Motorsports (non-NASCAR)

Postby **tifosi77** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 3:00 pm

I used to be a defender of pay drivers (Niki Lauda! Michael Schumacher!), but it really does seem to be a different kettle of fish the last few years. It's like teams don't even have internal commercial directors seeking their own sponsorships; just mandate a driver bring $10m with him.

Postby **tifosi77** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 5:55 pm

Fernando Alonso has been given a 55-place grid penalty for tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix. Hs McLaren teammate, Jenson Button, has similarly been hit with a 50-place grid penalty.

I'm not 100%c certain, but I think the combined 105-spot penalties might be a record.

Postby **dodint** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 6:07 pm

Did you see Button's interview after qualifying? That boy is deflated. He basically said he's looking forward to taking it to Manor tomorrow, heh.

Postby **tifosi77** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 7:56 pm

McLaren has been my least favorite team pretty much my whole life. But even for me this is really hard to watch.

Postby **MR25** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 12:51 am

What were the penalties for?

Postby **dodint** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 1:13 am

Using too many power units.

Speaking of:

Have a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ-Kj5MDQdw

Sounds great, eh?

Normally I would spoiler that, but Ferrari giving Kimi a car that can't finish a session is to be expected at this point.

Kimi's radio call? "Something Broke."

Postby **dodint** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 9:12 pm

Haha, karma caught up with Rahal. The universe is in balance now.

Postby **MR25** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 9:17 pm

Anyone see the Justin Wilson accident?

Scary stuff.

Postby **dodint** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 10:12 pm

Anyone see the Justin Wilson accident?

Scary stuff.

Wow. Kind of a cross between Massa and Pryce. Hope he recovers, still in a coma.

Postby **tifosi77** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:21 pm

Oh my god.......

The piece of debris was knocked 50 feet into the air after hitting JW.

He's one of the truly nice people in racing; such an accident would be horrible regardless of the victim, but there's some added heft when it's one of the good guys.

Postby **dodint** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:23 pm

I feel pretty sick about it, honestly. Usually I can just cover it with "I'm sure he'll pull through!" But the nose cone was enough trauma as it was, and then he careened into that wall completely helpless. I want him to pull through, but it feels like a bit of a distant chance. I don't know, hopefully it looked worse than it was.

Postby **Shyster** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:08 pm

A news update on the radio just announced that Justin Wilson has succumbed to his injures. RIP.

Postby **dodint** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 10:45 pm

Class guy at the end of a fulfilling career. RIP.

Postby **tifosi77** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:06 am

Goddamnit

Postby **CBear3** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 10:03 am

What tif said. A great man who's career was successful, even if all the way to his last moments it seemed he was always in the right place at the wrong time.

Postby **tifosi77** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 10:26 am

There have been perhaps two dozen fatal or near-fatal accidents in upper echelon motor racing since I've been following the sport (~1980). For some reason, this one is hitting much harder than any other. It's sorta like when Robin Williams died last year; you didn't realize how highly you regarded the person until they were gone.

Postby **dodint** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 10:48 am

Yeah, not to take anything away from Jules, Dan, or Allan Simonsen, but this does sting a bit more than you'd have guessed. Maybe because he was in this twilight tour, I don't know. The proverbial cop on his last day on the force kind of thing.

Postby **tifosi77** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:54 pm

And cue the inevitable calls for closed cockpits..............

Postby **CBear3** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:26 pm

Yeah, not to take anything away from Jules, Dan, or Allan Simonsen, but this does sting a bit more than you'd have guessed. Maybe because he was in this twilight tour, I don't know. The proverbial cop on his last day on the force kind of thing.

For me it's the way he died. that's not how a racing incident goes in my mind. He didn't die from being in a crash like they did, the best way to put it is his he died from bad luck.

On closed cockpits, I don't have a problem with it, one way or the other. It'd save the deaths injuries of Wilson/Massa/DaMatta/Hinchcliffe (last year) but it would do nothing for Dan or Jules. Those impacts were simply too violent. And at this point all these discussions have been more along the fighter jet canopy, is that really going to translate all the way down to lower formula and would have saved Surtees? Is formula ford (honda) really going to use them as well? So you're going to train in an open cockpit more dangerous vehicle and then transition to a closed one?

Postby **dodint** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:31 pm

Source of the post So you're going to train in an open cockpit more dangerous vehicle and then transition to a closed one?

I agree with what your saying, but would note that the F2000/Star Mazda level of open wheel is leaps and bounds from Indy on an oval or F1 in terms of speed and capability. I think you could still feed fighter cockpit series' with open cockpit feeders without being hypocritical. I don't know where the cutoff would be, though. Indy Lights and GP2 as the first level cockpit?

I don't have a real opinion on canopies, but I know that I don't give a crap whether an LMP is open or closed, makes zero difference to me. I don't think open wheel would be any different.

Postby **tifosi77** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:52 pm

Open wheel cars are, by their very nature, much smaller than a sports racing prototype or GT car. I don't see how they could put a closed cockpit on an F1 or Indy car without scaling the whole vehicle up. And when you do that, you start degrading what the formula is supposed to be. I don't know that a re-imagining of the core spirit of an entire category of racing is a necessary response to freak accidents.

Postby **dodint** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:03 pm

I would't be thrilled to be in a canopy car when it turns over. But as a motorcyclist I probably have a skewed perception of what is safe, but I'd feel quite trapped if all I see through the canopy is tarmac.

Postby **the errey i breathe** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:04 pm

I think it's more the style of Indy racing, all of the cars are usually pretty close together at top speeds on an oval with a wall just a couple feet away. I think I like the idea of closed cockpits better for that style rather than F1 which seems to emphasize handling over reaching 200mph for extended periods of time, not to mention oftentimes having a fair distance before a softer wall. These are just my observations as a very casual race observer so by no means do they hold any weight.

Postby **tifosi77** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:14 pm

The current chassis formula in Indy Car doesn't help things, from the pack racing perspective. Plus, Pocono is a big oval; pack accidents are a little less common than on the 1.5 milers. (Altho, how many of those are even left?)

Postby **tifosi77** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 6:48 pm

Hinch just posted on Facebook that shirts and stickers will be available at Sonoma this weekend, and off of shop.indycar.com

100% of proceeds will go to JWs kids.