Auto Racing 2024

[Foxbat]

It's wet, and slow.

I saw that when I checked this morning. I was watching the feed from the #50 Ferrari and first thought, “a dry Le Mans” then the wiper started going intermittently.

​

About an hour left and more rain.

 

[Yespage]

Rain saves Ferrari. What a different kind of finish. The fastest car had a door that wouldn't stay closed and needed to pit late. But thanks to rain, lap times slowed up. Which meant at least one of more laps wasn't needed and the Ferrari couldn't run one more lap, which meant the rain helped them win by reducing the race length.

Rather dramatic ending.

Young upstart Siegel won the LMP2 classification.

 

[Yespage]

Siegel is the latest winner in the musical chairs at Arrow McClaren, and he now sits in the #6. He did drive for Juncos Hollinger, after Canipino had some social media drama, a few weeks ago. Siegel does appear to be the next big thing. This kid will drive anything. And winning the LMP2 category at Le Mans was impressive. When I saw him at Indy in the LMP2, he'd drive up the pylon order. Indycar is the next level though. We'll see if he can make. Hope the best.

And while they'll be in Laguna Seca, I'll be baking like a potato at Watkins Glen to see the Sahlen 6 Hr IMSA event, as well as Sparklefarts, Random Vandals, and a cast of others including many from Le Mans. Highs around 90+, probably some thunderstorms at some point. Finally freed up space on my camera, so I have 2600 or so pics I can take. Probably will be around 1000 or 1200. Hopefully the Mustangs have a better race than at Mid-Ohio.

 

[Yespage]

 

[Yespage]

Trying to watch the first Mustang Race, crash before all the cars crossed the starting line (are these amateurs?!). They get it cleaned up, start again and there is another yellow. It takes forever, so long that the race finishes under yellow. We were outside the limits of the speakers at the Boot. I was thinking the crash barrier must have been destroyed somewhere and it needed to be fixed. That turned out to be right. The car drove by on the flatbed, it didn't have the appropriate damage to look like what actually happened. Definitely looked like a stuck throttle.


View: https://youtu.be/pmPaOc-gn24?si=AWuFM3W9f3wVLjAD&t=20

 

[Yespage]

A few of my highlights (no Photoshop, other than to batch resize) from Watkins Glen. A decent number of places to take photos.

Front stretch before the bridge.

Exiting the laces of the boot.

Heading towards the toe of the boot.

Up top at the Essess.

Back to just before the curve at the toe.

 

[harshness]

Some really nice photos. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Yespage]

Hybrid Technology Set to Launch This Week at Mid-Ohio

Combined with Push-to-Pass System, horsepower will reach 800.

www.indycar.com

Mid-Ohio this weekend. Weather, low 80s. It'll be hot if sunny, but it won't be "hydrate or die hot". Seems to be looking positive for the hybrids. Only downside is that I was hoping to get Siegel to sign something I took back at Indy last September in NXT, but that jerk got a ride in Indycar post LeMans with Arrow McLaren so that seems a harder task now. Jerk!

I'll probably print a few things up in case McLaren is the team signing this year. It was Meyer Shank two years ago, Ganassi last year (that was worth it, daughter got to talk to Palou). But not waiting in line for hours for a general driver signing.

 

[Yespage]

Weekend at Mid-Ohio was great. My daughter kept on making a lot of good choices of where we should be going. It wasn't the most exciting race. Palou was owning the course, but O'Ward wasn't backing off. Palou apparently had issues with finding first gear in the pit and that was effectively the race and O'Ward finally got his win. I thought Palou was going to make the pass to retake the lead with about 12 laps to go, but it just never happened. O'Ward seemed to have a tick more speed on the straight. Veekay's weekend wasn't too good. His teammate did very well though, as Rasmussen finished 9th, he made the Fast Six I think in qualifying. The volatile driver lineups this year had British driver Sowery finish 12th (in a Dale Coyne vehicle)... that was his first ever Indycar race. Malukas had a good weekend, though finished 12th. His season has been insanely up and down, with him losing his Arrow McLaren ride due to a hand injury from a bike accident. Racing for Meyer Shank now after Tom Blomquist botched the Indy 500 and lost his ride. Other notable things, this race was all green again. I believe last year was all green. AND Scott Dixon's car stalled after turn 5 on the formation laps before the race. He was towed to the pit, and finished a lot of laps down, after getting back onto the track 17 or so laps after the start.

I'll share other photos as I go through the shots I took, but this was my favorite. Not the sharpest, but obviously a bit special. No one hurt, nothing dramatic actually occurs in the incident.

 

[Yespage]

Well this is it for Mid-Ohio until next year. Already have the hotel set for Michelin Pilot Challenge and IndyCar. Hoping for Weathertech Series return in 2026. I'm on a break until late September now.

USF2000 or maybe USF Pro? Drivers Turn 4

Rinus Veekay in the Carousel

David Malukas out of Turn 6

USF2000 into Turn 4

Alexander Rossi into Turn 4

 

[Yespage]

Two races in Iowa this weekend, night time on Saturday and day time on Sunday. Gonna be hot. I've been wanting to go to this, but being in stands in July... with no refuge as far as I'm aware, probably not a great idea. Especially if rain can happen.

IMSA is at Mo-Sport.

WEC is in Brazil for a six hour race. WEC in the western hemisphere sucks.

 

[Yespage]

Jebus! As things in the US took a severe jolt... Indycar still went on. Two races in Iowa, one last night, one today.

Last night, Malukas dropped his tires onto the apron and ruined his night along with Canapino and Grosjean. Herta was kicking butt... until he pitted and the yellow came out. Then everyone else got to pit under yellow. Herta seems cursed. Will Power goofed on a restart which sent Fitapaldi (Christian, not Emmo) and Carpenter out of the race. McLaughlin took the lead soon after the Herta issue, and that was about it. Behind him, Veekay kept crawling up the order, and his pit crew kept sending him out quicker. He finished in fifth. Ferruci wanted to take fifth on the last restart, but Veekay was having none of it. Those two were fun to watch last night (at least during the restarts). Palou screwed up twice, with the second mistake taking himself out of the race. Very unusual.

Today was a story of blind, but strategic, luck. Will Power was sitting back, had a good car, but was saving fuel. Enough fuel to hope that an anvil fell from the sky and landed on a wayward duck on the backstretch after everyone else pitted but before he did. Well, no anvil or duck, but he got his yellow. And the circumstances plopped him into second place. In the second set of pitstops, Penske's team did their thing and got Power out in front of Palou. And they finished 1, 2. McLaughlin finished third. Horrific accident at the end, with Rossi apparently out of fuel and either Sting Ray Robb out of spotters or Sting Ray needs to quit, as he nearly Freejack'd it (reference to a bad movie from the 90s), did some flips. It was bad. The accident caused Rossi, Carpenter, and Kirkwood to fall out. That did help Veekay get a top ten though, so silver lining. Robb went to the hospital, he should be okay. I don't see him driving for Foyt (or anyone in Indycar) next year.

The good and bad, there was passing on restarts, but after 5 to 10 laps, it stopped. Ferruci and Veekay were among the best, though Veekay more last night than today. The race was effectively everyone in line. Then there were pitstops which led to more place changes.

There were races in MoSport and Sao Paolo, but just not enough time to cover it all.

 

[Yespage]

The Indycar race was a tale of three tales. Early accidents marred things early on, but then the race found pace. Herta led early, he led in the middle, he led at the end. The second car with the most laps led was the pace car. Ganassi cars (Dixon and Palou) started way back and just did their thing and snaked up over the laps. Rinus Veekay did likewise, and like Herta, was finally finding themselves in the right place at the right time. With only about 10 laps remaining, Veekay was about last on the lead lap, so he pitted for tires which helped him move up. And thanks to brainfartin' Penske drivers, Veekay was able to make up some bonus spots, finishing 8th. The lowlight of the race included Pato O'Ward's spin in a turn which was followed up by cars barely missing him, but then one car didn't, and the ones behind him didn't as well. Santino Ferucci flew up into the air. Luckily, it appears his lower tires touched the concrete wall first, which helped limit the impact on the catch fencing. That took out a number of cars. Herta has had the best car so often and circumstances have just ruined his season, but this victory was great to see. Kirkwood finished in second, and was seemingly content on ensuring Herta won and he finished second for the team's sake.

NASCAR at Indy, *sigh*. Forgot this was on, and was catching the last 16 laps. Looked like Kyle Larson was going to win, and then NASCAR drivers NASCAR'd and ruined what should have been a good finish. Larson won, but I'd say some pretty poor decision making to let it go green to the white flag when a car driven by an idiot got stuck on the track, when it should have stayed as far off as possible. Thankfully Larson's win wasn't stopped because of stupidity, but a good finish was once again lost. NASCAR needs to go single file for restarts, especially during their ridiculous overtime runs. Bonus points for a car shoving the divider block at the end of the pit wall, I have never seen that before. A very Salt Walther thing to do.

 

[meStevo]

Stressful / awkward F1 race today. McLaren started and finished #1 and #2, but had their drivers swap positions at the end of the race. The order that the team decided to pit the drivers is what put them in this position, so the team looked to fix it by having the drivers swap. It took pleading for several laps to get the race leader to swap with his teammate.

Trust damaged? Our verdict on McLaren's team orders controversy

McLaren's team orders and the way Lando Norris reacted to them was the big talking point in the Hungarian GP. Our F1 writers give their take on how it was handled, and whether Norris was in the wrong

www.the-race.com

Verstappen had a rough day too, sparring with his engineer over comms all race, leading up to this incident.


View: https://www.threads.net/@fare_strategie_alla_ferrari/post/C9sclYYN_dG?xmt=AQGzKbeZK8Gq-RWbG_T-hjbDbAoiwqAo5965r8CLz_a7fA

 

[meStevo]

The lowlight of the race included Pato O'Ward's spin in a turn which was followed up by cars barely missing him, but then one car didn't

Yeah, just saw this.


View: https://www.threads.net/@girlslikeracing/post/C9siHikNGPt?xmt=AQGzKbeZK8Gq-RWbG_T-hjbDbAoiwqAo5965r8CLz_a7fA

 

[harshness]

Gnarly!

 

[Foxbat]

The lowlight of the race included Pato O'Ward's spin in a turn which was followed up by cars barely missing him, but then one car didn't, and the ones behind him didn't as well. Santino Ferucci flew up into the air. Luckily, it appears his lower tires touched the concrete wall first, which helped limit the impact on the catch fencing. That took out a number of cars.

This showed up in my YouTube feed, many angles of the incident. The comment about no yellow flags seemed to be accurate, at least no one was hurt. As harshness said, gnarly indeed:

​

 

[meStevo]

Announcers earned their money today. Relatively uneventful race all about management and race strategies.

Feel like this GP could have been another 10-15 laps and it'd have maybe been a bit more interesting, but maybe I'm not appreciating what the winner accomplished as a relatively newer fan.

 

[Yespage]

IMSA, Road America... the less said the better. Penske sweeps 1-2 at the checkered flag. Enough scrap pieces of cars left on the track, some fans were able to build their own race cars. Oi!

 

[meStevo]

So... pretty much cemented I'll never be a NASCAR fan if this is just seen as OK.


View: https://www.threads.net/@nascaronfox/post/C-jVmF6Rzq-?xmt=AQGzQaKqLAz-cKqO5ZHsmlt3eUYi5HSYbclhVvncKl3RHQ


His spotter said 'run him down, wreck him'. If that doesn't cross a line from 'rubbing is racing' and into it just being a destruction derby, I'm not sure what does.

Would NASCAR take away Austin Dillon's win at Richmond for last-lap incidents?

NASCAR will further examine Austin Dillon's actions and could issue a penalty Tuesday.

www.nbcsports.com