For those of us stuck at home and for some of us in the cold, I have started this Lounge area were we can gather add discuss the race.

Radio LeMans is presently streaming.
The live broadcast will start on Speed TV soon. There's 15 hours of the race being broadcast.
When Speed isn't broadcasting, It will be streamed live on speed.com with audio by the Radio LeMans announcers.

As for my self, I will be in front of the TV or computer for most of the 24hrs.

Radio LeMans is presently streaming audio.

I've got it on. No one else home for at least 5-6 hours, volume cranked up :)


I had free tickets to it, but just ended up no way that I could make it with the new job starting last week.

Yea, tickets are the easy part. Getting the time and the money to travel to the races are the problem.

Magnus Racing will have a live stream.
www.magnusracing.com/news/2012/1/19/magnus-racing-to-launch-live-ustream-webcast-during-all-24-h.html
Speed has all rights to the broadcast, so it will likely be just inside the pit tent.

Signing in!

Those new Corvette DP's look sick! I can't wait to see them race. Maybe they'll give the Fords and BMW's a run for their money.

I've got speed on the big screen. A computer is hooked up too for the live streaming later. Live timing is on the computer split screen with 8Club.
Does anyone know how to setup "My Drivers" on the Live Scoring?

What a great stream I'm getting
They've put some bandwidth and maybe some band height in to this feed

Are you watching the Mazda in Feed#3?

#2 right now ...
Switching to 3

Which number car is in #3 and #4

#3 I believe is the #40 Car.

You can get MRN announcers and live timing at: http://www.motorracingnetwork.com/small_audio_stream.html

BEAUTIFUL!
Thanks

Feed 4 is the #56 Ferrari Team AF Corse

We just saw a drivers change on the #40 car. Dempsey just got in.

Did you guys loose the live feed?

I lost the live feed from the #3 webcam

Cam 1 is still working

None of them are working for me. :dunno:

I switched to the tv.

The Audi was on the grass at turn 4 when I went to the TV feed. The wrecker pulled the car on the grass all the way to the pits. The announcers said it was a clutch problem. They normally only pull the car on the grass when there is a lot of fluid leaking like coolant or oil. In formula one, the teams used to report a electrical problem when it was really a blown engine. :)

The stream is working now. :rock:

Hiya :wavey:

Just got back from watching the first 2 hours with all my track buddies :bigok:

I'll be on at least until the wife gets bored with it, but i have time, she's not even home. :yesnod:

I've got speed on the big screen. A computer is hooked up too for the live streaming later. Live timing is on the computer split screen with 8Club.
Does anyone know how to setup "My Drivers" on the Live Scoring?

Not sure if you've figured it out, but you just have to click the star next to the driver name.

Not sure if you've figured it out, but you just have to click the star next to the driver name.
Nope, Thanks.

:bigok:

If anyone cares, the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche is built, maintained and crewed by a shop about 15 minutes from me at Wright Motorsports.

Still want a Mazda to win obviously, but it's cool to see the guys doing well.

ouch #41 looks to be out.

ouch #41 looks to be out.
He should have locked his brakes, there he wouldn't have rolled into the side of that DP.

Yeah, pretty ugly.


What's up Hockey :wavey: I see you lurkin'. Haven't see you on in a long time.

F&F 4 is on right now. It will be repeated after the race broadcast ends for the night.

Marino Franchitti is driving for Speedsource atm. They're in 8th place in GT.

yeah i saw they switched. Can't wait to see what he does in the car.

Travis Pastrana is making his debut in the 56 ferrari atm. Almost got hit coming out of pit lane, right about the same time as the wreck. Interesting race to pretty much make your road race debut.

Getting consistent in your braking for going into the infield and the chicane would be the hardest part of the track.

Yeah, pretty ugly.


What's up Hockey :wavey: I see you lurkin'. Haven't see you on in a long time.

Haha...whats crackin' fuz? Just lurking this thread so i can stay up to date on whats happening with the race since im no where near a tv.

Is the #41 out for the race?

Yeah. 41 lost pretty much all of the front end.


my time to actually watch the race is coming to an end :( the wife needs some attention since i've been out with the guys all day. I'll probably keep up with the thread here and there though.

Sylvain Tremblay is in the Speedsource car now. They are in 7th place.

Really getting tired of the same commercials over and over.

up to 4th now

Any idea if the 4th is on pit rotation or legit? Live scoring has the 88 right behind and the 59 just had an off so I'm thinking it's not due to pitting?

Any idea if the 4th is on pit rotation or legit? Live scoring has the 88 right behind and the 59 just had an off so I'm thinking it's not due to pitting?
That would be hard to tell.

I wonder how the Mustang bent it's wheel so bad.

PHew .. I'm back .. had a birthday dinner I had to attend.
What did I miss?

Caution is out?

Holy crap the camaro is doing well

Curbing? It would be my guess. Impact with another car would be breaking other stuff instead.

What feed is everyone watching?
Camera #3

That would be hard to tell.

I wonder how the Mustang bent it's wheel so bad.

Curbing? It would be my guess. Impact with another car would be breaking other stuff instead. I guess they just showed us on TV. The collision with the #69 Ferrari

What feed is everyone watching?
Camera #3
TV feed. When it goes off, I'll switch to streaming feed #3.

If anyone isn't watching Speed, the Mustang's wheel was damaged by a collision with the 69--Segal driving.

#69 seems ok

Oh, heh. I guess I've got ~10 minutes of anti-commercial play behind I've got built up. Forgot I wasn't live.

Speedsource is back to 8th.

Guys .. I'm going to ask a stupid question that I'm pretty sure I know the answer too but I want confirmation.

These RX8's are running with the 20B motor, yes?

yes, NA 20B engine.

Why I was wondering this ...
The rest of the GT cars .. are they are running engines that can be purchased from the show room?
If yes
How does mazda get away with running an engine not offered to the public?

And I wish they did. <sigh>

---edit---
And why are they not running any boost?

I've downloading the rulebook. I don't think it's as straight forward as "can be bought by the public."

Those damn Porsche's keep passing the 40 car on the straight

I've downloading the rulebook. I don't think it's as straight forward as "can be bought by the public."

Yeah I'm curious about the whole thing.
Anything in the rulz about bewst?

Why no bewst on the 20b?

There's only 3 parts these cars share with ours: door handles, tail lights (I think), and I forgot the third.

None of the cars out there in the race use forced induction. I don't believe it's allowed for any engine. The 20b's in the GT class RX-8s are around 450hp N/A.


Edit:
And yes, the tail lights are the same as the OEM street taillights. They probably modify them or use different bulbs for the 24hr race, since they appear quite a bit brighter, but when I crewed for the #69 last year at Lime Rock, I was humored to note that the #69's right rear tail light had lots of moisture and a bit of water accumulation :)

Sounds like the number 40 is running out of gear on the straight

None of the cars out there in the race use forced induction. I don't believe it's allowed for any engine. The 20b's in the GT class RX-8s are around 450hp N/A.

I thought I had heard the announcer say the Porche's were boosted.

That's what made me wonder.
Thanks dude

Why I was wondering this ...
The rest of the GT cars .. are they are running engines that can be purchased from the show room?
If yes
How does mazda get away with running an engine not offered to the public?

And I wish they did. <sigh>

---edit---
And why are they not running any boost?
The 20B was never available boosted. As it is, the car is very light so it can keep up with the cars that make 150 more horsepower.
How do they get away with it? At the time Mazda started racing the RX8, there was only about 2 different types of cars in GT. Grand Am changed the rules so they could have more variety.
Those damn Porsche's keep passing the 40 car on the straight
Half of the ones still out there now probably won't finish the race.

Yeah, it is. He hits that earlier if he is drafting someone, just before the braking zone when he isn't. Gearing is just a tad too short.

Hmm, either these PDFs are massive, or there is something blocking my download...

http://www.grand-am.com/news/index.cfm?cid=13517&rr=no


I was getting blocked. Appears that they rule it available due to having been available for the Cosmo:

Mazda RX8 (Prep 2)
Weight: Minimum weight 2260 lbs or 2350 lbs with DP transaxle.
Tire size: 285/645R18 front 305/660R18 rear.
Fuel capacity 19.5 gallons.
20B Cosmo three rotor (Mazda Spec parts).
2.0 liter, 9.7 compression ratio, 3-52mm throttle bodies, maximum of 6 injectors, maximum fuel pressure 4.2 bar, free. Maximum RPM 8900. Call GRAND-AM for parts list at386-310-6500.
Six-speed transmission.
Maximum body width is 73.5 inches.
Engine set-back 5.125 inches from spindle centerline to 1st spark plug.
Complete rear wing height w/ end plates cannot exceed roof height. Fuel rig must be fitted with a (color t.b.d.) .970 inch restrictor used to connect the clear 1.5-inch ID fuel hose to the clear 2 ¼ inch ID hose on the dry break fueling probe.
Car must have 2 ½ inches minimum ground clearance.
Approved Modifications:
Intake manifold is Free
May use oil in fuel
Allowed larger/higher exhaust position.
2009 Mazda RX-8 “R3” bodywork permitted with 3” maximum front splitter dimension.


Some more excerpts:

1-3.2. Semi-Tube GT (“Prep 2 GT”) - This category is for cars with modified production or tube-frame chassis. They may be front-wheel drive cars converted to rear-wheel drive or they may be cars that require physical modifications to be competitive in GT. Specified tube-frame construction is permitted. Alternative engines from the original manufacturer may be approved.

SECTION 2 - GENERAL ENGINE REGULATIONS
2-1 Eligibility
2-1.1 The eligible engines will be determined, selected and approved by GRAND-AM and listed along with the engine specifications, specified components and performance levels in the GT-SCR, which must be strictly adhered to.
2-1.2 To be approved, engines may be required to be submitted to GRAND-AM for testing and analysis.
2-1.3 GRAND-AM may approve alternate engines from the

2-3 General Engine Requirements.
2-3.1 All engines must be production-based. (GRAND-AM may require changes in bore and stroke or other specifications in some circumstances.) GRAND-AM may approve other engines.
2-3.2 Maximum engine RPM, throttle body size/diameter, valve lift and size, and the maximum compression ratio may be specified for each approved engine. Engine air box and inlet air restrictors may also be required.
2-3.3 It is mandatory that all major components and parts be for sale to the general public in a regular product offering. GRAND-AM must approve all components/parts prior to use in competition.
2-3.4 All approved components/parts and modifications will be specifically listed for each eligible engine. See GT-SCR.
2-3.5 Engines must be normally aspirated. (Exceptions may be listed in the GT-SCR.)

I'm guessing Al is correct in that they waived 2-3.3 for the RX-8 under the 2-3.1 rule :)

I had no problems downloading them.

Wow! They replace the rotor, calipers, brakes, in one quick connect assembly?

Awesome!

Hmm, either these PDFs are massive, or there is something blocking my download...

http://www.grand-am.com/news/index.cfm?cid=13517&rr=no


I was getting blocked. Appears that they rule it available due to having been available for the Cosmo:

Worked for me .
Thanks for the link

I'm going for a beer ... anyone need one?

I edited my prior post, added some quotes.

Wow! They replace the rotor, calipers, brakes, in one quick connect assembly?

Awesome!

Safety as well as speed. They don't want to be handling those scorching hot brakes :)

HOLY Crap .. see that Porsche fly by the 40 car

[quote=RIWWP;4176350
I'm guessing Al is correct in that they waived 2-3.3 for the RX-8 under the 2-3.1 rule :)[/quote]
The Cosmo 20B is available if you want one.

Yeah, WAY into the braking zone, but he held it. :dunno:

I'm thinking it threw the 40 off his focus just enough, causing him to drive wide into the concrete area, picked up crap on the tires and couldn't hold the mustang behind him.

Worked for me .
Thanks for the link

I'm going for a beer ... anyone need one?

I'll have a samuel adams.

I have to remove a few empty's and get a fresh one.

Apex, hell, he was blocking.

I want a 20B

The two DP leaders are going to wreck each other...

Yeah pretty serious racing this early

LOL they can't keep that R8 on the track!

I want a 20B
Change my mined
I want a 787B

that's not asking much, is it?

I'm going to live streaming and Radio Lemans for audio.

what happened to the feed?

Link me Al ... plz

They are changing the feed cams while off-air on the TV. Give it a few minutes.

Radio LeMans is at http://rlm.0157.org/main.php

Their having to replace the driveshaft on the leading Camaro #57.

If you get a chance, watch for the brake rotors glowing as the cars brake for the bus stop.

It's pretty easy to pick out the rx8s... just look for massive flames. They are lighting the track up tonight. lol

10 Hours into the Race:
#70 Speedsource is in 8th
#40 Dempsey Racing is in 14th
#42 Team Sahlen is in 19th
#36 Yellow Dragon Motorsports is in 31st.
#41 Dempsey Racing is in 37th
#43 Team Sahlen is in 44th (and out of the race after 21 laps)

It would be so sweet to just press a button and have your car jacked up and down.

15 Hours into the Race:
#70 Speedsource is in 6th
#40 Dempsey Racing is in 16th
#42 Team Sahlen is in 18th
#41 Dempsey Racing is in 31th
#36 Yellow Dragon Motorsports is in 34st.
#43 Team Sahlen is in 44th (and out of the race after 21 laps)

16 Hours into the Race:
#70 Speedsource is in 6th (3 Laps behind the GT Leader)
#40 Dempsey Racing is in 14th
#42 Team Sahlen is in 16th
#41 Dempsey Racing is in 31th
#36 Yellow Dragon Motorsports is in 34st.
#43 Team Sahlen is in 44th (and out of the race after 21 laps)

Morning Al :wavey:

Have you slept?

The 41 car is still running? There

Morning. Once the feed switched to the roof cam and chatter, I went to bed, but kept the streaming on my tablet. Slept for ~5 hours, periodically waking up to watch the ticker and progress. Not sure why they cut back to the fixed car cams 2 hours before the TV coverage picks back up though.

If you get a chance, watch for the brake rotors glowing as the cars brake for the bus stop.

This was fantastic to watch. The TV crew needs to use that camera more often for the bus stop action. It was really interesting to see the difference in brake heat front to rear between the various cars, heavier cars lighting up more, etc...

Good Morning Rotards,

Yes I got about 3hrs sleep.

I wish they would switch back to the #40 roof cam though :)

Gotta show Dreamy driving.

Camera 3 just showed a couple of near misses. 3 wide into turn 1 and lots of evasive action. No harm no foul though.

I fell asleep on the couch at about 11. I almost made it through the movie the wife wanted to watch, but kept the ticker open throughout. I just went to bed after that.

Hmm, I just found a virus on my PC... be back in a bit.

In the morning everyone

In the morning everyone
Good Morning

Doesn't look to good for the Mazda's

We need all those GT-3's to break at the same time!

17 Hours into the Race:
#70 Speedsource is in 7th (3 Laps behind the GT Leader)
#40 Dempsey Racing is in 14th
#42 Team Sahlen is in 15th
#41 Dempsey Racing is in 29th
#36 Yellow Dragon Motorsports is in 35th.
#43 Team Sahlen is in 44th (and out of the race after 21 laps)

There is still a lot of time left, but speedsource has their work cut out for them. Wonder if they'll start to penalize the p cars through out the year like they have for the mazdas for the last 3 or 4 years.

We need all those GT-3's to break at the same time!
There's also a Camaro and a Ferrari in front of him.

Wonder if they'll start to penalize the p cars through out the year like they have for the mazdas for the last 3 or 4 years.

Now you are just being silly...

There is still a lot of time left, but speedsource has their work cut out for them. Wonder if they'll start to penalize the p cars through out the year like they have for the mazdas for the last 3 or 4 years.

What do they get penalized for Fuz?

:lol: I know right?

I've never been able to figure out why, in any form of racing, you'd penalize the fast cars to make them slower. Why wouldn't you just give the slower cars something to take advantage of to get more speed? When you penalize the fast cars, you make them change their setup to go slower. It effectively defeats the point of racint: being faster than the other guy. :cussing:

Grand-Am makes "competitive adjustments" to the car-specific ruleset throughout the year each year. Over the past several years, the impression is that most of the adjustments are not in favor of the Mazdas due to their good race results (even though they were usually spread through the field, when you have 1/3rd of the cars in the race being 1 make, they are mathematically bound to have some on the podium). In contrast, when the Porsche's start getting consistently good race performance, the impression is that there is little to no adjustments that are in favor of the other cars.

Adjustments can be anything from a rev limit change to weight addition or reduction, etc.. They can penalize fast cars or boost slower ones.

G-A is owned by NASCAR. They like close racing. If one type of car is faster than the others, they will slow it down. Just as they did the Mazdas 4 yrs ago.

What do they get penalized for Fuz?

3 years ago, Grand-am added a small weight ballast to way them in. The P car teams complained because the rx8's were sweeping the podium at every race still. Instead of making their cars faster, they bitched and moaned until Grand-Am added more weight to the 8's. I believe they further screwed with them before last season, but i'm not sure what all was done, and a p-car took the championship. This year there are over twice as many p-cars in the field because they are by far the easiest to win with at this point.


Rules as they are, are only a small part of what makes them easy to win with. Porsche supplies qualified teams with factory drivers, engines are overnighted, and it's treated almost as a factory effort even if they are "customer" cars and basically privateers. Porsche has an amazing racing and support program. Some of the team owner are whiney little bitches sometimes though. :lol:

If one team wins by a good margin, it doesn't matter where the other cars of that type finish. They still have the performance potential, as demonstrated by the winner.

:lol: I know right?

I've never been able to figure out why, in any form of racing, you'd penalize the fast cars to make them slower. Why wouldn't you just give the slower cars something to take advantage of to get more speed? When you penalize the fast cars, you make them change their setup to go slower. It effectively defeats the point of racint: being faster than the other guy. :cussing:

Well, to me it just depends on how the slower car compares to other slower cars. If they are all the same speed, then yes, penalize the faster cars. If there is someone too far off the pace by themselves, boost those.

Most of the problem in past years have been what I pointed out above. When you have 8 RX-8s in a field of 22, mathematically we are going to have someone on the podium. That should be "normal," but it's viewed as "domination" and penalties are applied. However, if we have 8 of the 22 spots and can't get anyone higher than ~10th, people in the other camps say "good, it's even," but the math says that we are too far penalized for none of the cars to have the results reflect the mathematical odds. It means that the other cars are simply too good for the RX-8s to have a chance.

It was like this for the 2011 24hr Rolex. The highest qualifying RX-8 was...16th in class? Out of 11 RX-8s entered. The time gap was crippling.

3 years ago, Grand-am added a small weight ballast to way them in. The P car teams complained because the rx8's were sweeping the podium at every race still. Instead of making their cars faster, they bitched and moaned until Grand-Am added more weight to the 8's. I believe they further screwed with them before last season, but i'm not sure what all was done, and a p-car took the championship. This year there are over twice as many p-cars in the field because they are by far the easiest to win with at this point.
The P cars, get magnificent support by the parent company.
They also cut revs from the Mazdas, which hurt more than the weight they added.

Right. It's not only the 8's that are penalized. Look at the rear wings of the DP cars. They have a plate welded to the rear wing uprights to induce drag on the cars deemed "too fast"

It's the main reason TRG doesn't run a full season in the gt class. They come out and win, then get penalized so they don't bother to run the whole season. Happened 2 years ago i believe. they only ran 5 or 6 races and won almost everyone.

Porsche's racing support network is fantastic. With the overwhelming number of them in the field this year, it should be interesting to see if the same pattern of penalties is followed to keep it even.

Wow, very interesting.
Thanks for skooling the newb :)

At least Nascar hasn't made it a spec series...yet. :lol:

Nascar and Indy are just glorified spec racing series in my eyes.


I like how F1 does it. If you can't qualify within a certain percent of the leader, you don't get to race. They'll look into everything new and rule on it as they see fit and there's a lot of politics involved to take the fastest team down a notch, but i like the "If you're not fast enough, you don't get to race" mentality they've taken again.

At least Nascar hasn't made it a spec series...yet. :lol:

Nascar and Indy are just glorified spec racing series in my eyes.


I like how F1 does it. If you can't qualify within a certain percent of the leader, you don't get to race. They'll look into everything new and rule on it as they see fit and there's a lot of politics involved to take the fastest team down a notch, but i like the "If you're not fast enough, you don't get to race" mentality they've taken again.
F1 is a different animal. GA GT is made up of street and sudo street cars. You have to do some equalization due to the different engines, engine locations and suspension differences between the cars. You can even run fwd, even though no one does. In F1, your building a new car within a given specification each year. The engineers win those races. Well, the drivers do have a little to do with it.

Oh i know that it's a completely different animal. I just like the, you're fast or you don't race mentality. I think it's something that would do wonders in other forms of racing.

On a completely different note

The ferrari's look fantastic in race trim. The make me drool.

Overnight, one of the camera men volunteered to stayed on and took control of the roof top camera. Even though he was alone, he did a great job of following the leaders and picking out the battles that were going on. Apparently, online there were praises for his work. The Radio Lemans announcers said he should get a Emmey for the work he performed.

I heard that and the little interview with him a little bit ago the the radio cast. I did check in and watched some of the roof top cam before i went to bed. I looks like he did a hell of a job.

18 Hours into the Race:
#70 Speedsource is in 7th (4 Laps behind the GT Leader)
#40 Dempsey Racing is in 15th
#42 Team Sahlen is in 16th
#41 Dempsey Racing is in 29th
#36 Yellow Dragon Motorsports is in 35th.
#43 Team Sahlen is in 44th (and out of the race after 21 laps)

Overnight, one of the camera men volunteered to stayed on and took control of the roof top camera. Even though he was alone, he did a great job of following the leaders and picking out the battles that were going on. Apparently, online there were praises for his work. The Radio Lemans announcers said he should get a Emmey for the work he performed.
morning.
He was doing a good job, and the radio lemans guys were totally in sync. I watched until about 5 ish last night.

Man this is frustrating, especially now that I know what I do about the rulz .. aka the previous post by Al, Fuz and RIWWP

None of the other GT car are even close to being in the same class as those Porsche GT3's

It's still the best racing available on TV in my opinion. If they televised the ST/GS class races live, it would be even better. When they do bother to televise them, it's like 1-3 weeks later.

Those races are typically >60 cars, slower speeds and much wider mix of cars. ST class is by far the most diverse class of the 4 Grand-Am classes and is also the closest to OEM showroom cars (add safety items, some development areas allowed, but otherwise nearly stock).

agreed. There is an "all or nothing" mentality to it, especially in the shorter sprint races.

ST is usually a complete riot to watch. :)

I don't remember the 24hrs of Lemans doing a track cleaning... :suspect:

It's still the best racing available on TV in my opinion. If they televised the ST/GS class races live, it would be even better. When they do bother to televise them, it's like 1-3 weeks later.

Those races are typically >60 cars, slower speeds and much wider mix of cars. ST class is by far the most diverse class of the 4 Grand-Am classes and is also the closest to OEM showroom cars (add safety items, some development areas allowed, but otherwise nearly stock).

I didn't to imply I wasn't enjoying the race or the coverage.
I just hate those damn GT3's!!!!

<glares an evil eye towards the GT3's cars, grrrrrrrrr:cussing: )

:lol: I feel ya wcs.

Hmm, 6 round B-spec Grand-Am class.... sounds quite nice :)

Guessing 2s, Fits, etc...

Where's our 20 hour update, Al? :)

meh, A class of small fwd cars would just make me sad. :dunno:

Cars pulling 2:30's or slower at Daytona would be boring as hell to watch imho.

bomarito is putting in some pretty good lap times right now and looks to be closing in on the 6th place car. :bigok:

Looks like he's back in 8th

yeah :(

Rules as they are, are only a small part of what makes them easy to win with. Porsche supplies qualified teams with factory drivers, engines are overnighted, and it's treated almost as a factory effort even if they are "customer" cars and basically privateers. Porsche has an amazing racing and support program. Some of the team owner are whiney little bitches sometimes though. :lol:
reading back....
fuz, let's not forget that Mazda has their Mazda speed training ladder program, they send a fully stocked Mazdaspeed trailer full of parts to each race, and have their own "races". Many of the drivers that I have met, ie:Patron Ferrarri, Corvette, the drivers have been fully trained by Mazda the whole way but chose to race for another team because their chances of winning are better. Like racing with one of the baggillion porches that are out there. Their is a reason for all the porshes, the advantage, like you guys have said, probably won't be "evened out" because so much funding to G-A comes from them. Mazda keeps it within Mazda. just my 2c.
I love 911's but f-n hate seing a sea of them and just a couple fords/chevy/mazda's out there.

It does bring me great joy to see that the best (and only?) Mustang only made it 256 laps though :lol:

bomarito back up to 7th in gt class

holzer with alex job racing went from 8th to 6th then fell back to 8th

edit: I spoke too soon...

yep, and over 20 seconds behind #7 :\

Inside the last 2 hours. Now the craziness starts.

Interesting race for a few reasons, but relatively uneventful, which isn't common.

I have 2 predictions. First, the Porches will receive a competition adjustment. Second, for the rest of the season, Speedsource will have 2 cars in competition. For this race, they had 4 drivers. These will be split into two teams. The #70 car and the former #69 car. The numbers #68 & 69 are taken, so they will use #71.

I agree with al's prediction for the season.

Great effort by all of the mazda teams. At least one car from each team was consistant and ran well. The p cars were just way faster.

The race overall was probably the cleanest i've seen in quite a while. Very few cautions and no one really taking others out of the race. The ford powered DP cars were amazingly fast. Should be a good season in DP this year with the 01 car having some real competition.

I have to give props to the ferrari GT teams. Even though only one car was really in the hunt for a win, they made a great showing with a new car in the class. They will definitely be some serious competition throughout the season.

I disagree with you slightly. There was a lot of cautions, however half were caused by the Audi's. If it wasn't for the R8's, it would have been a much better race.

I find myself rooting for the R8s this year. Their clutch issues are probably going to be resolved (since apparently it is a clutch system from the OEM AWD drivetrain and not optimized for the RWD race car) by the next race in a few months. Even if it isn't they shouldn't have the issues in a 2:30hr to 2:45hr race that they were seeing in the 24hr.

I find myself thinking "it's about time!" regarding their entry into Grand-Am.

The over-night commentator's discussion about the Nissan / GT-Academy / Playstation team is probably right too. They figured that Nissan will have a car in Grand-Am by the end of the year.


Bring on the diversity :icon_tup:



(And the next rotary plz. Before the 8s can't run any more)

I have 2 predictions. First, the Porches will receive a competition adjustment. Second, for the rest of the season, Speedsource will have 2 cars in competition. For this race, they had 4 drivers. These will be split into two teams. The #70 car and the former #69 car. The numbers #68 & 69 are taken, so they will use #71.

I'll have to respectfully disagree. The 69 was sponsored by its 'gentleman driver', Emil Assentato and the company he owns, FDDX. Castrol is a secondary sponsor now for the 70, it'll be damned hard to find a primary sponsor for this mythical 71 with the state of the economy. Look at the unsponsored DPs that were circulating during the 24, Spirit of Daytona #90 is out of pocket from the owner, and the Action Express cars were virtually "white bodies".

My hat is off to Joe Sahlen. Running three cars in the 24, regardless if two were effectively "start and parks", that takes a lot of hot dogs to subsidize. I was rooting for the 42 all night long, it had better pace than even the Speedsource car. That is one magical chassis underneath the 42's skin (was the 2009/2010 Speedsource 70 that won the 24).

I disagree with you slightly. There was a lot of cautions, however half were caused by the Audi's. If it wasn't for the R8's, it would have been a much better race.

You're being kind. Half of the cautions were caused by *A* R8, the Oryx #74! :Freak_ani

First off the #71 is not available and there will not be a 2nd car in the SpeedSource stable, as Sahlen will run all three cars at some point doing the season. The biggest issue that the Mazda's had was our lap times, compared to the Porsche's. With all of the competition adjustments made to the RX8's after 2010, it did not even the playing field out, it put us behind our competition. I know for a fact that the higher ups at Mazdaspeed were "embarrassed" being on the world stage with such a lackluster performance. The #70 cars had perfect pit stops, even better than in the years that they won the race and could not do better than 6th place and the #40 car had to battle to get 10th and the #42 car to finish 12th, all of those cars are top three cars!

Porsche got to use the 3.8L motor and get larger rear tires, Camaro dropped 150 pounds, we lost RPM's and weight was added to the RX-8. Time to go back to the status quo, eliminate the added weight and get the RPMS back to 9,000 to be fair, or us being competitive again!