The All-Purpose Motorsports Thread

So many things come into play at the road course tracks with the stage format. Do you pit early and give up stage points to get track position? It's a no brainer for any car not in the top 10 near the end of a stage. If the top 10 stay out to collect points, they could end up starting the next stage in 30th place or lower. If the top 10 pit, the second ten could collect the stage points but would it be worth it?
 
It started raining just after F1 final practice started and all of the cars were parked. I wondered why nobody was out on wet tires. It turns out that the teams are allowed a limited number of wet tires. If it rains on Friday, they can get more wet tires but if it rains Saturday, they don't get additional tires. It was claimed that it was done to save money on tires and how many tires Pirrelli has to bring. If the tires weren't used Friday, why not use them on Saturday? They are lready at the track.

Another factor was that it was only supposed to be a short shower then clear up so the teams thought it would clear up for the last half of the practice session. It didn't clear up and there is a chance the track may be wet into qualifying. A couple of teams went out with a few minutes left but most didn't and don't have any experience on a new track in wet conditions for qualifying.
 
Mercedes locks out the front row in France with Hamilton and Bottas followed by Vettel, Verstappen, Ricciardo and Raikonnen.

Vettel and Raikonnen will start on ultrasoft tires as the others start on supersoft tires. The Ferrari cars might have to make it a two stop race as the ultrasoft tires will wear quicker under the heavy fuel loads. An early safety car could help them.
 
Watched racing at Road America much of the day with Indy lights race and 2 other open wheel series as well as Indycar qualifying. 72 degrees and sunny with beautiful trees and grass. Quite a difference from the desert in Sonoma.
 
no doubt.
so many beautiful, wooded and green tracks back east and up north.
when I lived in NY, we used to camp at Watkins Glen for race weekends.
soo much fun.
 
Vettel hits Bottas in turn one spinning them both and bringing out a safety car. It wrecked Vettel's front wing and Bottas' left rear tire. It's under investigation but no way they will penalize a Ferrari. Both Vettel and Bottas pitted for soft tires that they might be able to finish the race on but they started from the back.
 
he got a whopping 5 second penalty. lol

at least Kimi got a podium spot.

Max continues to impress
 
he got a whopping 5 second penalty. lol

at least Kimi got a podium spot.

Max continues to impress

And nothing for hitting Groshan a few seconds later although Groshan had it coming for the start.
 
pretty dodgy start IMO.
FIA has to come down on these guys more if they screw up. Ocon got taken out as well,
minding his own business.
 
Pretty flawless weekend from Hamilton

Not sure how Bottas recovered so well from that first lap

Nice day for Redbull

Force India and McLaren seem to be in a shittiest car competition

Nice track

That's my take on the weekend
 
Pretty flawless weekend from Hamilton

Not sure how Bottas recovered so well from that first lap

Nice day for Redbull

Force India and McLaren seem to be in a shittiest car competition

Nice track

That's my take on the weekend

You can take the Mercedes, Ferraris and Red Bulls, start them anywhere in the field and the usually still end up in the top 6 if they finish. The other teams are just filler.
 
Sprint-car racer Jason Johnson dies after crash at Beaver Dam Raceway
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Jason Johnson winning the Knoxville Nationals in 2016.

I'm surprised more World of Outlaws drivers aren't killed. Those cars really get airborne sometimes.
 
That Sears Point race turned out to be pretty boring. The most exciting part of the day was Truex's crew chief deeking Harvick into pitting.

The cars must be way too easy to drive these days. The only crash was a lazy spin by Bubba Wallace in turn 11 that didn't even bring out a yellow.
 
That Sears Point race turned out to be pretty boring. The most exciting part of the day was Truex's crew chief deeking Harvick into pitting.

The cars must be way too easy to drive these days. The only crash was a lazy spin by Bubba Wallace in turn 11 that didn't even bring out a yellow.

I have no idea why they had Harvick pit, even if Truex was coming in. When you're leading on a road course, you pit after the second place car does so you have fresher tires.
 
I have no idea why they had Harvick pit, even if Truex was coming in. When you're leading on a road course, you pit after the second place car does so you have fresher tires.

Yeah they got completely outsmarted there despite having the best car all day. Once he pitted and got caught in traffic, it was all over from that point.
 
Yeah they got completely outsmarted there despite having the best car all day. Once he pitted and got caught in traffic, it was all over from that point.

There are two ways to go for the car that is behind. If they think they are faster, they can stop sooner and run faster on the new tires and might end up ahead of the leader when the leader makes a pit stop as they will have to for fuel. Teams know how long the pit stop will take so they try to time it where they will come out in less traffic so they can make full use of the faster tires. The leader should never stop first, unless they have to because they will be on equal tires until the second place car stops. In Formula One it's a little easier because there are fewer cars and the speed differential between the top few cars and the field is much greater so they get strung out farther leaving lots of gaps. In Formula one, they don't add fuel and only have one mandatory stop for tires. If they can make the second set last until the end, they don't have to stop again which gives them an 18 to 20 second security gap. The second place car has to worry about the first place car not stopping. It is also very difficult to pass in Formula One even with a faster car. Not quite as difficult in NASCAR.

I'm sure Harvick had enough of a cushion that he would have had the lead if he waited until one lap after Truex pitted. We don't know what the plan was. Maybe Cole Pern had Truex watch what Harvick did. If Harvick stopped, Truex would stay out to have fresher tires later. If Harvick didn't stop, Truex might have and split it into a two stop run to have fresher tires at the end and hope for a late caution.

It isn't the same as a shorter track late race caution where the leader is almost forced to change tires because if they don't, all the others will and being in front doesn't help if the second place car has better tires. If the leader does stop, the next ten cars might not so even the fresh tires won't help passing ten cars.
 
There are two ways to go for the car that is behind. If they think they are faster, they can stop sooner and run faster on the new tires and might end up ahead of the leader when the leader makes a pit stop as they will have to for fuel. Teams know how long the pit stop will take so they try to time it where they will come out in less traffic so they can make full use of the faster tires. The leader should never stop first, unless they have to because they will be on equal tires until the second place car stops. In Formula One it's a little easier because there are fewer cars and the speed differential between the top few cars and the field is much greater so they get strung out farther leaving lots of gaps. In Formula one, they don't add fuel and only have one mandatory stop for tires. If they can make the second set last until the end, they don't have to stop again which gives them an 18 to 20 second security gap. The second place car has to worry about the first place car not stopping. It is also very difficult to pass in Formula One even with a faster car. Not quite as difficult in NASCAR.

I'm sure Harvick had enough of a cushion that he would have had the lead if he waited until one lap after Truex pitted. We don't know what the plan was. Maybe Cole Pern had Truex watch what Harvick did. If Harvick stopped, Truex would stay out to have fresher tires later. If Harvick didn't stop, Truex might have and split it into a two stop run to have fresher tires at the end and hope for a late caution.

It isn't the same as a shorter track late race caution where the leader is almost forced to change tires because if they don't, all the others will and being in front doesn't help if the second place car has better tires. If the leader does stop, the next ten cars might not so even the fresh tires won't help passing ten cars.

Yeah I agree and if the caution would have come out at a certain point near the end, Truex either would have been a sitting duck or would have had to pit and then would have been forced to work his way through all the cars that gambled and didn't pit. At a track like Sears, there's no telling if you're going to be able to make up all those spots because if a semi quick car gets out in front, he can put a few seconds on you by time you work your way through the traffic.

It was crazy how small the crowd was. I used to go there in the late 90s/early 00s and I stopped going because you'd have to wait in traffic for 3-4 hours just to get out of the joint. These days I bet you could get out of there in an hour.

I was actually at the World Superbike/Moto America races at Laguna Seca over the weekend and had a good time. The racing was subpar due to the same guys dominating all the races but the riders are all available to meet and we even got to go to a bar down at the Cannery in Monterey that was full of riders and umbrella girls. I've never seen so many attractive 6ft tall girls in one bar in my life lol
 
Yeah I agree and if the caution would have come out at a certain point near the end, Truex either would have been a sitting duck or would have had to pit and then would have been forced to work his way through all the cars that gambled and didn't pit. At a track like Sears, there's no telling if you're going to be able to make up all those spots because if a semi quick car gets out in front, he can put a few seconds on you by time you work your way through the traffic.

It was crazy how small the crowd was. I used to go there in the late 90s/early 00s and I stopped going because you'd have to wait in traffic for 3-4 hours just to get out of the joint. These days I bet you could get out of there in an hour.

I was actually at the World Superbike/Moto America races at Laguna Seca over the weekend and had a good time. The racing was subpar due to the same guys dominating all the races but the riders are all available to meet and we even got to go to a bar down at the Cannery in Monterey that was full of riders and umbrella girls. I've never seen so many attractive 6ft tall girls in one bar in my life lol

Tracks and local businesses have priced themselves out of business. They raise prices for the NASCAR weekends so few people go. Wasn't it awfully hot over the weekend too?
 
Tracks and local businesses have priced themselves out of business. They raise prices for the NASCAR weekends so few people go. Wasn't it awfully hot over the weekend too?

Yeah in Monterey it was overcast and about 65* when I left the hotel. When I got to Laguna Seca and stepped out of the car, I had a "Are you fucking kidding me?" moment because the sun was beating down like it was mid July in Phoenix. Couldn't believe how hot it was. Luckily Sunday was a bit better and there was a breeze but that track sits in a bowl so the weather there is completely different from Monterey even though it's only about 20min away.

Sears Point would have been worse. I got the worst sunburn of my life one time there on an overcast day. So bad I couldn't even drive home. Had to have someone else drive my car.

Moto America is supposed to be at Sears later this seasons with tickets as low as $9 so at least they're making it more affordable.
 
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