’10 ALMS Round 7 • Road America • August 18th – 22nd

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Ah yes, hence the debris flags. I assume you can get wide exiting 8, into wet grass and find the barriers that far down....

Edit: J. Bleekemolen said he just lost it or had something break and found the barriers pretty hard....

No suprise that something broke, have you seen the pothole in 8? They keep showing it on the feed! I would imagine I am not the only one who thinks the track is likely the culprit here.




L.P.

[fieldodreams79]

I must have missed the potholes...too much multi tasking!

[cmk]

Great job by both Johnnies, another calm and collected pole from Cocker and Mowlem making the Autocon Lola look like a completely different car.

[tlongman]

Sooo.. out of curiosity, when was the last time autocon out qualified Highcroft?

[Nick49]

Wow, great qualifying session but can the Drayson team convert that into a win. I somehow doubt that as, although it's his team, Paul Drayson is the weak link in the driver line up. What about Johnny Mowlem for the Autocon team, pretty stunning as well. Still think the Muscle Milk Porsche is going to take the win. Lets hope they all get round the first couple of corners.

I'm more excited about this race on a great circuit that is Road America than the LMS at the Hungaroring.

Nick

[NightStalk3r]

Originally Posted by tlongman

Sooo.. out of curiosity, when was the last time autocon out qualified Highcroft?

Probably back when Highcroft were also one of the also ran teams with an old lola.

[pdxracefan]

Originally Posted by tlongman

Sooo.. out of curiosity, when was the last time autocon out qualified Highcroft?

Who can remember? Never?

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by Nick49

Wow, great qualifying session but can the Drayson team convert that into a win. I somehow doubt that as, although it's his team, Paul Drayson is the weak link in the driver line up. What about Johnny Mowlem for the Autocon team, pretty stunning as well. Still think the Muscle Milk Porsche is going to take the win. Lets hope they all get round the first couple of corners.

I'm more excited about this race on a great circuit that is Road America than the LMS at the Hungaroring.

Nick

Gas Mileage and Drayson are going to kill their chances around here. They are going to put Paul in the car to start and even if he doesn't spin he was 3-5 seconds a lap slower in practice. The first fuel stop for the LMP1's comes in about 45 mins, the LMP2 cars will (all but the Mazda) will be able to run close to an hour. Especially if both Muscle Milk and Highcroft start with the warm up laps saving fuel and likely get a early caution they might be able to do this race in two stops period and double stint the tires.

That will put the clearly faster cars at a disadvantage in track position. Only a late caution will save them.

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

The #61 Risi is whooping the #62 so far this weekend, i thought Melo and Bruni were Ferrari's top guns?

Mr. Risi said they needed another lap or two to get temperature in the tires.

All the cars will be within a second down to about 9th race pace. Not worried, just keep the Porsche behind you and keep in contact with the BMW's. I still don't believe these teams (BMW and Corvette) still have the balance figured out yet.

Trimmed out the BMW's and Corvette are the fastest cars with the Porsche coming next. They can qualify like that, but can they race like that? BMW was strong here (Corvette did some testing here) and as I said they'll be strong again and I don't care if they win.

We are coming up on two tracks that favor the Ferrari given Risi back to back to back victories at Mosport and back to back Petit Le Mans victories.

As long as we have #61 and #02 and maybe an AF Corsa car running interference it will be hard for any other team to win Driver's, Team or Manufacturers title and I'm looking for the complete SWEEP of all three to send the F430 out on a very high note.

[old man]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

With a freshly built and tight Porsche Spyder and likely a very experienced Porsche driver behind the wheel? I wouldn't bet on it. I also think the low drag configuration you saw at Le Mans on the Highcroft car will be in full use the rest of the way.

I didn't but then, perhaps I should have

[NightStalk3r]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

I'm looking for the complete SWEEP of all three to send the F430 out on a very high note.

Your going to be very disapointed come the end of the season then

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

Your going to be very disapointed come the end of the season then

I doubt it, its all based on sound thinking, reality and numbers.

1) F430 has won or finished 2nd at Mosport for the last 4 years. Likely would have won last year if Risi/Kaffer could have beaten them out of the pits on the final stop.

2) There is only ONE competitive Porsche

3) Risi as won Petit two years in a row

I personally believe Risi win when they have too (Mosport), keep the Porsche behind them the rest of the way. Only BMW could upset things here, but they'll need at least one victory.

3 very strong Ferrari (#61, #62 and #02) vs one Porsche

Do the math. If Risi hadn't won at Mid Ohio (when they had too) then I might agree with you.

BMW and Corvette are going to run interference looking for victories firstly.

This has the Porsche finishing no better than 5th. Kaffer and Salo will not make the mistakes the others have.

[NightStalk3r]

Risi also won Le Mans the last 2 years, but who won this year? i thought so, statistics mean nothing when it is this close, it's all down to who is there at the end in the best place, and at this point i think your being rather naive believing #45 is going to finish no better than 5th.

[chernaudi]

I don't know about the potholes-wasn't the track resurfaced in '06 or '07. But then again, Mid Ohio was resurfaced in '06 in it's just as litted with concrete patches and "old" asphalt in '08 as it was in '05, and obviously not much has changed from '08 to now.

Or could it be the new curbs that ESPN basically complianed about during the Nationwide race in June? They don't seem to be anymore agressive than the curbs used since RA was resurfaced. Then again, in 1999 and again in 2000 (when it was widened) Mosport had potholes form in 2008-An Audi R10 had to have the tub changed because of it and the other R10 along with a Porsche RS Spyder narrowly avoided similar damage. And in '04 at PLM, Road Atlanta's crew had to fix a pot hole in turn 1 the morning of the race.

It seems that high downforce/high grip race cars + seasonal climate changes = tracks wanting to come apart.

[Purist]

I suspect the biggest issue here is that the NASCAR machines are just so heavy that now we're seeing the results of them using the track. Indy had to put in concrete patches in the turns after the first year or two of the Brickyard 400, because of how hard those 3400+lb bricks are on the track surface.

[NightStalk3r]

The ALMS really need to sort there press officer out that writes the articles for there site, according to the qualifying reports for Porsche and BMW both the 92 and 45 start 4th, and this isn't the first time they have messed them up.

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by Purist

I suspect the biggest issue here is that the NASCAR machines are just so heavy that now we're seeing the results of them using the track. Indy had to put in concrete patches in the turns after the first year or two of the Brickyard 400, because of how hard those 3400+lb bricks are on the track surface.

I believe that might be the case. I don't know why they make them heavy on purpose (tungsten bars in the frame rails).

[fieldodreams79]

It could have been the stockcars that did that portion of the track in but things tend to need maintenance and repairs when they get to be nearly 60 years old.

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

Risi also won Le Mans the last 2 years, but who won this year? i thought so, statistics mean nothing when it is this close, it's all down to who is there at the end in the best place, and at this point i think your being rather naive believing #45 is going to finish no better than 5th.

Why should I be naive? They finished off the podium at Utah and Mid Ohio.

GM was going to be a factor in the second half of the season because they introduced the cars here starting at Mid Ohio last year.

BMW won here last year and are odds on favorites, well deserved none of their cars have finished off the podium the entire year.

I am a NFL Football Fan Handicapper (and very good I might add) and statistics are important in determining who wins and who looses. Racing is a team sport and momentum is just as much a factor as anything else.

This is arguably the Ferrari's worst track, though Salo was in a position to win in 2008 and got blocked by his own teammate (something that won't happen this year).

The Porsche is also the least developed car on the grid. If you listen to the practice from Friday Pat Long admitted to lobbying Porsche for some new bits to help them out. They are struggling a bit, not totally out to lunch but enough for them to struggle in qualifying -

Qualified #4 at Long Beach, #8 at Laguna Seca,#4 at Utah and #5 for tomorrows race. I dismissed Lime Rock because of weather conditions that caught out the BMW's.

Besides Laguna Seca where playing bumper cars ruined the front bumper cover of the #62 and an LMPC making contact with #62 and causing a broken wheel and a #4 place finish, Risi has been RIGHT THERE and on POLE save for this weekend.

I said somewhere else on this forum, that the Corvettes will come good in the 2nd half and that BMW will likely win a race. All Risi has to do is keep in contact with the BMW's, the Vettes are of no concern they shot themselves in the foot so many times they are a non-factor and keep the Porsche off the podium.

Even with the DNF Risi is only 8 points back and tied for Manufactures and Teams.

I think it was uncalled for to call me naive when the Porsche's tires still don't last an entire stint and you're getting no help from Falken or the #44.

These races are short (2:45) things are not likely to happen to cause engine failures or huge accidents. Now that the LMPC's have been sped up and the GTC's slowed down, it gives them more breathing room to race as well.

You can wave your Porsche flag all you want and I favor Risi but not blindly. All they need is a podium finish here. Chances are if they get it, the #45 won't be on it.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

The ALMS really need to sort there press officer out that writes the articles for there site, according to the qualifying reports for Porsche and BMW both the 92 and 45 start 4th, and this isn't the first time they have messed them up.

Sounds like the grid is going to be tight!

[dxk1]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

The ALMS really need to sort there press officer out that writes the articles for there site, according to the qualifying reports for Porsche and BMW both the 92 and 45 start 4th, and this isn't the first time they have messed them up.

You know, all those damn German cars look alike anyway!!

DK

[ubrben]

Road America was only bad for Ferrari in the past because it ran 12" tyre regs and had less weight, but less power than the others. They are now on 14" regs and have similar power to the other guys.

Ben

[Jonerz]

I think that the press officers are from Flying Lizard and Rahal Letterman.

Chris

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by Jonerz

I think that the press officers are from Flying Lizard and Rahal Letterman.

Chris

BMW also does post pre-race, post qualifying and post race You Tube video.

What's Flying Lizard doing and couldn't Ms Miller (Risi) be doing more than releasing PR and Tweeting?

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

BMW also does post pre-race, post qualifying and post race You Tube video.

What's Flying Lizard doing and couldn't Ms Miller (Risi) be doing more than releasing PR and Tweeting?

L.P.