Baltimore Grand Prix - 2/3 September 2011

[Deleted]

Michelin teams didn't even collect either of the 'vital' Michelin Green X Challenge trophies, how sad is that...

[arakis]

danlop could have been predicted, with virgo and jmw running dunlops and taking championships in 2007-2008 le mans series

[NightStalk3r]

Michelin really have dropped the ball of late, Dunlop and Falken have been working very hard and Michelin just seem content with the tires they had at the beginning of the season and haven't done any development.

[ubrben]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

Michelin really have dropped the ball of late, Dunlop and Falken have been working very hard and Michelin just seem content with the tires they had at the beginning of the season and haven't done any development.

To be fair to Michelin it's also a lot harder to supply more cars and to react if they need to.

Falken have one car only to supply so trying something random and new might cost them 5 sets of tyres. For Michelin that's 5 sets * at least 4 to supply Risi, #45 and both Corvettes. Dunlop is somewhere in the middle with the 2 BMWs.

But it's also clear that Michelin's strategy has been to invest heavily in racing a build their brand. This has resulted in them having all the top teams. Clearly they have great tyres, but if you have Risi, Lizards, and Corvette you don't need to have the best tyres to automatically score decent results - particularly in a BoP formula for the chassis. Porsche has suffered in BoP this year, which makes Falken's achievements all the more impressive.

Ben

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by ubrben

Porsche has suffered in BoP this year, which makes Falken's achievements all the more impressive.

Out of the big four (Corvette-Ferrari-Porsche-BMW) they're the only ones that have received weight breaks this year, wouldn't call that suffering... granted not in great amounts and nothing beats BMW restrictors, but still

[arakis]

they also have a 0.3mm restrictor break

[NightStalk3r]

Originally Posted by ubrben

but if you have Risi, Lizards, and Corvette you don't need to have the best tyres to automatically score decent results

Seems to me that is not the case anymore, Michelin only have 2 wins from 7 events in GT this year.

If i were a betting man id bet there will be less Michelin runners on the grid next year and more from Dunlop and Falken.

[HJJ]

09/06/11 ALMS Baltimore TV Rating *ABC's tape delay broadcast on Sunday of Saturday's American Le Mans race, earned a 0.5 TV rating. That is one-half of one-percent of the national TV audience of 115 million households.* So about 575,000 households were tuned in, which equates to over 600,000 viewers.
.

.

[joeb]

Wow, real numbers! Thanks HJJ!

[ubrben]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

Seems to me that is not the case anymore, Michelin only have 2 wins from 7 events in GT this year.

If i were a betting man id bet there will be less Michelin runners on the grid next year and more from Dunlop and Falken.

Hope so :-)

Ben

[Deleted]

I know ABC has massively bigger distribution but I'd still like to know the ratings for Versus's Indy broadcast, did we actually beat them this weekend? It was only 0.28 for Long Beach IIRC

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Chiana

I know ABC has massively bigger distribution but I'd still like to know the ratings for Versus's Indy broadcast, did we actually beat them this weekend? It was only 0.28 for Long Beach IIRC

Here is your answer: Indycar ratings.

Baltimore was a 0.43.

[WolfsburgRS]

I have to say I had a great time at the race. It was my first at a street circuit, and although certainly not as ideal as a dedicated track from a track-side viewpoint, plus a bunch of areas that were basically off limits, overall it was a home run. Crowd was insanely pumped, tons of people, and the drive by Wolf and Bryan was awesome. After the win the IMSA tech area was pretty packed with people taking pictures of the cars and cheering, etc. I have to say, I was shocked.

Hopefully next year will be even better