Other Motorsports (merged)

[Gary Barlow]

I thought marshals carried knives to cut those helmet straps, or did HS get that too?

But yeah, good move. At first I thought "wtf the fires behind you" atleast pull over idiot, until I saw the cockpit.

 

[Kyle Constable]

It seems they have a whole heap of dangerous moments in that series, glad to see he got out of it and hopefully he's ok

 

[Sam White]

Hey everyone,

For those that don't live in the UK, you can get live streaming BBC coverage of practice sessions here:

http://www.vipbox.tv/sports/motosport.html

I don't know how they do this, it's probably not authorised but hey.

Sam

 

[Diego Lopez]

Thanks. I sitll torrent the HD BBC coverage but this is great. thanks for link.

 

[Gary Barlow]

lol @ the fire marshals spraying the barrier rather than the car at 0:30.

 

[Ondrej Kapal]

I just found some "rumors"

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=912

they are also planning Le Mans return...

any specific informations from you guys?

 

[OverTake.gg]

For thirteen hours the nr33 Audi Sport Team WRT (Belgian Audi Club) Audi R8 LMS of Timo Scheider, Greg Franchi and Matthias Ekstrom led the largest field of cars to take part in theTotal 24 Hours of Spa for many years and after completing 545 laps Scheider took the chequered flag to record his second win, and Audi’s first, in the world’s second oldest 24 hour race. The Audi finished two laps ahead of the nr76 Need for Speed Team Schubert BMW Z4 of Dirk Werner, Edward Sandstroem and Claudia Huertgen, after Huertgen started from 49th on the 62 car grid.

The historic 24 Hours of Spa is one of the world’s longest running endurance events, tracing its roots back to the first race held in the Ardennes in 1924. This year the Total 24 Hours of Spa is the jewel in the crown event for the world’s newest international GT series, the Blancpain Endurance Series. While this will only be the third race in the Blancpain Endurance Series, the races held in Monza (Italy) and Navarra (Spain) have shown the new series represents the very best in endurance racing with big grids, different brands competing on a level field, plenty of racing action, all taking place on some of the most famous circuits in Europe.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

A lap around Le Mans in the original GT 40 back in '69

 

[Lee Palmer]

Awesome!

 

[Scott Webber]

Daniel Ricciardo says his aim for the end of the current season include beating his more experienced teammate, Vitantonio Liuzzi, and the Virgin cars.

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The Australian rookie made his debut with HRT in Silverstone three races ago, and has managed a career best finish of 18th at the last race in Hungary which was preceeded by two 19th place finishes.

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He is hoping more time in the F111 will allow him to push for bigger goals in the future.​

The target is to continue learning," said the 22-year-old. "I think that will come with time in the car.

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"If I could manage to sneak out a personal best result or edge out Tonio and the Virgins in a few races that would be a strong result. I have to aim high because it is only going to help me for the future.

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"I think that for the last few races of the year I can really start to push and aim for it."

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Whilst many of the newer teams look for some luck to secure their best finishes, Ricciardo isn't counting on such a luxury and he understands the need to push himself to the very limit.

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"I have a strong teammate," he said. "It is going to take my best efforts to really try and get in front of him and to push for a personal best result for the team.

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"I don't think it is going to come through luck; it’s just going to be hard work for now. I really have to soak in as much information as I can to try and become the driver I want to be and, hopefully, the one who maybe gets a personal best result for HRT one day."
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[Scott Webber]

"No one could win with my car," that's the damning verdict delivered by Nico Rosberg against his Mercedes W02 which has yet to finish on the podium.

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The German even admitted that finishing seventh felt like a race win, because currently, that's all the car can achieve.​

His comments came after his ninth place finish in Hungary which saw him score just two points. His previous six races have seen healthier results, but only one, the British GP, has seen him better seventh place.

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"There are three teams, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren, they are ahead," Rosberg told El Pais. "I have to wait to get a better car. Maybe later this year or early next, I will think about winning.

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"My goal [in the race] is to finish seventh. With this car, to me, seventh is like winning. We would only achieve this if I have a perfect race. It is currently the maximum today," he admitted.

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The 26-year-old is encouraged by the constant work back the factory in Brackley and acknowledged the time it takes to win in Formula 1, but he also recognised the sheer amount of development needed to put the team on a level footing with the top three teams.​

"All of the team works to win and I'm sure with a bit of time we can," he added. "Red Bull took five years [to win]. When they signed Michael [Schumacher], Ferrari had to wait another five. We hope to get there a little earlier.

"We must improve in general, aerodynamics, the mechanical factor. The engine is fine, but the blown exhaust system, which remains a very important part of aerodynamics, there is much room for improvement," he concluded
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[Juen-Jen Wang]

Of course, the Dallara Safety Cell isn't meant to continue IndyCar as a spec series. This is only one of the chassis that the new indycar may look like: http://www.indycar.com/news/show/55-izod-indycar-series/44480-on-track-for-new-era-in-2012/

Photos: http://photos.speedtv.com/gallery/INDYCAR_2012_Dallara-Honda_Mid-Ohio_Test

Right now I'm excited about the new planned engine. Turbo charge up to 700hps and a push to pass boost of 100 extra horsepower (instead of the current p2p which only offers 10-20 hp extra). I dont like the back, seems to kinda make the indycar look like a prototype. But overall, I am excited to see how the new chassis can handle. Atleast it's something new instead of the stereotypical open wheel design. I'd rather have this than a GP2 clone

I think IndyCar is finally getting better. They just need to fix their road course rules a little (running oval rules on road courses is stupid), get rid of the stupid "no blocking" rule, and get a good TV deal, then the series will pretty much be set. I hope the golden CART days returns in the near future

 

[William Levesque]

Yeah, not too crazy about the whole rear end...

I like the Turbo engines though... And they have Chevy and Lotus !

More power (And that 100hp push to pass to make it 800 !) without driving assists (No power-steering aswell) and half the downforce of a F1 should make it a manly ride, even with paddle shifters !

 

[Yann Laprevotte]

Hmm, +100 hp push to pass is insane. I hope it won't result in a too heavy advantage, like in F1 with DRS on some tracks.

TBH I can't see what's wrong with the "no blocking" rule. Some say it's a way to make artificial racing, but after all, the "one move a straight" rule used in most european series is just as much "artificial", in a way. And keep in mind that "active position defending"(like, making one move in a straight to protect your position) is quite recent, it only started in the mid 80s or so. Before that, there was some kind of unwritten gentleman agreement forcing everyone to keep his line in all circonstances, and not impede the driver overtaking, for the sake of safety - a bit like what we have in modern IndyCar, except we now have written rules and penalties.

I'm quite interrested to see about aero-kits and different engine suppliers. Most of the other main motorsports series have tried to go for more standardisation over the last decade, so it's interresting to see IndyCar, which was a "one-make series" until now, going the other way. Let's hope the field is going to stay as close as it currently is, anyway.

 

[Troy Ament]

From what I've heard, don't get your hopes too high on seeing this car next year in the series, I don't have specifics but it's from a really reliable source so yeah, it might not happen for next year, we'll see.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

From what I've heard, don't get your hopes too high on seeing this car next year in the series, I don't have specifics but it's from a really reliable source so yeah, it might not happen for next year, we'll see.

There's some good news and bad news about this. The bad news is that the series has deemed to not accept multiple aero kits (although I think multiple engines are still a go?). But the series will still be using the 2011 Iconic Safety Cell. So the new chassis is a go it's just everyone will be using the Dallara one.

The good news to this is that, despite the multiple manufacturers aero kit getting delayed, more time and testing for the new safety cell would mean more chance for engine and aero manufacturers to give the new chassis a proper go. Another good news is that the amount of people committing to creating an aero kit has increased to 4.

Dallara, Lotus, Penske, and ORECA (just recently confirmed). Delaying the multiple aero kits for another year is actually better as other manufacturers can have more time to decide if they want to create their own aero kit and those who have already committed can have a proper go. After all, we dont want Dallara dominating all the manufacturers and the rest leaving because they didn't have enough time/support to create a competitive chassis.

So... yes I'm disappointed that the series decided to delay allowing more than 1 chassis manufacturer. But in hindsight this is probably better and we can see how the new chassis handles.

 

[Troy Ament]

So... yes I'm disappointed that the series decided to delay allowing more than 1 chassis manufacturer. But in hindsight this is probably better and we can see how the new chassis handles.

It's not even that really. Right now teams have so much money wrapped up in equipment that will be unusable with the new car, many teams are not able to afford to do it.

If you look at the Indy 500 there are tons of teams in qualifying because they have the equipment and are able to try and make one race a year that they could make some real money at, for the rest of the year they may not run. Bring in all new equipment and those teams won't be able to run.

Basically right now it comes down to the league just doesn't have the revenue to support a change to a new equipment regulation, only two teams can really afford to do it and they're still really shaky about it, I'm not expecting them to change cars until their market picks up somewhat.

Just my $0.02 from what I've been told.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

That's pretty much the problems Indycar is facing right now. The split between ChampCar and IndyCar has been so costly that the merge didnt really change IndyCar all that much from its original financial problems. Crappy TV deals that was signed during the split, raitings dropping (the Iowa race, despite being epic, only had a tv raiting of 0.35), and team owners running out of money.

People are kinda sick of series going more spec and people are pretty sick of watching the same Dallara chassis over and over again. IndyCar's move to a completely brand new regulation is a do-or-die kind of move. It's pretty much what a lot of people want to see in IndyCar. Turbo charged engines, multiple chassis and engine manufacturers, a nice split between oval/road. Of course the biggest problem is the series isn't very healthy.

On the bright side. Ticket sales and interest has been improving by a lot since the merge and if this do-or-die move actually succeed than IndyCar can start working back towards its glory CART days.

As a fan, I'm sad to see the multiple chassis get posponed but I'm personally glad that Randy Bernard is taking a risk with this. And I understand that IndyCar is still pretty far from healthy due to the costly war with ChampCar. We can only hope that IndyCar continues to improve and gain more fans/viewers. Although I do wish they'd get rid of Brian Barnhardt asap...

 

[Eric Estes]

Not so sure on the ticket sales. Maybe for some races, but I've seen more people at Langley or South Boston for a Late Model race than I saw in the stands yesterday at New Hampshire.

Really, really hoping _something_ picks it up. Love the racing.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

Not so sure on the ticket sales. Maybe for some races, but I've seen more people at Langley or South Boston for a Late Model race than I saw in the stands yesterday at New Hampshire.

Really, really hoping _something_ picks it up. Love the racing.

It depends on the race. I hear Sao Paolo, Iowa, and Long Beach gets good crowds. But places like Milwaukee and New Hampshire are really low.

IDK Indycar needs to do something different cause it's getting better but not really fast enough atm. So I welcome the new regs even if the cars look a little weird