Cleveland! What a show!!

[Jay]

WOW!! That's all I can say about the event in Cleveland this weekend, unbelievable! This race has been an amazing spectacle without an equal in all of motorsport (that I can think of at least).

The sight of the Champcars running at night was something to behold, with sparks flying, methanol flames visible (yes, you can actually see methanol fires in the dark!), brake disks glowing, and the light glistening off the paint of the cars.

The fans must have enjoyed it too, I couldn't see an empty seat in the grandstands! The spin doctors can say what they want about the attendance numbers, but it looked like a sellout (or damn close) on TV.

And as always at Cleveland, there was amazing racing. With the hardest racing coming toward the end with Junqueira and Tracy having a very hard clean fight side by side through three corners. But, that was hardly alone... Lots of great, hard fights, and NOT the kind you get on oval races like EARL and Germany where guys are just swapping track space...this was hard road racing at its best!

Your thoughts guys?

[Lee Janotta]

Can't wait to see it, Jay!

Like I said in the "racing rumors" thread, this is definitly the "feel-good" part of the season. And man, do I feel good just hearing that it was a good race!

[Jay]

My only complaint was I thought it was a bit long... didn't need to go quite that late.

Also, the international TV feed we got was brutal. Jeremy Shaw and someone else just blab on and on... and seem to forget that there's an actual race going on. They'll be blabbering on about something that happened on Thursday while the leaders are side by side going into turn one. And the camera work was quite bad too...cutting away to show replays or something else when there was action.

Must say though, I can't wait for Toronto now.

[tanalised]

haven't seen it yet. Looking forward to it though

[Liz]

Well I thought the coverage was a nice change -- although seeing it on TV after having just heard it at cart.com showed all too clearly that they just let the tape run while the commercials played -- I was hoping to fill in some gaps in my race report, but a lot of what was broadcast on the radio didn't make it to TV...

Still, I didn't miss all the nudge-wink "Double D" and "TK" frat boy conversations!
===========

Otherwise the race itself was gorgeous, I have great admiration for Jourdain Jr. on his march back to the front, and I think someone (probably Jimmy Vasser) ought to take Max Papis behind the bike sheds and beat the out of him for his behaviour during the last half of the race. What a display of total idiocy! And I can't understand why that didn't merit a black flag from Ronald McDonald, er, Chris Kneifel.

And why were the Coyne guys even there at all?

[enemy-ace]

Excellent race! Have too agree with Jay a little long. Worth waiting for though with that last lap shootout.
I love that Cleveland track. Great battles throughout the field; excellent fightback by Jourdain culminating in that great battle with Servia. I loved that cold tire scrap between Tag and Manning and found it rather funny when Tag's engineer told him to step on it because Manning was becoming a pain.
Our race winner looked rather happy too, how many donuts did he do before going to victory circle?
I might watch it again on CBS today! Definitley Real Racing, Real Sport!

[Dani Filth]

**** .. i tried to waked up at 3 AM to see the race .. but i failed .. to bad .

[oily oaf]

Saw the race live on Brit Eurosport. Yep great stuff, Tracy vs Junqueira, Bourdais vs Fernandez and of course Max Papis vs The entire grid. But the highlight for me had to be the frenzied attempts by that loonytunes in the Ronald McDonald gear trying to get in the frame at every opportunity. Did anyone notice him getting thrown off the podium finishers pickup truck and later being manhandled by security as he tried to get on the podium with Bourdais. It was the first time I have seen Ronald looking totally p****d off. Priceless!

[429CJ]

Great race indeed, Cleveland always tends to have marvellous races.
About Ronald: I've never trusted these overly colourful american clowns, since I first time saw 'It'.

[theracegypsy]

Yes, it was a brilliant race, lots of atmosphere, and lots of people, the stands were completely full.

The atmosphere at night was good too, and from our point of view as marshals gave a better more relaxed time avoiding the notorious Cleveland heat.

I worked Pit In, and it was awesome watching some of the overtaking coming towards us!

[Snrub]

For CART standards this year it was a very good race. From CART standards from a couple years back it was a decent race.

There was passing and action and good racing. However, I'm very concerned about the whole Papis situation. Why could no one pass him when he was seconds off the pace? It's not it is a tough track to pass on. Imagine if this was Vancouver or Mid-Ohio, let alone a normal track.

[Lee Janotta]

I've always had a theory that it's easier to overtake a guy on the first attempt. When you build up your momentum through a couple corners, and then come at him flat out down a straight heading into a tight braking zone, he doesn't know you're coming, and the difference in speed is going to be greater. But, when you get stuck behind him, it becomes harder because you get held up by him trying to exit every corner, so you really only have your engine and brakes to try and pass him with, not your handling, and the speed you're able to carry out of the last corner.

Therefore, because no one expected Papis to hold them up, it was easier for him to do so.

[Matthopps]

Perhaps a couple more races, like the European tour for example, should be run at night? Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Lee Janotta]

Definitly more Saturday night races. That way you don't go head-to-head with NASCAR or the Crapwagons, plus it's a great experience for the fans, plus the temperatures are more pleasant for everyone. Why not do it with some street races? Just have the street lights come on at Surfer's or Miami. And, of course, they really need a Las Vegas street race under the lights.

Was fun seeing Paul Newmann get in the shot, and shoving Kneiffel out of the shot. Oh, wait, that was Ronald MacDonald? I can't tell the two apart.

[Liz]

I can just hear the wailing and yowling of people who live in the cities where street races might be held at night --"MY BABY CAN'T SLEEEEEEEEEEEP! STOP THE RAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE! WAAAAAH! I MOVED TO THE CITY FOR PEACE AND QUIIIIIIIIIIIIIET AND YOU LET THEM RAAAAAAAAAAAACE!"

You think that wouldn't happen? That's the reason we don't have a police helicopter in Toronto -- because people would rather have criminals breaking into their homes at night than "NOIIIIIIIIIIIISE!"

But stadium racing at night is wonderful as we Le Mans and Sports Car Enduro Race-Goers will all tell you any time, and a few closed courses under the lights would be great fun.

[Lee Janotta]

Well, that's why you have to pick cities like Miami and Las Vegas which keep very late hours.

[macdaddy]

Cleveland must be a night race from this day forward.

[gttouring]

it was good, the flames were neat.
I have to say saprk plate would be welcome now-they could use a big showere of them, nice racing lots of passing and failed attempts, best race so far-Road America need to go enduro, and champcars need to hold 2 races there nigth and day...lol
good stuff, best ever? nah, no zanardi.

[Omega99]

Great last lap! Great race!

[Jay]

Cleveland is really the only road/street circuit you could do this at, because of its location (it's a bloody airport!) and the fact that the circuit is contained in a relatively small area that can be lit. There's no way you could do this at a street race, as it would take too many lights to cover the shadows from fencing, walls, etc... (I think they explained that during the Speed coverage)

The only other races that could be night races are Germany and maybe Brands....Although, I doubt the locals around Brands would allow it considering the lack of support they've given the circuit on other projects.

[Lee Janotta]

Now actually, I remember one year, '93 I think, that the Surfer's race was delayed, and went on well into the twilight. And it looked absolutely brilliant with the cars darting among the gentle shadows, lit by the setting sun and the streetlights. And visibility was just fine for racing purposes, there were no complaints about safety.

[Lee Janotta]

Oh, plus, if they do get Vegas lined up, there's already plenty of lighting there, and the city never sleeps. So that, at least, they could do at night.

[Jay]

I don't know about that, there was probably enough light out for them to drive still... I do know that they've said repeatedly they couldn't do this at a street circuit for the reasons I gave above.

I like the night races, but I think we should only have two or at most three to keep the novelty of it. IF we starting having a ton like other leagues, it'll wear off and just seem like any other race.

[Jack Man]

I really can't understand what all the hubub is about Max. In every drivers meeting i ever attended the rule was that a driver being overtaken was to stay on the racing line and give room to the overtaking driver. Sprotscar drivers do this all the time. Also when your shown the move over flag you have a certain number of corners or laps to do so. Were the flags out? And if this track isn't wide enough to pass a slower car i don't know what is. I think if some of these drivers spent more thought as to where to pass as they do about what to yell over their radios they wouldn't have anything to yell about. JMO

[Jay]

Yeah, but Max was being lapped... and he was defending his position. If you're been lapped, you shouldn't be defending your position, you should be getting the hell out of the way. Basically the entire field had to fight Max in order to lap him. It shouldn't be that way...