2017 Watkins Glen - I LOVE NEW YORK 355 - Pre Race Thread

Should I begin my rant about how this is one of the least safe tracks in America with terrible angles to hit at, a severe lack of tire barriers, and very little to non-existent run-off room around the fastest parts of the track, or should I save it for the race?



I do like the racing though. I just don't understand how nearly every year NASCAR comes here there's an absolutely terrible crash and nothing is done to fix the problem areas.
 
Speedbowl14 said:
Should I begin my rant about how this is one of the least safe tracks in America with terrible angles to hit at, a severe lack of tire barriers, and very little to non-existent run-off room around the fastest parts of the track, or should I save it for the race?



I do like the racing though. I just don't understand how nearly every year NASCAR comes here there's an absolutely terrible crash and nothing is done to fix the problem areas.
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Run off room rewards mistakes.
 
kkfan91 said:
Run off room rewards mistakes.
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needs better caution lighting like the ones they have at Texas and many other tracks that are about 4 feet long. They only had one light like a stop light. It was yellow but it was in the sun and not flashing. Many road racing series don't throw full course cautions as the first response
 
Speedbowl14 said:
Should I begin my rant about how this is one of the least safe tracks in America with terrible angles to hit at, a severe lack of tire barriers, and very little to non-existent run-off room around the fastest parts of the track, or should I save it for the race?



I do like the racing though. I just don't understand how nearly every year NASCAR comes here there's an absolutely terrible crash and nothing is done to fix the problem areas.
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Not that it matters much but as the wreck was happening notice how the corner flag man initially threw the green flag before picking up two yellow flags.


btw, save it for the race . . .
 
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pjmolo said:
Not that it matters much but as the wreck was happening notice how the corner flag man initially threw the green flag before picking up two yellow flags.


btw, save it for the race . . .
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Local yellow that ended there, turned into a full course yellow.
 
Speedbowl14 said:
Should I begin my rant about how this is one of the least safe tracks in America with terrible angles to hit at, a severe lack of tire barriers, and very little to non-existent run-off room around the fastest parts of the track, or should I save it for the race?



I do like the racing though. I just don't understand how nearly every year NASCAR comes here there's an absolutely terrible crash and nothing is done to fix the problem areas.
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kkfan91 said:
Run off room rewards mistakes.
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I think you're both right - obviously, more run-off room, depending on the kind, means more mistakes go unpunished. And if you go excessive on that you wind up with a track like COTA. But, WG has had some nasty wrecks through the years, even recently, and safety is not something that should be taken lightly. Several drivers in that GT3 Cup accident were hospitalized. Even the Cup races there have badly shaken up some guys recently. As for what can be done to mitigate that, I'm not entirely sure. I'm pretty sure that area where the Porsche wreck occurred and the area with the big McDowell/Newman/whoever else wreck (and the Hornish/Gordon wreck several years earlier) physically can not have much, if anything, done to them due to infield tunnels located underneath them. Adding the Boot could make the second area safer as they'd be coming through a much lesser speed, but I'm against adding the Boot for other reasons. And that would still leave the backstretch entry as a major danger zone.

That said, the Turn 1 and Turn 10 runoff areas and the backstretch chicane have made the place a lot safer than it used to be. No race track can ever be entirely safe.

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The boot has never been something I was all gaa gaa about for cup cars. It's too tight and awkward when they come back to the main track. I think it would cause a lot of car damage and be a caution fest for what little it gained. They aren't driving a little light sports car with great brakes and huge tires.
 
StandOnIt said:
The boot has never been something I was all gaa gaa about for cup cars. It's too tight and awkward when they come back to the main track. I think it would cause a lot of car damage and be a caution fest for what little it gained. They aren't driving a little light sports car with great brakes and huge tires.
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If they add the boot they reduce the number of laps and caution laps become that much more agonizing. I'm good with our current configuration.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Local yellow that ended there, turned into a full course yellow.
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So one yellow flag signals a local caution while two yellow flags signal a full course caution.

Good to know.

But was the point of waving the green flag as the cars were piling up ?
 
StandOnIt said:
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How many times has Boris Said retired from Nascar? I can think of at least two or three times previously he has declared "this is my last race." #BrettFavre
 
StandOnIt said:
The boot has never been something I was all gaa gaa about for cup cars. It's too tight and awkward when they come back to the main track. I think it would cause a lot of car damage and be a caution fest for what little it gained. They aren't driving a little light sports car with great brakes and huge tires.
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I think you are right about this, it can be tight for the sports cars , so I can only imagine how the Cup cars would handle it.
 
pjmolo said:
So one yellow flag signals a local caution while two yellow flags signal a full course caution.

Good to know.

But was the point of waving the green flag as the cars were piling up ?
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The green means they can start passing/racing again once they reach it. Going up through the esses there would've been (or should've been but we can't say) a waving yellow for a local yellow at the same time, but it escalated so quickly they got the call for a FCY pretty quickly.
 
DUN24 said:
If they add the boot they reduce the number of laps and caution laps become that much more agonizing. I'm good with our current configuration.
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Yeah, lap time would get pretty close to 2 minutes. Not good for the folks at the track, lengthier cautions, and too slow and technical in a stock car. Sonoma is great for that, but Sonoma is Sonoma. The Glen is a fast, badass track for NASCAR in its current configuration.
 
The current configuration is perfect for NASCAR! The Boot would just give them another mile or so to get more strung out.
 
Wondering when it will settle in to the masses that Kyle Busch will have the Pit Stall 1 by virtue of his pole last week at Pocono. Although I love it for selfish reasons, this is the more idiotic thing NASCAR has ever done IMO. The reward for outright speed (which has been screwed up with the new qualifying stuff but I digress) should be the preferred pit stall at that track. AJ Almendinger will start 28th, and if history holds (which it might not), he is pretty much a top 10 car every road course.
 
This is exactly why Gibbs should have left Jones in the Xfinity series. Now he's in Cup and they don't have a great super-sub waiting on the sidelines.

Oh, almost forgot; :sarcasm:
 
TIRE CODES

Tire: Goodyear Eagle Road Course Radials

Set limits:
Cup: 3 sets for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 5 sets for the race
Xfinity: 6 sets for the event

Tire Code: D-4716 (same on all four tire positions)

Tire Circumference: 88.23 in. (2,241 mm)

Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front -- 26 psi Left Rear -- 21 psi
Right Front -- 24 psi Right Rear -- 21 psi

Storyline - Not All Road Courses Are Built the Same: While Watkins Glen International and Sonoma Raceway are both road courses on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup schedule, they bare little else in common. Watkins Glen is more of a high speed course, while Sonoma is more slow speed and technical. In addition to that, Watkins Glen was just repaved before the 2016 race there, and the fresh asphalt provides a lot of grip. In Goodyear's world, grip leads to speed, and speed leads to heat. The selection of a race tire recommendation needs to account for that.

"While Sonoma is at the very softest end of the scale of compounds that we bring to the track, Watkins Glen is a little more stout, while still being among the softest one-third of our NASCAR compounds," said Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of racing. "Comparing the two courses, Sonoma has more slow speed sections where you have to get back hard on the throttle coming off the corner. Watkins Glen, on the other hand, is very fast with more sustained speeds and requires a different tire set-up that emphasizes more heat resistant compounds. The relatively new track surface adds to that as well by providing a lot of grip itself."

Notes: Teams in both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series will run the same Goodyear tire code (D-4716) on all four tire positions at Watkins Glen . . . this is the first time these teams have run this tire code, and this is the only track at which NASCAR teams will run it . . . compared to what was run at Watkins Glen last year, this tire features a compound change to give the cars more grip . . . as on all NASCAR road courses, teams will not run inner liners in their tires at Watkins Glen.

Wet Weather Tires: Goodyear will also bring its wet weather radials (D-4215) to Watkins Glen for use by both Cup and Xfinity Series teams, should NASCAR decide that conditions warrant . . . Cup teams did not have to use the wet weather tires earlier this season at Sonoma . . . Xfinity teams last ran this wet weather tire code at Mid-Ohio last season.

Jayski ... thanks
 
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