2014 United Sports Car Championship

  • Thread starter Thread starter Earth
  • 6,133 comments
  • 323,049 views
cnd01
My assessment of the whole merger so far is that IMSA has done way too much trying to please every team from both series which has ended up pleasing none of the teams from either series.
Click to expand...
Winner, winner, chicken dinner. To a point.

IMSA has tried to make it until the new regulations without alienating any teams that would/could be in the series.
At times the racing is good, but something needs to be done to shorten the yellows and keep safety in mind during them.
The FIA connection along with GT3 is a good direction in my mind.

The next race is only 100 minutes long, on a street course.
2 FC yellows and that's the race.
There should be around 20 cars so they could all pit at once.
I think there will be a change for this race.

No AM classes either, just saying. ;)
 
01GTP
Winner, winner, chicken dinner. To a point.

IMSA has tried to make it until the new regulations without alienating any teams that would/could be in the series.
At times the racing is good, but something needs to be done to shorten the yellows and keep safety in mind during them.
The FIA connection along with GT3 is a good direction in my mind.

The next race is only 100 minutes long, on a street course.
2 FC yellows and that's the race.
There should be around 20 cars so they could all pit at once.
I think there will be a change for this race.

No AM classes either, just saying. ;)
Click to expand...
3 cautions and the LMP2 guys can make it without stopping :lol:
 
Some pics I took at Sebring. I have more but dont want to take up too much bandwidth for others. Can you upload videos directly from your phone to here or do you need to upload them to YouTube?
Screenshot_2014-03-20-09-29-31.png
Screenshot_2014-03-20-09-04-33.png
Screenshot_2014-03-20-08-59-55.png
Screenshot_2014-03-20-08-50-56.png
20140315_183838.jpg
20140315_183616.jpg
20140315_134833.jpg
20140315_102446.jpg
20140315_102346.jpg
20140315_133319.jpg
20140315_092032.jpg
20130316_092245.jpg
20130316_092136.jpg
 
Last edited:
You know whats simple? Make cautions 4 full laps long. First lap everyone together. End of lap 1 P class can pit. End of lap 2 GT can pit. Lap 3 everyone bunches, 4th lap they finish bunching and wave around car is released. Even at Sebring that is a maximum of 20 minutes per yellow.
 
That's 20 minutes to restart, after the hazard has been cleared, and it appears to be roughly the procedure that IMSA actually used at Sebring per a brief exchange I was involved in above.

I'm operating on the assumption that IMSA has a good reason for holding off on opening the pits until after the hazard has been cleared, but if they overlapped opening the pits with work to clear the hazard, it certainly could speed up the procedure.
 
Did anyone ever manage to find that Porsche commercial they showed within the first hour of the broadcast? I have yet to find it... Shame because it was amazing.
 
Furinkazen
You know whats simple? Make cautions 4 full laps long. First lap everyone together. End of lap 1 P class can pit. End of lap 2 GT can pit. Lap 3 everyone bunches, 4th lap they finish bunching and wave around car is released. Even at Sebring that is a maximum of 20 minutes per yellow.
Click to expand...
Also, half the cautions that are thrown shouldn't be. I think debris cautions can be shortened to 3 laps.
lap 1: catch up lap
lap 2: pits and wave around
lap 3: green flag
 
cnd01
Also, half the cautions that are thrown shouldn't be. I think debris cautions can be shortened to 3 laps.
lap 1: catch up lap
lap 2: pits and wave around
lap 3: green flag
Click to expand...

Heck, why not just open pits and thats it. If you pit you lose time to the pack, thats the strategy gamble.
 
As I remember it, they do separate pit windows to cut down on pit road congestion, presumably for safety reasons.

Maybe they should think about doing a class split and running a separate safety car for the GTs. If they're offset around the course, that would allow doing the pits on a single lap. The downside is, it cuts the open duration on the track in half for debris removal etc.
 
Furinkazen
Heck, why not just open pits and thats it. If you pit you lose time to the pack, thats the strategy gamble.
Click to expand...
For the lengthier cautions, I'd take the time to line the field up by class after pitting so that there won't be as many P class cars trying to weave through all the other classes on restarts. Have all the P class cars in line (not necessarily in order as they run just all of them ahead of the other classes) then PC, GTLM ,and GTD. It'll cut down on the majority of the chaos on the restarts
 
cnd01
For the lengthier cautions, I'd take the time to line the field up by class after pitting so that there won't be as many P class cars trying to weave through all the other classes on restarts. Have all the P class cars in line (not necessarily in order as they run just all of them ahead of the other classes) then PC, GTLM ,and GTD. It'll cut down on the majority of the chaos on the restarts
Click to expand...

ALMS, WEC never have re start issues. You play the strategy game. Do you pit and get stuck in some traffic or stay ahead? Otherwise you give the car a free pit stop.
 
Furinkazen
ALMS, WEC never have re start issues. You play the strategy game. Do you pit and get stuck in some traffic or stay ahead? Otherwise you give the car a free pit stop.
Click to expand...
I believe there were quite a few incidents caused by that version of restarts at Le Mans this year...
ALMS restarts certainly weren't without issues when there actually were enough cars in the race to have traffic

It's a safety issue in my opinion. Faster classes having to weave through slower ones. Under this system, you might not even pit and still wind up in the middle of the mosh pit. The only thing that does is stress out the team owners
 
cnd01
Faster classes having to weave through slower ones. Under this system, you might not even pit and still wind up in the middle of the mosh pit. The only thing that does is stress out the team owners
Click to expand...

Funny, that kind for system has worked since inception of sportscar racing. And newsflash! Different classes have to through other ones! All that changes is the proximity to the others...
 
Furinkazen
Funny, that kind for system has worked since inception of sportscar racing. And newsflash! Different classes have to through other ones! All that changes is the proximity to the others...
Click to expand...
You know the saying "cautions breed cautions" I'm sure the grand am way of lining up restarts would cut down on at least a few of those 30 minute debris cautions. This isn't 1968 or 1986. Sports car racing needs to keep evolving. It's worth a shot.
 
cnd01
You know the saying "cautions breed cautions" I'm sure the grand am way of lining up restarts would cut down on at least a few of those 30 minute debris cautions. This isn't 1968 or 1986. Sports car racing needs to keep evolving. It's worth a shot.
Click to expand...

Don't see the same amount in a WEC event with the system you are so against.
 
Last edited:
MrWednesday
As I remember it, they do separate pit windows to cut down on pit road congestion, presumably for safety reasons.

Maybe they should think about doing a class split and running a separate safety car for the GTs. If they're offset around the course, that would allow doing the pits on a single lap. The downside is, it cuts the open duration on the track in half for debris removal etc.
Click to expand...

As long as they run them correctly remember that when the ACO did the split safety cars they messed up the field and separated some of the GTs which didn't go over well with teams on the losing end.
 
Organ-Donor
12hrs of Sebring part 1


Part 2


Part 3
Click to expand...

:bowdown:

-Sebring would be the last track (not including 24H Dubai), in the Gran Tursimo Series to complete all the Super Endurance race tracks. It would of been nice to hear PD was at Sebring this year with there command GT center there. Every track I heard about it was there we received that track in the game (Motegi & Silverstone for example),..
 
Sam48
Hell, you could see a Mazda 1-2 overall win in class when IMSA mistakes them for PC cars in a race that won't even have a PC class.
Click to expand...
Nonsense, they'll be winning the ST class in Conti because that's the pace they've shown.
 
To add to these words of wisdom, the problem is that no matter who you talk to in the IMSA paddock, it's never that entity's fault for what's wrong. Guys like L5 leaving then blaming the series without even trying to come to a solution. That attitude spreads like wildfire. The teams and sanctioning body have to work together to get to a common point.

I listened to SCUnleashed yesterday. They had John Vincent on who's been an engineer for teams in the Firehawk/Motorola/Koni/Continental Tire challenge for over 40 years as well as in IMSA, ALMS, Grand am, and TUSC in different spots.

One of his biggest issues with the series is that there's very insufficient communication between race control and teams. During the Sebring conti race, 12 ST cars got stop and holds on 1 yellow flag alone for taking an illegal wave around. IMSA claimed it's up to the teams to know if they're waving around or not, but IMSA's penalty decisions are final even if IMSA gets it wrong. He said that when grand am was over conti, as soon as the yellow flag flew, race control would come on the radio and call out the list of car numbers getting the wave around within 10 seconds of the FCY. He has submitted that as a solution to cut down on all the bs 30 minute yellow flags. This issue is one of many he is addressing in a letter he's submitting to IMSA rather than just complaining.

Here's the link to the SCU podcast btw: http://scunleashed.com/?powerpress_pinw=2460-podcast
 
Don't blame them. So L5 went out but then got the Ferrari run by someone else. We know Red Dragon is out for the year, Not the Z4, AJR might be leaving., AMR went....
 
Furinkazen
Don't blame them. So L5 went out but then got the Ferrari run by someone else. We know Red Dragon is out for the year, Not the Z4, AJR might be leaving., AMR went....
Click to expand...
While I totally understand and get why those teams have jumped ship, they're leaving the party at 9:30 imo.

This goes without saying that I wouldn't have entered TUSC had I been a team owner. Too many unknowns and the possibility of what has happened so far happening
 

Similar threads

Jimlaad43
Formula 1 MSC Cruises United States Grand Prix 2025
6 7 8
Replies
211
Views
14K
McLaren
McLaren
Jimlaad43
Formula 1 Pirelli United States Grand Prix 2024
2 3 4
Replies
108
Views
15K
sillybilly
S
MagpieRacer
  • Sticky
Project Motor Racing Career Mode Event List and Discussion Thread
Replies
0
Views
3K
MagpieRacer
MagpieRacer
B
Sports Car GT Mods?
Replies
0
Views
521
Battor
B
ScottPuss20
2025 World Endurance Championship
26 27 28
Replies
821
Views
106K
ro_har_
ro_har_
Back