(OT) Watch the Indy Grand Prix - Saturday July 4

[peanutgallery]

I'm thinking the computer part of those things are circa 2005 as compared to F1. It's still possible for a mis-shift among other things. IRL (yes, I said it) is just a little behind the curve - in a good way - to make for some good driving I believe in

Originally Posted by PacNW2Ford

Paddle-shifted gearbox, they only use the clutch to start from rest. Similar to F1.

[peanutgallery]

I will repeat (re: IRL), potato/potaaaaahdo

For the record..CART was a far superior series. I love watching NASCAR guys trying to shuffle those things around a proper road course, the suspension has to really work. Bonus...pretty sure those things are a H gate 4 speed sequential tranny that requires driver input. Props, the drivers are busy

Originally Posted by Bruce K

Peanut - IRL dates back to when there was the split and Champ Car ran a separate series.

When the two organizations merged it became IndyCar.

But WOW what a great Xfinity race. Best NASCAR race I’ve seen in recent memory.

BK

[oliver1850]

Originally Posted by Ralph

Great Indy car race today. Skill level with 1300 LB cars and lots of HP rather incredible. NASCAR Infinity race was a thriller also. Best NASCAR race I've watched in a while, and it wasn't even their top series (tomorrow for that). Some of these NASCAR guys could be successful driving anything.

It was a good finish to the NASCAR race. Last ten laps or so, it was anybody's guess as to which of the first four would win. The racing was hard fought, but without any of the contact issues which are typical of the late stages of NASCAR races. While there was contact, all four of the contenders made it to the checkered flag. I wish NASCAR would schedule more races on road courses.

[rice rocket]

Originally Posted by tuxbailey

Yay. I haven't followed F1 for a while now but watching the Netflix got me up to date with the teams/drivers etc. Looking forward to it tomorrow.

The most interesting part is the theatrics. The racing itself is the worst it's ever been. Watch the race start and the first 3 corners and you essentially have your finishing order.

[tuxbailey]

Originally Posted by rice rocket

The most interesting part is the theatrics. The racing itself is the worst it's ever been. Watch the race start and the first 3 corners and you essentially have your finishing order.

Yeah, can't argue with that. The top 4 teams are the podium winners. The actual racing were done mostly by the midfield.

[FlashUNC]

I gave up on IndyCar after Dan Wheldon's death.

The racing circumstances the series created leading up to the crash were, for me, criminal.

[Bruce K]

Oliver - NASCAR’s next generation car is going to be more like an Aussie Supercar (center lock wheels, turbos, fully independent suspension with full driver tools) and will allegedly have brake lights on road courses and a working headlight option.

With that comes a plan to include up to 1/3 road courses as part of double-header weekends.

Rumors on venues include a night race at Daytona and a double header with F1 at Long Beach. Daytona road course at night would be cool. Long Beach would be not much more than a parade (too narrow) but I like where they are going...

BK

[Plum Hill]

NASCAR has been running their second tier series at Road America for years. Why the first tier isn’t there already is unbelievable.
The only downside is the throwing of full course caution flags on a four mile course.

[tv_vt]

Links, links, need links to highlights, please!

[oliver1850]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

I gave up on IndyCar after Dan Wheldon's death.

The racing circumstances the series created leading up to the crash were, for me, criminal.

Point taken, but that was years ago, and much has changed. Safety has markedly improved in the last ten years. Las Vegas and Pocono are no longer on the schedule, leaving Texas and IMS as the tracks where the greatest risk exists. But a life threatening injury can occur at any track. Compare Wheldon's accident to Jeff Krosnoff's death at Toronto on a street circuit. The injuries and cause of them are remarkably similar. The Red Bull/Dallara aeroscreen could be argued to be the best driver protection device for open wheeled cars yet devised, and had it been developed 15 years sooner it may have saved several drivers' lives. Despite a chorus of cries of "ugly" from fans, it's here to stay.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by oliver1850

Point taken, but that was years ago, and much has changed. Safety has markedly improved in the last ten years. Las Vegas and Pocono are no longer on the schedule, leaving Texas and IMS as the tracks where the greatest risk exists. But a life threatening injury can occur at any track. Compare Wheldon's accident to Jeff Krosnoff's death at Toronto on a street circuit. The injuries and cause of them are remarkably similar. The Red Bull/Dallara aeroscreen could be argued to be the best driver protection device for open wheeled cars yet devised, and had it been developed 15 years sooner it may have saved several drivers' lives. Despite a chorus of cries of "ugly" from fans, it's here to stay.

It's less the nature of the tracks or the safety equipment as it was the IndyCar apparatus creating a stunt that encouraged excessive risk in an already dangerous sport. Is Dan Wheldon alive today if not for the GoDaddy Challenge stunt?

It's a reckless idea that I think resulted in his needless death. I can't support an organization that adds unecessary risk to an already dangerous sport, and so cavalierly played with drivers' lives. It's a shame, because open wheel racing is incredible spectator sport. But I'm not giving my eyeballs to IndyCar.

[oliver1850]

Originally Posted by Bruce K

Oliver - NASCAR’s next generation car is going to be more like an Aussie Supercar (center lock wheels, turbos, fully independent suspension with full driver tools) and will allegedly have brake lights on road courses and a working headlight option.

With that comes a plan to include up to 1/3 road courses as part of double-header weekends.

Rumors on venues include a night race at Daytona and a double header with F1 at Long Beach. Daytona road course at night would be cool. Long Beach would be not much more than a parade (too narrow) but I like where they are going...

BK

Sounds interesting as far as making the cars more like real race cars, and great that they will be more suited to road courses. It's clear that the series can't go back to the days when a team could take a production car, weld in a cage, build an engine to meet the rules, do a few body mods, slap on the Goodyears and go racing. That was when NASCAR was more interesting though. At the present most of the interest in the series is focused around driver popularity - do you like Chase Elliott or "Sliced Douche" (Joey Logano for those who don't follow NASCAR on the Ten Tenths forum)? While driver favorites have always been a part of the interest equation in any racing series, that isn't enough to keep me really engaged. The F1 era with BRM, Ferrari, Matra, Cosworth, Alfa Romeo and others making engines of various configurations made things much more interesting, not to mention the different chassis constructors. It seems that we are kind of stuck in an era of essentially spec-car racing.

[oliver1850]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

It's less the nature of the tracks or the safety equipment as it was the IndyCar apparatus creating a stunt that encouraged excessive risk in an already dangerous sport. Is Dan Wheldon alive today if not for the GoDaddy Challenge stunt?

It's a reckless idea that I think resulted in his needless death. I can't support an organization that adds unecessary risk to an already dangerous sport, and so cavalierly played with drivers' lives. It's a shame, because open wheel racing is incredible spectator sport. But I'm not giving my eyeballs to IndyCar.

I'm not arguing that the GoDaddy Challenge may have encouraged risk taking at a dangerous venue, but that was ten years ago. The accident happened on lap 11, way before anyone should have even been thinking about competing for the prize. I don't remember exactly what happened, and don't want to watch it again. The people who ran the series at that time are long gone, and ownership of the series has changed.

[Bruce K]

IndyCar is getting set for a new round of engine wars as the rumor mill is churning with all kinds of names.

Teams rumored to be looking to join IndyCar for at least this year’s delayed 500 include Ferrari (obviously in a role similar to McLaren- nothing actually Ferrari except people and paint), and an expansion by McLaren to as many as 5 total cars.

Some of these are precursors for next year when engine rules change and IndyCar is accepting new manufacturers. Mercedes is in the rumor mill and also Ferrari with some other F1 engine makers sniffing around.

Haas is rumored to be thinking of switching from F1 to IndyCar as Dallara is their chassis builder already.

Things could get real interesting really fast in IndyCar.

BK

[tuxbailey]

That was a pretty good race. At least not a Mercedes 1-2 finish.