Being a fan of a variety of motorsports; I decided to start an ongoing racing thread, rather than start a new one weekly. The most "common thread" (most fans) among posters here is F1. By all means, keep posting F1 race threads. I don't wish to exclude F1 from this thread, but keep it short. Expound at length on F1 dedicated threads. Likewise, keep your "I hate NASCAR" and "F1 is boring" whinage out of here. There are threads for that. If not; new ones sprout weekly. Got a question or an informed comment? Spit it out. Otherwise, read and learn.

I am not a journalist by trade; but I try to write literate, informative reports on races I watch or attend. Living in the USA, I am denied coverage of Aussie V8 racing. I would love to read commentary on these races. LMES? Tell us about it. Links would be kewl, too. In the winter, I do get late night Monday coverage of WRC. Tell me more.

-----All times EDT/GMT-4

F1 and Rolex Grand Am have this weekend off. IRL cars do postponed Indy 500 qualifying. I hope no rookie dies.

NASCAR trucks race Charlotte (difficult 1.5 mile quad-oval) Friday night 9:15P on Speed.

NASCAR Nextel All Star challenge runs Charlotte Sat night. This a no points/no penalty 75 lap (w/2 breaks) "knife fight" for $1 million. It can be insane. The late Davey Allison won crashing across the finish line. He waved to the crowd as he was pulled out of the destroyed roof of his car. The Open, to qualify the last 2 starters, runs at 7:30P. The main runs at 9:00P. Both are on FX network.

ALMS runs Mid-Ohio Sun at Noon. CBS covers it from 1:00P, cutting/summarizing the first hour. New pavement/no concrete patches on a great course could make this one interesting. Dyson Racing Lolas finished 1-2 over Audi last year.

CART Champ Cars race the road course at Monterrey, Mexico Sun 2:00P on Speed.

NHRA races Sun at Columbus Ohio 8:00P on ESPN2.

ALMS and CART have free live timing and scoring online. NASCAR wants you to pay. Screw them.

^^This sounds like a great idea.

I have a question about the NEXTEL ALL STAR CHALLENGE. Why did NASCAR end the "elemination" part of it? I believe it used to be after the first segment, the last place car would be parked, then after the 2nd segment only the top 12 would remain....(somethig close to that.)
What was the reason for this? And do you think the rules will change again soon? (Rules concerning the ALL STAR RACE.)

After the "levelgating" was done last summer, GOODYEAR had a BIG problem with the Charolette racing surface, there were approximatly ~ 21 cautions due to blowouts. NASCAR even disscused calling the race early because of the problem.
Was the track repaved recently? I heard that it was. How do you think this will effect the racing conditions?

The fans also get an opertunity to vote for a driver to participate in the race, who wouldn't otherwise. I'm putting my money on Kyle Petty, nobody can hate the guy, and he's doing a charity thing, where if he's voted in he'll donate all this $money$ to a worthy cause. (I think its Victory Junction.)
IMO it's "nice" of him but....NASCAR's going to put a stop to it very soon. Next thing, Kenny Schrader will say he'll donate DOUBLE the money if they vote him in! It'll just turn into who will "PAY" the most to get in.

DTM at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Germany. Live broadcast on ARD(German). For Livetiming, go to http://www.dtm.de/index.php?lang=en then the banner that says livetiming and fanradio.
Should be a good race. The Mercedes drivers are fast, but so is Kristensen in his Audi. Kristensen is eager to win after two second places in the first races.


This weeks WRC event is Rally d'Italia Sardegna. Gravel rally. Grönholm must do good in order to stop Loeb. Loeb now has a 21 points avantage over Grönholm and the rest of the field. If Loeb wins, and Grönholm fails again, then it might already be the decision in the championship. Eurosport will show the highlights of the rally.


WTCC drives in Great Britian their third race of the season at Brands Hatch(Long version). It seems that Seat has taken over Alfa Romeo's spot, being the biggest BMW rival this year. Eurosport does a live coverage of both races.


For the Europeans with Eurosport: Sunday 20:00 CET Champ Car. I hope I can catch some of that.


Last but certainly not least for the motorracers in our middle: In France the 5th race of the MotoGP season will be driven at the Bugatti circuit. Can Rossi fight back, or are the young ones going to take this one too?
Again, live coverage of Eurosport of the 125cc, 250cc and the MotoGP

I would have replied early this AM; but I lost the SCF server, and could not reconnect.

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FunnyCar: If you want to know the why of NASCAR rules; see a fortune teller. The rules may change by sundown. Does only the open winner get in? I don't know about a vote-in; but Ken Shrader would always get my vote. No 10 of us combined love racing more than him. He will have slicks on his coffin.

Shrader's Wood Bros. #21 Ford starts 6th in the open. Jeff Burton starts 5th in the #31 Richard Childress Chevy. The current champ's rookie teammate Hamlin starts 2nd in the #11 Joe Gibbs Chevy. This could be fun.

Jeffie clone Jimmie Johnson (#48 Hendrick Chevy) has won the last 4 Cup races at Charlotte. He starts 2nd in the 75 lap Challenge race. 1998 all star race winner Mark Martin slaughtered the field last year. He starts 16th. Bet against a <100 lap Jack Roush built Ford motor at your peril.

Drivers that "tested" the new surface/new tires at Charlotte sounded positive. Nobody tapped their *** going into turn 3. Did I say "knife fight"?

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CarRocker: Good input. When is the DTM race? (what is CET?) Got any other links?

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P2 Porsches fastest in Friday testing at Mid-Ohio.

Good stories about Dyson Racing and Alex Job racing here: http://www.americanlemans.com/news/news.aspx

CarRocker: Good input. When is the DTM race? (what is CET?) Got any other links?

No problem. I think I love motorsport as much as you do;)

CET = Central European Time, or GMT +1

DTM race is Sunday at 14:00. Quali should start in about 45 minutes from now.

EDIT: Standings after 1 day rallying:

1. Marcus Grönholm,Fin,Ford 1.33.39,9
2. Sébastien Loeb,Fra,Citr. + 35,4
3. Mikko Hirvonen,Fin,Ford + 1.04,2
4. Petter Solberg,Noo,Subaru + 1.44,5
5. Dani Sordo,Spa,Citroën + 2.04,3

Ken Shrader would always get my vote. No 10 of us combined love racing more than him. He will have slicks on his coffin.


^^^I agree, Ken is one of the top MOST DEDICATED racers in history. It dosn't matter a bit to him what he's racing, just as long as he's racing. As I look at some of the "young guns" it makes me think Schrader (along with Mark Martin) is the last of a dying breed of drivers. My best of wishes to both of them for tonight in the All Star.

.....1 driver gets his last chance to get in by winning the Open + 1 more driver by getting the fans vote. I'm not sure when they first started doing it, but it hasn't been for that long, Schrader won the vote last year, hopefully this year too.^^

As far as JJ winning the last 4 races at Charolette....:eek: !!! Lets hope it ENDS! I personnaly think Hendrick Motorsports is a great organisation, and it's got some successful drivers (especcialy "Texas Terry", although he's not full-time anymore.)
...but i'm way too much of a sucka for older school drivers. I've got hope for a few names in Busch, but they'll take a bit to get in cup.

DTM Results:
1. Tom Kristensen/Audi
2. Bruno Spengler/Mercedes
3. Jamie Green/Mercedes
4. Heinz-Harald Frentzen/Audi
5. Bernd Schneider/Mercedes
6. Martin Tomczyk/Audi
7. Mattias Ekström/Audi
8. Jean Alesi/Mercedes

Kristensen passed Schneider in the rankings and is the current leader with a 2 point advantage.

S. Loeb won the rally, Grönholm didnt finish it. So now Loeb has a 31 point advantage(he scored 66 points out of the max 70!!)

WTCC's first race saw an all Seat podium with Muller as the winner, Terting second and Thompson third. Tom Coronel completed the Seat succes with a victory in the Independents category.

In the NASCAR open last night, Scott Riggs led all but 1 of 30 laps to advance to the Allstar Challenge. As Funnycar presumed, Kyle Petty got the fan vote.

The 3 segment/90 lap Challenge was marked by many spins on hard compund tires. Drift fans would have been impressed by Greg Biffle at full lock at 180 (he saved it). Only 10 of 20 cars finished with #48 Jimmie Johnson the winner (boo).

Sam Hornish has the pole for the Indy 500 at 228.985 MPH. Danica is 10th; almost 4.5 MPH slower.

Sebastien Bourdais has the pole for the Monterey CART race. Why are there no American drivers???

Sascha Maassen got the pole for the ALMS Mid-Ohio race in the #6 LMP2 Penske Porsche. As I post this, 24 laps in, he has a 20 second lead over McNish in an Audi! CBS coverage comes on in 20 minutes.

Wow, didn't realise the Indy 500 was next week already!

Second race of the WTCC was won by R. Huff in the Chevrolet Nubira, first victory for Chevy in the WTCC! Behind Huff it was again all Seat with Rydell second and Thompson third. Extra props for Rydell, who scored the second place in the pouring rain with a broken windshield whiper! Reigning champion Priaulx threw away his lead, he outbraked himself at the last corner and slided of the track.

Second race of the WTCC was won by R. Huff in the Chevrolet Nubira, first victory for Chevy in the WTCC! Yeeeaaaahhhhh !!! Very happy for Chevy, they took a big gamble with this being unknown territory for them !:)

But it was Alain Menu who took the victory for Chevy, not Huff ! Huff's race ended early in a sand trap...

In the NASCAR open last night, Scott Riggs led all but 1 of 30 laps to advance to the Allstar Challenge. As Funnycar presumed, Kyle Petty got the fan vote.

The 3 segment/90 lap Challenge was marked by many spins on hard compund tires. Drift fans would have been impressed by Greg Biffle at full lock at 180 (he saved it). Only 10 of 20 cars finished with #48 Jimmie Johnson the winner (boo).
GRRRR!!! ](*,) :smt021



I'm sooo glad that the rain finally left. They waited out the delay and the race was over ~12:45 AM... the LATEST they ever raced was last Pepsi 400 at Daytona, the race was nearly over at 2:00 AM. Now that's what I call a NIGHT RACE!

And... I was wondering about the new GoodYears. The "harder" compound used must have been pretty darn "hard", DW said it was harder than the track! lol. Did they ONLY use the tires for the ALLSTAR, or will they run the new tires for the Coke 600 next week?

BTW- I'm taking bets for the 600. Who are you putting your money on?

Yeeeaaaahhhhh !!! Very happy for Chevy, they took a big gamble with this being unknown territory for them !:)

But it was Alain Menu who took the victory for Chevy, not Huff ! Huff's race ended early in a sand trap...

Indeed, for some reason I thought it was Huff:-k I guess learning for school and watching tv doesnt go well together.

FunnyCar; you will happy to hear that Ken Shrader won the Hantz Group 200/214 at Toledo OH Speedway Sunday afternoon. Kenny could not qualify his #99 Federated car because he was in Charlotte and was forced to start from the back. It took 2 G/W/C restart attempts before he won by .092 seconds in 214 laps.
http://www.arcaracing.com/images/stories/Toledo/schraderallgaierkimmeltoledo06.jpg

I normally don't watch short track; but I had Speed TV on after the Monterrey Mexico CART race (won by polesitter Bourdais). It kept distracting my online attention with close racing.

-----There is no telling what "Jaws" said. I am so glad he will not be on after midyear. Did you say hard tires? Did you hear the term "snap spin out of turn 4" repeatedly?

-----The LMP2 Penske Porsche RS Spyders dominated Mid-Ohio; finishing 1-2 and leading all 119 laps. Fast Q time #7 of Bernhard/Dumas was found underweight and started from the back. Crappy edited first hour CBS coverage made it impossible to tell how quick they made it to 4th place, or when they changed drivers. Crappy ALMS website lacks box scores/lap charts; so one just has to wonder. Bernhard is not credited with a lap lead. Dumas won; having lead 53 laps. #6 polesitter/starter Maassen led 50 laps; relief man Luhr lead 16, with fastest lap on 66 @ 113.774.

In LMP1, the Audi's fastest lap was 1:15.071 early on; slower than the #16 Dyson Lola's best time (3 laps down, trans again). "Protecting P1 points lead" in the last race outing of the R8 (assuming smokers aren't destroyed at LeMans) makes me puke! Blow the SOB up! Maybe Doc Panoz wants it for a museum and didn't want it scratched.

FunnyCar; you will happy to hear that Ken Shrader won the Hantz Group 200/214 at Toledo OH Speedway Sunday afternoon. Kenny could not qualify his #99 Federated car because he was in Charlotte and was forced to start from the back. It took 2 G/W/C restart attempts before he won by .092 seconds in 214 laps.
http://www.arcaracing.com/images/stories/Toledo/schraderallgaierkimmeltoledo06.jpg

I normally don't watch short track; but I had Speed TV on after the Monterrey Mexico CART race (won by polesitter Bourdais). It kept distracting my online attention with close racing.

-----There is no telling what "Jaws" said. I am so glad he will not be on after midyear. Did you say hard tires? Did you hear the term "snap spin out of turn 4" repeatedly?


^^Go Kenny! Thanks for the info about Taledo Speedway, I wasn't aware he was racing there today. It's hard to keep track of him! He races everywhere it seems.

"Jaws".....someday I'm going to audio record a race and put all the dumbest things he's says into one clip, I think it'll be pretty entertaining. LOL! I honestly can't get over some of the crap that he talks about (bla bla bla bla bla...) when there's racing going on. IMO he was a legend driver, but give him a mic...you'll never hear so much nonsense. I'll admit 10% of what he says is good and informative, I'd perfer BP though. Sometimes I'll turn on the radio to MRN, and mute the TV, and listen to some real reporters call a race, I love it how they have the turn callers...thats classic. I'd do it more often except there is sometimes a time delay between the TV and radio, (sometimes as much as 10 sec.) which gets annoying.

Well, it seem like i don't know much about these in Thailand. So sad

FunnyCar; I didn't know anything about a Toledo ARCA race either. It just came on Speed after the CART race.

^5 on the "jaws" commentary! In the early years of the FOX half-season deal; friends and myself used to do the exact same thing..., mute the tube/tune to MRN or PRN radio.

Don't get me wrong; I was never a DW hater. I was not a big NASCAR fan in his heyday, but I liked that he ruffled lots of feathers. When you walk the walk (3 championships); you get to talk the talk! In his later years, he ran his own team (FOX-mouth Jeff Hammond was crew chief) and had less success than in his last years driving for others. He's a bit hyper to be an owner/driver/manager. He's got some good stories, but while he's rambling on about them; there is new action on track. FOX needs a producer w/authority to pull his plug at times.

I love Benny Parsons. I miss Neil Bonnett(RIP). Say what you will, but Bob Jenkins (anchor of Indy 500/NASCAR on ESPN and ABC, longtime PA announcer at Indy), though not the biggest fan of NASCAR or F1, was the most solid broadcast anchorman for both series on network and ESPN.

ManakitRacer: F1, Rolex Grand Am, CART Champ Car, IRL Indy, ALMS, WTCC, etc., ALL have live online timing/scoring FREE. NASCAR wants you to pay, after going to their spamaudiofested website!

I'm much too slow to get into Nascar and Indy car stuff. They seem like the kind of series you had to follow since you were a kid to actually understand what's going on. It's hard to just jump into these various racing series.

But for some reason, I'm getting sick of automotive road racing. I'll still watch it, but it doesn't excite me as much anymore. I'm trying to get into off-road truck and endurance motorcycle racing, but I don't know any series. Can anyone help me with this? I apologize this isn't a huge, well thought out post like the rest in this thread, but I thought this would be the best place to ask.

Mopar:
Are you interested in Rally racing? That'll get you off the beaten path, if thats what your looking for! And if your not interested in the everyday racing, then try you might want to try Legend Car Racing, I thought it was real neat when I discovered it, it's different, you should check it out.

As far as your interest in motorcycle racing...The regulars of course, and there is also sidecar racing. That'd be QUITE A RIDE! I once saw the guy fall out of the sidecar, thank god for all their armor and padding! They just lean soooo far out around certain turns, it's pretty crazy.
Dirt biking... http://www.motocross.com/
Then theres MotoGP ... http://www.motogp.com/en/motogp/index.htm

You mentioned "endurence"...how about a 24 hour race?

Oh well, these are a couple of my suggestions, I'm sure you'll get many more.


----------------------------------------------
I'm a big racing fan, I've been to both road racing events, and oval-track races. I'm crazy about ovals, but most esspecialy for short-track style racing.
I have a dream of someday building, owning, running my own short-track. Since I was 11, (now 18) I've been working on plans, and writing down my ideas and drawing out my designs in notebooks, which I still have. I know someday it'll happen. It's a matter of working through and sorting out the delemas.
My question is about my biggest problem: My concern is insurence and lawsuits. I can't imagine if a terrible tragedy were to occure at the track, we'd be faced with billion dollar lawsuits. I have to learn more about that field first.
Do you guys have any knowlege in the legal area??? Please help me if possible. Thanks.

- Good 'ol Shrader drove a hell of a race, nice guys can also win !!!:)

- What a showing for the LMP2 Porsche...I knew for sure they were going to win this year, but this soon ????

- When you're talking of "Jaws", are you talking of DW ??????

DW = Jaws
There is a really good, freakin funny story about "Jaws", I'd love to tell it now, but i'm in a rush, remind me later.

I would give you static for whinage, Mopar68, but I have vented a bit here myself. You write good stuff usually. You could check out some offroad at:

http://www.corracing.com/

As I recall, you don't have Speed TV. They show some CORR races (good high speed stuff) in the early spring, but none are scheduled now. CORR has some video clips on their site, tho.

crossle 32F, it was a good showing for the P2 Porsches. Why the bad showing for the Audi R8? Not exactly a glorious career end.

FORZA 2 and XBOX 360 are signed on as F430 sponsors in ALMS.

ALMS has a story http://www.americanlemans.com/news/Article.aspx?ID=2080 about Patrick Long joining Flying Lizard for LeMans. Much praise for him, including his 2nd last year and win in '04 (GT2); but no mention of his 3 wins, 2 seconds, and 3 thirds (2 Qual races) in Rolex DP this year. A look at DP driver points suggests that he could be leading if Alex Job Racing had not skipped the Mexico City race.

In Grand Am news; Al Unser Jr. will drive with the Frisselle brothers in the #8 Synery Racing Doran Porsche at the Watkins Glen 6 Hour Sat 6/3 @ 2:30P EDT/Speed. http://www.grandamerican.com/News/Article.asp?ID=6487

Ricky Rudd tested the same car Wed at Mid-Ohio. http://www.grandamerican.com/News/Article.asp?ID=6491

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This weekend:

Indy 500 runs (200 laps) Sun 5/28 1:00P EDT ABC

NASCAR Coca Cola 600 runs (400 laps) Sun 5/28 5:00P FOX

Grand Am (GT class only) races 250 miles (163 laps) Lime Rock CN Mon 6/29 2:15P (? check your listings) Speed

Besides the Monaco GP there is the FIA GT and GT3 racing this weekend. Second race at Brno in the Czech Republic. Race 1 for the GT3 is saturday 16:20 GMT+1. Race 2 is on sunday at 11:45 GMT+1.
The GT's race at Sunday 13:30 GMT+1
For TV coverage: http://www.fiagt.com/television.php

Of course, I watched F1 delayed coverage first...

Indy 500 had a great finish! Sam Hornish Jr. beat 3rd generation rookie Marco Andretti at the line by .0635 sec., second smallest margin in Indy history. 2nd gen Dad and car owner Michael Andretti finished 3rd, 1.0087 sec. back. Grandpa Mario stood in the pits.

The order on a 4-to-go restart was Michael, Marco, Wheldon('05 winner), then Hornish. Marco got by his Dad; then Hornish got by Wheldon. Michael held up Hornish enough (almost) for Marco to build a margin. Hornish got by and was clearly faster (last lap 1 sec/5mph +) and made an aborted pass attempt with 1 1/2 laps to go. This cost him several lengths, but he was way faster through 3 and 4 and got a run on Marco out of the last turn. No way Marco could block him w/o wrecking both.

Hornish's win is Roger Penske's 14th Indy 500 win (1st was 1972) as car owner in CART/IRL. They don't call him "The Captain" for nothing.

Michael Andretti won 42 IndyCar races and the 1991 Championship. He had 14 starts at Indy and led 7 of them. His 426 laps led at Indy is 11th on the list, first among non-winners (stats subject to revision). Not winning Indy was a thorn in his side; he came out of retirement to race with his son today. I think he did a great job. Kudos!!!

I often slag on the current sanctioning body/rulemaker IRL (Impotent Racing League); but the Indy 500 is the most famous auto race in the world. They have kept statistics on it like nothing short of baseball, LOL!

http://www.indy500.com/stats/ You could spend hours here.

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NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte started about 25 minutes ago, as I post. Tony is out...

crossle 32F, it was a good showing for the P2 Porsches. Why the bad showing for the Audi R8? Not exactly a glorious career end.


Well despite being 35kgs heavier than the Dyson Lolas, extremely heavier than P2 cars that have shown good pace and with a massive restrictor making the car barely faster than GT1 cars out of corners and straightaways it was a decent showing only lost by 7 seconds. The better question is where was Dyson with their new P1 cars? I know they're still working out teething problems, but they should definately be able to beat the R8 and the Spyders. Besides Audi isn't trying to win races with the R8 their goal is to finish the races so Mcnish and Dindo have a good grasp on the points. 2 out of the 3 final races for the R8 they've come in first place in P1. One overall victory and two P1 class victories is definately a bad way to go out, but there's still one more to go where they can further "embarass" the R8.

There's still Lime Rock on July 1st and Big Brother Porsche's Spyders have shown time and time again that on bumpy American Road courses like Lime Rock (Houston, Sebring) they have shown reliability problems. Not saying the Spyders don't have a chance to win just that they've shown Drivetrain problems on rough courses. If I recall the overweight grandma (R8) seems to like those courses that are brutal. Glad Porsche got an overall victory in because when the R10 comes back (mind you a finished R10 not like the R10 that was at Sebring)... it's a whole different story.

The #9 Zakspeed Saleen S7R won the Fia GT race at Brno before the #5 Phoenix Racing AM DBR9 and the #23 Aston Martin Racing BMS DBR9
The #55 Ferrari F430 GT2 won the GT2 class.

I stand behind my opinion on the lone R8 at Mid-Ohio, Chanman4. Look at the numbers:

McNish ran the R8's fastest race lap on #14 with a 1:15.071 against his 1:12.975 qual time, over 2 seconds slower.

3-laps-down pit queen Weaver ran the #16 Dyson's fastest lap on #111, only 1.5 seconds off his qualifying time and .5 second faster than the Audi's best.

Winner Dumas started from the back and ran a race lap on #102 1 second faster than the Audi.

The polesitting Maasen/Luhr P2 Porsche set fastest lap on #66, 1.25 quicker than the Audi, less than 1 second off their qual time.

Don't for one second think that the R8 "made a good showing" by finishing 3rd, only 7.303 seconds down. The Porsches' last lap was 2 seconds faster. 7 seconds keeps you out the finish line pics.

I repeat: Unless Audi totals both smokers at LeMans, the R10s are about to be to ALMS what Porsche 917-K30s were to Can-Am; 2 steps ahead of anything the competition can beat.

"Protecting a points lead" in the 3rd of 10 races when you have Panzer reinforcements on the way is BORING. I don't goto/watch racing for that crap. What do you think any current F1 driver would say about it?

I still think the Audi R8 put in a pisspoor performance at Mid-Ohio.

163 laps/250 miles at Lime Rock CN can be tough plowing. Not today.

The Grand Am GT (only) race at Lime Rock today was a walk in the park for the Ponchos. The 3rd place (2 laps down) finisher #72 Tafel Racing Porsche started from the back for "illegal aero mods" (Cheating? Who, me?).

The Porsche's fastest lap, #11, was .4/.5 seconds slower than the 1-2 finishing TRG Pontiac GTOs' fastest laps set on #107/#120.

Nobody stood a chance. The Tin Indians need to tote some more lead.

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Something really WEIRD happened on Speed's "live" coverage of this race. After a live start; they "stretched" the footage with tech stuff and background videos to fill a time slot longer than the actual race. They showed a 5 minute video of the GTO-R's development while the actual race finished. Coverage resumed 30 laps earlier. I have never seen that before.

I stand behind my opinion on the lone R8 at Mid-Ohio, Chanman4. Look at the numbers:

McNish ran the R8's fastest race lap on #14 with a 1:15.071 against his 1:12.975 qual time, over 2 seconds slower.

3-laps-down pit queen Weaver ran the #16 Dyson's fastest lap on #111, only 1.5 seconds off his qualifying time and .5 second faster than the Audi's best.

Winner Dumas started from the back and ran a race lap on #102 1 second faster than the Audi.

The polesitting Maasen/Luhr P2 Porsche set fastest lap on #66, 1.25 quicker than the Audi, less than 1 second off their qual time.

Don't for one second think that the R8 "made a good showing" by finishing 3rd, only 7.303 seconds down. The Porsches' last lap was 2 seconds faster. 7 seconds keeps you out the finish line pics.

I repeat: Unless Audi totals both smokers at LeMans, the R10s are about to be to ALMS what Porsche 917-K30s were to Can-Am; 2 steps ahead of anything the competition can beat.

"Protecting a points lead" in the 3rd of 10 races when you have Panzer reinforcements on the way is BORING. I don't goto/watch racing for that crap. What do you think any current F1 driver would say about it?

I still think the Audi R8 put in a pisspoor performance at Mid-Ohio.

That's good that you stand behind your opinion because I stand by mine as well.

The car had to have major repair damage to the nose before the race. Mcnish and Dindo commented on how long it took the car to warm the tires. Like I said the R8 wasn't suited for the freshly paved course the overweight car prefers bumpy courses. For proof Dindo qualified the car in 4th place at Houston with a time of 1:05.382. During the race he had the races fast lap at 1:05.148 quicker than the qualifying time. Don't think any other car can say that not even the R10. They had a rough time at Mid Ohio, but mission accomplished at Mid Ohio with the P1 class victory. If the Audi R8s performance was so bad then what do you have to say about the new Dyson Lolas? Where were they at the end of the race? Where were the Spyders at the end of Houston?

You can throw down lap times all you want, but that doesn't say a thing about where the cars finish. I don't think Dyson beat Audi if my memory is correct. The Porsches were able to knife through traffic like the R8 used to, but it can't and coming away with first place points in class is more important. Would that not qualify as a good showing? At least they finished the race. What would you call the Porsches showing at Houston or Dyson at Mid Ohio? They got away with a class victory which is really all Audi is "hoping" for until the R10 comes back= Good showing. I don't think anyone would call a class victory pisspoor.

By your logic I could say Audi had a good race by qualifying 2nd.

Need cheese?

Big race weekend in the US!

NASCAR, CART, IRL Indy, and Rolex Grand Am all go at it. (ALMS is all about Le Mans in 2 weeks.) There is too much news to just list the schedules.

CART I get rid of first. My preferred US pro open-wheel series primarily because it races more road course than IRL; CART reverts to the nearly flat 1 mile oval at Milwaukee WS. I doubt I will be tuned in to this much (awake) Sun 2:00P EDT Speed live. Live timing/scoring available, etc.

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IRL IndyCars run 1 of 3 street/road races on the 3.4 mile (+boot) course at Watkins Glen NY Sun 3:30P EDT ABC Live. Helio Castroneves set fastest practice time at 1:30.6783 (133.792 mph); less than .01s off his pole time last September. He gets to decide 10 minutes before official qualifying (12:20P Sat) if cars will qualify straight-up or inverse order based on practice times. He's no dummy, he drives for Penske. The race is 60 laps/204 miles Sun 3:30P EDT on ABC. This could be interesting.

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NASCAR runs all 3 series at the "Monster Mile" at Dover DE this weekend. This is a unique track among series venues. 1 mile concrete/24 deg banked turns/9 deg 1000' straights. There a harness racing track in the infield.

Cup polesitter Ryan Newman did a lap at a shade under 155 mph. Three 3-time winners start the Cup race Sun 1:30P EDT on FX.

The Busch race is Sat 3:00P EDT on FX.

The Truck race tonight was won by Mark Martin, with Roush backflip teammate Carl Edwards in 2nd. This is Mark's 1st Truck win to go with his 4 Busch wins and 3 Cup wins at Dover.



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Rolex Grand Am runs 6 Hours at Watkins Glen (yes, boot) Sat 2:30P EDT. All Live on Speed/Live timing/scoring: http://grandamerican.vfx.com/Rolex/GrandAmerican_800.asp

Best times are <1:46/115.4 mph after 4 of 5 sessions. It may not be Spa; but if the winner can average a bit less than 2:00 min laps, this is a 1000KM race. Starting order rules are unclear at this time because...

Thurs practice was cancelled because Krohn Racing and 17-year-old driver Colin Braun filed for an injunction (granted), because IRL sponsor Phillip Morris (smokesmaker) prohibited any driver <17 years of age competing in any on-track event on the same weekend.

I don't know if Krohn Racing got any future favors/cold cash; but Texan Colin Braun is a spectator. Boris Said will do his job (probably much better, "snicker").

To the many 17-year-old expert drivers on this forum: How would you like to get out on the track with the rest of the entrants after you hired a lawyer to deprive the entire field of a practice session?

One more practice at 8:15A EDT Sat.

Robby Gordon will drive 2 different vehicles in the Baja 500 Saturday,

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/racing/wires/06/01/3010.ap.car.auto.racing.notes.adv03.0906/

before he drives 500 miles at Dover DE Sunday in the NASCAR Cup race.

Condradulations to Jeff Burton, you earned it man!
I was only able to catch the last 60 laps at Dover on Sat, but I'm sooo GLAD Kyle Busch didn't win it.
And when do you (SteveFX) think NASCAR will do something about the "Busch-wackers" ? Or will they ever do anything, it does help the TV ratings and attenence at the track, having the cup guys racing.

In NASCAR: Kudos to Mark Martin! His win in the Truck race Fri night made him the first winner in all 3 series (Truck/Busch/Cup) at Dover's Monster Mile. Kudos to Carl Edwards for finishing 2nd in both Truck and Busch races behind teammate Martin and former teammate Jeff Burton. Carl said the last 3 laps of the Busch race were the best, most pure racing of his life. Good stuff!

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The Grand Am Rolex series raced 6 Hours at Watkins Glen Sat. They never saw the sun. They never raced on "cow pissing on a flat rock" wet track; but they never raced on a bone-dry surface either. Too many caution periods kept the 6:00 HR time-limit race down to 154 laps. Different teams bet different setups on the weather. The #99 Gainsco Pontiac Riley took body damage in the 1st turn on the 1st lap and went 1 lap down. After getting their lap back; the car was clearly the fastest in the wet. At the hands of John Fogarty, the car led most laps to finish 2nd fending off defending Champ Max Angelelli in the #10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley on the dryest track in the last hour.

I believe I mentioned Boris Said subbing in the #76 Krohn Racing Ford Riley. He drove a 1.5 hour stint in the middle. He credited teammate Jorg Bergmeister for stomping everybody late in the dry; setting fastest race lap w/10 to go. He won by 3.4 seconds. On the last 2 restarts he could make 1 sec/lap on the field. First win by Ford power in DP. Blue oval fans rejoice!

Speaking of Boris Said... I'm looking foward to seeing him race at Infineon in a few weeks. Along with Ron Fellows, Clouse Graf, and other "hired guns" at the road course. I can't wait, I'll be my first race in 2006! I talked to my cousin in sacramento, and he's picked up the RV from the stoage, and getting stuff ready. We're gonna be there thurs. morning until monday! 4 days of pure All-American FUN, soaking up the sun, barbaque's, loud music, partying, and a heck of a lot of racing!

The sportscar world revolved around LeMans last weekend. I was busy the weekend before. Business this thread be back in!

I love cheap live music. There are two 3-day musicfests going on this weekend: East ATL Village's EARL hosts the 10th Corndog-o-rama. Athens GA (source of B-52's, REM, Widespread Panic, Jucifer, etc.) has ATHFest. Friends there are egging me to come up and crash on their couch. I know musicians playing in both towns.

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This rabid race fan has some tough choices...

Rolex Grand Am races Mid-Ohio. Delayed coverage will be 3:00PM SUN 6/25 on SPEEDTV (after the GP!).

IRL Indy races the 3/4 Mile Richmond VA oval (NASCAR venue) under the lights SAT 8:00PM on ESPN2.

F1 Canadian Gran Prix Races at Montreal SUN 6/25 1:00PM on SPEEDTV.

CART Champ Cars race Burke Lakefront Airport circuit, Cleveland OH SUN 6/25 2:30PM on CBS. This is a very wide artificial circuit that fosters some wild last lap moves. Probably the best stadium/see the whole track road course in the world.

!!! The heaviest purpose-built race cars in history to race on a road course, NASCAR Nextel Cup, do so at Sears Point CA (Infineon) SUN 6/25 3:30PM on FOX. Knee-jerk circle-track slam is ignorant/stupid for this one. Ganassi rookie David Stremme gets the boot in favor of hired gun Scott Pruett (4 points out of the Rolex series lead as of now; but doing double duty this weekend); who has 3 top-5 and 4 top-10 road course places for Ganassi in the last 6 seasons. Ron Fellows will drive the #32 car in place of Travis Kvapfil ("crapfill"), who will replace Kenny Wallace in the #78 car. By the way; the 32 car was built by Pratt & Miller; the same folks who gave us the LMGT1 winning Corvette at LeMans again.

The single greatest road race performance I have ever seen was at Sears Point in a NASCAR race. In the early '90's, Ernie Irvan was black-flagged for jumping the start from the front row. After his drive-through penalty, he passed all (that finished) 42 cars for the win in 92 laps. He was the real deal that day.

I might just save some money (except for new remote batteries!) and stay home this weekend...; but I reeally need to see Panic again!

What a great weekend of road racing! 4 pro series in NA on TV; CART, F1, GA, and Nascar! 3 were shown live, 1 delayed. I really gave the remote a workout, LOL! There was probably more sheet metal banged/carbon fiber broken this weekend than ever before.

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Oddly, it seems that the true international racing series, F1, loses its cachet when in comes to North America. CN GP threads here and (misplaced) in general got little traffic. Anyway, it was great race! On the first lap, Nico should have let Montoya by after cutting a corner. He didn't; so Montoya took him out. Unfortunately, he smacked the wall in the last turn on L13 and retired. According to TV commentators; this is the 13th straight race where Alonso has not been passed on track for position. Kudos to him for the win. Kudos to Schumi for 2nd after lots of obstructions (traffic). I didn't see his late race pass. I thought Kimi had the position covered.

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CART race at Cleveland OH was incredible! Tracy and Forthythe Racing/Indeck new teammate A.J. Allmendinger swapped fast times 5 times for the pole. Both were involved in multiple first lap caution-causing incidents. Paul Tracy went over(!) Sebastien Bourdais' car and only needed a tire and nose to continue. He ran as high as 4th for 40 laps before retiring. Bourdais got his bell rung by chassis or tire, but will be OK.

A.J. Allmendinger was '02 Barber Pro Champ, '03 Formula Atlantic Champ (8 poles/8 wins), and '04 Rookie/Year in Cart. He won 1 pole and 1 race in '05. He did all this with the team that fired him 2 weeks ago! This is so funny; I have to paste it:

[June 9, 2006
2002 Series Champion Cristiano da Matta to Replace A.J. Allmendinger in #10 Champ Car


LOVELAND, Colo., June 9, 2006 – RuSPORT has announced a change in its Champ Car World Series driver lineup. Effective immediately, A.J. Allmendinger will no longer pilot the #10 RuSPORT Champ Car. This change will be effective for the duration of the 2006 Champ Car World Series season.

“A.J. has been with us since we created RuSPORT late in 2002,” said team owner Carl Russo. “During that time, we won the 2003 Formula Atlantic Championship and the 2004 Champ Car Rookie of the Year together. However, as RuSPORT and A.J. have progressed, we believe a different environment will help A.J. to grow even faster, and so we have made this very difficult decision. We expect that A.J. will be a winner in any category he competes in. We thank him for all his efforts and we wish him well in the future.”]

A.J. won at Portland last weekend and got the pole and the win yesterday. How would you like to give THAT finger to an employer that fired you? ROFLMAO! He became the first US born driver to win a CART race in 10 years(!). Katherine Legge (not necessarily her best feature) finished 8th.

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In Rolex Grand Am, Adrian Fernandez/Mario Haberfeld won the race at Mid-Ohio in the #12 Lowes Pontiac/Riley after starting from the pit lane. Their car was third fastest in qualifying. They were put to the back for excessive width along with 2nd place finisher (and Watkins Glen winner) #76 Krohn Racing Ford/Riley of Colin Braun/Jorg Bergmeister and the #01 Compuware Ganassi/Sabates Lexus/Riley of Luis Diaz/Scott Pruett. Pole inheritors #23 Alex Job Porsche/Crawford had electrical problems and were not a late factor.

The #39 Cheever/Crown Royal Porsche/Crawford of Memo Gidley/Michael McDowell punted the #8 Synergy Racing Porsche/Doran driven by Frisselle Bros. into the #01 car (4 points out of the drivers lead); which went to the wall. The 3 of them finished 19th, 21st, and 22nd in class, respectively.

Keep an eye out for video! The late battle for the lead in the GT class resulted in the #64 GTO driven by Paul Edwards clipping (who, ME?) the #21 Connelly Motorsports BMW driven by Joey Hand. The BMW ramped off an infield (school course) berm and landed nose-first. I counted 5.5 endos, 2 or 3 rolls, and 1.5 lateral spins before a dirty-side-up finish. Hand walked (crawled) away! He felt gas pouring on him.

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I will return later for Nascar commentary. I need the use of sanitation facilities to take a jeff gordon. BBL

Keep an eye out for video! The late battle for the lead in the GT class resulted in the #64 GTO driven by Paul Edwards clipping (who, ME?) the #21 Connelly Motorsports BMW driven by Joey Hand. The BMW ramped off an infield (school course) berm and landed nose-first. I counted 5.5 endos, 2 or 3 rolls, and 1.5 lateral spins before a dirty-side-up finish. Hand walked (crawled) away! He felt gas pouring on him.



A weekend of work and graduation parties led me to miss 98% of the racing action this weekend. Needless to say, I was not a very happy meal.

I did, however, see that crash. I managed to flip a TV to SPEED at my girlfriend's party yesterday, and the first thing I see is a blue and white M3 toppling end over end in mid-air. Then I saw a crew chief crying and a bunch of ambulances. That flight had a bit of pepper on it, and I'm amazed the driver got out of there without a scratch.

I bet he got out of there thinking he'd just been hit by a peterbuilt. It's quite amazing how safe those cars are, though.

I am slack posting here this week. Mybad.

The Rolex Grand Am series Brumos Porsche (formerly Paul Revere) 250 ran Thurs night on the 3.56 mile oval+infield course at Daytona. It was mostly a race between the polesitting #01 Lexus/Riley of Pruett/Diaz and the #23 Porsche/Crawford (fastest lap) of Long/Rockenfeller. After their ride was trashed last week at Mid-Ohio; Pruett and Diaz drove the car that won the Daytona 24 HRS at the hands of IndyCar winners Dixon & Wheldon and Tony Stewart. However, the Ford motors continue to get better fuel mileage. The Watkins Glen winner #76 Ford/Riley of Borgmeister/Braun came home first after making only 1 pit stop at exactly half distance. The car was sucking fumes on the last lap but finished 16 seconds ahead of the #23 car. Braun may have set a record for US professional racing with a win at the age of 17 yrs, 9 months, and 7 days. Borgmeister leads Pruett and Diaz by 31 points in driver standings with 4 races remaing.

The IROC series raced the Daytona road course 30 minutes later. 2nd place finisher "Mad" Max Papis was the only leader other than winner Tony Stewart. In an odd twist, the series invited defending Rolex champion co-drivers Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli to split the 4 race series. Angelelli finished 7th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Busch race at Daytona Friday night.

The Nascar Truck race is currently (400 PM EDT) underway at Kansas City MO. Aussie Marcos Ambrose started 4th and led the first lap. He is currently in 10th. What did he race downunder?

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I normally take a dim view of long, unedited pasted text; but NASCAR.com is loaded with crap. Don't go there with a slow connection unless you are ready to wait.
http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/cup/06/30/bsaid.daytona.qual.ap/index.html
Here is some of the article (Boris Said is a funny guy!):

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Boris Said (http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/bsaid00/cup/index.html) can master a superspeedway as well.

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/images/1.gifPepsi 400Top 10 QualifiersPos.CarDriverSpeed1.60B. Said186.1432.20T. Stewart185.6513.40D. Stremme185.5794.24J. Gordon185.5065.01J. Nemechek185.4646.11D. Hamlin185.4607.88D. Jarrett185.4418.1M. Truex Jr.185.0869.48J. Johnson185.08210.17M. Kenseth185.006• Complete lineup, click here (http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2006/17/data/lineup.html)
The road-racing specialist was the surprising Pepsi 400 pole-winner Friday night at Daytona International Speedway, posting a lap at 186.143 mph. It was the second pole of his career; the other was at Infineon Raceway's road course in 2003.

Driving in the second of four scheduled races for the newly formed No Fear Racing team, the team receives technical support, engines and Ford Fusion bodies from Roush Racing. Said credited all the help for his strong run.

"The only thing I did that was really smart was a few months ago go talk to Jack Roush," he said. "As far as me driving one qualifying lap, NASCAR can put a monkey in to fly a rocket, so even I can drive this car one lap around here."

Said was the surprise of qualifying, doing it in a brand new race team that debuted last week in Sonoma. No Fear Racing has veteran crew chief Frank Stoddard running the team, is headquartered adjacent to Roush's shop and has SoBe No Fear, an energy drink, as its sponsor.

Said will drive the car in August in Indianapolis and at the road course at Watkins Glen. But Said is eager to prove he can race on all forms of tracks, and is not limited to the twists and right-hand turns of a road course.

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/images/1.gif
"I've been trying to do this for so long -- break into NASCAR from road racing," he said. "I was getting a lot of, 'You're too old, you're too tall, you're too old, a lot of those things.' I don't feel like it had a lot to do with driving on the pole today, but it had to do with putting a deal together with Jack Roush three months ago, making a deal to buy cars from him and engines.

"It's like the American Express commercial. Jack said cars: $150,000. Motors: $75,000. But the fact that he offered his me his little black book with all the setups in it: That's priceless."

Said, who has the respect of most drivers in the garage, isn't expecting a free ride once the race begins Saturday night.
"I'll be a little nervous tomorrow for the race, starting in front of all those guys," he said. "I'm sure they're going to put me through the school of hard knocks and drop me to the back. But I'm prepared for that."

The Pepsi 400 runs at 7:30 PM EDT Sat 7/1 FOX

The US GP is at Indianapolis Sun 7/2 1:00 PM EDT SpeedTV

IRL IndyCars run Kansas City Sun 7/1 1:00 PM EDT ABC.

ALMS racing is underway at Lime Rock CT. TV coverage will be delayed til Sun 7/2 4:00 PM EDT CBS. P2 Penske Porsches started on the front row.

The NASCAR Pepsi 400 was awesome. True to his prediction; Boris Said's #60 (ex-Roush) Ford got sent rearward quickly. He led only 9 laps of 19 in the top-10, in only his 10th oval track start.. The car proved to be very fast on old tires; so crew chief Frank Stoddard left him out on old tires under caution with 10 to go in the lead. It took a freight train of Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch to put him in 4th place with 3 laps to go. He got lots of high profile camera time. Maybe sponsor SoBe No Fear will ante up more money for more races from this brand new 7-man team!

http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/cup/07/01/bsaid_daytona/index.html

(I got no response for my edited cut-and-past work; so ask me for some text after the site locks you up.)

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USGP commentary on another slackly subscribed thread. I await commentary from my oldest friend who attended the race. There was a huge crowd after last year's (Michelin: Unsafe to Race!) fiasco! I still say the race needs to be gotten out of that ill-begotten oval + infield at Indy and run on a REAL road course!

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The P2 Porsches' 1-2 start and 2nd place overall finish (after leading lots) at the Lime Rock ALMS race proved 2 things: First, Porsche and Penske made the car more durable. Second, light weight is its own reward. Without long straights, it offsets more horsepower. This is a concept totally alien to the 98% of pedestrian posters here who quote, ad nauseum; magazine specs for HP, top speed, and 0-60 times while never quoting weights!

CBS network's delayed coverage (Sun 7/2 400 PM) proved..., they SUCK! In a live broadcast; you use driver commentary, tech blurbs, and inteviews/profiles to fill long cautions periods. CBS edited a 2:45 race down to 1:40; but still loaded viewers up on crapola such as David Brabham's golf game! Rumor has it that ALMS has so little draw that they PAY CBS to cover races. That would explain long Panoz Cars and Panoz Driving School ads.

The best action was in the GT1/GT2 classes. Despite 200 lb. + 10L fuel handicap; The Johnny O'Connell/Ron Fellows #3 Vette finished .033 sec behind the Lamy/Sarrazin #009 Aston in GT1.

Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning junked their GT2 Porsche at LeMans. They bought the last 996 GT3 RSR imported to the US from a privateer customer who had already raced it 5 times. They took delivery of this amateur race car 6/23. They set fastest lap in Sat AM practice. The #31 car stomped the field at the hands of Bergmeister/Petersen/Long.

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Sam Hornish Jr. won the IndyCar race at Kansas City. Except for the final 3 laps..., YAWN!

Sorry steve that I couldn't keep you updated on the European races, I've been very busy lately. I didn't even know that the US GP was last week....

Not much going on this weekend, except for some local race series and clubdays.

No biggie, CarRocker. After my last post here; I went to the lake for a day and a half of serious partying.

I did talk to Johnny O'Connell Monday and lamented his .033 sec. loss to an Aston Martin at Lime Rock ALMS Saturday. It was a damned good late race effort, considering that the Vettes have a 200 lb/10L fuel penalty!

Not much racing this weekend except CART Edmonton. A.J. Allmendinger got his third straight win/road course in his third start with his new Forsythe Team, a hat trick; pole, win, and fastest lap.

jeffie Gordon spun Matt Kenseth w/4 laps to go to win the NASCAR USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland. I watched none of this cookie-cutter 1.5 mile oval race. Results are not yet official.

I am looking forward to ALMS at the brand new SLC UT track next weekend. http://www.millermotorsportspark.com/

Late in this CGI lap is something really nasty: http://www.millermotorsportspark.com/VideoTrack2.cfm

......
I did talk to Johnny O'Connell Monday and lamented his .033 sec. loss to an Aston Martin at Lime Rock ALMS Saturday. It was a damned good late race effort, considering that the Vettes have a 200 lb/10L fuel penalty!

..........
I saw that. Considering that the other Aston was holding him up, that was quite a charge at the end!!

Johnny O let Andy Pilgrim by for 3rd at Sears Point for SpeedWorld Challenge points.

This weekend:

LMES at the Nürburgring, for you on the other side of the atlantic; Speed channel has a 52 minute highlight show after the race.
Europeans can watch Motorsports Weekend at Eurosport.

People who like vintage cars can go to the Spa Historic Grand Prix. Old F1 racecars, Group C cars etc. No tv coverage of this event, perhaps a photo coverage if I'm able to visit.

ALMS races on the brand-new track (http://www.millermotorsportspark.com/)at Salt Lake City UT today 2:00 PM EDT on CBS.

NASCAR Cup runs New Hampshire today at 2:10 PM on TNT.

This 1.058 mile oval was built for CART type cars with only 12 degrees of banking. I'm sure it feels flat to NASCAR drivers lapping at 133 MPH; but I usually fall asleep. ALMS for me.

LMES Live Video!(bad quality though)
http://www.lmes.com/uk/nurburgring/videolive.asp

They got 2 more hours to go.
De Pescarolo Judd with Collard/Boullion/Helary leads the LMP1
Short/Barbosa in the Radical SR9 Judd leads LMP2
The Saleen S7R with Ortelli/Ayari leads the GT1
And Camathias/Lieb leads the GT2 with the Porsche 996 GT3 RSR

Can't get it, dammit!

F1 turned out to be boring.

The ALMS race at Miller MS/Salt Lake City turned out to be interesting. At that altitude, the R10s were very loose. Polesitter ran off the road in the 3rd turn. P2 Porshes led awhile due to odd pit strategies. In the end, car #1P1 Pirro edged car #6P2 Luhr by .318 sec.

The start/finish straight runs east-to-west on this CCW track. The west half of this new 4.5 MI track was pre-named the "technical" course. The east end was called the "character" course.

The R10 could get a good lead into turn 1; after which it was hard to tell if the Porsche was gaining, at least in the west end. The P2 car ate ass in the east end; but couldn't get a shot at passing in the last 3 turns.

The #6 P2 car of Luhr/Maassen set fastest lap, 2:23.665, on lap 35. The #7 P2 car of Dumas/Bernhard set 2nd fastest lap, 2:24.156, on lap 47. The winner was .3 sec down...

Been offline most of the week, but here goes:

Today, 7/23, CBS network gives US fans a doubleheader with the Champ Cars in Edmonton AL CN followed by ALMS at Portland OR. Times are 1:00 and 3:00 PM EDT respectively.

The Grand Am Rolex Sports Cars Series (Daytona Prototype & GT) race the 2.38 mile Barber Motorsports Park E. of Birmingham AL US Sun 7/30 @ 2:00 CDT/GMT-5. That's three O'clock ATL time.

Here is the event schedule, Central Daylight Time/Z-5:

http://www.grandamerican.com/CONTENT/Docs/PDF/2006/12_2006BarberPrelimSchedv7.pdf

Barber is 85-90 miles west on I-20 from Bremen GA/US #27/exit 11. Plan on 40 miles more from downtown ATL. You can see racing 4 miles/<15 minutes off the Leeds exit; no lie.

This weekend is the biggest race on the FIA GT calendar: The Proximus 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The start is 16:00 GMT+1 on Saturday.

Standings after 6 hours:

1
GT1 Lemeret/Deletraz/Piccini/Fassler Aston Martin DBR9
2
GT1 Van De Poele/Bartels/Bertolini Maserati MC12 GT1
3
GT1 Longin/Kumpen/Hezemans/Mollekens Corvette C6R

1
GT2 Salo/Aguas/Scheider Ferrari 430 GT2
2
GT2 Bobbi/Melo/Ortelli Ferrari 430 GT2
3
GT2 Gardel/De Simone/Drudi/Cioci Ferrari 430 GT2

I looked at 8 Hr scores for that race, CarRocker. A shame they don't have live timing/scoring. How much difference in the rules for these cars and Vettes, Vipers, & Astons in ALMS/LeMans GTS1?

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I went to Barber MS Park, near Birmingham AL US yesterday for the Rolex Race ("Porsche 250 presented by Bradley Arant", the official event name.). Excellent race!

I could tell about the winner leading early, then late; but I won't.

High 80's temps + overcast were "Southren steamy" instead of "brutally baking". A 10 mile-wide strorm front rolled across the track 45 minutes in. I could see rain falling 5 miles north and 5 miles south (+ lightning!). Apparently, the racing heat rising from a track in the middle of forested mountain ridges broke it's back. Not one raindrop fell. Overcast + cool pre-storm winds scared wussi into leaving; while cooling real race fans and the track surface.

4th place set race fastest lap with 1 to go.

1st place set race second fastest lap (+ a whole 10th) with 2 to go.

7th place set CAR fastest on the last lap.

It was a dawg chase after a late restart!

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4 Riley chassis + 1 Crawford powered by 1 Ford + 1 Porsche + 3 Pontiacs = diversity/competition.

Go to a race before you criticize!

I looked at 8 Hr scores for that race, CarRocker. A shame they don't have live timing/scoring. How much difference in the rules for these cars and Vettes, Vipers, & Astons in ALMS/LeMans GTS1?


I have no idea. They could be very similar because teams from ALMS and FIA GT race in Le Mans. But ACO and FIA are two different organisations, so I'm sure there are some differences.
I do know that the FIA GT use restrictors to make the faster cars slower so there is more competition.

Did anyone catch the Busch Series race from Watkins Glen, (The Zippo 200). It was VERY exciting, I can't believe some of Robby Gordon's passing attempts! LOL. That was a fun race to watch, for a road course there certainly was a lot of beating and banging, pretty much all very close racing. I'm looking foward to the Cup race tomarrow. Kurt Busch will be starting on the poll.

I have had little time on this board for other than occasional posts in other threads recently. Since I started it; let mods advise me on the 1 month old thread rule... By the way; the Glen Busch race was awesome!

I have decided to boot/delete/not attend the Petit LeMans at Road ATL this weekend. It's not about money. It's surely not about effort.
My brother and my oldest friend will be there. My Mom's house is 6.7 miles from the farthest regions of the infield. It's about COMPETITION! There is none. Last year, the winning gas-burning Audi won by 13 laps. The Penske P2 Porsches have NO CHANCE of beating smoker P1 Audis on a track with a 4300' straight. "Audis Favored" is how local papers play it. Yawn.

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Lest you think I have wimped on the races; I am going to NASCAR Talladega next weekend. It's been repaved. Test drivers say it isn't any faster. I call BS.

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Saturday, SPEED TV has the Petit start from 11:30A; the finish from 7:30P on.

TNT has Busch Kansas at 3:00P Sat.

Won't many of us watch the Chinese Gran Prix? 2:00A Sunday on SPEED.

By the way; the Glen Busch race was awesome!

After nearly 2 months you remembered! That proves it was an amazing race! hahaha


Lest you think I have wimped on the races; I am going to NASCAR Talladega next weekend. It's been repaved. Test drivers say it isn't any faster. I call BS.
WOW!! I ENVY you man!! I want to know from someone with first-hand experience how it effects the driving/speed.
Have a GREAT time!
By the way- You'll get to see Jaun Pablo Montoya's first NASCAR race, I want to know how the Alabama crowd responds to him in driver's introductions. lol!

that is if NASCAR fans follow ARCA racing...he isn't racing under NASCAR yet.......it will be interesting.

As to the idea of you going to Talladega.....I am jealous like freakin crazy...to go to a nascar race....let alone talladega is just a great thing.......closest track to me is Chicagoland....but I haven't had a chance to go there.:(

I live 35 minutes (going..., getting home could take days) away from AIR/AMS; the most BORING track NASCAR races! I froze my skinny ass off 5 years straight in November awhile back. I actually left a sporting event early my last time there. I will never go back.

Talladega is 90 miles away. I need a backstraight scalper ticket. I will be on I-20 20 minutes after the green flag falls (I think). The place is awesome. 10 Rose Bowls in the infield would not crowd the garage area.

Peeps who think NASCAR is boring never smelled rich-mixture carburetion and hot rubber while 42 cars passed by in 2.7 seconds while the earth shook. Before restrictor plates; they would repeat such every 48 seconds.

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Interesting news about Montoya. Also interesting was the fact that the winner of Roush's "Gong Show" wrecked 3 cars in his first 4 races and got dialed back to lower grade. Speed can be tested against the clock. Mature judgement can't. I can't go to the ARCA race; I'm taking my nieces to play softball.

Does anyone remember an ARCA driver named Horton who went OVER the turn 1-2 wall at Talladega?

I've got a bit of crow to eat after watching most of the Petit LeMans yesterday on SPEED.

The winning The #2 TDI Audi R10 of Capello/McNish won the petit LeMans; covering 394 laps/1000.760 miles in 9:16:49.83 for an average speed of 107.835 MPH. I whined about a gas Audi R8 winning by 13 laps last year. This time, both Audis ran on the same lap in the last hour. The #1 Audi of Biela/Pirro/Werner pitted with broken LF suspension w/10 laps to go and was scored 11 laps down in 5th in class/7th overall behind the LMP2 Porsches.

The polesitting #88 Creation CAD6/H-01/Judd led the first 25 laps and ran within 1-2 laps of the smoker Audis up to the last hour. It caused the last 10-lap caution by parking off turn 12 in the last hour. It finished 4th, running, 6 laps down.

After James Weaver's maddog start last year; I don't know if he started the #16 Dyson Racing Lola. Anyhow, the car set fastest lap on #7 @ 1:12.374. It was scored 173 laps down due to "mechanical."

The 2nd place finisher #15 Zytek/06S/Zytek was 4 laps down, but set 2nd fastest lap #250 @ 1:12.568

The #20 Dyson Racing Lola set 3rd fastest lap #80 @ 1:12.690. On lap 100; Guy Smith took the car through the bottom of the esses. Just about the time he started turning right; the RR suspension broke and the car snapped left and hit the fence bass-ackwards and wound up halfway on the cut-through/school course pavement. It was junk.

The 1st 4 P1 cars and the 5th and 6th overall P2 Porsches finished inside 9 laps.

Having clinched the championship; Audi needs only to easily win to look good at the end of the ALMS season.

Heads up, race fans (U2, Tom Kristiansen)! Billion dollar Audis didn't win Petit by being faster. They won by stopping less. The winning smoker Audi stopped 8 times for 12:17. The next 3 places stopped 10-12 times for 4.5-7.5 minutes longer total pit time. That equals 3 laps minimum.

Mega Kudos to SPEEDTV for multiple night laps broadcast from front/rear in-car cams in the GT2 PTG BMW and one of the Panoz's!!! In the last stint; Auberlin's BMW kicked butt braking and handling from turns 1 through 7. The Panoz could smoke the BMW down the backstraight, unless other traffic intefered. It does/did frequently. These 2 cars swapped position repeatedly; and SPEED was on top of it for many laps. Good stuff!

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IndyCar team owner and former mid-teens IRL points placer Adrian Fernandez finished mid-teens in Grand-Am Rolex DP driver points this year. Co-2nd place Rolex driver points winner Luiz Diaz and Fernandez are the the designated hitters for the LMP2 Acuras in ALMS next year. Maybe this year's solid driver can carry his player co-driver partways...

edit: It took DAYS; but I found video of Jimmy Horton's July 1993 ARCA Talladega crash: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-videos/car-crash-videos-ar1456/video98864-2.html

ALMS ended their season Saturday 10/21 at Laguna Seca(Mazda) Raceway with a 4 HR race. Polesitter was Stefan Johanssen in the #15 Zytek(alledgedly NOT LeMans legal); followed by Minassian in the Creation/Judd. 3rd fastest was Sacha Maasen in the #6 P2 Porche; followed by both smoker Audis and the #7 P2 Porsche.

The Audis finished 1-2, followed by the #88 Creation/Judd and the #7 Luhr/Dumas #7 P2 Porsche(fastest lap at the 3/4 mark!), all on the same lap. The #15 Zytek would have made it more interesting; except they were committed to pit entry (in the lead) when the caution/pits closed light came on at 2/3 time. They had to do a horrendous stop/go + 1:15 penalty! The car was scored 7th/-2 laps/off course at the finish. The winning Audi ran 1HR:20 minutes on last fuel; but made more stops total. Maybe IMSA has reduced fuel capacity to equalize total energy?

Audi won manufacturer's championship, as predetermined.

Gavin/Beretta had the GT1 championship locked; but Enge/Turner's 009 Aston hat a flat w/2 to go (in the lead) and gave the GT1 mfg championship to Chevy by 3 points.

I already ate crow about the Petit. ALMS has gotten much more interesting(close racing!) lately.

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Apologies for double post; but this was new news inside the 30-day window.

SteveFX... How was 'Dega?!? I hope you "booed" when Brian Vickers won. From what I've picked up so far, I hear Hendrick is really disowning him. He's not invited to any of the teams meetings or gatherings. Vickers has yet to apologize to his teammate Johnson, and and they hate each other from what Johnson says about Vickers.

I'm looking foward to Montoya's Busch Series debut this weekend.

(chomp, chomp, chomp!) Eating more crow because I didn't make it to Talladega. Great race!

Brian Vickers seems to be a calm, smart guy. He has been a frequent guest on "Inside Nascar" on Monday nights. The day after 'Dega; Ken Shrader and Michael Waltrip gave him unholy HELL! His response: "I knew you guys would throw me under the bus. I didn't know you would back it up and run over me again."

Facts:

6/25: Vickers announced he would drive for new Team Red Bull in '07.

9/22: jefffie gordon stated he no longer considered Vickers a teammate.

9/30: Vickers was locked out of team meetings, post test/practice. JJ voiced concerns that he would steal secrets for his new team.

10/8: On the last lap at 'Dega with Dale E. Jr, Jimmie Johnson, and Vickers running 1-2-3; JJ pulls out for the classic slingshot pass. Teammate Vickers follows suit. He is about 1 second/half a car width late. JJ catches the drag and slows a bit. Vickers hits him in the RR corner instead of straight up the wazoo. JJ spins into Dale E. Jr. Both crash. Vickers wins (his 1st). The (usual) Hendrick Team whinage follows. JJ's crew chief Chad Knaus (banned for a MONTH earlier this year) said Vickers had "run out of talent." (teach you to lock ME out of team meetings, you MOFI, LOL!)

I wish Vickers luck next year. He'll be lucky to get junk to qualify for the last 4 races.

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F1 is over. IRL(yawn) is over. Rolex DP/GT is over. ALMS is over... Racing season ain't over 'til it's over...

Champ Cars ran their penultimate race of the season at Surfers Paradise AU Sunday 10/22. Sebastien Boudais clinched his 3rd straight Champ Car title after challenger A.J. Almendinger crashed late.

The series finishes at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico D.F., 11/12

Katherine Legge still impresses me.

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0030 AM EDT Sat 10/28: NASCAR qualifying was cancelled for ATL motor speedway. Drivers will start Sunday by points. The Chase drivers will cover the first 5 rows. Dogfight anyone?