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

[joeb]

There was a bit of a strange tweet from the series last night:

Check out @UnitedSportsCar's Tweet: https://twitter.com/UnitedSportsCar/...60903965483008

They act like they are doing is a favor by releasing the results???

[BullMan]

Originally Posted by joeb

There was a bit of a strange tweet from the series last night:

Check out @UnitedSportsCar's Tweet: https://twitter.com/UnitedSportsCar/...60903965483008

They act like they are doing is a favor by releasing the results???

Obviously it's a chore to engage the fanbase.

[villeneuve]

After yesterdays race I decided to stop watching these races live apart from the big ones simply because of the coverage.
Being in Europe I had the choice between Motors TV and IMSA.com live stream, but both sucked. Motors TVs picture quality is horrible and sound is mono and the live stream was stuttering every time they switched from one camera position to the next. As great as the onboard live streams are I'd say they should scrap them, or at least some of them, to save capacity for the main feed. How difficult can it be to provide a stable stream!?!
Then there are the commercials, every 7 minutes for three minutes (guessed), which are disturbing even on the live stream, although you stay with pictures from the track, it's totallys silent. I would be a great opportunity to just listen to the engines.
Then the usual crappy production showing a track description, Michelin tire tip, people standing on balkonies etc. DURING green flag racing! Then you never get to see proper onboard telemetry, the amount of points they race for, championship standings. Basics the casual watcher wants to know are never mentioned, horsepower, brakes, TC yes or no, kinds of gearboxes. Then there's Calvin Fish, who I basically like, but he can't stop wishing for yellows to bring the race "down to the wire".
I feel ALMS/USCC tv-coverage never recovered from that dismal experiment with the movie style race reports a few years ago (btw are those races available in full somewhere or where they never produced in usual style?). There so much that could be improved with absolutey NO extra cost! I have to ackknowledge tho, that that's the case with nearly all motorsports coverage.
Next is 2 class racing, it's lame. Either just stay with all classes of the championship or choose appropiate venues, where multiclass racing is sensible. The decision about the two seperate races at Laguna is even worse.
Next is race duration: This is supposed to have an endurance element, otherwise changing drivers becomes redundant. I'm all for different race lenghts between events, but I'd vote for 3 hours as the minimum length.
Apart from that the top class is way too slow for me to create enough exitement and seeing DPs beat P2s on every kind of track layout makes my blood boiling.
No wonder Muscle Milk Pickett Racing pulled out for the meantime, if they come back it's only because a lack of (fundable) alternatives.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by villeneuve

.
Next is race duration: This is supposed to have an endurance element, otherwise changing drivers becomes redundant. I'm all for different race lenghts between events, but I'd vote for 3 hours as the minimum length.

No where in the series is it specifically said it's an endurance series.

The endurance races are marked by being in the Endurance cup.

[aneesh99]

Originally Posted by EricS

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)?

From what I understand (and was confirmed by one John Hindhaugh), the commerical breaks in place are determined by IMSA and not Fox Sports.

As I've said many times now, the actual race was pretty decent (though that may also be because Long Beach is a visually stimulating track) but the coverage is an absolute deal breaker. I was watching the race with a few of my friends that are part of the evil machine that is F1 (jokes!). They liked what they saw in terms of racing but were tearing their hair out with the commercial breaks. This is how you fail to attract teams and viewers from other motorsports IMSA...

The fact that they still don't get it after two races with teams disappearing, with prolific and esteemed members of the community and the fans giving them sh*t is shameful, it's just not good enough (to quote Martin Haven). I like many was willing to give the series a chance but they've done nothing, nada, zero to gain favour with anyone. I hate to get on a downer, I really want TUSC to suceed but it's just not happening.

[TRspitfirefan]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

You want amateur driving and full course yellows? You prefer what happened at Sebring? You can get your bunched up traffic there. I disagree with this comment 100%. Sorry I'll take green flag racing non stop. The racing was just fine today. If cars are spread out then so be it.

Having more classes of cars on track does not always necessitate more cautions.
Multiple classes (more than two) provides lots of racing action, which really showcases the abilities of the car as well as the driver.

Kudos to the #3 Corvette for such a dominant run today. It was well deserved. These are sports cars they are appealing enough to just watch them circulate the track. Especially the GTLM class. And bring on Laguna Seca!!!

I also very much enjoy watching the GTE cars circulating the track, even during practice sessions. However watching the cars in the actual race is a totally different experience. It is obvious even to a mere fan like myself, that the drivers are pushing their car to the absolute limit.
One of my favorite things about sports car racing, is watching these truly great cars and talented drivers maneuvering through traffic.
If there is not enough traffic, or if the speed differential between the classes is to small....It's just not the same.

Thumbs up to IMSA for today's race. There was about 3 occasions where they could have been FCY happy and thrown the flag out but they were patient and let things play out naturally.

+1
It was great to see a race with no unnecessary full course yellows.

[TRspitfirefan]

Originally Posted by belt driven

Not sadly, you are incorrect. Laguna Seca is all four classes. Your sig appears to be correct.

http://www.mazdaraceway.com/continen...rey-grand-prix

Check again.
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/20...mes-confirmed/
Two separate races, one with just PC/GTD, and one with only GTLM/P.

[rich07]

Another DP win?



Three wins from three races. ESM and Oak must surely be scratching their heads right now. Now I know the world isn't perfect but I'd like to see more mixed results, ideally I'd like to see the P2 guys winning every race but as I said the world isn't perfect.

[FstrthnU]

Long Beach was still a power track with that LONG front straight. I think Laguna Seca might be a little different (can someone recall how Porsche did vs. Audi at Laguna Seca?)

[chernaudi]

Audi still won out due to power and torque. LS might not have longer straights, but there's enough of them, as well as up hill sections, that torque and power can be an advantage, especially in traffic.

Of course, the Audi R10, even now, is more high tech than a DP, and the tire situation in P won't help the LMP2 cars.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by joeb

There was a bit of a strange tweet from the series last night:

Check out @UnitedSportsCar's Tweet: https://twitter.com/UnitedSportsCar/...60903965483008

They act like they are doing is a favor by releasing the results???

I'm sorry I'm a twitter moron and have no idea how to use it, but I find that extremely insulting. Maybe they are proud that they didn't **** up the finishing order this time.

[fieldodreams79]

"Because we care." ?! Oh these guys.

[joeb]

Yup. Pretty ridiculous.

[ttdriver2009]

I thought the overall race was fine but there needed to be more cars on track. Oak could have been up there but their pit stop took a while and it sounds like that they were having a hard time restarting it? Why shut the engine off, if there is no reason to? I'd say it was just bad judgement on their part. Oak seems to be the best P2 team out there that has a real good handle on the tires. With ESM, only one car on that team stood a chance, because the other car has a slow driver in it and with no yellows to bunch the cars back up, there was no way they could even come close to a podium.

As for the TV ads, if there were no ads, then it wouldn't be on TV. It seems to me that some are overly critical of anything IMSA does. I'm not sold on them yet but they have done a better job at Long Beach.

[Salamus]

Originally Posted by ttdriver2009

As for the TV ads, if there were no ads, then it wouldn't be on TV. It seems to me that some are overly critical of anything IMSA does. I'm not sold on them yet but they have done a better job at Long Beach.

Almost 50% of the race was not shown due to commercials. That is ridiculous!

Also, there is something else I would like to point out. I watched the NASCAR race last night and when a pass was made, they had a replay ready to go within a minute. During the USCC race, when the 5 lost the lead after the pits, it took them at least 4 minutes to finally show the proper replay. This has been a problem before but I'm just pointing out that there is a great deal of incompetence.

[jasonjessica09]

I think any more talk about the tv coverage should go to the United Sports car media thread.

I think this race showed that no matter what track you are on there is no advantage like good ol fashion horsepower, no matter how well of a handling car you have. Right now the car who has got the most ponies is the Ford Ecoboost.

[Mechanic Z]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

I think this race showed that no matter what track you are on there is no advantage like good ol fashion horsepower, no matter how well of a handling car you have. Right now the car who has got the most ponies is the Ford Ecoboost.

Would be nice if the teams were allowed the freedom to work on their car and make it faster.
Right now, they rely on the whims of IMSA to give them more HP.

[aneesh99]

Instead of taking power from DPs, what if they gave back some of the aero they took from P2? Make them more like their ACO counterparts

[Rodger Davies]

What aero did they take?

[Dyson Mazda]

Originally Posted by Rodger Davies

What aero did they take?

They did not end up taking any.

[Rodger Davies]

Thought as much.

[TRspitfirefan]

Originally Posted by Mechanic Z

Would be nice if the teams were allowed the freedom to work on their car and make it faster.
Right now, they rely on the whims of IMSA to give them more HP.

+1

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by Mechanic Z

Would be nice if the teams were allowed the freedom to work on their car and make it faster.
Right now, they rely on the whims of IMSA to give them more HP.

That's a problem globally not just in IMSA.

[Dodge_Swinger]

I thought the racing great, coverage sucked. I understand commercial are necessary, but why the TUSCC ads during a TUSCC race? The product on the track should be advertising enough.

Kudos to IMSA for not throwing FCYs.

BoP needs another look in proto. Fix the TV coverage and I'm pretty happy.

[Danske]

Originally Posted by Mechanic Z

Would be nice if the teams were allowed the freedom to work on their car and make it faster.

Which would make them no longer WEC LMP2 legal cars. Heck, trying to evolve the P2 cars to make them faster is illegal in the WEC too.
[Only allowed to make revisions to the homologated car for "safety, reliability, servicing or cost reduction reasons".]