Mega Muckup At Mazda

[NismoZ]

AWESOME finish! :rolleyes: ...yellow, white, checker! I like that new rule...knock a guy out of the way and get HIM penalized! Hard racing, though!

[Dr. Corkski]

Those wacky Italians.

[extramundane]

AWESOME finish! :rolleyes: ...yellow, white, checker!

What else do you expect from NASCAR's road-racing division?

[Sean O'Gorman]

There was some great action today, and then there was some downright awful driving out there. I was especially disappointed in all the contact.

I think that the fields are getting big enough to the point where they should be splitting Prototypes and GTs.

And what was with all the cars losing their front clips without actually making contact?

[FCYTravis]

Wow, that race was a mess. Our car needs three new corners worth of bodywork. Photograph the car from the left rear and it looks as new as the day it rolled out of the shops. Shoot it anywhere else and it looks like it stood in for a Humvee in Baghdad. We think there's maybe three bodypanels we can save.

Great racing though, and Alex drove a hell of a show to sixth... we're happy :cool:

[Fio1]

Matteo Bobbi needs to go back to Rome and become a taxi driver, because he aint cutting it in Grand-Am. The guy hit everything but the pace car. He hit the car I was working with twice. I think he got a drive thru because of one of the contacts. He also hit the team cars a few times. You should see his line through the corckscrew as well. What a w*nker. :thumdown: :rolleyes:

[theunions]

Wow, that race was a mess. Our car needs three new corners worth of bodywork. Photograph the car from the left rear and it looks as new as the day it rolled out of the shops. Shoot it anywhere else and it looks like it stood in for a Humvee in Baghdad. We think there's maybe three bodypanels we can save.

So why didn't they change the nose even though a spare was available?

[theunions]

He hit the car I was working with twice.

SunTrust?

[Fio1]

SunTrust?

no one of the porsches.

[Michaelhatesfans]

What else do you expect from NASCAR's road-racing division?
Oh, Grand Am. I wondered what the thread was about. Phew - for a minute there I thought that I'd missed a race or something!

[Skater_36]

Oh, Grand Am. I wondered what the thread was about. Phew - for a minute there I thought that I'd missed a race or something!

:laugh:

[Methanolandbrats]

:rofl:

[Gnam]

In case anyone missed the action:
photo 1 (http://www.motorsport.com/photos/popup.asp?N=12&I=grandam/2005/ls/grandam-2005-ls-tc-0815.jpg&FS=GRANDAM&SN=1_63.194.151.136:64048&S=GRANDAM)
photo 2 (http://www.motorsport.com/photos/popup.asp?N=31&I=grandam/2005/ls/grandam-2005-ls-tc-0834.jpg&FS=GRANDAM&SN=1_63.194.151.136:88161&S=GRANDAM)
photo 3 (http://www.motorsport.com/photos/popup.asp?N=51&I=grandam/2005/ls/grandam-2005-ls-tc-0852.jpg&FS=GRANDAM&SN=1_63.194.151.136:31223&S=GRANDAM)

Hey Rail, they mistakenly identify the car as #99 Anchor Racing BMW M3: Anders Hainer, Joey Hand

[devilmaster]

In case anyone missed the action:
photo 1 (http://www.motorsport.com/photos/popup.asp?N=12&I=grandam/2005/ls/grandam-2005-ls-tc-0815.jpg&FS=GRANDAM&SN=1_63.194.151.136:64048&S=GRANDAM)
photo 2 (http://www.motorsport.com/photos/popup.asp?N=31&I=grandam/2005/ls/grandam-2005-ls-tc-0834.jpg&FS=GRANDAM&SN=1_63.194.151.136:88161&S=GRANDAM)
photo 3 (http://www.motorsport.com/photos/popup.asp?N=51&I=grandam/2005/ls/grandam-2005-ls-tc-0852.jpg&FS=GRANDAM&SN=1_63.194.151.136:31223&S=GRANDAM)

I always get a kick of auto insurance companies sponsoring race cars, the PR lines are endless.....

"We paid out for this car before it got into an accident. Have no fear, we'll pay yours too"

[Sean O'Gorman]

Is the peeling paint a sign of the body shops that Gainsco sends wrecked cars to? ;)

[Sean O'Gorman]

Oh, Grand Am. I wondered what the thread was about. Phew - for a minute there I thought that I'd missed a race or something!

You know, I've said nothing but good things about ALMS the past few weeks, it would be nice if you guys could at least leave Grand-Am alone instead of trying to troll me into another argument. :p

[FCYTravis]

So why didn't they change the nose even though a spare was available?
We called Bob in on the radio... he said "Well, it seems to be driving OK, handling doesn't seem to be any different." We figured, why bother? :laugh: Alex still turned a 1:26.043 even with the crunch-n-munch front end.

My guess is that the big "air scoop" opened by the punched-in headlight probably made up for whatever downforce was lost when the diveplane got ripped off.

[FCYTravis]

What else do you expect from NASCAR's road-racing division?
Um, wait, how does that follow? The yellow flag came out, they threw the white flag under yellow and ended the race under yellow - just like an ALMS race that would end under yellow.

So, uh, what's NASCAR about it?

[msvphoto]

Um, wait, how does that follow? The yellow flag came out, they threw the white flag under yellow and ended the race under yellow - just like an ALMS race that would end under yellow.

So, uh, what's NASCAR about it?

Well...it was supposed to go 250 miles too, but I knew from the start that wasn't going to happen unless "250" was Kms :shakehead

Actually, "NASCAR Like" would have been more like stopping the field under a red and do a one lap "shootout" would it not?

BTW, what's with starting the GT field half a lap down from the so-called "prototypes" (which ran laps around ALMS GT2 speeds).

Yes, I admit that I was there. Beautiful day yesterday, and I shot around 1500 frames over the weekend, and had fun. My first GA experience. I much prefer the GT class and getting to see those BMW teams again was cool. I miss them in ALMS.

[Steve99]

So, uh, what's NASCAR about it?
For me, what is NASCAR about it is the amount of contact that seems to occur between the cars. It seems to happen at every race.

[Sean O'Gorman]

It isn't just a Grand-Am thing though. I remember back in '01 I think it was, there was tons of contact in the ALMS race, especially between LMP and GT cars.

[FCYTravis]

I guess the SCCA SPEED World Challenge is NASCAR-like then too? Seems like I see them beating the crap out of each other fairly regularly.

When you put 24+ fairly equally prepared full-bodied prototype cars together on a road racing circuit, you're going to have a lot of close-contact side-by-side racing. That's just life in the fendered world.

We're not used to it only because in our open-wheeled world, two cars bumping wheels generally means two cars with broken suspensions stuffed in a tire wall. So it's not a very common racing practice in Champ Car, and rightly it looks pretty silly when the EARL tries it - and winds up putting tubs in catchfences in the process.

With fendered prototypes, you can beat and bang and rub fenders - and that's just damned good close competition sports car road racing. I guess a lot of you have forgotten what that looks like.

If you don't want to watch Grand-Am, how about you all go watch a tape of the ALMS Portland race last year, where Chris Dyson in the Dyson Lola and JJ Lehto in the Champion Audi beat each other's cars to pieces in one of the finest mano-y-mano battles I've ever seen in racing. There was body contact, parts flying, cars spinning, penalties handed out and a spectacular lap-after-lap wheel-to-wheel duel. So is the ALMS NASCARized?

The only reason you don't see it more often is because the ALMS doesn't have enough competitive cars. If the ALMS had 24 R8s running around in the P1 class, you'd see a *****oad of body contact there too.

[Sean O'Gorman]

I guess the SCCA SPEED World Challenge is NASCAR-like then too? Seems like I see them beating the crap out of each other fairly regularly.

Don't forget the almost weekly changes to the VTS', and the R.E.W.A.R.D.S. weight...

[Michaelhatesfans]

...it would be nice if you guys could at least leave Grand-Am alone instead of trying to troll me into another argument. :p
Moi?

[Sean O'Gorman]

:D

[Racing Truth]

If you don't want to watch Grand-Am, how about you all go watch a tape of the ALMS Portland race last year, where Chris Dyson in the Dyson Lola and JJ Lehto in the Champion Audi beat each other's cars to pieces in one of the finest mano-y-mano battles I've ever seen in racing. There was body contact, parts flying, cars spinning, penalties handed out and a spectacular lap-after-lap wheel-to-wheel duel. So is the ALMS NASCARized?

The only reason you don't see it more often is because the ALMS doesn't have enough competitive cars. If the ALMS had 24 R8s running around in the P1 class, you'd see a *****oad of body contact there too.

Money quote right there. Short memories I guess.

BTW: "Team Travis :D " finished an impressive 6th yesterday.

[Dr. Corkski]

Looky who showed up at Laguna during the Grand-Am weekend:

http://img30.echo.cx/img30/4561/ocr6qp.jpg

:rofl:

[nrc]

Someone get Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel on the line!

[RichK]

Looky who showed up at Laguna during the Grand-Am weekend:


:rofl:

They are at many SCCA races, I keep meaning to take a picture!