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Official Motorsports Thread of 2013 (MotoGP, WRC, Le Mans, Nascar, IRL, V8's etc)
- Thread starter Dead Man
- Start date
digita1alchemy
Member
Hoping Ambrose can finally get the monkey off his back at Sonoma today. Also, I think the road course tracks are my favorite races in NASCAR now. I'd love to see them go to Montréal.
digita1alchemy
Member
He's up to 33rd now, seems to be running alright.
Yeah, he was making his way back up the field well but now he's dropped back to 40th. No idea what happened.
Car in the garage. Obviously. What a disaster.
QualityPixel
Banned
Unburned fuel making it's way into the turbo's and exhaust then getting blown out when the car was started.
Squirrel Killer
Member
You have to wonder how much Dr. Chuck Ellis, DMD in Birmingham, AL paid to get his name on the car.
rangersfan414
Member
The track is on fire lol.
Juan gonna Juan. You shouldn't need your crew chief to tell you to save fuel when you know you are close and have no chance of catching the leader and the car behind you isn't going to catch you either.
Would also be nice to see the sprint cars with the nationwide tech known as windshield wipers and rain tires :/
Would also be nice to see the sprint cars with the nationwide tech known as windshield wipers and rain tires :/
Big Takeover
Member
You're right of course, but the team ended up hosing him a bit with strategy. I don't remember what lap his first stop was on, but he used those tires for the entire rest of the race. If he had taken four tires on his second stop, like Ambrose did, he would have had a lot more speed at the end (Ambrose had to because he had no long run speed at all). JJ who took fuel only at that point too, ended up coming back in for two tires (not a great call either).
Of course he may have run out of fuel anyway, but you never really know. He was fastest guy out there, and again no win.
Great weekend of racing. I'm going to watch the Indy Car race now. Le Mans was fragmented as hell, as you guys all know. Still enjoyable though. RIP Allan Simonsen. No tires on a perpendicular stretch of armco is unacceptable.
I didn't hear exactly what Kristensen said at the time but man, it could not have been any more suitable and perfect:
That is pure class.
JV = Villeneuve? Wow, never thought I'd see him race again. How's he doing?
Bahaha, thought the same thing.
How's he doing? If he has any F1 equivalents for comparison, that's probably the best way to go
Elfforkusu
Member
The drop off seems to really become noticeable around age 50. Some guys (Harry Gant, Mark Martin) seem to stay relevant a little longer, but that seems to be the usual limit.Hm, fair enough. Here's hoping he gets the chance. Glad he's not around the level of Chilton, I have to say
At what age to most (successful) NASCAR drivers usually retire? I think Ambrose must be nearing 40 now, not sure what that means for his career...
Wikipedia has him at 36 (I thought he was a few years older) so hopefully that means he'll be around for another 10 years... if there are teams around that want him.
dskillzhtown
keep your strippers out of my American football
Lemans was awesome. I hated all the yellows and with it being overcast in the morning, we missed out on the views of the sunrise from the car dash cams. I remember last year the Corvette drivers having a hard time because of the sun shining right in their eyes.
Speed had a commentary asking if now was the time for changes to be made to the course. I don't know. Racing is inherently dangerous and will always will be. I do think that maybe having fewer classes of cars out there may help. Maybe use full course reds instead of yellows when the weather is bad. I don't know if any of that will help really though. Racing is dangerous and unfortunately death, while not as prevalent as it used to be, is still part of it.
On another note, I am wondering if another US station will pick up the 24 hours next year with Speed going dark soon. It really ticked me off because this year they got it perfect. Most of the race was on TV in glorious HD, with only like 3 hours online.
Speed had a commentary asking if now was the time for changes to be made to the course. I don't know. Racing is inherently dangerous and will always will be. I do think that maybe having fewer classes of cars out there may help. Maybe use full course reds instead of yellows when the weather is bad. I don't know if any of that will help really though. Racing is dangerous and unfortunately death, while not as prevalent as it used to be, is still part of it.
On another note, I am wondering if another US station will pick up the 24 hours next year with Speed going dark soon. It really ticked me off because this year they got it perfect. Most of the race was on TV in glorious HD, with only like 3 hours online.
Dave_6
Member
I nearly watched every minute of coverage that Speed showed, though I did fast forward through the caution periods. I absolutely love this race! I am going to be sorely disappointed if there is no coverage of this here in the US next year
The news of Allan's death was shocking though May he rest in peace.
The news of Allan's death was shocking though
May he rest in peace.Big Takeover
Member
I think you've got to accept some of what makes Le Mans unique as inherently dangerous. Sections of very fast public road, amateur drivers, closing speeds, lack of catch fencing in many areas.
Tertre Rouge, and the exit of Porsche Curves have to be addressed though. Tertre Rouge in particular as we all saw, can't look the same next year. Armco right up against some wonderfully majestic trees, and able to be crashed into at acute angles - just can't have it. The entry runoff isn't a whole lot better either.
It's funny, I was looking at youtube videos of old on-boards trying to determine if those trees outgrew the spacing between the armco (answer: not really, they've always been huge), and found this video from 1969 in which Vic Elford is talking about how delighted he was with the safety of the track just as he passes by that section.
Tertre Rouge was totally different then, but check out what appears to be matresses providing protection from those exact same trees. Fucking lol.
Tertre Rouge, and the exit of Porsche Curves have to be addressed though. Tertre Rouge in particular as we all saw, can't look the same next year. Armco right up against some wonderfully majestic trees, and able to be crashed into at acute angles - just can't have it. The entry runoff isn't a whole lot better either.
It's funny, I was looking at youtube videos of old on-boards trying to determine if those trees outgrew the spacing between the armco (answer: not really, they've always been huge), and found this video from 1969 in which Vic Elford is talking about how delighted he was with the safety of the track just as he passes by that section.
Tertre Rouge was totally different then, but check out what appears to be matresses providing protection from those exact same trees. Fucking lol.
Squirrel Killer
Member
Reds for weather is just another reason oval racing sucks.
Rivalry pushes boundaries, so this only makes sense to me.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/108286
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/108286
What was the story with that? Was it going to run in parallel with F1, or every second F1 race or something?
Squirrel Killer
Member
Reverse calendar, Sept-June.
I laughed at your post subject
Shame they wouldn't piggy-back it with the F1. Instant audience, FIA looks like they're doing something for the environment, less infrastructure outlay... everyone wins.
Jezbollah
Member
So Jorge Lorenzo has broken his left collarbone after crashing on white lines during MotoGP free practice 2 at Assen. He will be operated on tomorrow night.
This is huge for the championship, especially considering the Repsol Honda form and the fact the next two circuits, Laguna Seca and Sachsenring are very left hand-heavy in terms of layout.
This could well be Dani Pedrosa's chance to finally win the big championship.
This is huge for the championship, especially considering the Repsol Honda form and the fact the next two circuits, Laguna Seca and Sachsenring are very left hand-heavy in terms of layout.
This could well be Dani Pedrosa's chance to finally win the big championship.
As long as he stays injury free could be his year
Dave_6
Member
Mark Webber will be leaving RB and driving the new Porsche LMP1 next year.
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/le-mans-webber-signs-with-porsche-for-lmp1-program/
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/le-mans-webber-signs-with-porsche-for-lmp1-program/
Damn, that's a heavy fall for Lorenzo.
I don't think we'll see him on track again till Indy on the 18th of August.
Give Cal the Factory bike till then.
*edit, It would be interesting to find out when the air bag in his leathers activates in those situations, he was in the air a long time.
I don't think it would have saved his shoulder whatever.
I don't think we'll see him on track again till Indy on the 18th of August.
Give Cal the Factory bike till then.
*edit, It would be interesting to find out when the air bag in his leathers activates in those situations, he was in the air a long time.
I don't think it would have saved his shoulder whatever.
Jezbollah
Member
Damn, that's a heavy fall for Lorenzo.
I don't think we'll see him on track again till Indy on the 18th of August.
Give Cal the Factory bike till then.
*edit, It would be interesting to find out when the air bag in his leathers activates in those situations, he was in the air a long time.
I don't think it would have saved his shoulder whatever.
Crutchlow cannot have the factory bike - the engine rule put paid to that.
Charlie McCarthy
Member
Damn, that's a heavy fall for Lorenzo.
I don't think we'll see him on track again till Indy on the 18th of August.
Give Cal the Factory bike till then.
*edit, It would be interesting to find out when the air bag in his leathers activates in those situations, he was in the air a long time.
I don't think it would have saved his shoulder whatever.
I'm pretty sure there is something attached to the bike and when pulled from coming off it is inflated. Being MotoGp though they could be hooked up to some sort of sensors though but the ones you can buy work the way I described. But yeah an impact like that smashes that fragile little collarbone to pieces airbag or not.
That is another nasty crash, there have been a lot of bad ones this season. Being a collarbone though I think it can be fixed pretty quickly. Don't they just plate it up? It would still have to heal of course but with some painkillers he could be back for next race. Still Dani and Marc are both riding well so a "weakened" Lorenzo could be enough for Dani (or Marquez) to take the title.
Big Takeover
Member
That's such a drag about Lorenzo.
A quick glance at wikipedia tells me 2007 was the last year all the potential runners for the championship started every GP. That's a really shitty stat, and one that's not good for the sport. The stats also seem to back up the notion that the big push on electronics have actually made the sport more dangerous. Missing GPs due to injury is a relatively new phenomenon in the modern era. Previous to 2008, it never happened to the top guys (going to back only to a point, not forever).
A quick glance at wikipedia tells me 2007 was the last year all the potential runners for the championship started every GP. That's a really shitty stat, and one that's not good for the sport. The stats also seem to back up the notion that the big push on electronics have actually made the sport more dangerous. Missing GPs due to injury is a relatively new phenomenon in the modern era. Previous to 2008, it never happened to the top guys (going to back only to a point, not forever).
And of course you are right, maybe a bit of wishful thinking there on my part.
Gotta hand it to Jorge though, his crashes are few and far between these days and he has matured into a great rider, but when he does he nearly always goes for the spectacular high-side.
Spaceman Spiff
Member
Glad to see this finally official. It's been tough to see a good guy like Webber get the short end of the stick in F1, and being a factory driver for one of the premier sportscar manufacturers is hardly a bad way of moving on.
Porsche looks to be building a solid driver line-up: Bernhard and Dumas are some of the best in the business, and it will be great to see what Jani from Rebellion can do in a factory car, and Webber obviously brings huge talent, and likely a sizeable influx of fans, to the sport.
With the return of Porsche, Audi being Audi, Toyota hitting their stride, and the rumors of Nissan coming to LMP1 with a factory effort, it's great to see the top sportscar class flourishing. The next several years ought to be something special.
I'm really surprised someone like Sebastien Loeb hasn't taken up LMP racing yet... seems like he'd be the perfect fit for it if he hasn't gone for a spot somewhere in F1. He would fit in almost perfectly into my theory as well... that Red Bull would become a major sponsor of at least one of the factory Porsche entries, given how much of a fan Mateschitz of Webber, and that Red Bull has sponsored Loeb in the past.
Urge to check the LM24 off my bucket list next year rising.
I know Psychotext from the F1 thread is going, I'm seriously thinking about it as well. I don't know how quickly one has to organise tickets/accomodation, but I'd be right on that shit. Especially when one doesn't have to take that much time off to go.
there's nothing tethered to the bike. There's gyro sensors on the suit itself that detects a crash like incident that then makes the nitrogen "tank" to inflate the airbags.
If Pedbot doesn't win this year, he'll never win. Lorenzo may be back as early as Sach BUT he won't be troubling Ped/Marq. It's up to Rossi and Crutchlow to breakup the Repsols and limit the points damage. Lorenzo's championship challenge isn't over but now he has a mountain to climb ontop of the Repsol hill.
Charlie McCarthy
Member
Yeah I thought MotoGP would have been a little more high tech than "pull string to inflate", just wasn't sure. The ones I have seen though (in bike shops) have a loose string tethered to the bike, although I don't know where . They are a great idea though and hopefully one day the MotoGP tech can be made cheaper so everyday riders can use them.
I'm not sure if you know, but Loeb does have a second place finish in Le Mans... also his team ran an LMP2 in the EMS last year with the objective of getting a Le Mans entry sometime in the future, but I think they may have dropped that idea due to lack of funding and are now mostly just doing the GT Series.
Wax Free Vanilla
Member
Podium finish for Lorenzo tomorrow :bow
Well, I know now