1007 replies to this topic

[lewisthegreat2]

Noooooooooooooooooooooo.  INDYCAR is considering abandoning the double-file restart for Long Beach only (and then it would be back at São Paulo, Indy, etc).

Just because Hélio Castroneves isn't much of a driver outside of the 500 doesn't mean they should run a single-file snoozer at Long Beach.  They start every race double-file, I don't know why they can't restart them like that.  If the team owners have a problem with the crash damage, well, tell Hélio your driver(s) to be less aggressive.

Now suck it up, enjoy it (like Simona; she got a tough break on a double-file restart yesterday when Hélio forced her up into Viso, taking out Hinchcliffe and forcing her back a ways, but she still loves the double-file restarts and isn't going to complain that two guys were trying to overtake her on the start, which they had every right to do; as suspect as Hélio and Viso's driving can be at times, it was alright this time...if you had to assign fault, Hélio takes most blame, Simona and Viso equally less blame, HInchcliffe none), and let's go racing!

[HandyNZL]

Double line starts is no different to the actual start of the race...the pussies.

Anyway, I liked the comment from one of the commentators that "there wasn't enough hate out there" regarding the double line starts...I thought that was quite funny.

I see JHS is almost a convert?????

Now why is it, that Inycar doesn't need flappy wings and KERS to have overtaking??????

[JHS]

HandyNZL, on 12 April 2011 - 03:05 AM, said:

I see JHS is almost a convert?????

Ah, I've been called worst things in my time.

[lewisthegreat2]

HandyNZL, on 12 April 2011 - 03:05 AM, said:

Now why is it, that Inycar doesn't need flappy wings and KERS to have overtaking??????

You know the answer to your own question, and you know there are plenty of "aids" in all sports.

Besides, INDYCAR and F1 really can't be compared.  Two entirely different things; none better than the other, but I never really saw any connection between the two.  Both open-wheel, sure, but completely unrelated in the same way you wouldn't call open-wheel sprint cars anything comparable to F1, or ice hockey comparable to golf.  Just totally different by nature, and while I know which one I personally enjoy more, I wouldn't ever want to model either after the other in any way.

[lewisthegreat2]

http://petersmotorsp...axair-persp.png

Paul Tracy's car for Long Beach.

Edited by lewisthegreat2, 12 April 2011 - 11:17 PM.

[HandyNZL]

Good on ya Eric, you picked up on my rhetorical question.

You're right about them being chalk and cheese...both have there pros and cons.

The old man and I were talking about Scott Dixon the other night, not long after the commentators were talking about his fuel mileage...I commented that that would be a good trait in F1 today, as he could easily run 10kg or more less fuel than the next guy....to wit I also commented that he probably enjoys IRL, no need to go anywhere else, has made enough money to be happy etc...and pops added the he doesn't have to fly all over the world either...he can have a home near Indy, as he does, and fly out on the Thursday or whatever, and be home Sunday night for a snog and cuddle with that hottie wife of his.

Like you, I don't snob one for the other (F1/IRL etc)...just tintops coz open wheelers rule!

[HandyNZL]

lewisthegreat2, on 12 April 2011 - 11:15 PM, said:

http://petersmotorsp...axair-persp.png

Paul Tracy's car for Long Beach.

oooo...I feel a chubby coming on...thats one clean looking car.

[HandyNZL]

Where do you get all the car renderings you've posted over the years, Eric?

[lewisthegreat2]

NASCAR overload!

Talladega is this weekend.  Make all efforts to watch.  It will be CRAZY and it always comes down to the last few feet to decide the winner.

And it's fast.  If you get right down to it, they main reason we all watch racing has to do with speed.

Probably going to see a lot of the two-car drafting stuff from Daytona, which wasn't bad at all, and could yield another surprise winner.  Key for the Chase to not get caught up in somebody else's mess, too.

STP is returning to NASCAR sponsorship after a long absence.  The STP 400 at Kansas will be the same weekend as the STP 300 in Chicagoland; more importantly, A.J. Allmendinger will run this livery:



That'll look good on a COT, I think.

Steve Park returns to Tommy Baldwin Racing after a P13 at Daytona last July.  He'll be in the 35 and they will run the full distance.  Park, as mentioned last July, is a really nice guy (one of first NASCAR drivers I ever met) and was on the verge of breaking out in stock car racing when he had a freak accident under caution at Darlington that led to massive head injuries.  He's had a tough time putting his career back together in the ten years that have passed (returning to Cup only to fall back to Truck and then K&N Pro), so I always enjoy his occasional starts.  His teammate, Dave Blaney, ran well at Daytona, so you never know...

Not a big Paul Menard fan, but I have to mention how incredible of a start to the season he's had.  His father, John, has a net worth of $7,300,000,000; Menard's basically gotten this far on Daddy's money.  Yet he's turned out to have real talent.  Next time someone screams about how terrible ride-buyers are, well...sometimes it's the only way for a talented driver to get in, and with time, they can prove themselves.

Greg Biffle has signed an extension with Roush-Fenway Racing.

Juan Pablo Montoya gets Oreo colors for Talladega.  This means we might possibly see an Oreo INDYCAR for a certain Mr. Franchitti, which is cool, because the Oreo cars always look really nice.

HandyNZL, on 13 April 2011 - 08:26 AM, said:

Where do you get all the car renderings you've posted over the years, Eric?

Honestly, every single one comes from a different website.  I find most of them on other forums.

[lewisthegreat2]

http://www.indycar.c...s-first-choice/

Qualifying for the roadies has been revised.  I liked the old way, and I like the new way.  This is more "fair," random draw was more "exciting."

[lewisthegreat2]

27 cars for Long Beach.  Ana Beatriz is supposed to return; Paul Tracy brings out the Ralph's Special with Dragon.

http://www.indycar.c...potter_WEB2.pdf

Still no clarification on that "26-car limit" stuff.  I guess 27 will race, but only 26 will get paid.  However, only 5 actually get paid; the top 22 in points get TEAM money.  So I'm so confused.  Maybe P27 doesn't count toward TEAM points; I don't know.  Either way, we'll let 27 cars loose at Long Beach, so works for me.

[HandyNZL]

Works for me too Eric.  Just imagine an F1 grid with 27 cars....oh, that's right...that'll never happen again.

Re the renders, what you're really saying is you're a plagiarizing bunny rabbit that is also a forum whore slutting your way between them all....for shame, boy....for.....shame.

[lewisthegreat2]

HandyNZL, on 15 April 2011 - 09:32 AM, said:

Works for me too Eric.  Just imagine an F1 grid with 27 cars....oh, that's right...that'll never happen again.

Re the renders, what you're really saying is you're a plagiarizing bunny rabbit that is also a forum whore slutting your way between them all....for shame, boy....for.....shame.

I'd rather imagine F1 with more than one competitive car, personally.

The second line of your post is 100% correct.  When I hit enough posts to change my display name here and on some of the others, I'm going to standardize it so I'm easily identifiable on all forums (what that standard username will be, however, is beyond me.  Wang Chung is a leading contender, if only because everyone thinks it means something it doesn't...)

Getting back to plagiarism:



Sweet mother of Derrike Cope that's a nice livery.

[lewisthegreat2]

Speaking of stock cars, Milka Duno paced final practice for the ARCA race at Daytona in her CITGO Supergard (yes, "gard" and not "guard") Toyota Camry.  I LOL'd.

On the subject of Milka, she will not race in INDYCAR at all this season.  Between the 105% rule and Randy banning her from road courses, it wasn't meant to be.  I'd much rather she cause the big one in a fourth-tier stock car series at lower speeds and with more sheet metal around the driver, though her countryman E.J. Viso is much more of a hazard than she ever was.  Ignoring her political activism, she was really one of the nicer people in the sport, but I can't say anyone's going to miss her.  There are 27 cars and we still have deserving guys on the sidelines, so the fact she's not filling one of the seats is quite nice.

Big Dubya paced first practice from the LBC, with defending race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay right behind (.190s).  Scott Dixon!, Bad a## Wilson, and Ryan Briscoe rounded out the top five (Briscoe subsequently put it into the tires).  Conway, Tagliani, Castroneves, Rahal, and Kanaan the rest of the top ten, which means Ashley's Gentleman Driver (I suspect the term means something different to her than to us) Dario Franchitti was a lowly eleventh!  If Dubya's any good on ovals this year (and he will be), Franchitti has to bring a little more than that (but then again, we talkin bout practice, not a game, not a game, we talkin bout practice).

Other notables: Sébastien Bourdais was P12, Paul Tracy P15 on return, Chuck P19, 2008 Long Beach Atlantics race winner Simona de Silvestro a terrible P22, James Hinchcliffe setting the world on fire (literally; lasted 8 laps before it caught flame) in P24, and Danica in P25.

[lewisthegreat2]

Practice two is live!

Paul Tracy wadded up the Ralphs Special and is done for the day.  They will repair it and continue, but a tough return to the sport for Jay Penske and Paul Tracy, a union that Roger Penske described as the "two people who gave [him] the most trouble getting together."

Green again after the Tracy wreck.

Hunter-Reay leads Briscoe and Dubya.  Hinchcliffe has recovered nicely to a stout tenth.  Twenty and change left in this one.

[lewisthegreat2]

Practice two has concluded with Ryan Briscoe recovering nicely from his crash to top the charts.  Yes, there is another Aussie in this game...

Dubya and the Hunter complete the would-be-podium, with Scott joining the usual crew in fourth.  Alex Tagliani continues a strong weekend in fifth.  Castroneves, Andretti, Meira, Wilson, and Servià the rest of your IZOD IndyCar Series top ten.

Franchitti still struggles for speed in P12, just ahead of James Hinchcliffe.  Simona and Chuck way down in twenty-first and twenty-second respectively.

Paul Tracy's crash leaves him at the bottom of the score sheet, having logged just two laps in the session.

[HandyNZL]

C'mon Simona! Use that nuclear powerplant of yours!!

Thanks for the update Eric.

Expect Franchitti to copy some stuff from Dixon then drive off....damn cheatin' tootin' Scot.....

So much motorsport on for me this weekend...China GP, Longbeach GP and V8 Supercars sliding around a wet track just dwon the road from me....ahhhh...motorsport...

[lewisthegreat2]

Good night, American Le Mans.

Scott Atherton and Dr. Don Panoz did a wonderful job really ****ing around after last year, whoring themselves out to the ACO to get another ILMC snoozer of a Peugeot-Audifest and signing the worst broadcast contract in the history of sports.

In doing both of those things, they are now left with 2 LMP1s and 2 LMP2s at Long Beach, a race that was, in 2010, one of the best I've ever seen.  And both of those LMP2s are from the same team; one is probably going to be withdrawn.

I've said all along that ACO rules would never work in ALMS and guess what?  They don't.  Having our own rules at the expense of not having the ILMC events at Sebring and Petit is definitely a worthwhile trade-off; both races always got bigger grids even without the ILMC.

And the TV contract, well, it's no coincidence the amount of money spent to develop the Abruzzi is equivalent to the amount of money Panoz used to pay to buy airtime on SPEED/CBS for the series.  Not saying it was the right/wrong allocation, but the Abruzzi was built at the expense of the American Le Mans Series, so I wonder if, in retrospect, Panoz wishes he hadn't; all the teams and fans do.

A lot of ex-prototype teams are already talking to Randy Bernard about running INDYCAR next year, and with Grand-Am making some big moves (new DP and GT cars coming soon, new DTM support series), it's fair to say ALMS has died.  I'll miss what it was, but I can't say I'll miss what it is now, especially when I can't see any of the "races."

[lewisthegreat2]

Final practice concludes with Ryan Briscoe on top once more.  He's got to be starving for a NASCAR off-weekend so Nicole will be home to get a good result after the start he's had.

Dubya, Dixon, Franchitti, and Hunter-Reay are the top five.  Sebastián Saavedra comes out of nowhere to take P6; Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Takuma Sato, and James Hinchcliffe follow.  E.J. Viso doesn't crash, but Oriol Servià does (they end eleventh and twelfth).

Not doing as well as they should:
13. Castroneves
15. Rahal
16. Conway
17. Tagliani
18. Wilson
20. de Silvestro
21. Kimball
23. Bourdais
24. Tracy
25. Hildebrand

[HandyNZL]

Told ya that cheating Scot would nick Scott's data and move up the grid

TK doing well...for some reason I like him.  No reason why.  Not like he has flowing blonde locks to get all excited about......

[lewisthegreat2]

It's a hat trick of PEAK Performance Pole Awards for Will Power!

1. Will "Dubya" Power
2. Ryan Hunter-Reay
3. Mike Conway
4. Oriol Servià
5. Justin "Bad ***" Wilson
6. Hélio "Tax Cheat" Castroneves
7. Dario Franchitti
8. Scott "Handy's Man" Dixon
9. Alex "No ****ing Cars" Tagliani
10. Tony Kanaan
11. James "The Mayor" Hinchcliffe
12. Ryan "Newman" Briscoe
13. Vitor "Grizzly" Meira
14. Marco Andretti
15. Sebastián Saavedra
16. Graham "Starbucks" Rahal
17. E.J. Viso
18. Simona de Silvestro
19. Raphael "Chilli" Matos
20. Danica "Princess Sparkle Pony" Patrick
21. Sébastien Bourdais
22. Takuma Sato
23. James Jakes
24. Charlie Kimball
25. Paul Tracy
26. Ana Beatriz
27. J.R. "Captain America" Hildebrand

It's of interest to all that we have a new rivalry: Power and Dixon.  Scott's ****ed about Power holding him up, and we all know about last weekend with the restarts.  Rivalries are fun and Power's infinitely better than Dixon anyway.  Quit being a sissy and go A.J. Foyt on him if you want to prove a point.

Or send Chip to fight your battles.  I wouldn't screw around with the Chipster.

[HandyNZL]

Yeah he was getting a bit miffed at the restarts in 'bama. Justified too as he wasn't on his side of the track.

And the commentators got their wish then of bringing back the biff...or whatever it was he said....lol....gonna get good...but you do have to bear in mind that its an Aussie v Kiwi thing....they'll be playing to the media and having a good chuckle too...

[HandyNZL]

Oh and watch out for my other man in the 82 coming thru....

[lewisthegreat2]

If Kanaan does his usual gain ten spots on the start deal, he'll be in good position today.

Indy Lights and INDYCAR both live today, streaming at the usual place.

Talladega is live, too, and ought to be wild...



That was yesterday.

[JHS]

Got the Indycar on right now. I missed the NASCAR, but from what I've seen online, it looks like it was an awesome finish! So much good racing has gone on this weekend.

[JHS]

Wow! Helio takes out Power. Uh-oh. Unhappy team mates.

[JHS]

Sato, Kimball and Saavedra also out. Caution out.

[JHS]

Hahah wow, Servia does an awesome job to avoid that crash infront of him and slot back in to the race after a quick spin.

Edited by JHS, 17 April 2011 - 10:02 PM.

[JHS]

Hunter-Reay with issues, almost takes another car out. That was silly, especially if he has problems on the car. Not a great fan of his.

Conway up to 1st!

[JHS]

Conway's a street track specialist. I remember him winning at Monaco in GP2 a few years back.

Great to see Hinchcliffe running so strongly too, go for the podium!