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28 May 2014, 02:45 (Ref:3411580) | #3076 | ||
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DeltaWing Racing @DeltaWingRace 51m
Big @DeltaWingTech news coming tomorrow!!! #WatchThisSpace Someone buy one!? Lemans entry!? |
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28 May 2014, 13:22 (Ref:3411802) | #3077 | |||
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28 May 2014, 13:38 (Ref:3411815) | #3078 | ||
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28 May 2014, 14:02 (Ref:3411832) | #3079 | |||
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28 May 2014, 14:05 (Ref:3411835) | #3080 | ||
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28 May 2014, 14:26 (Ref:3411841) | #3081 | ||
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28 May 2014, 14:41 (Ref:3411843) | #3082 | |
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PWC looks like a pro series to me. Cadillac, Acura, the various Porsche+Audi teams and now Dyson, it's a Pro Series where amateurs can run in it too. Isn't that what happens in IMSA too?
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28 May 2014, 16:51 (Ref:3411901) | #3083 | |
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PWC is SCCA's professional series. A lot of wealthy part-time racers drive there but it is still a pro series, with serious factory teams and high-powered pro drivers.
Even so, keeping costs down is always important, and a spec tires in now way hurts and in many ways helps the series. Much easier to BoP cars if they all run the same tire, much better to have a major sponsor ... all the stuff that has been said in this thread. Fans watch PWC because it has Lambos, McLarens. Audis, Ferraris, and Porsches, not because of the tires. As far as it goes, F1 uses a spec tire---I'd say F1 could be called a professional series. Still haven't seen ads for Pirelli's F1-inspired street tire--replace it after every trip to the grocery store. |
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28 May 2014, 17:37 (Ref:3411911) | #3084 | |
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Would it be safe to say that having Conti as the sole tire supplier is not a problem since it's done in many other Pro series? Even at Le Mans, it's becoming a race where only two manufacturers choose to compete. I see it as Falken has no plans on going anywhere but IMSA, Dunlop has no plans for the US market (yet they are the tire of choice for the LPM-2 class) and Yokohama has their own spec series to supply tires to. As of now, it looks like having Continental is not that bad for IMSA.
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29 May 2014, 12:06 (Ref:3412307) | #3085 | ||
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I think it's funny that the rendering is supposed to be how it could look as a 4 passenger car... Good luck finding 4 people that would be seen in that thing. |
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29 May 2014, 12:15 (Ref:3412319) | #3086 | |||
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29 May 2014, 13:31 (Ref:3412350) | #3087 | ||
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Also, didn't the PC cars go faster when they switched from Michelin to Continental in 2013? Both were spec tires for a spec class. Didn't the same guy in the same car at Laguna pretty much run the same lap time on a Michelin in 2013 as he did on a Continental in 2014 (the ESM car). I find it difficult to believe that Continental is a horrible tire. Maybe a Pirelli is awesome but it wouldn't really matter because the tire companies have their own series to deal with and that set of circumstances. Plus with a bit of internet searching, PWC races are 50 minutes each, not 60. They have 60 minutes of time on the track to account for lining up on the track, the pace lap, standing start and cool off lap. |
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29 May 2014, 14:40 (Ref:3412367) | #3088 | ||
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You're correct that ESM did the same time as in 2013, but they were basically 2 seconds behind the Level 5 polesitting car with identical equipment (Michelins), which in turn was 0.8s behind Level 5 on Dunlops in 2012. Remember, P2 engines in TUSC even have a little bit more power than their ACO counterparts, and now ESM have a year's worth of experience so you would expect them to be faster if not for the Continentals. |
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29 May 2014, 15:47 (Ref:3412375) | #3089 | |
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Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 160
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In the end, a spec tire is not a deal breaker for the fans. If a car goes 1 second per lap faster on a tire, does the fan really notice? Does it really matter? If PWC would open up the tire rule, I would think that someone could make a faster tire than what they run on right now. It's obvious that they won't because Pirelli writes a big check, same for Continental. I suspect the same is for NASCAR, F1, Blancpain and Indycar. It would seem that a tire company could easily make a better tire than what they use in those perspective series. With a bit of big business marketing that's I have been exposed to, a spec tire supplier would want to have a reliable tire that does not fail. That way, it looks like they make a great product. It might not be the best out there (when it comes to the ultimate lap time) but that doesn't really matter. Just work well enough for the variety of cars you need to supply tires for.
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29 May 2014, 20:38 (Ref:3412503) | #3090 | ||
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__________________
Tim "Travel makes a wise man better, and a fool worse." Thomas Fuller |
30 May 2014, 00:35 (Ref:3412561) | #3091 | ||
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30 May 2014, 01:40 (Ref:3412568) | #3092 | ||
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While it may be true that many US sportscar racing fans don't really care whether teams are allowed tire freedom, A LOT of us actually do. One of the things that I find fascinating about sports car racing, is the competition between, not just the teams and drivers, but also the different manufacturers of race cars and race car parts. As an Auto mechanic by trade, the technical side of racing is the part that appeals to me the most. Spec tires?.... JUST SAY NO!! |
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30 May 2014, 02:11 (Ref:3412571) | #3093 | ||||||
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It does not impress me that Firestone has won the last number of INDY 500s, or that Goodyear has been victorious in all NASCAR events of the last decade, or that Pirelli has dominated F1 last season. I feel much more positive towards companies such as Michelin or Falken. Quote:
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probably will prevent a return of open tires. Happily GTLM is at least still allowing free competition in the tire department so all is not lost...(yet.) |
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30 May 2014, 03:00 (Ref:3412579) | #3094 | ||
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Open tires was one of the biggest things that drew me into sports car racing back in the early 2000's.
If sports car racing is too similar to everything else, why would anyone choose it over NASCAR or Indycar? |
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30 May 2014, 07:59 (Ref:3412611) | #3095 | |||
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A premier Sportscar Series should have open tires in it's Pro divisions. Of course, GT (2,LM) has open tires, as it still represents the remnants of premier Sportscar Racing. Dunlop, Falken, Michelin have all been in the category recently, with Pirelli, Hankook as well in Europe. It gives the category greater appeal. I don't mind spec tire in the Pro-Am categories, these categories aren't really for fans, as much as they are for filling grids. At the end of the day, TUSC isn't a Premier Racing series anyway, just one that has false pretences of being one. |
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30 May 2014, 16:18 (Ref:3412761) | #3096 | |
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Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 160
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I guess it makes sense why IMSA uses a spec tire. Since it's not a premier series, they might as well go with a spec tire that's horrible (I assume it's a really bad tire since that's what I keep reading here). I'd really like to see PWC open up their tire rule because with all of the big teams running in that series, it could become the premier sportscar racing in the states. Imagine a Dunlop shod Dyson Bentley as opposed to any rock hard Continental shod GTD car.
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30 May 2014, 22:31 (Ref:3412944) | #3097 | |||
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31 May 2014, 07:11 (Ref:3413040) | #3098 | |
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31 May 2014, 13:27 (Ref:3413144) | #3099 | |
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I was wondering that. I hear no complaints that all of these other series run on spec tires but for some reason that since it happens in IMSA, it's wrong. If Michelin supplied 100% of the tires in IMSA, would that be just fine? Even LeMans has been reduced to two brands and for such an important race, you'd think that Yokohama, Falken, BFG, Bridgestone, Goodyear, Hankook, Pirelli and so on, would want to be involved. Yet they are not. For LeMans, it's Michelin for every class except for LMP2 (their competition is Dunlop). Realistically, the only tire war left on the planet is in LMP2, GTLM and local club racing.
It seems to me that it is a pie in the sky sort of thing. We want a tire war but the companies that make tires, won't participate in the war. I think that we just have to accept the fact that tire wars are going away and get on with it. |
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31 May 2014, 13:37 (Ref:3413148) | #3100 | |
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