you're saying, but I still think - at least at this point - that the 2 GT classes are fine. I actually rather like the layman's approach they take to describing it in the broadcast: more specialized for racing (GTLM) vs more similiar to production models (GTD).

As long as there is a significant enough separation in performance between the 2 classes I don't see a major problem. Perhaps more could be done to distinguish between the 2 classes such as different colored headlights - yellow vs blue for example. I'm more concerned about the number of cars on track, especially for smaller circuits, and the time it takes to cycle through caution pit stops.

But then Ganassi would have needed to stop for a splash n go and lost the race.

The good thing I guess is that they have until the 6hr Glen race to figure this out since the fields wont have 4 classes until then.

Huh? What class is going away?

 

[Wilbur]

For people like us, it's easy to tell the difference. Having to explain the 2 class GT system to people who don't know nearly as much as us on here generates 2 responses. They are "Why?" and "That's dumb." Gotta make it easier to follow even though it might make people mad.

So what do you say we do on a Porsche? It is confusing to a causal fan but not that hard to explain, GTD is closer to your street version, GTLM is a race car is simple enough for most to get it. You try to do anything to get rid of one, you are screwing those teams out of a chance and I hardly call 3 911's a huge field in GTLM anyway.

I can see how it could be at Sebring an issue between GT classes because of how dark it can be.

 

[IforceV8]

I get what you're saying, but I still think - at least at this point - that the 2 GT classes are fine. I actually rather like the layman's approach they take to describing it in the broadcast: more specialized for racing (GTLM) vs more similiar to production models (GTD).

As long as there is a significant enough separation in performance between the 2 classes I don't see a major problem. Perhaps more could be done to distinguish between the 2 classes such as different colored headlights - yellow vs blue for example. I'm more concerned about the number of cars on track, especially for smaller circuits, and the time it takes to cycle through caution pit stops.




Huh? What class is going away?

Long Beach is P/GTLM only,Laguna the PC/GTD run alone then P/GTLM race,Detroit is P/GTD since the GTLM cars will be in France and Kansas is PC/Lites only.

 

[raven214]

So what do you say we do on a Porsche? It is confusing to a causal fan but not that hard to explain, GTD is closer to your street version, GTLM is a race car is simple enough for most to get it. You try to do anything to get rid of one, you are screwing those teams out of a chance and I hardly call 3 911's a huge field in GTLM anyway.

I can see how it could be at Sebring an issue between GT classes because of how dark it can be.

The first thing that comes to mind for differentiating, as I mentioned above, is using different headlight colors, such as yellow for GTLM and blue for GTD.

Long Beach is P/GTLM only,Laguna the PC/GTD run alone then P/GTLM race,Detroit is P/GTD since the GTLM cars will be in France and Kansas is PC/Lites only.

I get the absence in Detroit because of Le Mans but the rest make no sense to me.

 

[Bo]

I get the absence in Detroit because of Le Mans but the rest make no sense to me.

It's the most random, unnecessary and pointless class organisation i've ever come across. It's really bad.

 

[Wilbur]

The first thing that comes to mind for differentiating, as I mentioned above, is using different headlight colors, such as yellow for GTLM and blue for GTD.

Possibly but I don't know how well those headlights would work or if drivers would be a little iffy if it was a P or GTD car at some point.

You could always add a light to the front windshield or side that was different colors for each class or even swap the lights behind the number lights to different.