IMSA Race 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Matt

General use.

I'd use it when I went back to my campsite to recharge myself and still semi-follow what's going on. Used it a lot in the last few hours to see what the gap was between the 2 and 10.

Most of the time I just had the van keyed into 107.9 at the track to hear RLM.

Speaking of the van, this was my accommodations for the weekend. Picked it up from the rental agency upon landing in Orlando, drove to the local Walmart in Daytona, bought an $8 air mattress and set up camp. Came in handy Thursday night after trudging around in the rain. Turned the heaters on full blast and put my socks and shoes right next to them to dry out. While it was doing that, someone in our group had Days of Thunder in their truck, so we popped that into the vans entertainment center and watched it on the flip down TV in the roof.

Much better than the front seat of a GTO, which were my accommodations at the track my one trip down there, which were 1000x better than the Days Inn Daytona

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by joeb

Some people are just rude.



There is just no pleasing some people...

[wdave0]

I too have flagged and driven at night. I think IMSA was correct in their handling of the PC but other issues besides Myrick being zoned out contributed to the accident. Cloth yellows are a little less noticeable than lights at night although Daytona is pretty bright. I think the real problem is that the flag station isn't early enough for the speed and really needs to be visible before the start of the braking zone.

[fergus_r]

I got 2 hours sleep (5-7AM) in my hire car, parked in the lot opposite the speedway. So that looks like luxury to me Matt.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by fergus_r

I got 2 hours sleep (5-7AM) in my hire car, parked in the lot opposite the speedway. So that looks like luxury to me Matt.

3 hours during the race itself for me(230-530a), but it was pretty nice for the other nights I was there. Next year I'll put more air into it or get a taller one though...can't go wrong for $8 though!

[chernaudi]

IMSA could also adopt the in car "marshal in the cab" system that the WEC uses, though that might do little for drivers who ignore or are inattentive to local yellows.

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

It wasn't ignored - they covered the initial incident with local yellows.

FYI, IMSA's radio procedure in situations likes this starts with the call from the corner to race control (or race control spotting 'something' on their [CCTV or regular feed] screens) - IMSA demands 'live calls' from their marshals meaning you are supposed to call in as the incident is happening - followed by (sometimes extensive) radio communications between race control and the team involved about the status of the car - In IMSA words: "we're talking about it". Often and in the far majority of the situations, the car is able to restart and continue. Sometimes not and a caution is thrown, the time to determine the outcome varies and can take up quite some time - 15 seconds is really short and almost never enough.

Always is such an incident covered by local yellows initially (waved or not depends on the location of the car: waved is ON track, standing is OFF track. Upgrade from standing to waving because of level of danger off track position possible, usually on request of race control). Drivers and team managers are instructed on these procedures during drivers meetings.

In short: You would have a point if there would have been no local yellows to warn at all.

Throwing a caution every time a car is not able to continue within 15 seconds will lead to a whole lot - maybe 20 to 30 - more per (endurance) race.

So the only one to ignore something was Meyrick who ignored the local waved yellows (2 in a row). At least 27 - let me repeat that: twenty-seven cars passed the stalled car without hitting it (!) - that's not down to luck, that's drivers paying attention to warning signals and reacting to them. Meyrick clearly did not do the same.

Maybe a day spend at race control or at a marshal station would help you with better understanding everyone's responsibilities? (not being sassy or sarcastic, it's a genuine inquiry).

Everyone commenting about the DW/PC incident should re-read Coach Ep's post here -- twice. It's spot on.

Also, from experience, you can usually get an idea how much blockage or how dangerous the oncoming yellow is for you as a driver based on the fervor that the marshall is using in waving the yellow. If it looks like they're being attacked by a swarm of bee's -- you need to check up and not be stupid. If they're gently fanning themselves on a warm day, there's probably something easily avoidable, yet still on the racing surface.

Of course, this all assumes it's your first time by the incident. If they keep the local yellow up for multiple laps, they assume you know what the situation is and will drive accordingly while they start to relax on the waving.

I also like how some discussing this topic now seem to think the track is pitch black in the night, while as before they wonder why the cars even use headlights because it's so lit up at night.

Lastly, I think Barfield is a nice guy, doing a VERY good job in race control and is the correct person for the job. But due to the way he has called some of the IMSA races I've been involved in since last year (WGI/Petit) and watching Daytona on TV... it's clear that his "driver safety" versus "show must go on" ratio isn't as balanced as I'd like. Not that I'm saying he's reckless, but it's clear to me that he's willing to risk the drivers safety more than his predecessors in exchange for more entertainment.

-mike

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

Everyone commenting about the DW/PC incident should re-read Coach Ep's post here -- twice. It's spot on.

-mike

Yes!!!

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by Matt

IMSA app worked fine for me at the track whenever I would check into it, so, I dunno man.

You running Android or iOS? I ask because it is a crashing machine on my Android devices.

It's a handsome looking app but the T&S doesn't really provide a lot of useful information.

[chernaudi]

Again, maybe IMSA should be looking at what the ACO/FIA are doing with the WEC. Granted, it'll never be perfect, since Fretias has called for FCYs in some instances when the situation could've been covered by local yellows (example, when the Morand Pescarolo/Morgan got stuck in the gravel in turn 1 at Fuji because the car ran out of steering lock to turn onto an access road and needed to be pushed back).

But then again, Barfield basically works for--and IMSA is owned largely by--NASCAR and people associated with NASCAR. And we know that NASCAR doesn't hardly know a lick about how to use FCYs nor local yellows in their own races. Rathered have guys like Fretias and Barfield who are lightly left or right of center on the FCY issue than a guy who'd call a FCY for a gum wrapper on track or one who wouldn't call any type of yellow for any accident or incident.

[Ephaeton]

Do you think Race control should have called the broken exhaust DP back for driver safety/health reasons?

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by Ephaeton

Do you think Race control should have called the broken exhaust DB back for driver safety/health reasons?

Not with the information they had available. It's the team and drivers responsibility at this point.

However, like I posted on facebook after the race -- I think it's time to investigate CO sensors hooked up to the telemetry in the cockpit. Similar to what the ACO has mandated for GTE cockpit temperatures over the last several years.

-mike

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

However, like I posted on facebook after the race -- I think it's time to investigate CO sensors hooked up to the telemetry in the cockpit. Similar to what the ACO has mandated for GTE cockpit temperatures over the last several years.

-mike

That makes a lot of sense to me.

Richard

[FormulaFox]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

It wasn't ignored - they covered the initial incident with local yellows.

When you stay under local yellow for a full minute for a car that is not moving, you ARE ignoring the severity of the situation.

Their radio procedures don't change that. They failed at their job. They ignored the need for an FCY until it was too late to prevent the damage from being done.

Throwing a caution every time a car is not able to continue within 15 seconds will lead to a whole lot - maybe 20 to 30 - more per (endurance) race.

False. The majority of stopped cars that get going under their own power get moving within ten seconds. Additionally, I'm only saying such a time limit should apply to situations where cars are stopped in the middle of the track around blind corners - a situation where something as simple, and more importantly uncontrollable, as a radio failure is guaranteed to lead to disaster(as we just saw).

Also, the majority of stopped cars aren't IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRACK around a BLIND CORNER forcing drivers to rely on systems that can brake down in order to know where to avoid a problem.

So the only one to ignore something was Meyrick who ignored the local waved yellows (2 in a row). At least 27 - let me repeat that: twenty-seven cars passed the stalled car without hitting it (!) - that's not down to luck, that's drivers paying attention to warning signals and reacting to them. Meyrick clearly did not do the same.

Why are you still harping on this when it has already been covered thoroughly? All current indications are that Meryick had no way of knowing where the car was. You're right, it's not down to luck - it's down to the teams for the other drivers being able to TELL their drivers WHERE the car was stopped before the got there.

Knowing there is a local yellow does not help if you do not know the exact location of the problem. In most cases the problem can be seen well in advance, but in THIS case the stopped car was out of sight until well past corner entry so if a radio problem prevented the team from getting Meryick the information, then he would have no idea where the thing he needed to avoid is.

There is NO EXCUSE for IMSA's failure on this. None. They screwed up and it took two cars out of the race. Including one which, coincidentally, the DP team owners had been whining to officials about for the entire race because it DARED to lead the race instead of their DPs.



BTW, folks, sorry if I seems a bit...forceful on this, but I feel very strongly about it for very good reason; I've been on a racetrack with inept race control more than once, and I've seen what can go wrong if bad decisions are made. I raced in series where we don't have ANY radio communication, and I've seen the shortcomings of local yellows firsthand as a result. I've seen crashes so bad resulting from it(including a near-decapitation!) that I would rather see a full-course yellow every time a car stops in the middle of the track(even when it's not around a blind corner) than risk cases like this. The only reason I don't advocate for that extreme is because I know that despite my concerns it isn't necessary of the vehicle is in easy sight of the drivers before entry to a corner.

[fieldodreams79]

DW vs PC vs FCY.

[MaskedRacer]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

DW vs PC vs FCY.

What is the one thing that Delta Wing, LMPC cars and full course yellows all have in common: They suck.

[TzeiTzei]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

DW vs PC vs FCY.

Hey! It wouldn't be an IMSA thread without something like this.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

You running Android or iOS? I ask because it is a crashing machine on my Android devices.

It's a handsome looking app but the T&S doesn't really provide a lot of useful information.

iOS, got the IMSA app right before the 6 Hour weekend last year, and that was the same time I got my iPhone, so I couldn't tell you how it acts on an Android device. :\

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Matt

iOS, got the IMSA app right before the 6 Hour weekend last year, and that was the same time I got my iPhone, so I couldn't tell you how it acts on an Android device. :\

Then it's an Android / IMSA issue. IIRC, it was initially introduced as IOS only, before the released on Android. Plain old fashioned favoritism, I say.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Then it's an Android / IMSA issue. IIRC, it was initially introduced as IOS only, before the released on Android. Plain old fashioned favoritism, I say.

I didn't even bother reinstalling it, no need to try. Just leave the a tab open with scoring.imsa.com and it worked fine on the phone.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by joeb

I didn't even bother reinstalling it, no need to try. Just leave the a tab open with scoring.imsa.com and it worked fine on the phone.

Post #1, joeb, post #1. That's all I need.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by joeb

I didn't even bother reinstalling it, no need to try. Just leave the a tab open with scoring.imsa.com and it worked fine on the phone.

Yup, I used the PlayStation 4 web browser and watched imsa's site on the big screen.

[TzeiTzei]

The iOS app worked well.

[GT-Eins]

A quite complete Statistical overview (just top-speed of 3 classes still missing) can be found in our race-Report-page: (just beneath the results)
http://www.gt-eins.de/Berichte2016/2....html#Ergebnis


So just Derani made the difference for the win.

By the way: excellent work from our photographer on location (see above the results)

[FormulaFox]

Originally Posted by TF110

Yup, I used the PlayStation 4 web browser and watched imsa's site on the big screen.

I used Google Chrome + MediaPlus extension + Cast extension to put it on my TV via Chromecast. The myriad of ways you can get streams onto the TV nowadays is staggering.

(and for those who want to do that at minimal cost, my method is far cheaper than buying a PS4)