OT: Racing 2011 (Spoiler Alert)

[toonarmy]

Set the dvr to record the race and flipped it on just now. I see the 125cc race and say WTF? Then the program note scrolls across the bottom. My heart sank. Can't say I was a big fan, but I'll miss his character. That big fro will be missed. Edwards and Rossi must be really torn up right now. I'm really hoping things don't come in 3s. We don't need any more bad motorsport news.

Sadly it didn't take long.

FMX rider Jim McNeil dies

Jim McNeil, a motorcycle rider in the FMX series, died after injuries suffered during practice for an exhibition prior to the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Boost Mobile announced Sunday.

Very sad. It's amazing more guys in freestyle don't die. The sport is insane.

[Rodster]

A pretty action packed race today at Yas Marina. Vettel drove the wheels off his car at least that's what Hammy would say. Quality win by Lewis and props to Capt. Morgan as the Ferrari was not really a 2nd place car this weekend but he outperformed his car and put it on the podium.

[Smurfy]

What amazed me was how much of a lead Vettel took in just two corners

[DChaps]

The new Chevy Corvette Daytona Prototype has been unveiled for next season. I like the Grand Am series but always thought the DP cars were pretty boxy looking. I think this one is pretty slick. Here is hoping that iRacing gets to scanning this sucker quickly.



http://www.grand-am.com/multimedia/phot ... r&gid=6829

http://www.grand-am.com/news/index.cfm? ... &cid=50900

[pk500]

Ominous news from Austin:

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... aking_news

It's looking more and more like you should book tickets for Jersey in 2013, not Austin in 2012, if you want to see the return of F1 to America for the first time since 2007.

[pk500]

I have VERY mixed emotions about the Corvette prototype unveiled today. It looks cool, but it's basically a GT car with a larger rear wing and greenhouse.

That's not a pure prototype. Then again, the prior incarnation of DP's were pregnant COT's. So I guess this is progress.

I'll admit it: I'm a prototype snob. Give me ACO and ALMS prototypes, please. Proper race cars.

[Rodster]

Ominous news from Austin:

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... aking_news

It's looking more and more like you should book tickets for Jersey in 2013, not Austin in 2012, if you want to see the return of F1 to America for the first time since 2007.

That's what Bernie was saying. There are two parties involved, one building the track and the other promoting it and neither side is talking to the other. He doubts the race will take place as well. And Korea is doubtful for next year and Turkey is gone.

Btw: I like the new Corvette prototype as well.

[DChaps]

Man, that is bad news about Austin. I already had my place to stay secured.

Paul, you mean something more like this:

[pk500]

PROPER, Donald!

More:

[DChaps]

I was fortunate to see some of these beasts at the 1985 IMSA Camel GT at Road Atlanta. Among the notables in that race, David Hobbs and Scott Pruett. I recently found a 12 part Youtube series of the coverage of that race. Get to about 1:30 into the clip below to see the stream of these awesome GTPs getting ready to start. Wow, Road Atlanta really looked like a dump back then. Part of it is just the red Georgia clay, but man I don't remember it being that bad. Guess I am just getting old. If you are interested, you should be able to find the links to the other 12 parts of the race within the YouTube site. I love being able to find these old races that I never thought I would be able to see again.

[GB_Simo]

Mighty fine Jaguars there, Don (XJR-11 and the Bud Light XJR-12, I believe?) but my favourite has always been XJR-14 in the purple Silk Cut paint scheme:



Such a good looking car.

Being the kind of man who can quite merrily kill several evenings just looking for footage of old races on the Internet, I'm fairly sure I watched that same IMSA race a little while ago. It's always remarkable, particularly for someone like me who was (whisper it) born that year, to see exactly how far the facilities have come at racetracks like Road Atlanta. Whether it feels right or not is a different thing altogether, but it's very interesting to see all the same.

[EZSnappin]

I hope they get the Austin mess straightened out. I'd almost convinced my wife it would be a great 40th birthday present to go to the inaugural race.

[Dave]

Diamond P Sports!!!

I loved the old IMSA GTPs. I went to the Rolex 24 a few years ago and really enjoyed it, but Sebring is still high on my list of races I want to see to experience the real prototypes.

[pk500]

It's always remarkable, particularly for someone like me who was (whisper it) born that year, to see exactly how far the facilities have come at racetracks like Road Atlanta.

These f*cking young guys, always such dicks about flaunting their birth certificates ...

[GB_Simo]

It's always remarkable, particularly for someone like me who was (whisper it) born that year, to see exactly how far the facilities have come at racetracks like Road Atlanta.

These f*cking young guys, always such dicks about flaunting their birth certificates ...

Mate, when I collected details from my latest group of trainees on their first day at work, I found that two of them were born in a year I can remember living through. I have absolutely no idea at all how I'm meant to be dealing with that...

I no longer get sunburnt on areas of my head which I thought were still covered by my hair, so at least I'm coming to accept that my face is getting a bit bigger, but the 90s were only a couple of days ago, weren't they? There's no way they've given me their real dates of birth. There just isn't. I'm not having it.

[toonarmy]

I hope they get the Austin mess straightened out. I'd almost convinced my wife it would be a great 40th birthday present to go to the inaugural race.

I'm with you, but it's not looking good as of today. I don't know if there is any merit to what I am about to say, but it ran through my head. It seems that Bernie is more than happy to drop the Austin race now that it looks like he will have a race in the NYC area. He has more possible venues around the world currently than he knows what to do with, so it's almost as if he wants to get rid of the race in Austin and this situation is a convenient way for him to axe it. I'm not saying that the dispute he's miffed about does not exist, but he seems as if he could care less if they sort things out. Again, these thoughts are based on nothing but something that ran through my head. I was looking forward to a race in Austin. The track layout looks cool.

[pk500]

I hope they get the Austin mess straightened out. I'd almost convinced my wife it would be a great 40th birthday present to go to the inaugural race.

I'm with you, but it's not looking good as of today. I don't know if there is any merit to what I am about to say, but it ran through my head. It seems that Bernie is more than happy to drop the Austin race now that it looks like he will have a race in the NYC area. He has more possible venues around the world currently than he knows what to do with, so it's almost as if he wants to get rid of the race in Austin and this situation is a convenient way for him to axe it. I'm not saying that the dispute he's miffed about does not exist, but he seems as if he could care less if they sort things out. Again, these thoughts are based on nothing but something that ran through my head. I was looking forward to a race in Austin. The track layout looks cool.

This entire situation reeks of when Bernie removed the British Grand Prix from Silverstone and awarded it to Donington Park a few years ago.

Bernie wanted improvements made at Silverstone and couldn't get the BRDC to move quickly enough. So he threatened to give Donington the GP and followed through. Donington had broken ground on significant improvements to the circuit and then ran into the global recession, which squeezed credit.

This gave Bernie the chance to re-open negotiations with Silverstone, which was eager to regain the GP. Silverstone then got funding for improvements, and Bernie returned the British GP to that circuit. Donington was left with a ripped-up racetrack.

Bernie always has wanted a GP in New York more than any other American city. His list has been New York ... and everywhere else. He used Austin and his close personal relationship with Austin promoter Tavo Hellmund to get a toehold back into the American market. Once he was able to make a deal with Leo Hindery for the race in New Jersey, Austin became expendable. And the pissing match between Hellmund and circuit owners Red McCombs and Bobby Epstein gave Bernie the perfect chance to exit Austin and focus on New Jersey, just like he did with Donington and Silverstone.

It's a familiar blueprint encased in a different-colored tube.

[Rodster]

Why people keep building race tracks for Bernie is beyond me? He's a player when it comes to Formula 1. At first he's nice and as soon as he detects you want him back he then puts your balls in a vise. And when he gets the feeling you really him back again he starts to tighten the vise.

As soon as someone yells uncle, he takes his toys to the next location and does it all over again. Indy was the only location that had the balls to say get out, you're not worth it.

Austin got played until Bernie got what he wanted, a NY landscape for his toys. So Austin is now left with an incomplete track that may get an F1 race in the next 5-10 years if that.

[Gurantsu]

I agree with you guys, once Bernie got his precious NY race, he was looking for any little way to dump Austin. F1 is a mess, but you guys all know my opinion on that!

Still, I would love to use DRS on the Turnpike one day...

[pk500]

Still, I would love to use DRS on the Turnpike one day...

[toonarmy]

Unbelievable final race in NASCAR. Stewart and Edwards tied in points at the end of the race, with Tony getting the nod by tiebreaker. Stewart's run in the Chase and his performance in today's race will go down as legendary. Dude can flatout drive a car.

[GB_Simo]

Looking at the clock and realising that I'm fast approaching 2am, I'm glad that a) the race was worth staying around for and b) I've planned a very, very gentle day at work tomorrow.

Unbelievable final race in NASCAR. Stewart and Edwards tied in points at the end of the race, with Tony getting the nod by tiebreaker. Stewart's run in the Chase and his performance in today's race will go down as legendary. Dude can flatout drive a car.

I don't remember the last time I watched a driver spend 400 miles screwing the arse off his racing car anything quite like that. Some of those restarts were just unbelievable. Really gutsy call to stretch out the fuel before that last stop too. The team stayed true to Tony's promise that they'd hang everything on the line, but the 99 crew were hardly slouching either; in my Utopian fantasies, that's how every major racing championship finishes.

[pk500]

I thought Grubb was nuts to stretch fuel mileage at the end, as Tony was running in second at the same pace as leader Edwards. It's not like he was faltering or running ninth.

But it all paid off.

That was the best NASCAR finale since Atlanta 1992, when Kulwicki edged Elliott for the title. And that was the best pure DRIVE I've ever seen in one race in NASCAR. Breathtaking commitment and talent shown for the entire race by Smoke.

Edwards was classy in defeat. It's a cliche, but the 14 team just flat out beat the 99 team. Edwards did everything he could.

My best friend works for Smoke. So I'm a VERY happy man tonight.

[Teal]

Yeah, Big congrats to Stewart and team. VERY entertaining last couple of races, and epic finish. First time the new 'Chase' format has actually worked as advertised, and boy, was it good.

[toonarmy]

I don't remember the last time I watched a driver spend 400 miles screwing the arse off his racing car anything quite like that. Some of those restarts were just unbelievable. Really gutsy call to stretch out the fuel before that last stop too. The team stayed true to Tony's promise that they'd hang everything on the line, but the 99 crew were hardly slouching either; in my Utopian fantasies, that's how every major racing championship finishes.

No doubt. Those two drove as hard and smart as they possibly could. Tony is the only current driver in NASCAR that could pull off what he pulled in the Chase/final race with the car that he had. NASCAR has to be smiling from ear to ear tonight.