Auto Racing 2024

Just finished watching the F1 race. One heck of a first lap spectacle followed by a real snoozer of a race. Not as into the other motorsports but expect whatever does happen in that weather will be on the TVs at my brother's today, so hopefully a little more entertaining.
 
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I"m thinking 3:30 to 4:30 for the start. Might be able to pull this off. Next wave of rain should be after visibility ends the race.
 
4:44 PM green flag

Hopefully it is a clean race. Light to what 7:30? Minus something crazy, this ends late this evening.
 
Newgarden wins legitimately this time around. O'Ward so close. He'll be second guessing that for a long time. Disappointment with Herta, he appeared to have the car. Kirkwood came from who knows where to finish top ten. Veekay recovers from unsafe release penalty back to 23rd to finish top 10. Had his radio on and seemed to be chasing a comfy car and never quite getting there. Larson does a Dixon in the pits and that ends his competitive run, now he needs to get to the 600 and race 150 of it. NXT champ and Indycar rookie Rassmusen gets top rookie honors, he made some really impressive passes. Pretty good outcome for Ed Carpenter racing. Palou and Rossi, top fives.

Very good race, epic last 25 laps. Awesome it finished today.
 
Larson gets Rookie of the Year in a mildly controversial decision. Dude was driving for Arrow McLaren, had Tony Kanaan as a driving coach. Did very well in practice and qualifying, making it to the Top Six. Led during the race during a pit cycle. But he made a couple mistakes, one that almost caused an accident when he goofed on gear selection and speeding on entry into the pits (he isn't the first or last person to do that). Had an 18th finish.

Christian Rasmussen had a much slower month of May. A rookie to Indycar and the 500, Rasmussen (23 years old), raced a hard race, making some quality passes. Didn't screw up, but because he was racing for Ed Carpenter Racing, who isn't flushed with money, finished 12th. Teammate Rinus Veekay finished 9th, indicating a 12th place finish was close to what it could do best. IE, his finishing positioning wasn't a fluke of luck or timing. Arguably the best Rookie of this year's Indy 500.

The decision is made sillier, because Larson isn't going to care about this accolade, where as it could be a stepping stone for Rasmussen. Back near 20 years ago Alonso would get rookie of the year in a similar circumstance, except the top rookie was Ed Jones, who finished in 3rd. Certainly, with his performance at Indy, Larson will be expected back next year, a little wiser. But of course at Indy, the luck component can not be overlooked, ask Marcus Ericson or Parnelli Jones or the entire Andretti family. Winning Indy doesn't usually meaning being the most dominant... it just means you were the best of the survivors.
 
Detroit Grand Prix - Well, um... it was... well.. something. It was a race that was going well, with Colten Herta kicking absolute butt. Alex Palou was sent out on scrubbed alternates and that was quickly learned to be the suckiest idea. Kirkwood would be one of the only drivers to really do well on the alternates. Regardless, there was an incident and then sprinkles. Not a lot of rain, but enough to make teams start panicking. The resultant could have led to an interesting second half of the race, with most teams going to rain tires, but with a track that would need them to change back quickly giving a potential advantage to those sticking to the slicks.

What followed was tedium of the gravest proportions, hairpin contact yellow, hairpin contact yellow, hairpin contact yellow. They need to extend outside of that hairpin outward to allow traffic room to go two or three wide, because it was so tedious. It wasn't exactly crazy maneuvers either, one car sees a spot on the inside, dives in, but turns out there was no room as they are going adjacent to two other cars with the middle car given no space.

Dixon wins in the end, because of course, it'd be Dixon. He is 9 or so wins away from Foyt's record, which I uncertain whether he can reach it, but the fact he is in the hunt is a testament to his greatness. Marcus Ericcson finally had a good day, finishing second. Actually Andretti had a good day with Kirkwood finishing fourth. The entire Penske team were penalized at some point during the race. Power double tapped Veekay in a mostly racing incident, but I think the second bump did him in. Rasmussen was having a solid run (top 10), but his engine conked out on him.

Road America next, but I'll be seeing the Michelin Pilot Challenge at Mid-Ohio.
 
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Detroit Grand Prix - Well, um... it was... well.. something. It was a race that was going well, with Colten Herta kicking absolute butt. Alex Palou was sent out on scrubbed alternates and that was quickly learned to be the suckiest idea. Kirkwood would be one of the only drivers to really do well on the alternates. Regardless, there was an incident and then sprinkles. Not a lot of rain, but enough to make teams start panicking. The resultant could have led to an interesting second half of the race, with most teams going to rain tires, but with a track that would need them to change back quickly giving a potential advantage to those sticking to the slicks.

What followed was tedium of the gravest proportions, hairpin contact yellow, hairpin contact yellow, hairpin contact yellow. They need to extend outside of that hairpin outward to allow traffic room to go two or three wide, because it was so tedious. It wasn't exactly crazy maneuvers either, one car sees a spot on the inside, dives in, but turns out there was no room as they are going adjacent to two other cars with the middle car given no space.

Dixon wins in the end, because of course, it'd be Dixon. He is 9 or so wins away from Foyt's record, which I uncertain whether he can reach it, but the fact he is in the hunt is a testament to his greatness. Marcus Ericcson finally had a good day, finishing second. Actually Andretti had a good day with Kirkwood finishing fourth. The entire Penske team were penalized at some point during the race. Power double tapped Veekay in a mostly racing incident, but I think the second bump did him in. Rasmussen was having a solid run (top 10), but his engine conked out on him.

Road America next, but I'll be seeing the Michelin Pilot Challenge at Mid-Ohio.
I started watching and then the rain came and then it didn't and then they started crashing so I gave up because I didn't want to wait around for the caution laps.:mad:
 
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It isn't IMSA IMSA, but I'll take the Michelin Pilot Challenge. LMP3's will be there too. Gonna be testing out the 500 mm I used for the eclipse, hoping it is "fast". Missing today, so many obligations to manage, but Saturday and Sunday I'll see every second. For Indy, we set up our places for race day. I'll be all over the place for the four-hour main event. Mid-Ohio is a great place to be.
 
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Mid-Ohio Pilot Challenge, etc... I tell ya, 500 mm, OMG! The small openings in the fencing for emergency and photography are "reachable" with a 500 mm.

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Carousel. These are the LMP3 in qualifications. 500 mm

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The Mazda MX-5. These two were really a threesome fighting in the front. 72 had recently passed for first. This is near the bottom of the Essess (from top of hill). 500 mm

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The other class in the VP series. Top of the Essess, 300 mm, from track level. They goofed on the first start and went from pole to way back. They'd fight to get back to 3rd or 4th in the first race. They pass late on the entry to Thunder Valley and win the second. I absolutely love this McClaren and its Pilot Challenge version, barely makes a sound and has so much power. Its Pilot Challenge version was killing it in the 4 hr challenge, until the first pitstop and it couldn't lift up on the jacks. A short stop changed to put them a few laps down and that was their race. They fought the good fight, but couldn't make up nearly enough time.

The No. 88 Aston Martin won the overall/GS category.
 
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Road America, started a bit spinny, but it improved. In the end, turned into a Penske show, with Power leading the trio in a 1-2-3 sweep. Herta continues with the back luck. Sometimes you make your own good luck, but he has been suffering a lot of bad mojo recently. He recovered and managed to get up to sixth, but that really isn't cutting it with his expectations and the car they've had. Grosjean managed a seventh place finish with no drama. Kirkwood finished a quiet fifth.
 
Might have been the best F1 race since (selfish hometown take) Vegas. Really entertaining race in the elements on a good track, especially coming from the Monaco snoozefest.
Saw the highlights. There were a lot of them. Too bad for Magnusson, looked like he was Senna out there in the rain, and could have lapped the entire field if it kept raining.
 
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Le Mans, so far, so good. Clean racing start, some early sprinkles to the north that dropped a few drops on the track. Might be more later. Nolan Siegel's car in 26th, he has yet to drive. Ganassi is well back at the moment, but it is early, very early.
 
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Toyota appear tops at the moment, but Ferrari are strong as well, though near front running 83 fell out after a heavily smoking right front brake must have caused deeper issues. The Number 2 Cadillac appears primed to steal a podium spot.

Rain is coming, drops but steady showers behind it, less than an hour away and looks like at least one to two hours. A good deal of safety car last night during the rain.
 
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