57th Rolex 24 at Daytona

Listen in instances like these I ask myself what would Brian France do and the answer is simple....Get that track dry tell the drivers to strap back in and pull those belts tight. Green. White. Checkered.
 
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It's just a low commitment 2 hour movie. Worth a watch imo. No loose ends. :)
Just read the plot summary on IMDB. Sounds like I wouldn't have liked it, like I wouldn't have been satisfied with the (lack of) explanation of whatever is behind everything. R rated, implying a level of violence / gore I usually avoid.
 
Weather is drier than it's been since yesterday and they are just letting the clock wind down. Smh just start Supercross already.
 
Looks like they're gearing up to call it, but wanted to answer this one.



NASCAR > KDB (mostly for entertainment purposes, and to force the prima donna into one of these cars)
F1 > Raikkonen
IRL > Castroneves

Wildcard ace from any era > Aryton Senna
I’d go with Indy Car: Scott Dixon
NASCAR: Jeff Gordon (he retired finally in 16 after filling in for Jr)
Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel
Wild Card: I see your Senna and raise you a Michael Schumacher
 
Listen in instances like these I ask myself what would Brian France do and the answer is simple....Get that track dry tell the drivers to strap back in and pull those belts tight. Green. White. Checkered.
Silly boy, do you think Brian watched racing, or that he'd be there, or that he'd be conscious this early on a Sunday?
 
So while the road racing experts are still on here I have to say I love this course, I love Daytona. Could Indy Car or F1 run this course? And if not how come?
 
So while the road racing experts are still on here I have to say I love this course, I love Daytona. Could Indy Car or F1 run this course? And if not how come?
It was my first time seeing this course run in person yesterday and I actually told my gf, I'd be open to seeing the cup guys run it now. Just not sure I'd be willing to kill the July race for it.
 
It was my first time seeing this course run in person yesterday and I actually told my gf, I'd be open to seeing the cup guys run it now. Just not sure I'd be willing to kill the July race for it.
I was blown away myself the first time I saw it in action live in person, so much going on all around the track. Such an awesome facility
 
I’d be surprised if Jr doesn’t run this race within the next 2-3 years, he looks and sounds like he’s intrigued.
 
So while the road racing experts are still on here I have to say I love this course, I love Daytona. Could Indy Car or F1 run this course? And if not how come?
I suspect it doesn't meet a variety of F1's requirements, either in terms of the technical aspects of the track, or the amenities of the facilities. In my opinion, Indy runs too many high-banked ovals now. I don't know if they'd be able to run here safely.
 
I suspect it doesn't meet a variety of F1's requirements, either in terms of the technical aspects of the track, or the amenities of the facilities. In my opinion, Indy runs too many high-banked ovals now. I don't know if they'd be able to run here safely.

IndyCar is down to just Texas in terms of high banked, though I suspect you mean Pocono too, as it is still dicey. Yeah, I'm tired of watching guys get killed and maimed. I like them on the shorter ovals personally. While something like this Daytona course would be interesting, I don't think it is where IndyCar should put their efforts in building new events. It would be an also-ran race at that facility, they need to go to places that aren't already so saturated with events.
 
Sure cup cars could run it but cup draws too big a crowd to use the infield unless they say the heck with it lets try it. I think they have said they aren't going to flood the market with Roval type events also. I think they have to be fair to Speedway who came up with the idea and spent millions to do it on a gamble.
 
Damm. What a twilight zone kind or race this one was! I've never seen such consistently constant horrible conditions. It could have wrecked a really good race, except when it was good, it was so good that it made up for it. I think in the end the right car probably won, though Nazr sure gave the Whelon car a hell of a ride. Even in those conditions he and Jordan had a tight, clean battle that was great fun to watch.

Alonso was probably the man of the race, Instead of attacking and maybe rising a big accident, he was patient enough to keep the pressure on and wait for the right opportunity, and he got it. That's what eventually won the race for them. He was also blisteringly fast in the rain in an earlier stint. A close second would be Jordan Taylor, because he also handled the wet conditions brilliantly.

So, overall, it's annoying the conditions didn't let them race for the whole 24 hours, but IMSA made the right choice stopping it. It was still very much well worth watching though. Even a bad sportscar race is still pretty damm good.

Another good sign is that the yellow Caddy had a great run going until they went off in the rain, and the same for the Juncos car. That's two really good running privateers cars. Thanks to Cadillac for stepping and providing some cars.

I don't know what to say about Mazda except they are the masters of the epic meltdown. You might think putting the cars in Joest's hands would be the trick, but it's not playing out that way. If they don't pull one off soon I will be surprised. They were fastest at Sebring last year, so all they need is for nothing to go wrong there this time.

My only real disappointment is that I thought the Nissan was just biding it's time and having a terrific race until they hit gearbox problems. They recovered and were in position to challenge when Dumas stuffed it. They even fought back from that and were only four laps down at the end. If not for that they were looking at potentially fighting for the win. Fourth is a good result, especially considering they are essentially a privateer effort, but they could have had so much more. I guess if that's all the complaining I have to do it must have been a damm good race.

NBC virtually ignored the P2 battle. We will never know if it was good or not, because they didn't show it, more proof no one cares about a four car race, and we will probably lose the dragon speed car after Sebring. I think IMSA really needs to put them back on pace with the DPIs so they can race for the overall, and then give them their own championship. We don't want P2 turning into a super expensive PC class. If you are a privateer spending near DPI level money, you deserve a chance to win, or at least an equitable set of rules. I know I talk about this a lot, but every time sportscar racing fails, it's because no one looked after the privateers.

The worst part of the whole weekend is the torn up cars the teams have to deal with, and critically pay for. Some of those cars really got messed up and I hope everyone can pull it together for Sebring.

However, I don't want to end on a sour note. It really was an epic race. It was just way different from what we were expecting, but I fully embraced that and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yea, IMSA.
 
Sounds like you have it down to a science, how many Rolex’s you been too?
This was nine in a row...five or six in a row where I stayed the whole weekend in some way. Before that I'd just go Saturday and watch the finish at home.

In general I've seen it grow each year since the merger, even more so since Gordon's appearance in '17. Kinda crazy how quickly it happened. Earlier in the decade would feel like a nice little family gathering compared to what it is today.
 
So while the road racing experts are still on here I have to say I love this course, I love Daytona. Could Indy Car or F1 run this course? And if not how come?
Most important part would be (not unlike the Indy F1 debacle) how the tires and all the other components on the car handle the load on the banking. Back in fall '06 and early '07 there were actually some IRL tests using some revised road course layouts, I think one of them used for motorcycles, that bypassed oval turns 1 and 2.

I suspect it doesn't meet a variety of F1's requirements, either in terms of the technical aspects of the track, or the amenities of the facilities. In my opinion, Indy runs too many high-banked ovals now. I don't know if they'd be able to run here safely.
Charlie answered this better. I forgot Daytona is actually an FIA Grade 2 circuit, and F1 can only race on Grade 1...so they'd have to make some changes or get a waiver in order to run there.
 
Damm. What a twilight zone kind or race this one was! I've never seen such consistently constant horrible conditions. It could have wrecked a really good race, except when it was good, it was so good that it made up for it. I think in the end the right car probably won, though Nazr sure gave the Whelon car a hell of a ride. Even in those conditions he and Jordan had a tight, clean battle that was great fun to watch.

Alonso was probably the man of the race, Instead of attacking and maybe rising a big accident, he was patient enough to keep the pressure on and wait for the right opportunity, and he got it. That's what eventually won the race for them. He was also blisteringly fast in the rain in an earlier stint. A close second would be Jordan Taylor, because he also handled the wet conditions brilliantly.

So, overall, it's annoying the conditions didn't let them race for the whole 24 hours, but IMSA made the right choice stopping it. It was still very much well worth watching though. Even a bad sportscar race is still pretty damm good.

Another good sign is that the yellow Caddy had a great run going until they went off in the rain, and the same for the Juncos car. That's two really good running privateers cars. Thanks to Cadillac for stepping and providing some cars.

I don't know what to say about Mazda except they are the masters of the epic meltdown. You might think putting the cars in Joest's hands would be the trick, but it's not playing out that way. If they don't pull one off soon I will be surprised. They were fastest at Sebring last year, so all they need is for nothing to go wrong there this time.

My only real disappointment is that I thought the Nissan was just biding it's time and having a terrific race until they hit gearbox problems. They recovered and were in position to challenge when Dumas stuffed it. They even fought back from that and were only four laps down at the end. If not for that they were looking at potentially fighting for the win. Fourth is a good result, especially considering they are essentially a privateer effort, but they could have had so much more. I guess if that's all the complaining I have to do it must have been a damm good race.

NBC virtually ignored the P2 battle. We will never know if it was good or not, because they didn't show it, more proof no one cares about a four car race, and we will probably lose the dragon speed car after Sebring. I think IMSA really needs to put them back on pace with the DPIs so they can race for the overall, and then give them their own championship. We don't want P2 turning into a super expensive PC class. If you are a privateer spending near DPI level money, you deserve a chance to win, or at least an equitable set of rules. I know I talk about this a lot, but every time sportscar racing fails, it's because no one looked after the privateers.

The worst part of the whole weekend is the torn up cars the teams have to deal with, and critically pay for. Some of those cars really got messed up and I hope everyone can pull it together for Sebring.

However, I don't want to end on a sour note. It really was an epic race. It was just way different from what we were expecting, but I fully embraced that and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yea, IMSA.
Yep, I think the #10 was the most consistent car all weekend. Fernando was otherwordly, Jordan and Kamui were phenomenal. I can't even remember Renger's stints in the car but he got a watch out of it!

Mazda still have a ways to go before winning a 24H apparently...but they did double podium at Petit last year and I expect they'll be major contenders at the sprint events. Another heartbreak there after showing so much potential but they'll have a lot more opportunities this year.

P2 is definitely already more-expensive PC with the goofy shenanigans and low car counts but I can't blame IMSA so much anymore as I've heard recently that the most vocal proponent of split classes was John Church of JDC-Miller. They announced the split and then almost immediately JDC went out and bought two Cadillacs, which supposedly caught IMSA off-guard. Then after that there was no reason for CORE to stay in P2 and the Nissans became available so they jumped at the chance to stay in the top class. All we can do is give it time I guess, Inter Europol are allegedly coming over from the ELMS to run at Laguna and Petit later in the year so hopefully that materializes. If things don't change in 2020 I think they'll can the class. The good thing is I just read this weekend that NISMO is still making the DPi available for customers beyond CORE with a six-to-eight week lead time.

I'm a little disappointed it wasn't totally what it could've been but it was still a pretty good race, especially good up until the rain came. Crazy to think we'll have almost as much dry running next weekend at Bathurst (I hope) as we did this weekend...just makes me look forward to Super Sebring that much more.
 
This was nine in a row...five or six in a row where I stayed the whole weekend in some way. Before that I'd just go Saturday and watch the finish at home.
That's what we did this year since it was our first time. We pretty much took in the race from a little bit of everywhere yesterday just to get the full experience, rode the ferris wheel, then went back up to the grandstands for about 3 hours and the fireworks. It was pretty cold with the wind, I came pretty well prepared but the lady didn't lol. We pounded some hot chocolates for sure.

I plan on making it a yearly thing going forward pending the rainy stuff of course. You can't beat it for the money.
 
If you are a privateer spending near DPI level money, you deserve a chance to win, or at least an equitable set of rules.
I'll admit I don't see your point / obsession with private teams in this class. If they're spending 'near DPI level money' already, why don't they run DPi? They're already uncompetitive with DPi, so they won't be losing ground. Or drop back and run GTD; I'm sure they could field a competitive GTD car on an 'near DPi' budget. I don't hear many complaints that GTD isn't competitive with GTLM; it isn't supposed to be. Or maybe I don't get the point of the LMP2 class in the first place.
 
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