Quote:
Originally Posted by Marbles
KV should have 3 very strong cars, with good engineering and good crews.
Its being wasted by those 3 drivers though.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marbles
KV should have 3 very strong cars, with good engineering and good crews.
Its being wasted by those 3 drivers though.
Good to hear your going to pay for them Scotty :)
Marbles it was Simona who said it and admitted it was a mistake.
She thought she had pulled the paddle the right # of times to get 2nd put had used it once too often and went to first.
With the sequential box each pull means a downshift so if you miscount you get the wrong gear.
You have to go through each gear but there is no hesititation between.
No, I just expect professional teams in the top tier of racing, to actually be able to pay for them on their own.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alfa Fan
You know, like the teams that are kicking KV's ass do. ;)
I'm still digging out from three nights of camping at Barber.
There was a lot of talk about changes at the track, and the consensus was something should be done. I talked with a lot of my motorcycle riding buddies and one thing that is probably going to get done is bypassing the chicane that is turn 7 and turning 7 and 8 into one large sweeping, and possibly banked turn. That's something that's been talked about for a long time by the motorcycle guys and it seems to be be something both camps want.
In my opinion all they really need to do is put a hairpin turn at turn 5 for the Indy cars, bypass the chicane in the back stretch, bypass turn 11 and make what is now turn 12 a hard right hander into the 13-15 complex and you'll have several really solid passing areas and an interesting track while preserving the flowing aspects for motorcycles. At the very least they should straighten out, or widen the back stretch as that scrubs off a lot of speed.
Overall I have to say I was very impressed with Barber (outside the quality of racing). We camped their for three days, the crowd was a interesting mixture of motorcycle fans, "die hard," and "long time" open wheel fans, NASCAR fans high performance car guys and a lot of families. If you would have told me that you could draw that kind of crowd to that track two weeks before Talladega I probably wouldn't have believed you, but they got a good sized crowd there, some new corporate support and did it without having to rely on massive corporate giveaways.
Yes they have some work to do, like cutting down 100-200 trees to improve sight lines and maybe construct some grandstands, but for an inaugural event they did a great job and have a strong base to build on for the future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scotty G.
And we continue to expect that your expectations and reality are at opposite ends of the spectrum. With sponsorship at a premium where do you expect this money to suddenly come from?
Gary
Hey MDS,
Since you were there you can answer a question. Were the stands reserved or open for campers and others? From overhead shots the wooded areas were packed but bleacher seats had empty space. I could not tell if they were open due to heat and sun or cost.
Thanks.
One set of bleachers, the ones closest to turn 8, were open to general admission folks, another set was reserved for ticket holders and then there was another "Sky Box" area for corporate guests. I think the reason there were gaps was because the views offered by those stands weren't that great and it it was just easier and more comfortable to sit under the trees. My dad and I were on a hill way up above turn 14 with a couple hundred people.
There was some passing, but I wouldn't say it was as entertaining as Sao Paolo or St. Pete's was.Quote:
Originally Posted by garyshell
The revisions MDS mentions would probably help this....although I don't think they really need a hairpin at 5...I found that corner really was interesting as the passed fought back in that exit coming out to head back the other way....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scotty G.
So you want Kalkoven to just open up his bank account and fully fund PT for a season? Nice thought of you spending his money like that.
I suspect even with the ride buyers he has, he still is out of pocket a lot. Nothing wrong with KV to an extent that having more a little better engineering and management wouldn't cure. Jimmy does great work I am sure with helping whoever is behind the wheels, but I think they still need something with that team.
The fact is though, most teams are really struggling right now, and until ad budgets go up, and the IRL's popularity starts to grow, adversting agencies are not going to come to the IRL side pods with their clients. When THAT happens, then you will see a change in some of the drivers hired.
All in all I think this year is healthier actually for the quality of field.