USCC (leave your axe outside)

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

FWIW: Eversley started out as a mechanic and worked his way into the driver's seat with very little in the way of budget...

I'm aware...I meant that more in his attitude, than actual financials.

It's just embarrassing.

[extramundane]

Originally Posted by MoMedic9019

Ryan Eversley was taking it to the fans on twitter this morning...

No he wasn't. He was taking it to the 7 people still actively posting on IMSAFans, the ones who "aren't gonna watch that NASCRAP" yet still manage to know every little race detail and who blame everything on the France family while failing to acknowledge that IMSA themselves were effing it up well before the merger ever occurred.

Professionals? No....spoiled kids.

thanksobamadotgif

[Matt]

Originally Posted by extramundane

No he wasn't. He was taking it to the 7 people still actively posting on IMSAFans, the ones who "aren't gonna watch that NASCRAP" yet still manage to know every little race detail and who blame everything on the France family while failing to acknowledge that IMSA themselves were effing it up well before the merger ever occurred.



thanksobamadotgif

Couldn't have said it better.

[BullMan]

Originally Posted by MoMedic9019

Ryan Eversley was taking it to the fans on twitter this morning...good to know that poking fun at fans is part of his job as an MRN commentator..same with Jordan Taylor..

Professionals? No....spoiled kids.

I've never liked Jordan Taylor, and I've been fortunate enough to have him say the same thing to me.

[MoMedic9019]

It doesn't matter if it was 1, or 100,000. You are a professional who now works for the series. Have some respect...you are a face of the franchise, like it or hate it.

Unfortunately, someone in his position doesn't get to "call out" anyone. If Atherton, or Elkins had done that, you would probably look at it differently.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by MoMedic9019

It doesn't matter if it was 1, or 100,000. You are a professional who now works for the series. Have some respect...you are a face of the franchise, like it or hate it.

Unfortunately, someone in his position doesn't get to "call out" anyone. If Atherton, or Elkins had done that, you would probably look at it differently.

I think you're massively overstating his role in the series if I'm honest. Comparing a bit part radio colour comms guy to Atherton or Elkins has to be a joke.

Do we even know he will be at Long Beach? Not sure anything beyond Sebring got announced.

[Christian Mogami]

The Press will not go here because they are afraid to lose their passes!

The long yellows and that late yellow calls come from the Owners box.

And with calls,rule #1(it's myway or the highway)even if they are wrong,and if they are wrong,still look at rule #1

That is why everybody doesn't know anything,like there is nothing wrong.

This is Putin's(France) show!!!!!!

Just ask anybody in the NASCAR circle,how they run the show.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by extramundane

No he wasn't. He was taking it to the 7 people still actively posting on IMSAFans, the ones who "aren't gonna watch that NASCRAP" yet still manage to know every little race detail and who blame everything on the France family while failing to acknowledge that IMSA themselves were effing it up well before the merger ever occurred.



thanksobamadotgif

Actually he is referring to the Facebook group, not the website. No matter, someone who pretends to be a professional representing the series, should not be involved in being inflammatory by making fun of fans, no matter whether one agrees with them or not, or whether those opinions are well founded or not. He's upset that he came to the Facebook group, asked for feedback on MRN, and some of it wasn't flattering. This is not a person who should be in the public light, leave it to the pros such as Hindy.

[extramundane]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Actually he is referring to the Facebook group, not the website.

I referenced IMSAfans which is the FB group, no? Admittedly, my description applies equally to the FB group and the forum, though, so I can see where the confusion might lie.

Some of y'all are suffering from seriously knotty knickers for people who claim to have lost interest and to not care much any more.

[Lagunaseca_4life]

Originally Posted by Christian Mogami

The Press will not go here because they are afraid to lose their passes!

The long yellows and that late yellow calls come from the Owners box.

And with calls,rule #1(it's myway or the highway)even if they are wrong,and if they are wrong,still look at rule #1

That is why everybody doesn't know anything,like there is nothing wrong.

This is Putin's(France) show!!!!!!

Just ask anybody in the NASCAR circle,how they run the show.

man that sucks and wish it werent true.....but what would they gain from long yellows in the early stages of the race?that just doesnt make sense to me.either way they f'd up two of the three important races of the year.

[Disraeli Eers]

Did I just see someone compare Brian France to Putin?

[Matt]

Godwin's Law is imminent!

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by Simmi

I think you're massively overstating his role in the series if I'm honest. Comparing a bit part radio colour comms guy to Atherton or Elkins has to be a joke.

Do we even know he will be at Long Beach? Not sure anything beyond Sebring got announced.

I don't think it really matters. There isn't a single corporate environment(unless we are speaking about Ed Debevic's restaurant)where it's okay to openly insult your customer. You just don't do it. No matter how big, or how small of a player you are, you just don't do it.

Point is..if you or I intentionally insulted a customer in our respective business, you'd probably be shown the door.

[Christian Mogami]

Originally Posted by Matt

Godwin's Law is imminent!

First wrong country and looking at now not the past.The new thing is, now its called,'going Putin on the forums'

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by Christian Mogami

The Press will not go here because they are afraid to lose their passes!

The long yellows and that late yellow calls come from the Owners box.

And with calls,rule #1(it's myway or the highway)even if they are wrong,and if they are wrong,still look at rule #1

That is why everybody doesn't know anything,like there is nothing wrong.

This is Putin's(France) show!!!!!!

Just ask anybody in the NASCAR circle,how they run the show.

Not afraid of losing a pass I haven't got and I saw little or no sign of the same from several of my full season TUSCC colleagues who were very sharply critical of what we observed at Daytona and/ or Sebring.

The difference though between your post and my/ our criticisms is that we wrote about what we did see, do know and can prove.

Almost everything I have seen written post Sebring has been constructively critical - The test now is how IMSA actually respond.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

Not afraid of losing a pass I haven't got and I saw little or no sign of the same from several of my full season TUSCC colleagues who were very sharply critical of what we observed at Daytona and/ or Sebring.

The difference though between your post and my/ our criticisms is that we wrote about what we did see, do know and can prove.

Almost everything I have seen written post Sebring has been constructively critical - The test now is how IMSA actually respond.

If the penalty fiasco had not happened (again), do you think that you and your colleagues reaction to the race might have been different? I know we still have the problem of the cautions and the driving issues that caused them, but I am curious to know how much the misdirected penalties factored in your disappointment of the weekend.

If we are still dealing with fundamental issues next year, which I have faith that we will not, I invite you to hang out with us in Green Park. I assure you that you will not care.

Lastly, one thing I have not seen in the Sebring reaction pieces (or at least any of the writers that I follow), is the 'leader light' system failure. It never worked or was even close to working. Not even once for a lap. This stuff is confusing enough for someone that follows the series closely but for a newcomer? Forget it. If the system is not reliable, turn it off.

[FLGTFAN]

The officiating errors are a notable sideshow. The issue facing everyone is that at least half of people are completely fine with the new FCY rules, and half of the people think it is completely bogus. It's not just opinions, but rather perspectives, which no internet argument is going to change. This is the new normal.

[Maelochs]

I did see one article which mentioned leader lights, I thought---but for most writers apparently, that was so far down the list that there was no energy left to deal with it.

I would say, officiating errors aside, the issues were: SAFETY, as we saw a car burn unattended for over a minute and then get sprayed with water. Corner workers with fire bottles were at hand but not allowed to respond.

That one incident (the #33 Viper fire) would have featured prominently in every review if the #22 AJR call had not been so stupidly blown. There is no way a car should burn for over a minute before anyone gets there. Not so much for the car, but because these cars contain drivers, y'know. That was a Huge issue.

The series got lucky not to have a Huge tragedy at Sebring in the first half-hour of the race.

Well to clarify--the cars contain drivers or driver-like objects ("I'm not a race car driver, but I play one on TV.") That would have been the second or third issue raised: yes, I know Malucelli is a pro and made a bonehead move, but half the PC field made bonehead maneuvers and we were very lucky not to have another several huge tragedies at Sebring in the first six hours. Driver standards would definitely have been mentioned critically.

(Nothing against PC, but if they had not been included the race would have been at least as good and at least a third longer.)

The length of caution periods would also have gotten some attention. I understand the need for the wave-around to keep the classes together, but it seemed (as at Daytona) that there was no one whose job it was to keep track. Everything got cleaned up, then someone started calculating wave-bys, then the pits opened in shifts, then someone started calculating free laps ...

We saw this at Daytona after the Malucelli/Gidley crash. After 45 minutes to clear and clean the track, it took another 45 to figure out the running order---as if no one in race control had been doing that during the clean-up, when they obviously had nothing else to do.

I have read some stuff about how the TUSC system for tracking cars is less advanced than the old Rolex system. I don't know, but the caution periods seem to be a lot longer and the rules are the same so ... But that probably would have been fourth.

Second or third would have been that last caution. IMSA published a list of the lengths of all the yellow flags, and only the caution period for the first retirement/Keating fire was longer.

That last caution was longer (by only a few minutes) than any other in the day. However, some of those shorter cautions included cleaning up a pair of utterly exploded race cars with carbon fiber everywhere, while the last caution involved towing a car back to the pits (and could have been just down the road to the cut-out past Turn 11.)

That last caution was decisive. The #01 and the #912 had pitted early (the #01 would have needed a splash) and ended up winning. Had the caution been a little shorter, the #01 might have had to dial it back to conserve fuel.

That caution also interrupted several good battles further down in every class. Oh, well.

One has to wonder whether a better system might have been employed---even local yellows from T7 all the way to T13 just to tow the car away to the break in the wall, would have saved a lot of racing. Pits could have stayed closed, and the order could have remained the same, and the race could have had a much more exciting finish.

Even if the FCY had to called, why did it have to take longer than any other?

I don't know anyone who sincerely believes that the #90 SDR Coyote crapped out on purpose to give Scott Pruett a Sebring win in what could well be his last season ... but after Daytona, you'd think TUSC would do anything in its power to avoid even the Appearance of Impropriety. That last caution should have been the shortest, not the second-longest, of the event.

And really, the defining feature of the race was the eleven cautions—more precisely, the seven in the first six hours. The part of the race most likely to attract viewers was made into the least likely, and while there is no way to make drivers drive smart or cars not break, the eleven cautions defined the race.

I was also at the 2012 race, which also had eleven FCYs, but that was not the story of the 2012 race. The cautions were short enough that there was an actual endurance race happening out there. In 2014 there were a series of short sprints. That would surely have been a point of discussion.

Like most people I have spoken with who really watched the race, the impression I came away with was of a series of excellent sprint stages interrupted by too much down time.

So ... yes, I think writers (and much more important, fans) would have still been critical of the 2104 Sebring 12 Hours even if the series officials had not been complete idiots.

Remember, most Sebring fans have seen a lot of Sebring 12 Hours, and they know what a good one is like ... and sadly, 2014 was not a good one.

[TF110]

I hope this is a bad rumor, but sportscar 365 are reporting Viper set to withdraw from Le Mans! I posted this in the wec thread as well, but if money is tight for these guys, the huge tusc schedule could be contributing?

[TheMightyM]

Originally Posted by TF110

I hope this is a bad rumor, but sportscar 365 are reporting Viper set to withdraw from Le Mans! I posted this in the wec thread as well, but if money is tight for these guys, the huge tusc schedule could be contributing?

Money is tight for those guys because Vipers aren’t selling — and it’s gotten to the point where the production line is being shut down for a couple of months. If Viper sales don’t increase soon, well let’s just say it might not matter how long the TUSC season is…

[MoMedic9019]

The real question is...

Why the was the car not moved to the cutout just after 10 and left? Nobody has answered that. Could have been done under local yellows

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by TF110

I hope this is a bad rumor, but sportscar 365 are reporting Viper set to withdraw from Le Mans! I posted this in the wec thread as well, but if money is tight for these guys, the huge tusc schedule could be contributing?

They probably can't make it to the BOP test. I don't know how corvette will frankly.

[Dimension]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

The length of caution periods would also have gotten some attention. I understand the need for the wave-around to keep the classes together, but it seemed (as at Daytona) that there was no one whose job it was to keep track. Everything got cleaned up, then someone started calculating wave-bys, then the pits opened in shifts, then someone started calculating free laps ...

As far as I know, this is precisely whats happening. The teams each have to calculate if and when they are eligible for wave-bys, free passes etc. I imagine they do this by observing positions at the start-finish because its the only place they can get reliable data from and tell their drivers what to do accordingly. IMSAs only responsibility is punishing infractions.

JHamilton, I don't think Corvette will seriously have issues. they more than likely have a spare car and seeing how the racecar and roadcar are decently similar and how they're using the same engine from last year, which they certainly have spares off, I don't think it takes too much time to build a new GTE car if push comes to shove.

No way is corvette going to miss le mans this year, what with the favorable BoP they have so far. they are 15kg lighter than last year, have a bigger restrictor despite it being the same motor, and corvette is the only GTE car out there that for some reason runs a bigger refueling restirctor. If IMSA BoP is anything to go by with ACO BoP, they will be tough to beat. And seeing as to how the ACO even watched Corvette use illegal fuel injection in the past to win Le Mans and not doing a thing about it, I doubt Corvette will be hit with the BoP hammer too hard.

[chernaudi]

DFI was legal in GT1 even if the road car didn't have it at the time. I don't know if they did it in GT1, but AMR ran DFI on the LMP1 version of their 6.0 V12, even though the road car--and possibly the GT1 race car--didn't have it, and it also had a different bore and stroke (in the GT1 DBR9) than the road version did.

If not for radical aero, GT1 would've been almost as wide open as Super GT GT500 was.

[wdave0]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

Lastly, one thing I have not seen in the Sebring reaction pieces (or at least any of the writers that I follow), is the 'leader light' system failure. It never worked or was even close to working. Not even once for a lap. This stuff is confusing enough for someone that follows the series closely but for a newcomer? Forget it. If the system is not reliable, turn it off.

I brought this up elsewhere but was overwhelmed by other issues. It was curious that some cars practiced, qualified and raced without ever having their position lights working at all - does not IMSA enforce their operation? (probably too busy figuring out how to work red and yellow flags and their own t&s)
During the race the lights did work once in a while (not much and never full field) and were terrific at those times. I also saw a period when it looked like they showed the number of the car ahead, nifty if real, of course we'd need to have some way of being notified.
Fortunately the big screens at fan zone and hairpin had useful scrolling banners.
Those new/casual fans I heard were totally confused by the classes - not enough differentiation. Aside from two colors for 4 classes the problems of naming and models are very confusing. Calling a DP a Corvette when real Vettes are in LMGT and having the same cars in two different classes - Ferrari, Porsche, Viper, Z4 and Aston(Daytona) is a real mind twister at race speed, barely manageable under yellow, not to mention the PC Oreca and improved Orecas in P2.