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Post by charleselan on Jun 16, 2021 13:28:33 GMT
Should be a fantastic race weekend from this fabulous circuit, really looking forward to this.
Is that a SlotMods designed and built track René?
I saw this little film last night of Kevin and Romain meeting up at Detroit, so good to see them both so happy and enjoying their racing once more. Kevin so enthused about joining his dad at Le Mans in the Danish entered car. Great lads both and a credit to the sport.
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Post by Carl on Jun 16, 2021 17:55:34 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.
I should have made clear that this confusion would come from the very strange far-right, which sees socialism as a constant diabolical threat. Many would focus on the lack of commercial advertising and call that socialism. More and more, these astounding imbeciles deliberately conflate democracy and socialism as they move compliantly toward authoritarian government. At stake is democracy and the battle is ongoing... Commercial interruptions average 4-5 minutes (any longer and they'd lose audience) and NBCSports has a muted live picture on the top-right 20% of the screen during the break, allowing them to reassure the audience it won't miss anything, but it's like trying to pay attention in a classroom suddenly invaded by boisterous clowns. In other words, a pretense and a bad joke. I keep one eye on the 20% at the top right as I fast-forward and rejoin when the race resumes. Some commercial interruptions I've encountered in the past were so long that audiences are briefly reminded halfway what program they're watching to ensure no-one wanders away. I tape every program in advance and so almost never watch commercials unless I'm in the mood for clowns. |
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Post by Carl on Jun 16, 2021 18:17:04 GMT
Should be a fantastic race weekend from this fabulous circuit, really looking forward to this. Is that a SlotMods designed and built track René? I saw this little film last night of Kevin and Romain meeting up at Detroit, so good to see them both so happy and enjoying their racing once more. Kevin so enthused about joining his dad at Le Mans in the Danish entered car. Great lads both and a credit to the sport. Very cool to see their obvious friendship and how happy they are being able to win races after always being near the back in F1. Both see Formula One as faster (of course) but also easier to drive, and Indycar and IMSA prototypes as more challenging, all the more reason for Formula One to restore to drivers the balance of control. |
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Post by Carl on Jun 16, 2021 19:41:54 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.
 That is an awesome recreation of Road America, every corner accounted for, but where are the bratwurst stands? |
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Post by charleselan on Jun 17, 2021 8:28:07 GMT
It has just been announced that Kevin Magnussen will stand in for Felix this weekend. Wonderful news even if it will be a real challenge for him never having driven an Indycar before let alone driven at Road America, but he is man enough for the task.
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Post by René on Jun 17, 2021 10:30:23 GMT
Should be a fantastic race weekend from this fabulous circuit, really looking forward to this. Is that a SlotMods designed and built track René? Yes it is, by SlotMods. I am sure you can buy a nice luxury sedan for what this has cost but that will not have been a problem for Bobby obviously.  |
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Post by René on Jun 17, 2021 10:32:04 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. That is an awesome recreation of Road America, every corner accounted for, but where are the bratwurst stands? And Siebkens Resort... |
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Post by René on Jun 17, 2021 10:33:43 GMT
It has just been announced that Kevin Magnussen will stand in for Felix this weekend. Wonderful news even if it will be a real challenge for him never having driven an Indycar before let alone driven at Road America, but he is man enough for the task. Yes wonderful news.  Even more to look forward to this sunday. Go K-Mag! |
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Post by René on Jun 17, 2021 11:38:00 GMT
I should have made clear that this confusion would come from the very strange far-right, which sees socialism as a constant diabolical threat. It was entirely clear that wasn't your opinion Carl. But it's sometimes amusing to see, looking through European eyes, how conservative America labels certain concepts as socialism or communism as we would probably just call it social or responsible or obvious. It's also a culture thing I think. |
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Post by René on Jun 20, 2021 10:39:37 GMT
Pole position for Josef Newgarden! Josef is always strong at this track (his favourite) but this time also very clever with his tyre choice. He will be hard to beat I believe but it won’t be easy with Colton Herta joining him on the front row and Harvey and Power on the second row. Romain Grosjean starts from 7th and Kevin Magnussen had a decent qualy starting from p21 in his Arrow McLaren SP. This is going to be good.  |
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Post by Carl on Jun 21, 2021 0:39:41 GMT
Pole position for Josef Newgarden! Josef is always strong at this track (his favourite) but this time also very clever with his tyre choice. He will be hard to beat I believe but it won’t be easy with Colton Herta joining him on the front row and Harvey and Power on the second row. Romain Grosjean starts from 7th and Kevin Magnussen had a decent qualy starting from p21 in his Arrow McLaren SP. This is going to be good. Newgarden had certain victory taken away due to mechanical failure with two laps remaining, ceding victory to the remarkable Alex Palou The top 5: 1. Alex Palou 2. Colton Herta 3. Will Power 4. Scott Dixon 5. Romain Grosjean Romain Grosjean's outside pass of Alexander Rossi in Turn 1 was stunning! Listen to veteran race engineer Olivier Boisson's response at the one minute mark.
And there was Deliverance!!
Another miracle was the reassignment of Leigh Diffey to Olympic Time Trials coverage. He and his histrionics were replaced by veteran motorsport announcer Kevin Lee with informative commentary. Hallelujah! |
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Post by chrisb on Jun 21, 2021 9:35:01 GMT
I haven't seen the race as yet and will watch it shortly but saw the qualifying and what a circuit!! I forget just how wonderful some circuits are - especially when I see the turgid things masquerading as GP circuits, I was over the moon with Jack's qualifying but see from Carl's post he wasn't in the top 5, isn't it great that there are so many new or young names doing so well
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Post by charleselan on Jun 21, 2021 12:13:58 GMT
One cannot but feel for Josef, the race was his, as was the last one but something is not right at Penske at present. These are the sort of things that happened in motor racing in the past, how many times have we seen a driver dominate a race and then mechanical issues happen and the victory gone.
Excellent drive by Palou again but I feel that strategy played its part throughout which cost many a better place, like Jack Harvey who was driving very well but had to see places disappear as he cruised along on fumes.
I am convinced that a slow stop lost Romain several places after a superb drive, and as Carl comments above that overtake around the outside of Rossi was one for the memory banks.
Although it was down to strategy it was great to see Kevin lead for a while. I doubt many drivers would have taken that drive without having ever sat in an Indycar or seen this amazing circuit before, says a huge amount about the guy.
I must also add that the camera positioning was absolutely outstanding the best i have seen from any motor race meeting in years, they really captured the undulations and majesty of this amazing track and made one feel as if you were actually there. I too noticed the absence of Leigh Diffy and the commentary was better for it.
I watched from a stream of the NBCsN or whatever they call it and if I had to subscribe to that I would tell them where to stick their service, the adverts are an absolute disgrace and on every occasion major events in the race were missed thanks to this disgusting intrusion.
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Post by René on Jun 21, 2021 16:30:01 GMT
Oh man what did Josef do to unsettle the Gods? That was so unbelievably unlucky. He had it in the bag, fastest man all weekend and then losing it like this. I really hoped, as with Max in Baku, that he could make up for that lost win in Detroit. But well, that is how it goes. Good drive from Palou anyway. He is kind of a revelation to me I have to say. Didn’t realize before this season he was that good. But nice to see all these new guys winning. Romain was fantastic, what a car control! You can see he is loving this and I won’t be surprised if he becomes a regular race winner and championship contender the coming years. Great to see Kevin leading the race! That was cool. |
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Post by Carl on Jun 21, 2021 17:18:38 GMT
John and René, I wonder if Roger Penske, now the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the entire series, can no longer devote the same attention to his IndyCar team. The uncharacteristic problems at Team Penske began soon after the expansion of demands taken on by the very best team leader. After watching both races in the same afternoon, the quality of NBC's camera angles and positions is dramatically better than Formula One's, I imagine a reflection of each network's willingness to spend money. There definitely is strategic interference in IndyCar, with drivers sometimes reducing speed to save fuel, and also, as in Formula One, too much emphasis on the when and what of tyre selection. Because the patriarch of all other events runs 500 miles at Indianapolis, the importance of pitstops is generally accepted, but the often unexplained reductions of speed are not racing. Computer analysis takes control away from the drivers in both series. One tyre compound and one pitstop for fresh tyres (and fuel at Indycar road courses) would improve things.
Cheers, Carl
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Pay-tv is very capitalism if you ask me! 
Even more to look forward to this sunday. Go K-Mag!
