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Post by René on May 31, 2021 13:31:55 GMT
Yes that was a good race, I enjoyed it a lot.  Rinus Veekay looked very strong in the beginning when he was leading or in the leading group. The first few pitstops also went well but then he was hindered by Hunter-Reay in the pitlane and from then on he fell back. But he's still young. He's obviously fast on the ovals so his day will come.
The last stint and battle between Palou and Castroneves was great. In the end the 'old' guy won and well deserved but Alex drove like a veteran, great stuff. Palou, O'Ward, Herta, Veekay, they're all so exciting to watch. Like in F1, the new crop of drivers is exceptionally good. Great for the sport! 
Hélio climbed the fence again, maybe a bit silly but I agree with Rob that it was genuine joy and passion (and still a lot better than the 'shoey'....  ).
It was a strange contrast to see the massive crowds in the grandstands and (most) people in the pits and paddock still wearing masks. I may hope a negative test proof was mandatory to be allowed in...
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Post by Carl on May 31, 2021 17:29:22 GMT
I do not believe that I have ever sat through a full Indy 500 until yesterday but that was an excellent race with so much to keep everyone interested. Sorry but could not stomach the full on ceremony at the beginning that as way too much for me and if truth be told demeaned the event, but such is our different cultures. As Carl points out in his comment I was astonished to see the huge crowd especially around the outside grandstands, one would have thought that the global pandemic had come to an end. It was also noted that the vast majority if not all had dispensed with masks and social distancing was a thing of the distant past. Seriously not a good sight! What a wonderful and well served victory for Helio Castroneves, discarded by Penske as too old and without a regular Indycar ride he proved beyond doubt that if the passion still burns then a good 46 year old is the ideal man to win a race such as Indy. A four time winner as well which contains a small and elite group of men. Helio's "parade" after he crossed the finish line was amazing to see, and the love for the guy was something special, he even got a kiss ob the head from Mario which was something akin to a blessing from the Pope. The young guys certainly made the early running and Alex Palou remained in contention to the end, being out foxed by the veteran during the last two laps. Simon Pagenaud came storming into contention in the closing stages but probably gave himself too much work to do from a lowly grid slot, great drive though. Amazing to see many of the early pace setters like Colton Herta tumble down the order. One final thing, how you chaps in the USA can tolerate all those ad breaks is beyond me especially as you pay a subscription to watch, they should pay you with the amount of ad's you are subjected to. I despise S*Y but at least they stream the entire feed from MSNBC but without the ad's which is how it should be. Just a question do the US's broadcasts of American Football and Baseball get interrupted with constant ad's? John, The opening ceremony is a relic of the past, now prolonged beyond reason. It originally served as a culmination of an entire month of practice and qualifying, but the whole point escapes me and I can't remember the last time I watched. Americans love a parade with marching bands, and this one exemplifies local and state boosters gone overboard with civic pride. Never having been on the banks of the Wabash River, the cornball sentiment of "back home again in Indiana" has no meaning. I record in advance whenever possible to allow fast-forwarding of commercial messages, which I simply will not watch. I imagine democracy has always been more an ideal than a reality, and we have a strange one with capitalism as its main ingredient. Even the idealized democracy in ancient Greece had slavery and in America, money turns all tides.
Abraham Lincoln's wonderful words in honor of the dead of Gettysburg are often quoted but seldom acted upon: "...that we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Cheers, Carl |
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Post by Carl on May 31, 2021 18:10:39 GMT
Yes that was a good race, I enjoyed it a lot. Rinus Veekay looked very strong in the beginning when he was leading or in the leading group. The first few pitstops also went well but then he was hindered by Hunter-Reay in the pitlane and from then on he fell back. But he's still young. He's obviously fast on the ovals so his day will come.
The last stint and battle between Palou and Castroneves was great. In the end the 'old' guy won and well deserved but Alex drove like a veteran, great stuff. Palou, O'Ward, Herta, Veekay, they're all so exciting to watch. Like in F1, the new crop of drivers is exceptionally good. Great for the sport!
Hélio climbed the fence again, maybe a bit silly but I agree with Rob that it was genuine joy and passion (and still a lot better than the 'shoey'.... ).
It was a strange contrast to see the massive crowds in the grandstands and (most) people in the pits and paddock still wearing masks. I may hope a negative test proof was mandatory to be allowed in...
Helio Castroneves always bounces up and down like a puppet with an overabundance of nervous energy and I've wondered for years about a nervous disorder. For whatever reasons, he cannot stay still and I have a different interpretation of his antics. Regardless, when relaxed and focused he's a superb driver and drove a perfect race today. At first, temperature checks were announced for entry and masks required, but the temperature check was eliminated and clearly the mask requirement was not widely followed or enforced. It scares me to depend on so many stupid people for the health of everyone.  |
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Post by charleselan on May 31, 2021 19:07:25 GMT
I do not believe that I have ever sat through a full Indy 500 until yesterday but that was an excellent race with so much to keep everyone interested. Sorry but could not stomach the full on ceremony at the beginning that as way too much for me and if truth be told demeaned the event, but such is our different cultures. As Carl points out in his comment I was astonished to see the huge crowd especially around the outside grandstands, one would have thought that the global pandemic had come to an end. It was also noted that the vast majority if not all had dispensed with masks and social distancing was a thing of the distant past. Seriously not a good sight! What a wonderful and well served victory for Helio Castroneves, discarded by Penske as too old and without a regular Indycar ride he proved beyond doubt that if the passion still burns then a good 46 year old is the ideal man to win a race such as Indy. A four time winner as well which contains a small and elite group of men. Helio's "parade" after he crossed the finish line was amazing to see, and the love for the guy was something special, he even got a kiss ob the head from Mario which was something akin to a blessing from the Pope. The young guys certainly made the early running and Alex Palou remained in contention to the end, being out foxed by the veteran during the last two laps. Simon Pagenaud came storming into contention in the closing stages but probably gave himself too much work to do from a lowly grid slot, great drive though. Amazing to see many of the early pace setters like Colton Herta tumble down the order. One final thing, how you chaps in the USA can tolerate all those ad breaks is beyond me especially as you pay a subscription to watch, they should pay you with the amount of ad's you are subjected to. I despise S*Y but at least they stream the entire feed from MSNBC but without the ad's which is how it should be. Just a question do the US's broadcasts of American Football and Baseball get interrupted with constant ad's? John, The opening ceremony is a relic of the past, now prolonged beyond reason. It originally served as a culmination of an entire month of practice and qualifying, but the whole point escapes me and I can't remember the last time I watched. Americans love a parade with marching bands, and this one exemplifies local and state boosters gone overboard with civic pride. Never having been on the banks of the Wabash River, the cornball sentiment of "back home again in Indiana" has no meaning. I record in advance whenever possible to allow fast-forwarding of commercial messages, which I simply will not watch. I imagine democracy has always been more an ideal than a reality, and we have a strange one with capitalism as its main ingredient. Even the idealized democracy in ancient Greece had slavery and in America, money turns all tides.
Abraham Lincoln's wonderful words in honor of the dead of Gettysburg is often quoted but seldom acted upon: "...that we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Cheers, Carl Carl, In all probability capitalism will see the end of mankind, long after I have left this mortal coil. It is the root of all evil and sadly we are all wrapped up in it, in this must have society of the western world. I think you have a sound idea in recording the events and fast forwarding when necessary, however there is no excuse for all these ad breaks in the transmission of the Indycar and other US racing series like IMSA. The joy of watching these when they are shown by European providers is profound, I even enjoy the commentary less intersections with just the cars engine noise. It was concerning seeing those huge crowded grandstands and so many not wearing masks and certainly no social distancing. I understand that the vaccine roll out in the USA has been pretty exceptional with Biden's crew in charge now but one cannot ignore the huge death toll that the country has experienced. Also the Indian variant hasn't apparently reached the shores of America as yet, or at least to the best of my knowledge. JC |
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Post by René on Jun 11, 2021 10:45:23 GMT
Detroit Grand Prix - The Raceway on Belle IsleRound 6 of the 2021 IndyCar season and what a season it is so far! Five different winners in five races and again, there is no way of predicting who is going to win this weekend. It was Colton Herta who was flying on the streets of St. Pete’s so he might be a good guess but I also expect a strong Veekay who won at the Indianapolis road course. Points leader Alex Palou received a six-place grid penalty for an 'early' engine change at the Indy 500 but I expect him to be strong anyway. And then there’s Dixon, O’Ward, Newgarden, Grosjean (!), they can all win. Bring it on!
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Post by René on Jun 12, 2021 22:33:44 GMT
That was an eventful first race at Detroit! A really frightening accident for Felix Rosenqvist where it seemed the throttle got stuck and he went straight on at full speed in the barriers. The impact was so big that a concrete segment of the barrier fell down, unbelievable. But it looks like Felix is okay, he’s awake and alert and brought to a nearby hospital for further treatment.
And again a first time winner with Marcus Ericsson. Swedish drama and Swedish success in the same race!
Heartbreak for long time leader Will Power when his car didn’t fire up to take the restart after Grosjean’s crash. Strong second for VeeKay and third for O’Ward.
Tomorrow race 2.
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Post by chrisb on Jun 13, 2021 7:52:59 GMT
I saw the brief highlights and I thoroughly enjoyed it - they really are having a good time, the accident to Felix was awful and fortunate not to be any worse than it was,
gutted for Will, that was a terrible thing to have to take - but good luck to Marcus, nice to see him win, I forget he was a winner in GP2 as well, Romain's accident was unfortunate and the class of the field after Power was certainly VeeKay and O'ward great drives,
ok the circuit is a bit concrete'y but I liked it,
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Post by charleselan on Jun 13, 2021 15:37:56 GMT
That was indeed an eventful race last evening. Felix' accident was very worrying and he was lucky to get away without too much damage, although i have not heard the extent of any injuries so far. It did not look as though enough thought had gone into the protection at that point, particularly concerning the velocity that the car went into the tyre wall.
So very sad for Will Power who drove beautifully and had the race won I feel even though Marcus was more than keeping him honest. I was delighted however that Marcus actually won his first Indycar race, he had also driven superbly and hopefully it will not be his last. He got a lot of stick by the keyboard jocks on the usual sites but it was undeserved in my opinion. Marcus may not be an absolute ace, but he is a fine race driver and isn't a mug.
Goodness knows what young Mr Herta was doing when he swerved at Jack Harvey, i would not have thought that of him but some other young guys in their early careers might have, mentioning no names of course.
The heat and humidity at that venue sounded extreme and I was amazed and angry at the attitude of the race direction in not allowing the teams to go straight to their drivers with cooling aids and drink when the race was red flagged, totally outrageous conduct when you could hear Will Power screaming for relief as he sat in his hot car and exhausted after his afternoons efforts.
Interesting to noter that on the MSNBC feed following Felix accident and the long delay the race coverage had no more advertising ruining the cation, what was going on there?
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Post by Carl on Jun 14, 2021 0:16:06 GMT
My decision to record commercial television programs in advance was reinforced by NBCSports obliteration of more than half of Race 2 at Detroit, beginning its broadcast at lap 40 after 75 minutes of French Open tennis. Leigh Diffey was astounding as he welcomed viewers without apology or explanation while applauding the excitement of tennis, sounding very much like the network shill he is. The final 25 laps after final pit stops were exciting, but there's no excuse for the network's excision of the first 40 laps. I taped Saturday's IMSA Sports Car race, also on NBCSports, the start delayed for an hour by the slow parade of expensive classic cars being sold on Mecum Auctions. Once again, the ability to fast forward avoids migraine headaches. While a delay is more acceptable than nothing at all, the IMSA race was scheduled for two hours and I suppose the last hour of the race may also have disappeared in favor of corporate profit. I'm close to not giving a damn about race presentations on NBC. Match point or McLaren F1? I'll take one of each...  There are several reasons to dislike Leigh Diffey, and his amazing pretense that 40 laps disappeared in favor of tennis was almost a favor to the motorsport audience is just one more. If he had any honor, he would have refused and resigned. Instead he's complicit in the charade when his profit-obsessed corporation falls off the carousel attempting to grab all the brass rings. |
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Post by charleselan on Jun 14, 2021 13:32:11 GMT
Fortunately I managed to find a stream that aired the S*YF1 transmission of the MSNBC original. Unlike other times I have obtained this version there was an English guy rabbiting on when the US version went to ad' breaks, I preferred just the sight and sound of the cars personally.
Like the first race of the weekend it was eventful but I am left with the feeling that the finish was contrived by the overzealous and needlessly prolonged use of a yellow after situations like safety car periodsflag pace car which actually changed the total dynamic of the race in its closing stages. I would much have preferred seeing Joseph and Corlton race it out to the finish as they had gained their places on merit and the safety car brought into play cars that would otherwise have not been factors.
The prolonged yellow safety car for Jimmy Johnson's spin was way over the top and surely should have only been a lap at most, or not at all.
There appears to be a a lot of talk of Pato O'Ward's car switching its tyres on quicker than others, something young Mr Herta mentioned after the race. It certainly gave Pato a huge advantage and illustrated that even though this is a formula with a common chassis, much is down to how a team sets up their cars.
A very physical race as well with lots of contact and pushing and shoving, some moves gained penalties while others did not which I find hard to understand.
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Post by Carl on Jun 14, 2021 17:45:51 GMT
Fortunately I managed to find a stream that aired the S*YF1 transmission of the MSNBC original. Unlike other times I have obtained this version there was an English guy rabbiting on when the US version went to ad' breaks, I preferred just the sight and sound of the cars personally. Like the first race of the weekend it was eventful but I am left with the feeling that the finish was contrived by the overzealous and needlessly prolonged use of a yellow after situations like safety car periodsflag pace car which actually changed the total dynamic of the race in its closing stages. I would much have preferred seeing Joseph and Corlton race it out to the finish as they had gained their places on merit and the safety car brought into play cars that would otherwise have not been factors. The prolonged yellow safety car for Jimmy Johnson's spin was way over the top and surely should have only been a lap at most, or not at all. There appears to be a a lot of talk of Pato O'Ward's car switching its tyres on quicker than others, something young Mr Herta mentioned after the race. It certainly gave Pato a huge advantage and illustrated that even though this is a formula with a common chassis, much is down to how a team sets up their cars. A very physical race as well with lots of contact and pushing and shoving, some moves gained penalties while others did not which I find hard to understand. John, I agree, especially about the prolonged yellows appearing contrived. Has Jimmy Johnson's 7 roundy-round championships made him so revered that everything must stop when he does? It's not possible to exaggerate the massive ignorance of sports network top executives about motor racing. I wonder if the network's desire for more commercials played a role? It's maddening enough that they continue advertising for 30 seconds after returning from commercial breaks, with sponsor logos covering a large section of the screen as Leigh Diffey rhapsodizes about each. I would pay more for commercial-free programming, but that would be considered socialism in America. I was concerned about Romain Grosjean after his front brakes caught fire. He was brave to demand an extinguisher but should have known that unless he was near to a gap in the barriers, no marshall could instantly respond. Although certainly justified to worry about even relatively small fires, he should have yielded to the safety crew that was quick to arrive. The trauma of his near-death experience will take time to vanish. The accomplished professional driver Townsend Bell, who provides excellent and insightful commentary, was also uncertain about how the officials were deciding penalties. Whether the stewards are qualified but hobbled by complicated rules with subheadings, footnotes and exclusions everywhere, or instead just roll the dice, consistency would be nice. Cheers, Carl
P.S.- My pessimism about the IMSA coverage was justified. The broadcast ended with half the race remaining.  |
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Post by charleselan on Jun 14, 2021 22:27:15 GMT
Unfortunately I did not catch the IMSA race, timing issues but it was wonderful to see that Kevin Magnussen won his first race in Chip's Caddy, he seemed very happy to have been in the winning circle after all those fruitless years in no hoper F1 cars.
Shame that your viewing pleasure was ruined by a truly poor provider who obviously has no interest in motor sport what so ever. IMSA should ditch them and farm it out to a quality Free To View channel.
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Post by Carl on Jun 15, 2021 16:38:18 GMT
Unfortunately I did not catch the IMSA race, timing issues but it was wonderful to see that Kevin Magnussen won his first race in Chip's Caddy, he seemed very happy to have been in the winning circle after all those fruitless years in no hoper F1 cars. Shame that your viewing pleasure was ruined by a truly poor provider who obviously has no interest in motor sport what so ever. IMSA should ditch them and farm it out to a quality Free To View channel. IMSA and Indycar both, but they may not have the necessary leverage. It's advertising revenue that influences programming decisions and apparently tennis (a great sport I don't mean to denigrate) and the grandiose auctions popular these days deliver more of it. |
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Post by René on Jun 16, 2021 11:38:45 GMT
The second race was also a good one but I agree that the cautions were often too long and had too much influence on the outcome of the race. It wasn’t an undeserved win for O’Ward but like JC said it would have been nicer to see Josef and Colton fight it out. I was very disappointed for Newgarden as he really deserved the win. But all in all a good race weekend in Detroit. I would pay more for commercial-free programming, but that would be considered socialism in America. Socialism?! Americans are strange! Pay-tv is very capitalism if you ask me!
Anyway, I can imagine it must be frustrating to watch these races with so many commercial breaks or even skipping complete parts. I am not a fan of pay-tv but I have no other way to watch racing and at least have the comfort of having no commercial breaks at all and previews and reviews and everything is broadcasted. So I can't say it's not worth it.
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Post by René on Jun 16, 2021 11:54:57 GMT
Road America - Elkhart Lake
Circuit wise the contrast couldn’t be any bigger between this wonderful track and the ruined Paul Ricard. Always fantastic to watch a race at Road America and given how unpredictable the season is so far I have a feeling this could be a classic. No way of telling upfront who is going to win this. The unfortunate news however is that Rinus Veekay suffered a clavicle injury after a bicycle accident so he cannot race. He will be replaced by Oliver Askew but that is a big blow for Rinus who is currently fifth in the points standing in only his second season.
  
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).
