Rate the race: Rolex 24 at Daytona (TUSC)

[Canada ALMS fan]

I WAS at the race for all sessions and all days, since that seems to be a prerequisite to some for having an opinion. Being based in Western Canada it is a long haul.
I found myself totally ignoring LMPC and DP. The DPs really did look like dinosaurs. I got to thinking, why not just run P2 and DP as separate classes? They race so differently. It was thoroughly enjoyable standing along the fences and watching the diversity and quality of cars throughout all the practice sessions. As always I had my scanner to listen to broadcast transmissions. The FOX guys were on for qualy and the last practice. Justin Bell is hilarious. I listened to the TV broadcast for the race and felt bad for my friends watching at home, sounded like there were a million commercials. The MRN guys were painful. I was part of the Audi Experience and we had hospitality and the very centre of the track in that single building beside Lake Lloyd. They had the broadcast on the TVs. John Hindhaugh was a guest presenter and interviewed a few of the drivers over the race. You will be pleased to know Scott Atherton was in the building Sunday AM and had a long talk with Hindy (fingers crossed). It felt so wrong to be at an enduro and having a couple of good ole boys' voices, not Hindy's, covering the race.

Positives:
- new leader light system on the cars was fantastic, much better than the prototype version I saw the Lizards testing last year.
- the depth and quality of the field
- Great to see ACO compliant cars back at one of the big enduros
- GTD, and no more prep 2 or Pony cars to boot!
- Bruni in the Risi car was magic, Watching Pla in the Oak in the infield was impressive, Salo has a couple of impressive stints in the SMP 458.
- Good crowd, I would say on par with when I was there for the 50th
- There was more of an ALMS feel to the paddock than I expected, the level of preparation and professionalism is definitely higher than the GA days

Negatives:
- It was cold
- The wave-by nonsense has to go
- Daytona security have the personality of houseplants and are rude.
- It was obvious from the first session the fix was in with the DP cars, especially the "Corvettes"
- MRN was terrible
- Lack of info on Memo for hours was unacceptable, there was a cloud over the race, even if the news is bad people want to know
- AMR were treated like second class citizens. The only GTLM team not in the concrete garages and the BoP was a joke, just like they got screwed at Sebring last year. A bad legacy of the ALMS. People say Aston whine but it because BMW and Porsche cry to high hell whenever they feel threatened. Surprisingly, they said Fehan was on their side.
- LMPC really has no place now, it is stealing grid spots away from the non-spec classes
- I was up in the grandstands for the finish and you could hear the moans when the last yellow came out. I had a great week until that happened. I cannot tell you how ripped off and angry I felt at that point.
- Even though I was surrounded by hardcore Audi fans, once the replay came on the monitor, no one wanted the Lizards to win that way.

I don't know why but after spending hours in the paddock talking to folks I have this sneaking suspicion that this series will adopt LMP2/LMP3 for 2017. It was a positive event overall. The officiating has to change or they will lose all the ALMS fans - and quick.

[ATLFalconsFAN]

Will what????

I must know!!!



Ha ha, never mind, you fixed your post!

[jasonjessica09]

Your analysis was so good that I hope to piggy back off your points which are written after the '*' sign.

-I found myself totally ignoring LMPC and DP.
*I was at the race too. I had no electronic devises with me. P and GTLM was easy to follow because the leader pole had those cars listed on there since they were high enough overall. LMPC I could not care less about. GTD was toughest to follow. That's where the leader lights really helped out was with that GTD race.

-Scott Atherton was in the building Sunday AM and had a long talk with Hindy (fingers crossed).
*I guess that was an off the record conversation and not an interview of any type. That could be a good thing yes. Would be nice to see an MRN-RLM alliance strike before Sebring.

- Great to see ACO compliant cars back at one of the big enduros
*That's right. I put off going to the Daytona 24 for the past decade until the day that real GT cars would be back. And when they did I came along. The Grand Am GT classes were jokes I thought even with their large GT grid in 2012. I just could never take them seriously. Too dumbed down.

- GTD, and no more prep 2 or Pony cars to boot!
*As close to GT3 cars as they have been so far. Hopefully over time this gets better. Now can we get the ABS/traction control and a full rear wing to return?

- Bruni in the Risi car was magic, Watching Pla in the Oak in the infield was impressive, Salo has a couple of impressive stints in the SMP 458.
*I had no clue who was driving when there in person. Only had hints when there was a yellow and the PA was loud enough to hear.

- Good crowd, I would say on par with when I was there for the 50th
*But thankfully nothing like the Daytona 500 so parking and driving around the speedway is doable still.

- There was more of an ALMS feel to the paddock than I expected, the level of preparation and professionalism is definitely higher than the GA days
*I thought it was awesome that both the 2000 and 2001 overall winning cars (Viper and Corvette) were on display in the infield fan zone. I bet they were not there until this year.

- It was cold
*Still better than in the north

- The wave-by nonsense has to go
*Yeah full course yellows were a MAJOR downer. But I get the impression though that IMSA finally got the clue that this is a major pet peeve with us after all these years of having to deal with it.

- It was obvious from the first session the fix was in with the DP cars, especially the "Corvettes"
*Maybe so but the Corvettes are the only DP cars I could ever like and tolerate. Better than those soapbox Gen 2 DP cars. Even the Gen 3 Rileys stink.

- AMR were treated like second class citizens.
*Yeah I wondered that myself. Funny how Aston Martin gets whipped in America, wheras Corvette and SRT gets beat bad in Europe. Hopefully at Le Mans this year we'll see more parity.

- LMPC really has no place now, it is stealing grid spots away from the non-spec classes
*Agree 100%. LMPC will already run separately from everybody else 3 times in 2014. I bet that doubles in 2015.

- I was up in the grandstands for the finish and you could hear the moans when the last yellow came out. I had a great week until that happened. I cannot tell you how ripped off and angry I felt at that point.
*I actually miss the days when cars won by 10-20 lap margins


-I don't know why but after spending hours in the paddock talking to folks I have this sneaking suspicion that this series will adopt LMP2/LMP3 for 2017. It was a positive event overall. The officiating has to change or they will lose all the ALMS fans - and quick.
*Best way to fix this is to not be so full course yellow happy and find a way to quicken the times of them. Perhaps instead of wave arounds they can have two safety cars half a lap apart. Yes sometimes class might get split but half a lap is better than a full lap.

[Matt]

dont let GTD have ABS or traction control.

[Maelochs]

"-I don't know why but after spending hours in the paddock talking to folks I have this sneaking suspicion that this series will adopt LMP2/LMP3 for 2017. It was a positive event overall. The officiating has to change or they will lose all the ALMS fans - and quick.

"*Best way to fix this is to not be so full course yellow happy and find a way to quicken the times of them. Perhaps instead of wave arounds they can have two safety cars half a lap apart. Yes sometimes class might get split but half a lap is better than a full lap."

I think he is talking about the Lap-Down-Wave-By, and not the wave-bys done to keep classes together.

[Canada ALMS fan]

Correct. The competition yellow set a bad precedent too too.

PS. Anyone want to sell me a program? I thought I would grab one later to avoid having to pack it around, to my dismay they sold out.

[jasonjessica09]

Originally Posted by Canada ALMS fan

Correct. The competition yellow set a bad precedent too too.

Also look at that in the immediate hours after the race the talk was bout the 45-555 non contact "incident". But since then I think everybody realizes this would not have happened were it not for that stupid phantom yellow. That is the real controversy. IMSA has to learn from this. Keep full course yellows to an absolute minimum from this point on.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

Also look at that in the immediate hours after the race the talk was bout the 45-555 non contact "incident". But since then I think everybody realizes this would not have happened were it not for that stupid phantom yellow. That is the real controversy. IMSA has to learn from this. Keep full course yellows to an absolute minimum from this point on.

that's not entirely true.


the audi was catching the ferrari at an alarming rate.

[Fogelhund]

ouch..

http://www.autoextremist.com/fumes1/...im-france.html

[nkoske]

Originally Posted by [B

jasonjessica09[/B]]Also look at that in the immediate hours after the race the talk was bout the 45-555 non contact "incident". But since then I think everybody realizes this would not have happened were it not for that stupid phantom yellow. That is the real controversy.

Audi was catching the Ferrari at about a second a lap and was about 8 seconds back with 20 minutes left. So there was a chance that the Audi would have still caught the Ferrari. But, we'll never know. In the end I'm glad the caution didn't change any of the positions.

[canamman]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

ouch..

http://www.autoextremist.com/fumes1/...im-france.html

Seems to ring your sentiments exactly. I see a lot of your past posts in that article. Must be frustrating.

[Ephaeton]

same here. Interestingly, the majority of the voters gave the race an above-average rating, facing only one to few peeves. In that respect, fogelhund, myself and the autoextremist are in the minority, and the TUSC mgmt is doing alright.

[Maelochs]

I can only hope that the teams are as angry as Mr. DeLorenzo claims they are. One of my fears is that ANSCAR, certain it can create fans for anything using its tested Stock Car methods, can safely ignore existing sports car fans and their complaints about "The NASCAR Way."

Even NASCAR cannot ignore major manufacturers and important teams---they might think they can manufacture fans, but they know they cannot manufacture enough teams to make a series ans still make money (see: Rolex.)

If the teams can present a united front or if enough of them are seriously willing to examine other options (PWC starting a new series?) then maybe TUSC can be saved.

I hope so---there are a lto of good people in TUSC, and a lot of money, effort has been spent getting the show on track. Starting over is only preferable if TUSC is too stupid to fix itself; otherwise, better an improved TUSC than starting over entirely somewhere else.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

ouch..

http://www.autoextremist.com/fumes1/...im-france.html

Is it just me or do some things in that article just not check out?

- that means anything to do with the technical specifications and the control of the racing itself - to the former ALMS operatives, because it's clear that the NASCAR contingent is utterly devoid of credibility when it comes to putting on a major league sports car race.

Correct me if I am wrong, but with Walker in race control and Elkins as head of tech, these jobs already ARE in the hands of ALMS guys...

(Or, imagine a scenario where the World Challenge Series expands its scope and reach and adds classes from the USCC to accommodate refugee competitors.)

PWC's day to day operations are run by WC vision, an organization of the racing teams competing in the series. Why in the world would they bring in GTLM or prototype cars (and PDL can only be talking about those) that would completely overshadow the GT3 and below kind of cars that are in the series right now?

I am not really sure how much stock I should put into DeLorenzo's perspective on these things, for all we know it might all be mere wishful thinking.

[Maelochs]

DeLorenzo has certainly done his share of wishful reporting in the past, and I don't think we can be sure that the picture he paints about emotions in the paddock is necessarily photo-realistic. Hopeful, though.

And, if a lot of teams wanted to debark from the sinking SS TUSC, SCCA through PWC or a totally different series name would be a great way to go. SCCA might lack a lot of the expertise needed to run a national top-tier pro endurance series, but the folks who have actually been doing that kind of racing for decades could help out.

I don't see PWC adding a prototype class and tripling race lengths---it would wreck what is a financially sound and growing series, and irritate a lot of teams and drivers (and a few factories.)

But besides IMSA and SCCA, which extant groups do have the structure in place--rulesmakers, insurance, administration--to organize a top-tier endurance series? NASA? I'd say SCCA would be the first gorup top approach if a bunch of TUSC teams--and manufacturers--wanted to defect.

[Fogelhund]

Here is what I take from DeLorenzo. He echoes the fears of many, regarding the NASCAR ownership. The worst of our fears were seen with what appeared to be a staged yellow flag. What he said was sensationalistic, but if it gets the message across that "traditional" fans don't want to see "manipulated" outcomes, that is fine by me.

Sure, Elkins WAS an ALMS employee, but ultimately NASCAR signs the paycheck now. If his employer tells him how to run things, and he wants to keep his job.....

One race yes... no need to jump off the cliff, but no need to be silent either. Feedback. They listen, or not. It is up to them to define what they are, and first impressions are very important. Is this "NASCAR" version of Sportscars, or Sportscars owned by NASCAR?

[extramundane]

Peter DeLorenzo is a visionary with an impeccable track record. It was a sad time when, true to his predictions, GM neutered Corvette Racing to free up cash to get Tony Stewart back in the Chevy family, cut motorsports advertising severely then pulled out of NASCAR entirely after the 2008 season.

He really should charge for his columns, or at least adopt a stuffed animal mascot.

[Maelochs]

That visionary, Peter DeLorenzo, who first told us about Chevrolet's P1 Prototype campaign using the Corvette name ... the one that never happened ... and Cadillac's big shift to GTE ... which also ...

But please, feel free to send the guy money if you think he's worth it. Stand by your words, for sure.

[Captain Spyro]

I would rate it a 7. Not perfect, but pretty much the standard for sports car racing from years past.

[BullMan]

The people involved at the top of this racing series have been in and around racing for a long, long time, so they have no excuse. Not one.

This is why I give the series absolutely zero slack. This isn't a group of baseball owners starting a racing series. It's freaking NASCAR. They know what they're doing.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by extramundane

Peter DeLorenzo is a visionary with an impeccable track record. It was a sad time when, true to his predictions, GM neutered Corvette Racing to free up cash to get Tony Stewart back in the Chevy family, cut motorsports advertising severely then pulled out of NASCAR entirely after the 2008 season.

He really should charge for his columns, or at least adopt a stuffed animal mascot.

Not sure if this entire post is sarcasm...

[extramundane]

Originally Posted by Matt

Not sure if this entire post is sarcasm...

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by extramundane

He really should charge for his columns, or at least adopt a stuffed animal mascot.

Yeah, because he was 100% correct...

[wdave0]

Originally Posted by Captain Spyro

I would rate it a 7. Not perfect, but pretty much the standard for sports car racing from years past.

I too would give it a 7 as it was just like every year since 2003 except a better field, but I really give it a 4 because I expected (hoped for) improvement from the past, not SOS.

[wdave0]

Originally Posted by Ephaeton

same here. Interestingly, the majority of the voters gave the race an above-average rating, facing only one to few peeves. In that respect, fogelhund, myself and the autoextremist are in the minority, and the TUSC mgmt is doing alright.

I too am in the minority and sadly agree with you about the majority. If you realize how many fans NASCAR and WWE carry it becomes clear that most of our complaints are irrelevant to the majority who just want a flashy entertainment event, and are the people the sanctioning body seeks to please. The only part that bothers those people is the poor TV coverage.
Unfortunately the US has become the land of the lowest common denominator and we loose.