Other: The 24 Hours of Lemons
What is your favorite auto racing type?
Rey C.
Racing is life... anything else is just waiting.
Somewhat off-topic, but Milka is truly one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting at the race track. She's not a very good racer, and she's currently in way over her head. But if the IRL leadership was smart (and the jury is is still voting that it isn't), the new CEO and his minions would work HARD to get her into some sort of part time driver & full time team owner role, and hold her up as a sort of ambassador for the series.
I wish that she'd stuck with sports car racing. She wasn't a hot shoe there, but at least she was more in her element. I first saw her race in the Women's Global GT Series more than ten years ago - she began racing at a rather advanced age. She definitely possessed the skills necessary to be a pro racer... just not in an upper level series. But SUCH a nice person (especially toward kids). Though as Danica found out, Latinas don't put up with the temper tantrums of egomaniacal, over-hyped spoiled brats, the way that the wussy male drivers in the IRL do.
On personality (not driving skills), I have to put Milka up there with Emerson Fittipaldi and Max Papis, as far as cool racers I've met. Michael Andretti is at or near the VERY bottom. IMO, he and Danica deserve each other.
Best endurance sports car racing I've seen yet ...
The GT class in the 6 hours of Laguna Seca today has to have been the best sports car racing I've seen in a long, long time. For a long while there were over a half dozen GT class cars going at the top spots -- BMW, Corvette, Ferrari and Porsche, with a lot of position changes and pit strategies, all on the same, lead lap.
The GT class in the 6 hours of Laguna Seca today has to have been the best sports car racing I've seen in a long, long time. For a long while there were over a half dozen GT class cars going at the top spots -- BMW, Corvette, Ferrari and Porsche, with a lot of position changes and pit strategies, all on the same, lead lap.
Re: More than just NASCAR ...
CBS Sports is starting to get into it now as well, although tape delayed. The 6 hours of Laguna Seca from yesterday (May 21st) will be shown on Saturday (May 28th) in a compressed, 90 minute format at 1:30pm EDT (4:30pm PDT). Although most of the race was exciting in the GT class.
Endurance racing tends to be a long and not always compatible with American TV. In person is definitely the most exciting. ALMS is streaming many of the races live, on-line, including stream all 6 hours of Laguna Seca on Saturday.
SpeedTV will be covering, and even streaming over the Internet, the 24 Hours of Le Mans live on June 13-14th as well: http://www.speedtv.com/programs/24-hours-of-le-mans/
Sometimes a "lower class" wins the whole thing, like Corvette did back in GTS/GT1 with the LS7.R engine, over the higher performing Le Mans Prototypes (LMP). It's rare, but it happens.
SpeedTV has most of the races.
CBS Sports is starting to get into it now as well, although tape delayed. The 6 hours of Laguna Seca from yesterday (May 21st) will be shown on Saturday (May 28th) in a compressed, 90 minute format at 1:30pm EDT (4:30pm PDT). Although most of the race was exciting in the GT class.
Endurance racing tends to be a long and not always compatible with American TV. In person is definitely the most exciting. ALMS is streaming many of the races live, on-line, including stream all 6 hours of Laguna Seca on Saturday.
SpeedTV will be covering, and even streaming over the Internet, the 24 Hours of Le Mans live on June 13-14th as well: http://www.speedtv.com/programs/24-hours-of-le-mans/
Oh, that really works into the strategy, especially in how the ACO is restricting the classes. There's far more competition.
Sometimes a "lower class" wins the whole thing, like Corvette did back in GTS/GT1 with the LS7.R engine, over the higher performing Le Mans Prototypes (LMP). It's rare, but it happens.
For those that follow ALMS/FIA/LMS and ACO/IMSA/SRO regulations ...
I started another thread/poll here:
What's your favorite Gran Turismo (GT) Sports Car manufacturer? http://board.freeones.com/showthread.php?t=408159
Again, I'm asking about GT class, not Prototype. I'm also more focused on the more unified ACO/IMSA/SRO regulations across-the-world, and not Grand Am-centric classification of GT (or GS for that matter).
I started another thread/poll here:
What's your favorite Gran Turismo (GT) Sports Car manufacturer? http://board.freeones.com/showthread.php?t=408159
Again, I'm asking about GT class, not Prototype. I'm also more focused on the more unified ACO/IMSA/SRO regulations across-the-world, and not Grand Am-centric classification of GT (or GS for that matter).
ALMS on ABC-ESPN ...
That way if you love all the action, you can watch all 62 hours of the season, live.
If you don't want to waste that much time, you can watch the concise version in 2 hours or less.
For 2011, ALMS is going to be streamed live on ESPN3.com, including qualifying (and some practices), with a 90-120 minute ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 segments done the following day.
That way if you love all the action, you can watch all 62 hours of the season, live.
If you don't want to waste that much time, you can watch the concise version in 2 hours or less.
I've noticed a lot of people in Europe think we Americans only have NASCAR. Ironically, a lot of auto-racing popularity has a similar track between US and Europe.
In Europe, Formula 1 is king, cars and drivers, major economies and costs (let alone a lot of stress for many involved). In US, we have Formula 1 "light" ... IndyCar with more practical and manageable costs (and more relaxed). Other than Indianapolis, it's not all about ovals. IndyCar is street, sports car and other, modified tracks (including serveral NASCAR ovals using only a half-oval for IndyCar events).
In Europe, WRC and Rally is popular, especially in large pockets of nationalities or followers. Likewise, in the US, NASCAR is really a hotbed for large pockets of the Southeast US, with some sprinkled popularity here and there.
But one thing that has endured over a half-century in both Europe and the US is sport car racing, including a long evolution of production and prototype. This year Sebring, Florida (USA) will hold it's 59th consecutive race and Le Mans, France its 62nd consecutive (79th overall, with a break during the war and post-war Europe in 1940-1949).
While American (ALMS) and European Le Mans do not seem to have the overall viewership and fan base of IndyCar and Formula 1, respectively, it is very high, and long-term. ALMS is also often scheduling with IndyCar events on the same weekend, increasing the base, even if only half attend one and not the other. And with the re-introduction of an Intercontinental Cup -- using tracks from the American and European series with select other courses -- in 2011, it seems the ACO-FIA sports car prototype and production GT classes are not slowing down in popularity.
Especially with ALMS, while only a dozen years old, is really looking to be long-term. Before, courses like Sebring were just one of two to three races in the US of the greater, Intercontinental title. Now you have ALMS with its local courses, plus Sebring and Atlanta that are part of the world crown. You also have the manufacturing focus, because the US is still a huge consumer base (even in a down economy), which is clearly sustaining the annual series approach of 8+ races, whereas LMS hasn't been as strong continually (other than the Silverstone, the Ring and Le Mans itself).
Well GM does NASCAR's engines.
The GM engines for NASCAR was only one of two programs that were profitable when the US GAO forced GM to cut all of its eleven racing programs except those that were profitable. It still amazes me today that GM did things not based on actual profitability from data, but what they thought was profitable (cue killing Camaro and focusing on SUVs). So that's when GM also discovered the racing program they didn't realize was profitable, and horrendously undermarketed, Corvette Racing. It was overwhelmingly selling GM cars like the NASCAR relationship. The GM engine in NASCAR is actually a sub-6L, overhead cam V8, different than their typical, small block pushrods that can be bigger displacement (although smaller in overall volume).
I mean, Corvette dominated GTS/GT1 for a decade -- America and anywhere the manufacturing team ran in Europe (let alone the Privateer teams have done well) -- even took the overall winner at Le Mans one year (no GT class car has ever done that in the modern era), and GM marketed it jack. Now Corvette doesn't do so well in its first year of GT2 in 2010, using a hastily designed engine that's smaller than what it sells in even its entry-level (for upcoming ACO-FIA requirements), and then makes a huge deal when they win only 1 race -- and that was only because Ferrari ran out of gas on that last lap. I mean, it's a total flip. You have a full decade of unmatched unreliability with the 427 LS7.R, take home the German award in 2005 for worldwide engine design (even beating out all Formula 1 entries), and you market it jack. Most Americans still hink a Corvette can't handle at all, and are utterly ignorant of the C6 and Z06 designs (totally born from lessons learned in racing, which GM ignored for the first 5 generations). Even Ferrari is now sourcing the same Corvette magnetic selective ride option ("F55" is a whole, whopping $1,999 add-on) on one of their $300K models.
As a result, GM is doing its best to unseat Honda as the engine for IndyCar long-term, along with being the standard V8 in a lot of Le Mans (and Daytona) prototypes. GM "LS" series V8 small blocks are already wildly popular most of the amateur and even sanctioned, but lesser known, sports car racing programs, because they are simple, solid pushrod designs with great fuel economy and rock solid reliability. But they aren't getting much fanfare for that. They finally realize if they can get that mindshare among open wheel racing like sports car racing, they can sell more GM cars. Ford realized this years ago, but too bad it took bankruptcy for GM to realize it.
Heck, one GM executive basically set Carroll Shelby in motion in the '60s by giving him Corvettes to race and prototype with at the same time GM corporate had banned Zora from doing such (after Zora's Corvette won its Le Mans class, completely unsanctioned and unsupported by GM). Add in Lee Iacocca at Ford and the rest is history there too. GM is doing things right this time around, but I can only hope it lasts, especially in racing. I think introducing the Cadallic CTS team is going to be the first test, although adding Johnny O'Connell from Corvette Racing was a smart move. Then again they tried the Le Mans Prototype route with Cadallic prior, trying to build "high end buyer" mindshare against Audi and Porsche, and that was a serious pit of money that netted little.
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