Racing Discussion II. It's light's out and away we go!

[Cannot think of a name]

If you didn't at least watch the last half an hour of the 24 hours of Daytona you missed out. DPi went to the last lap with the two Acuras fighting hard enough that the Cadillacs almost caught up, but more fun the two GTD Pro Porsches swapped positions four times in the last two laps ending in the #2 Porsche going for a hail mary pass that did not work out. It was pretty badass.

[Dumb Ideologies]

I've got in the habit of watching Formula E the past couple of years, as there's always this air that something stupid in the rules, track design, or amateurish race direction will make something bizarre happen, and because the nature of the narrow tracks and wide cars means that people are allowed to be quite physical with overtakes.

But on the question of stupidity, the race yesterday with drivers swearing on the radio, swerving and coming to a near stop because nobody at race control thought to warn them under safety car that there was a recovery vehicle in the middle of the narrow track picking up a car... it was just dumb rather than massively dangerous because the speeds were so low but another what the hell moment.

[Caleonia]

If you didn't at least watch the last half an hour of the 24 hours of Daytona you missed out. DPi went to the last lap with the two Acuras fighting hard enough that the Cadillacs almost caught up, but more fun the two GTD Pro Porsches swapped positions four times in the last two laps ending in the #2 Porsche going for a hail mary pass that did not work out. It was pretty badass.

Yeah that was something. Really wish AXR didn’t get damage to finish like 20 laps down in the 48. Jimmie and Kamui absolutely deserve a Rolex win someday.

I've got in the habit of watching Formula E the past couple of years, as there's always this air that something stupid in the rules, track design, or amateurish race direction will make something bizarre happen, and because the nature of the narrow tracks and wide cars means that people are allowed to be quite physical with overtakes.

But on the question of stupidity, the race yesterday with drivers swearing on the radio, swerving and coming to a near stop because nobody at race control thought to warn them under safety car that there was a recovery vehicle in the middle of the narrow track picking up a car... it was just dumb rather than massively dangerous because the speeds were so low but another what the hell moment.

Drivers swearing on the radio is a common occurrence (at least in NASCAR). Sometimes we make a sarcastic game called “Radio Sweetheart” which is a fan poll that determines which driver was the craziest on the radio that week.

[Cannot think of a name]

If you didn't at least watch the last half an hour of the 24 hours of Daytona you missed out. DPi went to the last lap with the two Acuras fighting hard enough that the Cadillacs almost caught up, but more fun the two GTD Pro Porsches swapped positions four times in the last two laps ending in the #2 Porsche going for a hail mary pass that did not work out. It was pretty badass.

Yeah that was something. Really wish AXR didn’t get damage to finish like 20 laps down in the 48. Jimmie and Kamui absolutely deserve a Rolex win someday.

I sort of tuned out DPi and definitely tuned out LMP2 and LMP3. I had not dog in the fight except my nephew is an Acura fan for some reason. Sort of like the top GT category last year, sort of a weasing beast waiting for the new formula to take over.

I'm not 100% on them labeling the new category GTP, though. I mean, it's a little more legitimate than when they tried to call it Can Am a while back when there were two sports car series in the US. But this new hypercar thing is not going to be the next Group C. It'd be cool and all, but the 21st century 962 was the R18 and it did the same thing the 962 did, made competing against it too expensive. It's not like the tunnel bodies will come back.

Though if they let the Gordon T50 actually race with the fan...is that still going to be a thing? Too the googlenator! Ah, it is not. And apparently for the reasons I've been worried about, it's not really going to be a GT series. It's just shifting around the prototype regulations. But I guess he's talking to SRO to revive the old BPR series from the 90s instead.

[The Two Jerseys]

Did the Corvettes run into trouble or are they just noncompetitive after being hamstrung for GTD?

[Cannot think of a name]

Did the Corvettes run into trouble or are they just noncompetitive after being hamstrung for GTD?

A little from column a, a little from column b.

They were able to get out front early on but it was pretty clear they were still struggling a bit with the BoP. But in the middle of the night they ran into issues that took them out of contention. The Porsches ended up out front the way Porsches do, by surviving. Everyone but I think Lamborghini took their turn leading GTD Pro but as the sun rose the Porsches were the only ones that didn't encounter problems, though the Ferraris were at their heels.

[Rick Perry]

If you didn't at least watch the last half an hour of the 24 hours of Daytona you missed out. DPi went to the last lap with the two Acuras fighting hard enough that the Cadillacs almost caught up, but more fun the two GTD Pro Porsches swapped positions four times in the last two laps ending in the #2 Porsche going for a hail mary pass that did not work out. It was pretty badass.

I'm The type of guy who either watches the whole thing our waits for the highlights to come out. So since I missed part of it I just won't watch it. It's not like staying up 24 hours is a challenge for me. I just like seeing the whole race. So if I miss out on 2 minutes of it. I won't watch it. Same with basically everything else.
How about Meyer Shank Racing? They always have strong car plus good drivers from IndyCar.
Next comes the Daytona 500.

[Rick Perry]

Also. I am just getting into the IMSA stuff. Wasn't there Mazda's?
They have the MX-5 but I thought they had them in the prototype thingy.

[Vassenor]

Also. I am just getting into the IMSA stuff. Wasn't there Mazda's?
They have the MX-5 but I thought they had them in the prototype thingy.

The Mazda RT24-P is a homologated DPi car, but it looks like no-one chose to run one this season.

[Rick Perry]

Also. I am just getting into the IMSA stuff. Wasn't there Mazda's?
They have the MX-5 but I thought they had them in the prototype thingy.

The Mazda RT24-P is a homologated DPi car, but it looks like no-one chose to run one this season.

I see

[Vassenor]

I don’t think there’s a Mazda entry in the LMDh category for next season though.

[Cannot think of a name]

Also. I am just getting into the IMSA stuff. Wasn't there Mazda's?
They have the MX-5 but I thought they had them in the prototype thingy.

Mazda wrapped up their IMSA racing in 2021. They don't have anything on deck for GTP.

Spec Miata still exists, but that's SCCA. I don't think there's a pro series that has a category for cars that small...mostly because for reasons I've never understood, the Miata has had the market to itself for almost forever. The Boxster, BMW Z3-4, and Mercedes SLK were more upmarket, the S2000 really aimed for those instead of the Miata. The only ones that really tried to compete with the Miata was the MR-S (weird looking car, but mid-engine) and the Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky which...eh.

For some reason 'simple, small, sporty, inexpensive' is a difficult formula for people to replicate. So Miatas are forced to race against Miatas. Even the Fiat which was mostly Miata couldn't hang. I liked the look of the Fiat, honestly.

[Rick Perry]

One thing I noticed watching it was the prototype cars are (for lack of better word) O-P.
Then we have the class where the cars actually look like the manufacturer car, like Benz, Lexus etc. Which are very much slower then the prototype cars. In my personal opinion I feel like either the other classes need to be faster or the prototype's need to be slower. But that's just my opinion.

[Vassenor]

One thing I noticed watching it was the prototype cars are (for lack of better word) O-P.
Then we have the class where the cars actually look like the manufacturer car, like Benz, Lexus etc. Which are very much slower then the prototype cars. In my personal opinion I feel like either the other classes need to be faster or the prototype's need to be slower. But that's just my opinion.

That's how it's been in multi-class endurance racing for decades - the purpose built racers are the top class(es) and then the GT cars are the slower one(s).

[Imperial States of Duotona]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet, but Haas were the first team to show their 2022 livery yesterday.

Not much has changed, but for me it sorta signals the beginning of the F1 year.

[Vassenor]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet, but Haas were the first team to show their 2022 livery yesterday.

Not much has changed, but for me it sorta signals the beginning of the F1 year.

In other words the only time we're actually going to see the Russian cars this season unless Mazepin decides to hold someone up.

[Rick Perry]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet, but Haas were the first team to show their 2022 livery yesterday.

Not much has changed, but for me it sorta signals the beginning of the F1 year.

You heard it! HASS WAS FIRST IN SOMETHING YESTERDAY!

[Cannot think of a name]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet, but Haas were the first team to show their 2022 livery yesterday.

Not much has changed, but for me it sorta signals the beginning of the F1 year.

9 was my number and my grandfathers, so when in doubt I always root for #9.

[Cannot think of a name]

One thing I noticed watching it was the prototype cars are (for lack of better word) O-P.
Then we have the class where the cars actually look like the manufacturer car, like Benz, Lexus etc. Which are very much slower then the prototype cars. In my personal opinion I feel like either the other classes need to be faster or the prototype's need to be slower. But that's just my opinion.

As Vass already pointed out (so...I'm just typing to see myself type, really), that's multiclass racing. Those cars aren't competing against each other. DPi is less restricted, LMP2 and LMP3 are based on a quasi spec platform (I think, like the coming GTP or hybrid class-hybrid for IMSA/ACO...the organizing body for Daytona and Le Mans respectively...you know what? That's just making it more confusing...). The engine is single supplier and there are 4 approved makers for the rest of the car in order to make the class cost effective (as opposed to outspending/engineering GM(Cadillac) and Acura(Honda)). LMP3 is similar with a less powerful engine (600hp vs 455hp) meant to be an entry level category for prototype racers.

GT3 cars have to be in production at the time of homologation (qualifying for racing). It's run what ya brung, so the car has to have the same layout as the street car (in fact, they have to be around 60-80% the street car, depending on the year of the regulations). Obviously the cars are still heavily modified but they're evened out by 'balance of power' which if you're losing is totally unfair to your car (Corvette this year for instance) or it's juuuuuuust right (whoever is winning). So weight and horsepower levels are different for the cars (like the AMG GT can have more horsepower because it's a heavier car where the flat six Porsches are less horsepower because they weigh less.

For me it's the most badass category because they're cars, actual cars. And you have rear engine flat six Porsches, front enginehaha, no not anymore, mid-engine V8 Corvettes and whatever powers the Aston Martins and Lexus, mid-engine Ferraris and Lamborghinis with V8s and V10s.

GTD Pro is teams with all pro drivers, GTD has this really complicated system where it's pro drivers mixed with 'silver' and 'bronze' drivers that are essentially made up of rich people who can buy their seats. Right around hour 10 the announcers really do their best to put the shine on the fact that we're watching hedgefund managers race on the same track with champions from F1, IndyCar, NASCAR, and of course IMSA.

So essentially when you're watching an endurance race you're watching 5 different races happen at once. That use to mean that if one class was a runaway (usually the top class where money buys speed) there was still a battle somewhere but the parity has gotten pretty decent and more than one class will come in close at the finish with the top five cars all still on the same lap. Or two Porsches banging it out like they were in the third act of Days of Thunder.

[Vassenor]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet, but Haas were the first team to show their 2022 livery yesterday.

Not much has changed, but for me it sorta signals the beginning of the F1 year.

9 was my number and my grandfathers, so when in doubt I always root for #9.

So cheering for Mazepin while he tools around at the back, spinning out and generally getting in everyone’s way.

[Imperial States of Duotona]

9 was my number and my grandfathers, so when in doubt I always root for #9.

So cheering for Mazepin while he tools around at the back, spinning out and generally getting in everyone’s way.

Someone needs to teach Mazepin that donuts are usually reserved for after a race is over.

[Cannot think of a name]

9 was my number and my grandfathers, so when in doubt I always root for #9.

So cheering for Mazepin while he tools around at the back, spinning out and generally getting in everyone’s way.

Sure why not

[Rick Perry]

What did everyone think of the clash?
didn't see it? Have some highlights

[Cannot think of a name]

What did everyone think of the clash?
didn't see it? Have some highlights

Huh, so they were saying LA Colosseum in the ads for this. They were advertising tickets for this but I kept thinking I misheard them when they said LA Colosseum. I guess it worked out for them. Putting a halftime show in a NASCAR race seems odd.

It's hard in general for me to get excited about NASCAR so I don't really have any strong feelings about this. Seems like a quarter mile is too short for these cars but I guess it worked.

[Rick Perry]

Putting a halftime show in a NASCAR race seems odd.

it was in a football field.

It could have been Eminem or snoop dog.