98 replies to this topic

[WhiteSGPlayer]

Put on your Stetsons, take out your Six-guns and turn up your Steve Martin; We're off to Texas for the Lone Star Le Mans!
 
Wait, huh? I was too busy revelling in my patriotism to learn about what this is
 
The Lone Star Le Mans is the Double Header weekend at COTA, where the WEC and TUSC share top billing for the weekend. The event frequently sees teams making the jump from one series to another, and running both races (See Corvette Racing's WEC entry last year). We get 8 hours and 40 minutes of racing for one event!
 
Huh, Ok. But nobody in the world watches TUSC, what's been going on there?
 
Frankly, due to the braindead director, I haven't a clue. I'll do my best though.
 
SPOILERS BELOW: IF YOU WANT TO WATCH ANY OF THE RACES, YOU CAN SEE THEM ON THE TUSC YOUTUBE CHANNEL: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC58em84jwiyM20qR-iqBDZw)
 

Spoiler

The season kicked off with the 24 Hours of Daytona, a highly entertaining race with action from all the big names. But in the end, as often happens, Scott Dixon won, with Kanaan, Kyle Larson, and Jamie McMurray. Corvette and Viper took the spoils in GTLM and GTD. If you watch one TUSC race this season, make it this one.
 
12 Hours of Sebring next, and while it wasn't quite as good, it still provided some nice action, including a somewhat combustible Viper and a lot of yellow flags. #5 Action Express took the win, with Bourdais, Barbosa, and Flippy Fittipaldi at the wheel. Vette and Porsche win in GT.
 
Long Beach followed, and the only memorable thing about this race is that the whole thing stayed green, which, if you know TUSC, is a small miracle. #10 and #25 win their respective classes, which was the first BMW win since the merger
 
It was after this race that the production started to go downhill, with the director preferring to show about half an hour of onboards at a time. Anyone that says that they want to watch a race with just onboards has clearly never watched TUSC. Laguna Seca (#90 and #24) and Belle Isle (#31) were decent races, if unmemorable.
 
The 6 Hours of the Glen followed, and this one was pretty good fun, going down to a fuel mileage battle right at the end. #90 won overall but the Plucky underdogs Falken Racing won in GTLM, a good result for what is Falken Racing's final season.
 
I wish I could remember anything about Mosport, apart from an awesome interview with Scot Atherton, one of IMSA’s head honchos. #10 and #911 win, signalling the beginning of a spell of dominance for the team

Lime Rock, the PC/GTD only race, saw an almighty run from the #97 GTD BMW to take class honours in this race. You may be wondering why I haven’t talked about PC yet, and that is simply because nobody talks about PC

 Road America, apart from a couple of big crashes, was pretty average, with the #31 and #911 winning. The #31 DP is doing far better than it has any right to.
 
However, the season had a good upswing with the GT only race at VIR, with Porsche dominating in their usual fashion, and Autosport darling Christina Nielsen extending her championship lead in what was a very fun race. TUSC has the best GT Racing in the world, and is worth watching solely because of the GT Classes

 

Huh, right on. But I am sheltered and I don't know about the world outside F1, what happened in the WEC?

 

No I’m not telling you, go and watch it, now. They’re all easy to find on the net. What are you still doing reading this.

 

*many hours later*

 

Ok man, the WEC is fantastic, so what’s the schedule for the weekend?

 

At last, we’re getting somewhere:

 

WEC (all times are Race Local time)

 

Free Practice 1 - Thu 17th Sep - 14h45

Free Practice 2 - Thu 17th Sep - 20h00

Free Practice 3 - Fri 18th Sep - 10h30

Qualifying – LMGTE - Fri 18th Sep - 17h45

Qualifying – LMP - Fri 18th Sep - 18h15

Race - Sat 19th Sep - 17h00

 

TUSC

 

Friday - 04:45 PM - 06:15 PM ET (Qualifying)

Saturday - 12:30 PM - 03:30 PM ET (Race)

 

As AustinF1 so kindly posted below, here are the links to the full weekend schedule

 

http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com/lslm/schedule

 

http://www.fiawec.co...ce-program.html
 

Edited by WhiteSGPlayer, 09 September 2015 - 19:24.

[AustinF1]

Here's COTA's full weekend schedule: http://www.circuitof...m/lslm/schedule

 

Here's the WEC's: http://www.fiawec.co...ce-program.html

[Victor_RO]

I reckon Porsche have demolished the gates with their win at the Nurburgring. If even two trouble-free Audis couldn't beat a Porsche with a nose change and one that lost over 3 minutes due to fuel flow penalties, I reckon the only thing that will defeat the 919s for the rest of the season will be crashes or mechanical failures.

[Volcano70]

Voted Porsche and Spirit of Daytona.

Probably i'm gonna miss the TUSC race and maybe catch WEC.

Race on!

[sportyskells]

just a reminder we had a huge downpour on the WEC race last year that caused cars to spin into gravel and a very rare thing in these types of races a red flag 

[AustinF1]

Yep, and now local forecasters are saying there's a chance of a tropical system in the Gulf next week...

 

[TF110]

Toyota only stand a chance if it rains. If its dry the Porsche will be tough to beat, but Audi have those different packages to fall back on. They have the engine penalties though so may be lower on power with a used engine.

[jonpollak]

Hey Billy: any tv channel Infos for der Euros unt Britishers?

[Peat]

IMSA TV is free to us Urops.

WEC usually on Motors & Eurosport (last hour), but WEC do offer their own, quite reasonable (but VERY un-nigerian), streaming service. 

[jonpollak]

Speaking of Nigeria....

 

We mona be fighting dem on the Beetches and all dat bidness  !!

Jp

[jonpollak]

IMSA TV is free to us Urops.

WEC usually on Motors & Eurosport (last hour), but WEC do offer their own, quite reasonable (but VERY un-nigerian), streaming service. 

 I checked and....NO LIVE COVERAGE MotorsTV or €urosport in Engerland

Jp

Edited by jonpollak, 10 September 2015 - 08:45.

[Haribo]

I think that you've looked a week too early JP

 

From what I can tell, both the TUSC and WEC races should be live on Motors TV

 

https://uk.motorstv...._au_25_sept.pdf

[jonpollak]

lol...

I'm an idiot Haribo

 

But Billy DID forget to put a frickin DATE on the OP

 

 

Nevermind..

Jp

[Peat]

To be honest, it wouldn't suprise me if they did start to throttle back on their free(ish) to air live coverage to force people to buy l'app du WEC. 

L'Autombile Club de L'Ouest has certainly shown they are not afraid of riding rough-shod over free-market competition in order to benefit their French 'amis'. Just look at the 2017 LMP2 regs.... But that's another story.

This is about a rootin' tootin' humdinger of a hoe-down in the lone star state. Yeeehaw etc. *sigh*

[Wingcommander]

This event is a real treat for sportscar fans 

[WhiteSGPlayer]

Actually I thought the race was this weekend so I blew my load a little early

Wouldn't be the first time

[August]

Eurosport (not British) seems to show the entire race.

[Nonesuch]

Hey Billy: any tv channel Infos for der Euros unt Britishers?

 

During the race at the Nürburgring the MotorsTV guys said that they'd have the entire WEC in Texas race live, starting half an hour before the start.

 

I'm not sure if they have the same footage throughout Europe, though. The (live) commentary is often localized, but I suppose there isn't a great risk of there being any live English racing events during the night.

Edited by Nonesuch, 10 September 2015 - 17:58.

[Mat13]

Actually I thought the race was this weekend so I blew my load a little early

Wouldn't be the first time

Weeeeeeyyyyyy....etc.

Porsche and Action Express for me, not that I know who the latter are. Motors TV coverage is very good in the UK I think, despite last races cut to adverts halfway through the first corner...

[TimRTC]

just a reminder we had a huge downpour on the WEC race last year that caused cars to spin into gravel and a very rare thing in these types of races a red flag 

 

Ah yes, I remember it well. People literally running out of the grandstands, the entire food area under a foot of water. We took shelter in a big tent with some Texas cattle. Very surreal.

 

 

Timo Bernhard avoids disaster by milimeters by Timothy Young, on Flickr

[AustinF1]

I'm guessing this guy has never been to a COTA race...

 

World Endurance Championship: the F1 of the states? http://www.telegraph...ampionship.html

[BRG]

 

We took shelter in a big tent with some Texas cattle. Very surreal.

Just out of curiousity, WHY were there Texas cattle in a tent at a motor race??

 

I'm guessing this guy has never been to a COTA race...

 

World Endurance Championship: the F1 of the states? http://www.telegraph...ampionship.html

I think it was the sub-editor who devised that silly headline.  The actual article is perfectly OK.

Edited by BRG, 11 September 2015 - 19:42.

[AustinF1]

I was referring more to his insinuation that anyone would be able to tell how rabid Americans are about sportscar racing judging from the COTA crowds for the WEC/Tudor weekend, or that the crowd would be anything resembling the wacky Sebring crowds.

[Dan333SP]

What was the total weekend attendance for this event last year? I know it was weather-affected and had very little advertising, but wasn't it something like 15,000 for the entire weekend?

 

Still, beats the FIA-GT race I saw on the roval at Homestead in 1998. It was like a private test for Porsche and Mercedes with friends and families of the drivers.

[AustinF1]

What was the total weekend attendance for this event last year? I know it was weather-affected and had very little advertising, but wasn't it something like 15,000 for the entire weekend?

 

Still, beats the FIA-GT race I saw on the roval at Homestead in 1998. It was like a private test for Porsche and Mercedes with friends and families of the drivers.

Don't remember what they announced, but the crowds were very small all three days.

[AustinF1]

LMP1 Non-Hybrids Get Performance Break for 6H COTA - http://goo.gl/alerts/Wajj

[TimRTC]

Don't remember what they announced, but the crowds were very small all three days.

 

True and they were not really sports car fans either. The paddock autograph session was wonderful, very few lines.

 

I think it was most telling that there was a massive queue to meet Mark Webber, but none at all to mean Tom Kristensen!

[TimRTC]

Just out of curiousity, WHY were there Texas cattle in a tent at a motor race??

 

 

Not sure, you could sit on them too. (Not a real gun, yes a BTCC shirt!)

 

[AustinF1]

^^^Ooh, I don;t recommend sitting on one of those guys. He must've been drugged up...

[AustinF1]

True and they were not really sports car fans either. The paddock autograph session was wonderful, very few lines.

 

I think it was most telling that there was a massive queue to meet Mark Webber, but none at all to mean Tom Kristensen!

I think my son & I will never forget Emanuele Pirro signing his cast on his broken arm. Very gracious of him. 

[red stick]

Pirro's a treasure.  If you've got the time, his interview with Motor Sport is delightful/amusing/rewarding.

 

http://www.motorspor...emanuele-pirro/

[red stick]

Jim Hall to be Grand Marshal. Fitting.

http://sportscar365....e-star-le-mans/

Edited by red stick, 13 September 2015 - 16:27.

[Volcano70]

Was looking around for the race until I remembered: Duh, it's next week

[FLB]

Pirro's a treasure.  If you've got the time, his interview with Motor Sport is delightful/amusing/rewarding.

 

http://www.motorspor...emanuele-pirro/

A neat little trick, form experience: If you want to meet F1 drivers, meet them AFTER they're done with F1. I had the experience of meeting an F1 winner while he was still in F1 and found him a total bore.

 

The same guy, in the ALMS a couple of years later, was an absolute delight when I met him again.

[Peat]

Note for UK racefans:

(Saturday evening into Sunday morning)

MotorsTV:
IMSA 1730-2030hrs
WEC 2230-0515hrs

Eurosport:
WEC 2300-0500 (available in glorious HD)

[AustinF1]

Oof. It's gonna be a hot weekend out at COTA, folks. Highs: 94 Thursday, 95 Friday, 96 Saturday.

[AustinF1]

A few quick cellphone pics from setup day in Austin...I'll try to get better camera shots posted later today.

 

https://www.facebook...134355823245628

[AustinF1]

FIA WEC remains committed to building CoTA event into success

 

http://www.foxsports...nterview-091615

[AustinF1]

Camera shots...

 

https://www.facebook...87614878&type=3

 

[OvDrone]

^ The #60 is so cool. Touching even having a decal with his name.

 

  Race weekend is upon us guys. The Porsches are beast mode again and laptimes are dropping like flies in United Sportscar in P, PC and GTLM.

 

Properly hyped for this. Can't wait for tomorrow.

 

Ah and thanks WhiteSGP for the Townes Van Zandt reference. Love his music.

[AustinF1]

After watching most of the day yesterday, it seems track limits aren't going to be enforced, even in races, even when overtaking. Not sure why. On T15 exit it was a total farce, with car after car going not just 4 off, but 4 waaayyyy off.

Edited by AustinF1, 18 September 2015 - 16:39.

[WhiteSGPlayer]

Ah and thanks WhiteSGP for the Townes Van Zandt reference. Love his music.

 

I have an ambition of making an entirely TVZ themed OP

 

"Now my suit's chafing is like fire on my skin...

And even the blue flags are blinding"

[OvDrone]

I have an ambition of making an entirely TVZ themed OP

 

"Now my suit's chafing is like fire on my skin...

And even the blue flags are blinding"

 

Sounds golden.

[jonpollak]

Juanito hablas para ti..
Jp

[TheRacingElf]

Already daydreaming about Montoya in a Porsche LMP1 car, Le Mans, Triple crown

Porsche please make this happen

[jonpollak]

Your wish is ALREADY COMING TRUE Elfie

 

Read it and weep...Tears of Joy that is...

 

 

"Current Porsche LMP team manager Andreas Siedl worked with Montoya at the Williams F1 team in 2003-4. Porsche’s Head of LMP, Fritz Enzinger, also worked with Montoya in F1 with BMW a decade ago.

“We have always kept in contact and he follows what we are doing closely,” Siedl told Motorsport.com.

“Juan Pablo is very interested in this type of racing and he has some experience from his Daytona wins, so he knows the way to work with a team of other drivers. I think he would be a big asset to any endurance team.”

“We discussed a testing possibility today for later this year," stated Siedl. “It’s cool and we will have to see where things go from there, after a test.”

 

Jp

Edited by jonpollak, 18 September 2015 - 21:04.

[Volcano70]

Hmmmmm

[SKL]

Would love to see JPM in a Porsche!!   Sounds like he would too... and he even knows how to pronounce it!!

[AustinF1]

Just posted a bunch of pics from yesterday at COTA. Enjoy...

 

https://www.facebook...02&pagefilter=3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AustinF1]

...and I couldn't go out there today due to that pesky work getting in the way, but Vance was able to make it out. He just posted his pics.

 

https://www.facebook...87614878&type=3