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Post by René on Aug 5, 2021 17:25:04 GMT
Nashville - Big Machine Music City Grand PrixThanks Carl. This should be very interesting indeed. A first time visit to the streets of Nashville so a completely new circuit to all the teams. No previous data, no testing, nothing.
The only one who knows the streets of Nashville is Josef Newgarden as he is a Nashville Tennesee homeboy.  Josef won the last race before the summer break and will surely want to star before his home crowd. The championship battle between Palou, O'Ward, Dixon and Newgarden will only intensify! Looking forward to this one! 
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Post by Carl on Aug 8, 2021 5:30:59 GMT
STARTING LINEUP FOR THE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX IN NASHVILLE
ROW 1
1. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 01:13.6835 (102.601)
2. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 01:14.2327 (101.842)
ROW 2
3. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 01:14.6316 (101.298)
4. (27) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 01:14.6646 (101.253)
ROW 3
5. (7) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 01:15.0045 (100.794)
6. (51) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 01:15.3980 (100.268)
ROW 4
7. (60) Jack Harvey, Honda, 01:15.1309 (100.624)
8. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 01:15.1354 (100.618)
ROW 5
9. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 01:15.1914 (100.543)
10. (29) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 01:15.3255 (100.364)
ROW 6
11. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:15.5016 (100.130)
12. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 01:15.5062 (100.124)
ROW 7
13. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:16.1097 (99.330)
14. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 01:15.4984 (100.135)
ROW 8
15. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 01:16.3479 (99.020)
16. (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 01:15.6055 (99.993)
ROW 9
17. (45) Santino Ferrucci, Honda, 01:16.4647 (98.869)
18. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 01:15.6379 (99.950)
ROW 10
19. (4) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 01:17.1516 (97.989)
20. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 01:15.6685 (99.909)
ROW 11
21. (59) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 01:17.5553 (97.479)
22. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 01:15.7029 (99.864)
ROW 12
23. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 01:18.1899 (96.688)
24. (30) Takuma Sato, Honda, 01:15.8503 (99.670)
ROW 13
25. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, no time, no speed
26. (18) Ed Jones, Honda, 01:15.8770 (99.635)
ROW 14
27. (52) Cody Ware, Honda, 01:18.0928 (96.808)
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Post by René on Aug 8, 2021 14:43:18 GMT
Thanks Carl. This could be a crazy race. Watched qualy yesterday which was quite spectacular. The track is a bit like Baku although a very different background but the combination of a very long straight and super twisty and very narrow (!) parts makes it a bit similar. Colton Herta was flying again. He's not always consistant but when he's on it he's really on it. Disappointing for Newgarden to miss out on the fast 6 with that crash. A season of ups and downs for him. Romain in 6th!
This is gonna be good!
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Post by charleselan on Aug 8, 2021 16:39:24 GMT
It was a good qualifying session with young Mr Herta being outstanding throughout. A very interesting use of the streets in Nashville and certainly a challenging place for many varied reasons. The walls were unforgiving to those who pushed too hard or made a mistake.
It is interesting to note that there always seems to be a fluctuation in driver performance in this series which I would put down more to car set up than a driver having a bad day or being inconsistent. It is often like this with heavily prescribed restrictions or one make series where one particular team can nail the set up for a given circuit and then the next race be seen to struggle.
Shame the race starts so late in Central European time (00.30 hrs Monday morning), but will try to stay awake.
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Post by Carl on Aug 8, 2021 17:37:38 GMT
It was a good qualifying session with young Mr Herta being outstanding throughout. A very interesting use of the streets in Nashville and certainly a challenging place for many varied reasons. The walls were unforgiving to those who pushed too hard or made a mistake. It is interesting to note that there always seems to be a fluctuation in driver performance in this series which I would put down more to car set up than a driver having a bad day or being inconsistent. It is often like this with heavily prescribed restrictions or one make series where one particular team can nail the set up for a given circuit and then the next race be seen to struggle. Shame the race starts so late in Central European time (00.30 hrs Monday morning), but will try to stay awake. John, Time zones and broadcast schedules seldom merge smoothly. If the available broadcast is live, starting time should be 22.30, but it may be delayed 2 hours for the network's convenience and to aggravate viewers. Can you record the race for later viewing?
-Carl
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Post by charleselan on Aug 8, 2021 18:02:46 GMT
It was a good qualifying session with young Mr Herta being outstanding throughout. A very interesting use of the streets in Nashville and certainly a challenging place for many varied reasons. The walls were unforgiving to those who pushed too hard or made a mistake. It is interesting to note that there always seems to be a fluctuation in driver performance in this series which I would put down more to car set up than a driver having a bad day or being inconsistent. It is often like this with heavily prescribed restrictions or one make series where one particular team can nail the set up for a given circuit and then the next race be seen to struggle. Shame the race starts so late in Central European time (00.30 hrs Monday morning), but will try to stay awake. John, Time zones and broadcast schedules seldom merge smoothly. If the available broadcast is live, starting time should be 22.30, but it may be delayed 2 hours for the network's convenience and to aggravate viewers. Can you record the race for later viewing?
-Carl
Carl, I had originally been going on the times posted by motorsport.com but have now seen that the UK S*YF1 coverage begins at UK time 10.30pm which means that in CET 11.30 as we are one hour ahead of the UK. This is slightly better so fingers crossed. Unfortunately I cannot record the transmission as it will be coming from on elf the internets "free streaming" channels. By the way I hope you are safe from the Californian fires that are happening right now, I know you were in the past so good if the same now. Cheers John |
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Post by Carl on Aug 8, 2021 18:57:18 GMT
John, Time zones and broadcast schedules seldom merge smoothly. If the available broadcast is live, starting time should be 22.30, but it may be delayed 2 hours for the network's convenience and to aggravate viewers. Can you record the race for later viewing?
-Carl
Carl, I had originally been going on the times posted by motorsport.com but have now seen that the UK S*YF1 coverage begins at UK time 10.30pm which means that in CET 11.30 as we are one hour ahead of the UK. This is slightly better so fingers crossed. Unfortunately I cannot record the transmission as it will be coming from on elf the internets "free streaming" channels. By the way I hope you are safe from the Californian fires that are happening right now, I know you were in the past so good if the same now. Cheers John Many thanks John, The massive "Dixie" fire is about 450 miles north of Santa Maria, the conflagration so total that smoke has been slowly approaching on northerly winds, but so far hasn't reached here. Other areas to the east have been impacted, Salt Lake City in particular. I thank goodness and right-wing assurances that climate change is a hoax.
With hopeful good cheer, Carl Salt Lake City in recent days  |
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Post by Carl on Aug 9, 2021 5:41:15 GMT
A most peculiar race with half of the first 60 laps under a yellow flag. It was chaotic with Will Power returning to silliness at 11/10ths on the dial and eventual winner Marcus Ericsson going airborne to pass Sebastien Bourdais. As René pointed out, the track resembles Baku, very narrow and tight with very long straights over the Cumberland River, and like Formula One in Baku, Indycar in Nashville was spectacular. Colton Herta was the class of the field and fastest all weekend, and his disappointment was palpable when he hit the wall hard while closing on Ericsson near the end. I wondered whether his father's radio encouragement may have spurred Colton to push a little harder in pursuit. A shame after such dominance, but a well-deserved win for Ericsson, who faced his own great pressure as the pursued. "Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed
Most peculiar, mama" -John Lennon
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Post by charleselan on Aug 9, 2021 15:13:38 GMT
Good to hear that you are safe Carl, even if the ominous clouds of smoke are ever present in the far off distance, may they stay that way. The climate crisis is now very serious indeed, but world politicians and the filthy rich big business' do not wish to acknowledge this as it gets in the way of their avarice.
I watched the first 45 laps of this "race" but by the time it got to 01.15 hours Central European Time I'd had enough of Fred Karno Army which highlighted the rank stupidity of many city road courses. With cars clattering off the walls either by sheer incompetence of the driver or the misplaced ambition of another competitor that was enough for me.
I am pleased for Marcus Ericsson that he won but am astonished that he was able to continue after that attempt at flying over Seb Bourdais car. The star was undoubtedly young Colton Herta who was outstanding but due to the stupidity of the place and many of his rivals he ended up hitting the wall in absolute frustration, he should have won by a complete lap in a sensibly run race meeting.
Street racing in towns was fine in the early days of motor racing up until about 1960, but since then it is a joke and only being done to line the pockets of those who promote the event. Not impressed sadly.
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Post by René on Aug 10, 2021 11:26:08 GMT
Yes that was indeed a very strange event. And I agree with JC that it was way too chaotic to be called a good race.
Nice for Marcus to have another win but quite unbelievable that he could actually continue after that silly get-together with Bourdais. The man of the match was with no doubt Colton Herta, on another level than everyone else, but he shouldn't have binned it so close to the finish! That was also a bit silly if you ask me.
But it was chaotic and besides some very good drives I also saw a lot of bad drives! Will Power had some serious brain fade moments again!
Scott Dixon made some strong comments about that after the race:
"I think there were some regulars making mistakes and hitting people," said Dixon. "Maybe that needs to be looked at. All the penalties need to be stronger when you cause accidents like that."
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Post by Carl on Aug 10, 2021 17:14:18 GMT
I never thought the race was good, only spectacular. The extended cautions were boring and would have been intolerable if Leigh Diffey had not been on a plane, no doubt driving the person in the next seat to distraction.
Josef Newgarden is rumored to have crashed during qualifying because he thought he saw Dolly Parton blowing a kiss from a luxury hotel balcony, an understandable distraction.  These rolling start crashes are inherently dangerous when the field bunches up and those behind close the gap at greater speed, which is why Sebastien Bourdais had to slow momentarily. The massive crash earlier this year at Texas Motor Speedway was caused by the same domino effect at the start of the race. It's not in the DNA of drivers to anticipate having to slow at a restart. Formula One drivers play the same game when leading a safety car restart by going very slow until sudden full throttle hopefully catches the following cars off guard, but F1 drivers seem to handle it better.
My father was born and raised on Timmons Street in Nashville, unfortunately not part of the circuit and I doubt he'd recognize Nashville today. My attention was drawn at times to the railroad tracks which ran beneath the bridge, no doubt leading to the very large main station over which my grandfather presided as Yardmaster. I have the pocket watch he used to confirm trains were on schedule. Also interesting was the color of the Cumberland River, typically brown as most are down south where both the Missouri and Mississippi River are nicknamed "the big muddy".
Nashville's Union Station 1950s 
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Post by René on Aug 10, 2021 22:34:40 GMT
Spectacular it was at times, Carl. They should probably make some changes to the track next year if that is possible… and tell Power to stay home… So your family is from Nashville, the music city.  |
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Post by Carl on Aug 11, 2021 3:50:09 GMT
Spectacular it was at times, Carl. They should probably make some changes to the track next year if that is possible… and tell Power to stay home… So your family is from Nashville, the music city. Also spectacular is Dolly Parton, whose songwriting and singing rival her spectacular beauty. 
My father's family are from Nashville, René, but my other grandfather had a dairy farm in Illinois, 400 miles from Nashville, which may be why I never met Dolly Parton and sound like a cow when I sing. |
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Post by charleselan on Aug 11, 2021 10:37:13 GMT
Nashville Cats, play clean as country water
Nashville Cats, play wild as mountain dew
Nashville Cats, been playin' since they's babies
Nashville Cats, get work before they're two
Thanks to John Sebastian of The Loving' Spoonful
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Post by René on Aug 12, 2021 11:55:32 GMT
Grand Prix of Indianapolis - Race 2After the chaos in Nashville we’re back at a regular race track; the Indianapolis road course. Race 1 earlier this year in May was very entertaining with Rinus Veekay as a first time winner. Romain Grosjean started from pole and finished second and Alex Palou was third. Hopefully next sunday’s race will be just as good!
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Josef won the last race before the summer break and will surely want to star before his home crowd.
