OT: Racing 2012 (Spoiler Alert)

[GB_Simo]

http://en.espnf1.com/monaco/motorsport/ ... tml?page=1

Good lad, Kimi...a year later would have hit the 40th anniversary of Master James making his F1 entrance, but still, good lad...

[DChaps]

http://en.espnf1.com/monaco/motorsport/ ... tml?page=1

Good lad, Kimi...a year later would have hit the 40th anniversary of Master James making his F1 entrance, but still, good lad...

Could that be early promotion for the Ron Howard F1 movie on the 1976 season entitled Rush? I did just read that they just completed filming and are now off to the editing room.

[toonarmy]

http://en.espnf1.com/monaco/motorsport/ ... tml?page=1

Good lad, Kimi...a year later would have hit the 40th anniversary of Master James making his F1 entrance, but still, good lad...

Could that be early promotion for the Ron Howard F1 movie on the 1976 season entitled Rush? I did just read that they just completed filming and are now off to the editing room.

According to Kimi:

"It's not for any particular reason. I just like him and the kind of racing there was in the past. It's a nice design. There's not any more (to it) than that."

[EZSnappin]

It's a shame Monaco is so often a parade, because the course, setting and tradition is so special. Alas, without the rain that I thought the commentators were trying to will into existence, it was rather dull on track.

[toonarmy]

It's a shame Monaco is so often a parade, because the course, setting and tradition is so special. Alas, without the rain that I thought the commentators were trying to will into existence, it was rather dull on track.

Agreed. Even though the top cars were all bunched up nobody could pass due to the track. Pretty much a dull race by 2012 standards.

[Rodster]

Good to see Massa on form. I hope he keeps it up.

[GB_Simo]

I wouldn't have it any other way, because watching a top driver go through Casino Square on a flying lap is just something else, but there's a quote I'm looking for about how F1 has outgrown Monaco, the place is an anachronism and it's just too dangerous to sustain a Grand Prix there. I've seen the quote attributed to Phil Hill and I'm sure it's from 1965 or thereabouts. Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground...


If TK wins this, the roof's going to get blown off the place. Looks like the place to be is 2nd coming off turn 4 on the final lap, so we'll see how this plays out. I wouldn't want to pick a winner though.

[GB_Simo]

This is probably a spoiler, so: Oh, Takuma, you had them...

[Gurantsu]

One more turn, just one more turn! But ya know, that's what I like about Sato. He's gonna go for it.

[toonarmy]

What a massive error in judgement by Sato. He had Dario beat and got anxious and screwed up. If he had only waited. Dario was quite the lucky boy on that last lap.

[Gurantsu]

Yeah, if he just could have waited until after turn 2 he may have had it.

[toonarmy]

Yeah, if he just could have waited until after turn 2 he may have had it.

That's what I was thinking as well. He seemed to have more than enough pace to slip by Dario whenever he needed. I was really pulling for him to win it. Hard to not be happy for Dario, though. He's one hell of a great driver.

[Smurfy]

Sato never fails to entertain, but he also never fails to fall short

Sato did seem a bit reckless there. The previous lap, Dixon was in a position to back out and let him through. Dario wouldn't have been able to back off and I fear Sato's car would have slid out. I don't think it was able to hold the line.

I'm being a bit harsh but I just hate to gush I think it was very impressive how he caught the Ganassi pair without having to team up with someone. Was anyone else surprised that the Ganassi duo didn't pull away from him?

[DChaps]

Wow, that was one of the most enjoyable Sundays of racing for me in some time. I thought Monaco was fantastic and Indy was even better. I heard Bob Varsha point out that all 3 major races had an Australian on the pole, pretty interesting. Man those restarts at Indy were insane; single file my ass. Man, I was so pulling for TK to pull it off, but any of the top 5 would have been a cool win.

Coca Cola 600 was not bad, and I even finished off the night with the Acropolis Rally. That rally in particular always amazes me that more fans and drivers are not killed each year. Crazy stuff. Loeb is just unbelievable - 71 rally wins? Wow.

[F308GTB]

Even though the new Indy cars are butt ugly the changes did make for some fantastic racing. The passing was great. Sato was just a bonehead on the last lap. It was his for the taking and he screwed the pooch. Btw you all remember the old days when all you had for Indy coverage was radio? I always avoided the radio and news since the race wasn't shown on TV until the next day.

[Gurantsu]

My brother and I would listen to the race religiously every year. When they started finally putting it on TV, we'd still listen first, then watch it later.

[pk500]

How cool is this? Sauber cut an F1 in half length-wise, showing the brilliant complex engineering and packaging of these incredible machines:

http://youtu.be/_Wn1EFLa2C8

[Gurantsu]

Wow, that was just awesome! I'm surprised how high the drivers legs are while seated. And there isn't an inch of wasted space in there.

[DChaps]

Man, I am really looking forward to this movie. So far it seems like Ron Howard is really passionate about getting it right.

[toonarmy]

Crazy stuff going on at the Belle Isle Indy race. Sucks that the track is coming apart. Hopefully they can get the race going again, as it was a very entertaining race.

[tjung0831]

Making the 6 hour drive to Iowa in a few weeks and taking my boys to see their first live Indy Car race. I saw a few of the old CART races back in the day when they were at Gateway just outside of St. Louis. Looking forward to this trip though, the kids seem very excited to see their first ever race.

[Gurantsu]

Sweet! I'll be heading down to Baltimore again later this year. Have my hotel and tickets ready to go. I got the paddock passes this year so that should be cool. If any of you guys are heading there let me know and we'll catch up. (We know a nice little pub in town that has the best wings...)

Yeah it's a shame about Belle Isle. I've seen it spark the same old debate, Indycars should stick to ovals (thank you Facebook for more nonsense!). One of the things I've liked about Indy cars is that they'll race on ovals or road courses, heck I've even been to the old Trenton track, an oval with a right turn thrown in, although I barely remember it (according to my dad I kept asking for Buddy Baker stuff, even though it was an Indy car race!). As anyone who has played iRacing can attest, they are two VERY different disciplines, and having them both in one series really tests the metal of the drivers. (And as much as I don't follow NASCAR much these days, I applaud them for still doing some road courses; it makes me think of Junior Johnson running moonshine on the back roads way back when!)

Iowa is a really neat track, like Richmond with more banking. Goes to show that you don't need flat out speed to have good racing.

I was watching an interview with David Letterman the other day, and he mentioned how the main thing that hit him was the sound at Indy, more than everything else. And at my first trip to Indy, in 2000, that was certainly the case. As we were walking up to the track after parking in a neighborhood close buy, you could hear the F1 cars screaming by during practice. My cousins comment, which was "so do you have a woody yet?" was crude but on the mark, what an experience. But what I remember most from my first ever race, which was at Dover in 1971, was the look of the cars. As I walked up to the start finish line, and saw for the first time live the cars that I've seen in pictures and heard my dad and brother talk about for years, that is an image that will stick with me forever. To this day I can still picture Richard Petty yanking that wheel around, while chewing on that white rag. The colors were so bright! And the race seemed to last forever, well in to the evening. And then you were able to walk through the pits, while the crews were still packing their equipment up, and climb up the banking that seemed like a mountain. I'll never forget it, and since my brother has been gone for many a year now it's a memory I cherish to this day, every time I see a new green flag drop. I can only hope your kids have a similar experience.

[toonarmy]

Sweet! I'll be heading down to Baltimore again later this year. Have my hotel and tickets ready to go. I got the paddock passes this year so that should be cool. If any of you guys are heading there let me know and we'll catch up. (We know a nice little pub in town that has the best wings...)

Yeah it's a shame about Belle Isle. I've seen it spark the same old debate, Indycars should stick to ovals (thank you Facebook for more nonsense!). One of the things I've liked about Indy cars is that they'll race on ovals or road courses, heck I've even been to the old Trenton track, an oval with a right turn thrown in, although I barely remember it (according to my dad I kept asking for Buddy Baker stuff, even though it was an Indy car race!). As anyone who has played iRacing can attest, they are two VERY different disciplines, and having them both in one series really tests the metal of the drivers. (And as much as I don't follow NASCAR much these days, I applaud them for still doing some road courses; it makes me think of Junior Johnson running moonshine on the back roads way back when!)

Iowa is a really neat track, like Richmond with more banking. Goes to show that you don't need flat out speed to have good racing.

I was watching an interview with David Letterman the other day, and he mentioned how the main thing that hit him was the sound at Indy, more than everything else. And at my first trip to Indy, in 2000, that was certainly the case. As we were walking up to the track after parking in a neighborhood close buy, you could hear the F1 cars screaming by during practice. My cousins comment, which was "so do you have a woody yet?" was crude but on the mark, what an experience. But what I remember most from my first ever race, which was at Dover in 1971, was the look of the cars. As I walked up to the start finish line, and saw for the first time live the cars that I've seen in pictures and heard my dad and brother talk about for years, that is an image that will stick with me forever. To this day I can still picture Richard Petty yanking that wheel around, while chewing on that white rag. The colors were so bright! And the race seemed to last forever, well in to the evening. And then you were able to walk through the pits, while the crews were still packing their equipment up, and climb up the banking that seemed like a mountain. I'll never forget it, and since my brother has been gone for many a year now it's a memory I cherish to this day, every time I see a new green flag drop. I can only hope your kids have a similar experience.

You are dead-on about the screaming of the cars. That's something that cannot be replicated on TV. I refuse to wear anything in my ears at races because I absolutely love the loud sound of the cars. The sheer speed is another thing you cannot really see well on TV. Seeing cars, up close, whizzing by at over 200 mph is just amazing. It gives a person a whole new perspective on the talent it takes to race side by side.

[Gurantsu]

Exactly! TV does not do justice to the speed these guys run. You sit at the front stretch at Indy, looking straight forward, and you actually can't tell what car just went by, they travel so fast. I play a bunch of racing games, and all they have shown me is that I don't have one ounce of the skills it takes to run one of these cars in real life. There is a section at the Baltimore track where you can stand no more than 20 feet away from a car doing 160mph. Totally blows your mind.

[GB_Simo]

What's the general consensus on the race at Texas last night, chaps? I switched it on expecting to fall asleep in front of it, not through boredom but through being knackered. I ended up engrossed. Being English and having the opinion that he never really got a fair crack of the whip in F1, I was willing Justin Wilson onward through the last 30 laps, but what a tremendous pooch-screwing exercise from Rahal.

How entertaining it was to see skilled racing drivers having to use an awful lot of that skill to keep themselves on the road on a cookie-cutter oval, not just sticking their foot on the floor and turning left every so often. I'd have more of that, gladly.