Double File: Barber v. Long Beach

[ChicagocrewIRL]

It was absolutely horrendous those starts and restarts at Long Beach in both IndyCar and Indy Lights. Where the hell was the acceleration cone for Long Beach ? Right after the hairpin ? It should have been placed 100 yards before start finish to keep the leader from pulling away before everyone got past the hairpin. The starts and restarts at Barber were a thing of beauty and I'm just at a loss as to what happened at Long Beach. It looked like a 4th tier racing series with 4th rate drivers on the starts and restarts. At first I absolutely hated the idea of double file restarts, but after Barber I thought wow, we gotta keep this. Then Long Beach comes along and the whole darn thing is totally mismanaged and set up wrong. The drivers should not have been allowed to accelerate to speed right after the hairpin. That would have allowed for much better alignment at the green flag. Bad bad bad IndyCar race management. Just Bad

[nigelred5]

Restarts have ALWAYS been horrid at Longbeach thanks to the hairpin. I had hoped they would really enforce the acceleration point as well , but the first turn has always been a historical crashfest, so I suspect they were trying (unsuccessfully) to minimize the accordion affect that happenend over and over and over in the first turn @ St Pete. I think the most 2x2 I saw all race was MAYBE 4 cars and even then Helio found a way to take out a team mate.

I believe it was Tony Cottman that opened up the last turn in the champcar days. I'd just as soon see the hairpin dissappear and make it a chicane into a right turn onto shoreline, but I'm sure some jackwagon would find a way to drive straight into the wall on shoreline if they did.

[ChicagocrewIRL]

Restarts have ALWAYS been horrid at Longbeach thanks to the hairpin. I had hoped they would really enforce the acceleration point as well , but the first turn has always been a historical crashfest, so I suspect they were trying (unsuccessfully) to minimize the accordion affect that happenend over and over and over in the first turn @ St Pete. I think the most 2x2 I saw all race was MAYBE 4 cars and even then Helio found a way to take out a team mate.

I believe it was Tony Cottman that opened up the last turn in the champcar days. I'd just as soon see the hairpin dissappear and make it a chicane into a right turn onto shoreline, but I'm sure some jackwagon would find a way to drive straight into the wall on shoreline if they did.

how long is that front stretch and how far down in distance is the start/finish from the hairpin ? just from looking at the diagrams of the track, it looks like there is a fair amount of room from the hairpin to the start/finish to get good alignment for starts/restarts IF they positioned and enforced the acceleration point more than halfway down. I guess you are right about wanting to avoid a pile up but that should be on these professional drivers not the rules. The challenge of this restart format is there, and it is a manageable challenge. It would showcase the skill of these drivers if they could do it.

and on another completely different timing issue .... what was up with that FA-18 flyby 5 minutes after the anthem ended LOL

[tfisch100]

The hairpin is the problem for LB. The cars need to go through the last few corners side-by-side or you are never going to have good double file starts. The walls on either side of the hairpin prevent cars from double file at LB. The hairpin at Sonoma will be different. It is much wider with lots os runoff space for the cars.

Mid-ohio is going to cause a problem if they try to use the regular start/finish line. If they relegate the start and finishes to the back staight, they should be okay. The hairpin there is wide enough.

Lets just get the standing starts so we can change the topic of this debate.

[ChicagocrewIRL]

The hairpin is the problem for LB. The cars need to go through the last few corners side-by-side or you are never going to have good double file starts. The walls on either side of the hairpin prevent cars from double file at LB. The hairpin at Sonoma will be different. It is much wider with lots os runoff space for the cars.

Mid-ohio is going to cause a problem if they try to use the regular start/finish line. If they relegate the start and finishes to the back staight, they should be okay. The hairpin there is wide enough.

Lets just get the standing starts so we can change the topic of this debate.

Well thats only half the battle.... can't do standing RESTARTS and single file strung out restarts aren't the answer either. The crowds at St. Pete and Barber proved that the double file restarts add excitement. It's all a natter of how it can be simply and effectively managed for each unique road/street course.

[SoCalPVguy]

and on another completely different timing issue .... what was up with that FA-18 flyby 5 minutes after the anthem ended LOL

It was foggy in LB that morning and it delayed the flyby about 10 minutes as they waited for the ceiling to lift.

[ChicagocrewIRL]

It was foggy in LB that morning and it delayed the flyby about 10 minutes as they waited for the ceiling to lift.

darn fog ruined a goose bump moment, just like brian barnhart

[nigelred5]

how long is that front stretch and how far down in distance is the start/finish from the hairpin ? just from looking at the diagrams of the track, it looks like there is a fair amount of room from the hairpin to the start/finish to get good alignment for starts/restarts IF they positioned and enforced the acceleration point more than halfway down. I guess you are right about wanting to avoid a pile up but that should be on these professional drivers not the rules. The challenge of this restart format is there, and it is a manageable challenge. It would showcase the skill of these drivers if they could do it.

and on another completely different timing issue .... what was up with that FA-18 flyby 5 minutes after the anthem ended LOL

The ceiling was too low for the fly-by at the time of the anthem from what I read but the jets were already in the air, so they did the flyby once the sea mist cleared enough. Same reason the parachute team was scubbed.

[elan 02]

We heard on the scanner BB wanted a broken starting group, because of the driver concern (whinning)