IMSA 2018

Doc Austin said:
Looks like the BAR1 Riley Multimatic is officially out of the IM0A Weathertech series.

BAR1 planning next steps

This is disappointing on many levels. First, we lose a car, though the team is looking around and might be back I hope they can pick up a Ligier or something, and I believe the Visit Florida Ligier car is for sale. That car is sorted and a winner, so it would be a good way for them to go.

Secondly, this means Riley is now out of the series. As storied of a history as Riley has had in American sportscar racing, it's sad to see the car perform so badly (for whatever reason) that no one wants to run one.

Sadly the Riley hasn't done much since finishing 3rd in the 2017 Rolex, and on the lead lap too. This tells me the car can't be all that bad, though it has not had a decent result since. Visit Florida destroyed a Riley at Long Beach last year, and then really tore another up at Detroit. This put them and the Riley behind and they never recovered. The BAR1 car never ran with professional drivers, so who can say if the car is good or bad? I don't think it has gotten a fair shake, and sadly it may never.

I hope someone picks this car up and gives it a decent try out. We don't need to lose another American sportscar marque.

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Showed how far stuck in the past Riley were. They hadn't built a modern prototype in years, considering the DPs were hardly relevant worldwide. Even with Ricky Taylor and Jeroen Bleekemolen driving the one Riley at Le Mans last year it was down 9-10 MPH in top speed to the top LMP2s. The Mazda, based off of the same chassis, has nowhere near the drag levels of the spec Riley and is usually actually pretty good in a straight line. I believe Riley was also the only constructor not to use a torsion bar chassis arrangement, which they've been doing for 20+ years through the IRL/Grand-Am/WSC. It just wasn't a very modern car. It is sad that this might be the end for them as a constructor though, besides helping out Mazda with whatever (Mazda can develop parts of the chassis on their own though, I'm not sure exctly what). And it's also not good that in only the second year of the formula we're really only down to three chassis.

Their LMP3 isn't much better...but it is certainly much uglier.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Even with Ricky Taylor and Jeroen Bleekemolen driving the one Riley at Le Mans last year it was down 9-10 MPH in top speed to the top LMP2s.
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The FIA gave them a chassis and aero joker, and they still got it wrong?

And it's also not good that in only the second year of the formula we're really only down to three chassis.
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It's like anywhere else this has been tried. One manufacturer always makes the best chassis and the others fall away. Just look at the early IRL. Falcon didn't even make the bell and G Force was only competitive until 2004 or so. After that it was all Dallara to the point Indycar had them make the all new DW12 and didn't even put it up for bids. I also believe R and S was an approved chassis, but it never did anything. My memory is a little vague on the fourth original manufacturer, but the best I can recall it was a Riley.

I don't have an answer for making the chassis competitive with each other, but the joker seems be the best thing the ACO can come up with. Not perfect, and not fair to Oreca who got it right, but probably better than nothing.

[/QUOTE]Their LMP3 isn't much better...but it is certainly much uglier.[/QUOTE]

Funny, but just about all of the other P3 cars are better looking than their 2 counterparts, especially the Ligier.
 
This is certainly good news for the privateers: DPis Slowed for Fourth Consecutive Race

This BOP thing is a constantly moving target. If they ever get it absolutely perfect it will be an absolute accident. Someone is always going to be unhappy. The amazing thing is none of DPI teams have complained, so they must have that part pretty close. I hope IMSA nails it and we have a vicious race next time out.
 
Great win for Acura on home turf, great first Penske win for Ricky, great win for Helio to boost confidence going into Indy and a great drive for JPM. Great race for Mazda who is definitely going to win one soon. Also great to see three different makes winning the first four races.

Entertaining scraps all up and down the field, and as usual the GT action was insane. Pretty clean driving from most everyone, and I don't believe they even had a caution period. Another quality show from IMSA. This is what the WEC should be.

Only one negative: P2 privateers still nowhere, and IMSA needs to fix this.
 
Was a fantastic race to attend and will attend next year. These cars haul ass and handle turns so incredibly well, was insane to see. I will say the amount of battles keep you entertained the entire time, the race felt like it flew by even though it lasted nearly three hours. But there was just so much going on and the side panel scoreboard combined with the phone app made it terrific to follow

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Mispeedway15 said:
Was a fantastic race to attend and will attend next year. These cars haul ass and handle turns so incredibly well, was insane to see. I will say the amount of battles keep you entertained the entire time, the race felt like it flew by even though it lasted nearly three hours. But there was just so much going on and the side panel scoreboard combined with the phone app made it terrific to follow

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Grid walk looked pretty full from what I saw on Twitter.

Is that Turn 1? Insane how quick that corner is, so many moments where guys put it in the grass on exit.
 
Doc Austin said:
Great win for Acura on home turf, great first Penske win for Ricky, great win for Helio to boost confidence going into Indy and a great drive for JPM. Great race for Mazda who is definitely going to win one soon. Also great to see three different makes winning the first four races.

Entertaining scraps all up and down the field, and as usual the GT action was insane. Pretty clean driving from most everyone, and I don't believe they even had a caution period. Another quality show from IMSA. This is what the WEC should be.

Only one negative: P2 privateers still nowhere, and IMSA needs to fix this.
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I think Acura just had everyone covered this weekend, only Mazda were even anywhere close. A lot of teams tried to test in mid-April but got snowed out, and I think Penske managed to come the week after and get some time in. Progress is definitely made though, PR1 and a JDC-Miller beat one of the Cadillacs and both Nissans. Four of the ten fastest laps even belonged to LMP2 guys (Yacaman, Saavedra, Trummer, Simpson). Simpson even had the best lap of the entire race. Seems like track conditions changed a good bit as the race went on.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Grid walk looked pretty full from what I saw on Twitter.

Is that Turn 1? Insane how quick that corner is, so many moments where guys put it in the grass on exit.
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Yeah it was packed. And yup Turn 1 is ideal. You can see all the way down to the keyhole and then the straight all the way to Turn 4. I was really shocked no cautions came out of that zone today

Also looking at my pictures you’re right about changing conditions. The track really rubbered up as the race went on. They ran 125 laps today!

Interesting to compare GTLM times to the Xfinity race. 79 seconds was the fastest lap turned by the Porsche today, Hornish put down an 83 second one last year. Would love to see the Cup run here, would make for some really hard racing
 
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StandOnIt said:
Looks like you had a really good day for a race. I watched the delayed broadcast last night and stayed off this thread.:D Damn those Acura's are ugly in my eyes, but as usual with a Penske, fast, well prepared and loaded up with talent.
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I think that's a boomerang they slapped on the nose. lol
 
From what I could figure out from the website, quali is on Friday on the Fox stream and the race is on FS2 12:30 to 2:30 on Saturday.
 
Detroit Qualifying:

Scott Sharp (Nissan) ruined Montoya's (Acura) last lap, which was purple going into the final sector. Scott was going slowly. left the door open like he was letting him through, then closed it at the last second and the two collided. I wasn't a big crash or anything, just enough to ruin Juan's lap. Of course, that put Durani (Nissan) on pole, so I suspect we will be hearing more of this.
 
Doc Austin said:
Detroit Qualifying:

Scott Sharp (Nissan) ruined Montoya's (Acura) last lap, which was purple going into the final sector. Scott was going slowly. left the door open like he was letting him through, then closed it at the last second and the two collided. I wasn't a big crash or anything, just enough to ruin Juan's lap. Of course, that put Durani (Nissan) on pole, so I suspect we will be hearing more of this.
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Doubt there's any love lost there. Street course, Nissan vs. Acura...Pipo starting against Juan and Helio. Not the last "argy-bargy" we'll see this weekend.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Doubt there's any love lost there. Street course, Nissan vs. Acura...Pipo starting against Juan and Helio. Not the last "argy-bargy" we'll see this weekend.
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Yeah, but the two guys who can't seem to stay aw from each other are Helio and Nasr.

Might be a hell of race!

Fastest privateer about 1.25 seconds off, but good enough fourth starting spot. Then he wadded it up. If they don't have enough spares we could e short one car.
 
Sloppy race, but what else can you expect on this track? I lost track of how many times prototypes squeezed each other into the wall. I imagine there's going to be some fiery discussion going on in the paddock right about now.
 
Fun watching Taylor close in on Nasr today. An extra lap and that GTD driver not getting in the way and this one could have been a different story
 
Doc Austin said:
Sloppy race, but what else can you expect on this track? I lost track of how many times prototypes squeezed each other into the wall. I imagine there's going to be some fiery discussion going on in the paddock right about now.
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Action Express almost always get the favorable call IMO...Curran in the #31 was running people into the wall during his stint, and then I have no idea how the #99 got penalized instead of the #5 after Albuquerque swept right across the damn track late in the race.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Action Express almost always get the favorable call IMO...Curran in the #31 was running people into the wall during his stint, and then I have no idea how the #99 got penalized instead of the #5 after Albuquerque swept right across the damn track late in the race.
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Street racing prototypes is a lot like nascar racing at Martinsville. The gloves come off and the officials look the other way.
 
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