That front door is the best front door i can imagine
I'm following imsa regularly (every race) since last year , and it's my fav series right now ahead of f1 , motogp , DTM and WEC , lots of my favorite drivers are in imsa too
Have You Been Watching the 2018 IMSA Sports Car Championships?
- Thread starter Tbear
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I'm following imsa regularly (every race) since last year , and it's my fav series right now ahead of f1 , motogp , DTM and WEC , lots of my favorite drivers are in imsa too
IMSA Weathertech has become probably my favorite series over the last several years. Some people may complain about BOP adjustments when it hurts their favorite car/driver/team, but you can't complain about the quality of racing it produces. It's got to be tough to do that across multiple classes, but IMSA has done a really good job of it. Great track schedule, great drivers in all classes from around the world, fan access at the races is very good, they've really got an excellent package. Sim racing wise, RF2 seems in the best position to reproduce this kind of racing, and obviously already has at least some cars representing the major classes as official content. I don't expect they'll be able to put the full field and all tracks in the sim (officially) ... but if S397 were to try pursuing "full coverage" of a single series, this would absolutely be my vote. Judging by the quality of their recent release of Sebring, I would be out of my mind excited for the other tracks on the IMSA schedule.
I have to shout out Indy Car for how good it's been recently as well. Some will claim how "bad" it is because it's a spec series at the moment. Whatever, I care about seeing good racing, and the teams and drivers that set up the car best, and execute strategy and driving best, make it to the front. Sorry, but I don't see the F1 model of 2 teams dominating and one other to pick up the occasional scraps as the "pinnacle of motorsport" (although yes, I do watch it... mostly for what happens in the mid-field). Sure, more manufacturers in Indy Car would be good - but they should be careful not to let costs spiral out of control. The competition right now is at a good place.
I have to shout out Indy Car for how good it's been recently as well. Some will claim how "bad" it is because it's a spec series at the moment. Whatever, I care about seeing good racing, and the teams and drivers that set up the car best, and execute strategy and driving best, make it to the front. Sorry, but I don't see the F1 model of 2 teams dominating and one other to pick up the occasional scraps as the "pinnacle of motorsport" (although yes, I do watch it... mostly for what happens in the mid-field). Sure, more manufacturers in Indy Car would be good - but they should be careful not to let costs spiral out of control. The competition right now is at a good place.
As a Brit, I've always been a fan of Le Mans & WEC, but I have to say IMSA have been putting it to shame these past few years. Amazing racing. Often unpredictable and very close. Amazing stuff.
It's only close, becauses there's a safety car period every time somebody sneezes.
Which spoils it for me. Due to the extraordinary amount of SC's, the drama feels artificial and made up.
I guess you could call it the "american way" and simply accept it, but a motor race is supposed to be about who is the fastest after a given amount of time or distance.
The purpose of a safety car is to neutralize the race when there is danger on the track (although the invention of slow zones has pretty much made the SC's obsolete).
The purpose of a safety car is not to bunch up the field, create drama and keep the fastest car from building up a lead. If you want that, call it the drama car, or call it competition yellows, like Nascar does. But don't do three laps behind the safety car just because someone spun and then continued undamaged.
Motorsport is not always exciting. It's a normal occurence for one driver to have a better grip on the track/tire/car combination on a day and be a hell of a lot quicker than the rest of the field. It just happens.
If you want close racing, make it a single make series. If you want a competition between different types of cars, face the consequences.
That being said, the rest of the racing world is no better right now with BOP, EOT, mandatory pit stop or stint lengths and so on... I've been watching various types of GT3, WEC, DTM and a few others this year and I haven't yet seen a single race that was truly exciting without artificially added drama all of this year.
Blancpain has done that every race this year after a FCY, it's spoiled the season for me ( especially Paul Ricard, that was Garage 59's race & I started getting pretty mad at the pointless SCs ). Spa 24hr was particularily bad, after FCY they'd send a SC out to supposedly gather everyone up but it generally went straight back in at the end of the same lap after gathering about 15 cars & just clearing traffic for the leader.
IMSA SCs seem to be out there for at least 10 mins every time, it is excessive especially when the field is bunched up & someone goes off straight away
I noticed at the Brands Hatch DTM race they managed to fit slowzones into what is not a very long track, there's literally no reason you can't do that for every series given cars tend to have to carry onboard devices which communicate with the track already. Add a HUD for marshall flags ( which should also be mandatory at this point ) and a couple of race control messages to set the speed of the lead car and there's not even a reason for a SC.That went a bit OT though, heh.
What a sharp contrast on Sunday. First we had Silverstone - a relatively boring 6 hour race with the added frustration of the results being thrown out and two podiums reordered. Later in the day, in what might have been expected to be a less exciting GT only round of the Weathertech Series we get yet another gem in IMSA's season of near perfection from an excitement standpoint. I'm sure it depends where you are on the BoP pendulum in terms of how you feel about it, but it sure seems to be working. That last lap of GTD was racing perfection - although I was pulling for Katherine to make the pass. I will be in Europe for the next round of IMSA - so I will be up at 2am glued to my iPad to see what happens next.
You are making it seem worse than it really is. Yes, IMSA does a full-course yellow but not anytime someone sneezes.
Daytona ran 808 laps with only 4 FCY periods. In 24 hours.
Watkins 6 hours had 4 FCY's for a total of 19 laps in a race that was 202 laps in length.
Mid Ohio ran 98 laps on a tight course without one single FCY while at VIR they ran 88 laps at another difficult track with one FCY for five laps.
The ratio of FCY's and laps under, to actual race laps is very small for the season.
As for bunching up the pack? I guess if you are a fan of watching F1 and like walk overs then you don't like the pack bunching up. If you are a fan of close racing then you do like it.
As a former track medic I would have preferred FCY's over safety zones as when the cars bunch up they come by in one pack at a reasonable rate which can be anticipated, as opposed to coming by in with the gaps still there and spread out over the length of the track. When you know, as a rescue worker, that you have a known gap you can work more effectively and plan big evolutions better.
Perhaps IMSA is cognizant of not only the drivers but the people who rescue the drivers? Maybe the FIA does not care as much for the non-drivers?
You're being unnecessarily confrontational to the point of being insulting, for no reason.
If there's a danger that a SC would negate then everyone puts a SC out ( WEC did it at Silverstone to clear the track, and WEC hate SCs ). If the danger is a car in the gravel some distance from the track then a SC doesn't add anything a FCY or better a slowzone gives - slowing the entire field for the entire lap makes the race more dangerous when everyone's tyres & brakes cool off, and if you do that behind a SC you've just put the whole field together too.
I'm not a fan of F1 & haven't been for years, I am however a fan of race strategy which is why I've enjoyed endurance racing since I was a kid - and unnecessary SCs ( and stint length caps, and fixed pitstop lengths etc ) do a great job at wrecking strategy. Stick to your NASCAR & leave endurance racing alone.
From what I understand FCY is used when there is no requirement to spend a lot of time on track or recovering a vehicle that's out of harms way but the safety workers need safety to carry out their work. SC is scrambled when the marshals or safety teams need effectively an empty piece of track space to work on (in other words more time when cars will not be around) or when it's a serious incident and medical teams are needed on track. So for example if a car lost it's front wing and that shattered into many pieces a SC would be deployed to allow lots of safety workers to sweep up the parts.
I'm happy with either way, and I can see the argument for both. I think the only thing I don't like to see is SC's being deployed for every little incident or piece of rubbish on track and that's partly why why FCY's were introduced.
Perhaps you are being overly sensitive as you were the person who initially made the comment about FCY in IMSA. I merely pointed out that there were not a whole lot of FCY's in IMSA and even pointed out that there was one race that had no FCY's at all.
I also pointed out that as a former track medic I appreciated FCY's as it gave us emergency workers the ability to time complex evolutions for when the track was clear as opposed to having to do these evolutions while traffic was spread out all over the length of the track. I also stated that perhaps IMSA takes into account the safety of the track workers and their ability to work, better than the FIA.
I, personally, have been a fan of road racing and endurance racing since the mid-70's, all the while despising what I call NeckCar.
If you do not like others pointing out the flaws in your opinions then don't post opinions based upon specious viewpoints.
You may be a "former track medic", which you felt the need to point out twice, but that's no excuse for your tone. You are entitled to your opinion, but so is every one else. Your opinion is not worth more than anyone elses. It is, quite simply, your opinion.
Being a former track medic does not give you the right to use an aggressive tone against others. It does not imbue you with the truth in a discussion about personal opinions.It does not give you the right to be insulting. Many people like Nascar for example. Many people like Formula 1. You have insulted all of those people. If you have indeed worked in the medical profession, you should know that one life is worth as much as another. The same goes for opinions in a discussion like this one.
Please be more respectful towards other human beings in the future.
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Dude, if you thought I was being aggressive then you are being overly sensitive. I was merely pointing out that I felt you were incorrect and provided the data to support my opinion.
Now is where I respond in a manner more befitting the tone and tenor you mistakenly believed I used in my prior posts:
You were the one who used a crap tone when you made your first post disparaging the way IMSA chooses to run their races.
You have also, on two occasions now, managed to point out that you think my opinion means nothing to you, all the while using the tone of one who is suffering significant emotional distress due to the way you interpret my tone.
You are purposefully inflating the actual "insults" of my comments regarding F1 by taking one small, insignificant, statement and blowing it up to a full-blown insult. As for me NECKCAR statement, it is nothing more than any other comment made by others about racing series they do not like. Such as saying that certain series call for FCY whenever someone sneezes.
I mentioned my experience about being a track medic twice because: 1) It is a view from one who has experience working an actual race from a position that places that person in danger, 2) in the second instance I responded, again, in the same manner as you seemed to ignore the first reference.
Do not presume to tell me how I value life. My body of work over the past 25 years is enough to show anyone how I value life. Your comment above merely shows that you tend to value entertainment over the life of those you feel are insignificant in your world: Track workers. They don't race the go-fast cars so their safety is not paramount to you. Thus you minimize any thoughts they would have on the matter.
Sad, sad attitude to have, especially when you are attempting to shame another.
What you have managed to do is take a legitimate response to your opinion (which if I were overly sensitive could point out that you insulted IMSA fans), and made it into an argument about how insulted you were that I would respond in such a manner.
Imagine if I actually tried to insult you; you would have probably quit the site in protest until I was banned by the mods.
Grow up, learn to interpret responses for what they are, stop being so sensitive, perhaps stop posting in forums that will harm your overblown sensitive ego.
Now, if you wish to interpret this response as insulting, please do so, but only after you managed to try your hardest to insult me, and shut me up, by exposing yourself as an overly-sensitive child.
IMSA like the WEC i watch individual events, looking for battles and maybe teams fighting it out, but never the whole championship picture. i don't know why that is, promotion maybe? or multiple drivers?
it sure isn't like F1 or NASCAR- but then why shoul dit be.
some great races this year however
it sure isn't like F1 or NASCAR- but then why shoul dit be.
some great races this year however
IMSA is surely one of my favourite series at the moment. Although I rather see the FCY being changed into code 60 areas. It works at several series. The disadvantage of FCY's is the number of laps it takes to pick up the leader, getting all the pitstops done and rearrange the field after all wave by's.
I think it was at Sebring 2017, where I saw two marshals doing their job, while cars passed by with a significant speed because the whole field had to race around the track to get lined up behind the pace car. It was John Hindhaugh who also was very vocal about this and noted that this was one example of the advantage of Code 60 areas.
Drivers cannot be trusted to slow down properly when yellow flags are shown or at the safety car phase when it has to bunch up the field. And at certain moments, time is everything.
Which you can do with Code 60's.
You can implement them fast. There is no advantage for drivers who can close the gaps to their opponent. And you can stop the Code 60 phase at any given time.
I think it was at Sebring 2017, where I saw two marshals doing their job, while cars passed by with a significant speed because the whole field had to race around the track to get lined up behind the pace car. It was John Hindhaugh who also was very vocal about this and noted that this was one example of the advantage of Code 60 areas.
Drivers cannot be trusted to slow down properly when yellow flags are shown or at the safety car phase when it has to bunch up the field. And at certain moments, time is everything.
Which you can do with Code 60's.
You can implement them fast. There is no advantage for drivers who can close the gaps to their opponent. And you can stop the Code 60 phase at any given time.
