OT: Racing 2016 (Spoiler Alert)

[Dave]

The ACO sure seems to have a mess on its hands with the BoP adjustments in GTE-Pro. The non-turbos got their asses handed to them in qualifying.

[pk500]

How was Montreal, PK?

Very good first joint event for our USA and Canadian Porsche series. 36 cars! The FIA only gave us 25 minutes for each race, 20 less than normal. So there was pretty intense racing, with a bit of carnage in the first race. Second race started in mixed conditions, which was fun!

Fun for me to be back in the F1 paddock for the first time since 2008. Support series PR don't get media center access, but I'm buddies with the Media Delegate for the FIA, so I snuck into the media center Friday morning and spent two hours catching up with old journo friends from the USA, Canada and the UK. Fun!

I've been in this business for nearly 25 years, yet I still had a first at Montreal. Everyone worked out of the support paddock due to restricted FIA access to the F1 paddock. So tech, competition and PR officials traveled via golf cart in a huge pack before each on-track session. I was on the cart that led the 36-car field down the back straight at Montreal to the starting grid Sunday morning. Pretty damn cool.

[pk500]

The ACO sure seems to have a mess on its hands with the BoP adjustments in GTE-Pro. The non-turbos got their asses handed to them in qualifying.

Rampant rumors of Ford sand-bagging during testing and practice. The ACO is stoked to have Ford back in the GT fold, so it was much more likely to turn a blind eye to any chicanery.

[Dave]

I'm glad the ACO made adjustments, hopefully they didn't go too far with any of them.

The Baku circuit is interesting, the amount of exposed concrete is surprising. The signage is kind of funny - 'Well done Baku' and 'Baku welcomed us' are two of my favorites.

[Dave]

Right on cue, the POS Fox Sports Go App crashes immediately. Got my hopes up when it worked well for the start.

[F308GTB]

Right on cue, the POS Fox Sports Go App crashes immediately. Got my hopes up when it worked well for the start.

How about setting the DVR to record the first 5 hours of LeMans only to have the first 2 hours preempted by golf? POS FS1.

[Dave]

How about setting the DVR to record the first 5 hours of LeMans only to have the first 2 hours preempted by golf? POS FS1.

Be sure to look for an updated schedule, the last 2.5 hours of coverage is getting bumped to FS2. Hope they don't choke down the FSGo streaming (assuming it works) to FS2 subscribers only, thankfully the start was available even though I can't get FS2 (and the scheduled FS2 portions are blacked out for me).

[Rodster]

Not a single safety car, crash or anyone hitting the wall in Baku. Definitely an entertaining race.

[Rodster]

While watching the Baku GP this weekend they showed Kurt Busch in the Haas garage and (Sky Sports) commented that he and Kyle Busch are not brothers. I thought they were even though I no longer follow Nascar.

[pk500]

While watching the Baku GP this weekend they showed Kurt Busch in the Haas garage and (Sky Sports) commented that he and Kyle Busch are not brothers. I thought they were even though I no longer follow Nascar.

Sky was wrong. They're brothers.

[GB_Simo]

Sky are going to have to go some to cheer Ant Davidson up when he's next on F1 duty with them. Listening to Radio Le Mans work their way, in the space of half a lap, from theories on gap management, through setting up a formation finish and finally to the realisation that Toyota had won the Le Mans 23 Hours 57 Minutes, what you heard was impossible to believe.

Baku bored me to tears, even if I didn't mind the track too much - it would have put me in mind of the old track in Dallas had it not been for the signage, the architecture, the ancient castles and the absence of Patrick Duffy. Quick, big balls corners are welcome. That they lead into a f*ck-off massive straight where the man in front has absolutely no means of defending his position is not.

[Zeppo]

Oh, Nico, you idiot! You deserve what you got for that petty, cynical move. Such a shame.

[XXXIV]

Oh, Nico, you idiot! You deserve what you got for that petty, cynical move. Such a shame.

He is an idiot and my gf hates him.

[GB_Simo]

Oh, Nico, you idiot! You deserve what you got for that petty, cynical move. Such a shame.

Ah, but it wasn't his fault. He said so, you see, which means that you didn't see him failing to turn in to a hairpin. Furthermore, the bit where he refused to let Hamilton back onto the racing surface was a mere illusion.

It's an odd way to negotiate a new contract for yourself, I'll say that. Nico seems to know that he isn't quite as good quite as often as Hamilton, is clearly very aware that he has a history of losing against Lewis in battle but, and this is the key to today's incident, is absolutely rubbish when attempting to intimidate his team mate. The concession of points today is one thing. The concession of the whip hand in the intra-Merc battle...well, that's quite another.

[Jimmydeicide]

"Well done Lewis not the race we where after but a good result"
Go f*** yourself Mercedes. that was the most exciting thing that has happened this season so far. Hamilton was just racing this time.
Karma Nico.

Wow a formula 1 race i actually enjoyed.

[Rodster]

What a chaotic race at Spa. At first I thought Verstappen caused the collision between both Ferraris by pushing Kimi into Finger Boy but after watching the replays on NBCSN, they rightfully pointed out that it was Finger Boy who turned into his teammate and squeezed out Max into turn one. And the replays showed there was NO reason for Seb to turn into Kimi as he had plenty of room on the outside.

That Magnussen crash was epic at the top of Eau Rouge. Totaled his car, damaged the barrier wall and walked away.

[XXXIV]

That crash was scary.

Hamilton awesome to go from 21 to finish 3rd.

We still hate Rosberg.

Spa is my favorite to watch.

[DChaps]

Max was driving like the 18 year old he is those first few laps, and he seemed to have it out for both of the Ferrari's all race. As usual, listening to Kimi's radio transmission was a highlight.

[Rodster]

Like Toto Wolff said, if he keeps driving like that he's going to cause an aeroplane crash one day. Unfortunately for the rest of the grid, he's the new golden boy ala Senna/Schumacher. So the kids virtually untouchable right now until another driver literally kicks his ass and makes him stop or even worse returns the favor and makes him crash.

[XXXIV]

So yesterday morning I woke to my gf giving Rosberg the finger.

Great podium bigger dbag.

[wco81]

F1 on the verge of being sold to US company:

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/09/for ... dia-group/

[F308GTB]

FYI - Goodwood livestream NOW!!! - http://www.racedepartment.com/live-stream/

Edit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jresu2xAKKk for Sept 9 footage. Beautiful cars out there. Always ballsy racing those high dollar classics.

[fletcher21]

Gymkhana 9 from Ken block is out. I can't seem to embed it here for some reason. Anyone else seen it? It's no doubt edited like crazy, but Ken block has got to have more car control than nearly any man alive. I have no idea how he didn't gain massive success in real wrc racing. Maybe he simply can't help but to always drive balls to the wall. Regardless, he sure makes some fun videos and awesome shoes which I've worn for many years.

[pk500]

Gymkhana 9 from Ken block is out. I can't seem to embed it here for some reason. Anyone else seen it? It's no doubt edited like crazy, but Ken block has got to have more car control than nearly any man alive. I have no idea how he didn't gain massive success in real wrc racing. Maybe he simply can't help but to always drive balls to the wall. Regardless, he sure makes some fun videos and awesome shoes which I've worn for many years.

Ken Block sucked in WRC for the same reason motocross trick riders don't win AMA Supercross and outdoor motocross titles. He's a trick master -- nothing more. A great showman with unreal car control. But there's way more to success in rally than that.

Top rally drivers know when to push, when to hold back, how to manage changing conditions, tear wear, varying surfaces, developing chemistry with co-drivers, adjusting differentials on the fly, honing setups with the team. There's way more to WRC success than car control.

[fletcher21]

No doubt, I guess I just assumed he would have at least been competent with how well he can feel what a car is doing. Looks like he always has fun, though. Its crazy how many racers we have in America, but that almost never translates to success in global racing like f1, moto gp or wrc. A lot of Americans don't have the ability to get into a series of motorsport unless one of their own is succeeding in it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Nicky Hayden the last American to win a championship in a racing discipline that spans the globe? If America produced a top rally or f1 driver, that would be nice. Shocking it's such a rarity.