IMSA Race TUSC Round 3: The Tequila Patron Sportscar Showcase at Long Beach

[Birddog07]

This could have been an exciting race to watch, but all the commercials chopped it up so bad, it really much more exciting than watching the safety car at Sebring.

It's already bad enough that we are forced to low quality internet streams in the US if we don't pay $150 a month for the super premium cable TV pack.

P2s still not competing at all.

Safe to say that this new series has failed to live up to expectations.

[EricS]

LMAO, final coverage stats:

• Racing time (includes fullscreen driver interviews): 59 minutes
• Commercial time: 41 minutes

So, 41% of the race is spent in commercials!

Other notes:

• Longest consecutive time spent on racing: 17min during pit window
• Longest consecutive time spent in commercial: 9min
• Number of breaks in action for commercials: 9
• A typical hour long tv show in the US has 18 minutes of commercials with 42 minutes of programming, that's 30%

[Louie Loper]

I'm still confused on how the 10 was complaining about the 42 bumping em in the hairpin when they shoved them wide in turn 1. And....they are still at it

[David Land]

So the 42 was 'beatin' and bangin'' for no reason??????

I guess being on the winning end of BoP gives you the right to make stuff up about a driver you don't like.

[Salamus]

Originally Posted by EricS

Longest consecutive time spent in commercial: 9min

That really is pathetic.

[BullMan]

That 9 minutes in commercial was in the last 3 minutes of the race too. Appalling.

[BullMan]

Originally Posted by David Land

So the 42 was 'beatin' and bangin'' for no reason??????

I guess being on the winning end of BoP gives you the right to make stuff up about a driver you don't like.

Wayne Taylor and his ilk have been making a living *****ing and moaning about EVERYTHING for years.

[EricS]

The 10 always *****es, that's SOP for them.

[edit]The 9 min commercial was from 29-20min left. The last 7min of the race was shown without commercials. (Yipee? )

[adam46]

Ryan Dalziel may have had an issue, he was fourth last time I looked at the timing screen, but Olivier Pla and Richard Westbrook are listed ahead of him. He's also a lap down in the final standings.

Perhaps he threw it off on the final lap?

The TV graphics say the Dalziel car came fifth, while the timing and scoring says sixth. What the?

[TF110]

Not the most exciting race. Good for Corvette, wasn't suprised to see Ford win overall. Kinda saw that one coming. Viper needs help, but good drive from the 91 until late, just couldnt hold on.

[aneesh99]

Poor effort, the ad breaks were ridiculous, it's only a 100 minute race ffs! At least we only lost sound on the international stream.

I'm another one that has desperately been trying to see the good side of TUSCC but I too am running out of patience. They got a lot of crap from Daytona and Sebring about this and today, they have the same issue. Either they desperately need they money to prop the channel and broadcast up or they don't listen to the fans. Or lack common sense.

[Birddog07]

Originally Posted by EricS

LMAO, final coverage stats:

• Racing time (includes fullscreen driver interviews): 59 minutes
• Commercial time: 41 minutes

So, 41% of the race is spent in commercials!

Other notes:

• Longest consecutive time spent on racing: 17min during pit window
• Longest consecutive time spent in commercial: 9min
• Number of breaks in action for commercials: 9
• A typical hour long tv show in the US has 18 minutes of commercials with 42 minutes of programming, that's 30%

Hmm, interesting...Just showed TUDOR their impressive stats on Facebook.

[Maelochs]

Yeah, Ricky Taylor lost the rear bodywork on Lap One trying to go three-wide. You could see the huge piece of bodywork sail through the air.

Chapeau to the TUSC officials for keep the yellow flags furled through all that, and through the Valiante/Pew incident later.

For the person who said IMSA.com had racing non-stop---yeah, I had that on too--but a lot of it was in-car stuff which gave no indication of what was actually happening--In-car from the #1 ESM which was running fifth or sixth nowhere near any other car.

We never got to see Valiante pass Yacaman and (I think) Taylor just before he wrecked; timing and scoring showed Yacaman drop from third to fifth, and on track you could see he was back there, but How? it wasn't on TV or on-line.

Props for Fox realizing that the pass for the lead was important and squeezing in a replay of that between commercials.

As for the double- and triple-dipping commercials? People who leave their TV hear the music and rush back, or see the graphics and unmute---then are stuck there when another commercial comes, and they are afraid to leave again because it could be a fifteen- or thirty-second spot---or a 90-second commercial.

I have seen worse broadcasts--at least the director found a few battles back in he pack. I wonder what the #4 Vette/#56 BMW fight was like---but we only got to see it occasionally and not at all at the end. Better to see Mags cross the line 15 seconds ahead.

Tough call. TUSC actually did a good job here (and in the post-race show the announcers are talking about taking a few horses away from the DPs) but the Fox 1 broadcast made it an unpleasant experience.

When these folks look at the TV product as a profit center instead of an extended advertisement, we get broadcasts like this--which turn off any racing fan who might want to watch. It's a short-term way of thinking--make the money on each broadcast--instead of building value in the product so later commercial spots sell for a lot more.

What a race like this ensures is that ratings will continue to suffer--which is a shame, because TUSC didn't flog up the race in any way. Only the broadcast sucked---the race, the officiating, all that was fine.

[Rcz]

So is it FOX's fault or IMSA's fault for there being too many commercials ?

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Rcz

So is it FOX's fault or IMSA's fault for there being too many commercials ?

So far nobody remembers seeing anything similar on other channels and sports. It might be referenced in the tv deal contract, so basically IMSA's fault.

[EricS]

Originally Posted by Rcz

So is it FOX's fault or IMSA's fault for there being too many commercials ?

Depends.

Did IMSA buy the time on Fox and therefore IMSA sold the commercial time ala ALMS on ESPN? Or did Fox purchase rights to broadcast the coverage (and hold onto commercial revenue)?

[BullMan]

Removing the puff pieces and only counting the time when actual racing was shown, we actually only saw 57 minutes, not 59.

[ATLFalconsFAN]

Am I the only one who will actually be rooting for a DP win at Laguna so I can finally give up on this pile of $hit?

Grand Am 2.0, no thanks. Thank God WEC starts next weekend. I think once I watch the first WEC race it will really bring home how pathetic this garbage is here in the states!

[codename_47]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

What a race like this ensures is that ratings will continue to suffer--which is a shame, because TUSC didn't flog up the race in any way. Only the broadcast sucked---the race, the officiating, all that was fine.

There's actually a worse result in that if they continue putting on races as snoozeworthy as that no-one will bother to watch at all and they can sell a nice 2 hour infomercial instead for much more money.

The only slight interest in that race was when the faster cars hit traffic so maybe keeping the other 2 categories away was the biggest mistake.

More cars=more action.

*sigh* There's just not a good buzz about anything to do with TUSCC at the moment is there?

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by BullMan

Removing the puff pieces and only counting the time when actual racing was shown, we actually only saw 57 minutes, not 59.

Not even enough time for Pruett to say "Hi to my family back home."

[MoMedic9019]

I'm pretty much done I think....

The BoP is horrid. The ESM cars are down 10mph on straightline speed, the OAK is slightly better...

The TV production was horrible.

[Mechanic Z]

The race was boring, and the BOP in P still heavily favors the DPs.

I'm very depressed.

[PointDSM]

I was waiting until after this race to determine if I was going to camp at Road America this year (as I have for the past seven (7) years). I am not.

I already have a date scheduled in June at Road America (PWC), and am only leaving a slight option of attending the TUSC race at Road America the day-of. Laguna will determine if I even go through with that.

[Accident]

A bit disappointed...

The racing in the P class wasn't bad at all, some good moves and fights. I don't particularly care for P2 or DP all that much, so the P2s being down a bit doesn't upset me as much as some of you guys, but it would be nice to see them looking less vulnerable in the actual racing.

In GT the split caused by #2 early messed things up a bit, but none of the cars really looked like they had much to have a go at each other. They seemed to be able to run pretty close together but none of them really looked "racy" aside from maybe the #55 (that we got to see anyways).

The coverage was pretty bad though, it never really felt like it built up any rhythm because of all the damn commercial breaks, and the lack of replays meant that we didn't even feel like we got caught up after any of the long breaks. It sorta felt like watching Sebring in that things would barely get going before they were interrupted again.

Originally Posted by Rodger Davies

That's not fair, in the Conti race at Sebring their between-ad chatter was the best race commentary I've heard in years.

Agreed, I enjoyed that quite a bit. Especially the part where Dorsey was talking about the guy who probably hadn't been towed before almost running over the tow strap.

Originally Posted by Birddog07

It's already bad enough that we are forced to low quality internet streams in the US if we don't pay $150 a month for the super premium cable TV pack.

While that may be the case with FS2, this race was on FS1 so that isn't really a valid complaint here as you don't need a "super premium" TV package to get FS1.

[TRspitfirefan]

My opinion of the "New" IMSA has not improved after watching this race.
The only positive points was that the race went caution free and was devoid of any really stupid officiating mistakes.


The two class format just doesn't provide enough traffic to make the race interesting. Even the GTLM class was incredibly boring.
I can't remember ever seeing a boring ALMS GT race.
The "prototype" class race was frustrating yet again. The P2 cars never really had a chance to compete (thanks to BOP) and the DP style cars just aren't that much fun to watch.

I felt like I was watching an old Grand Am race. (yawn)