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14 Sep 2016, 22:21 (Ref:3672417) | #1 | ||
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Round 16: GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Sonoma, CA. 16 - 18 September, 2016.
Round 16: GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Sonoma, CA. 16 - 18 September, 2016.
So here we are again and as the late James Hunt was fond of saying, "It's all over bar the shouting.", well almost, as we go into the final round of the 2016 season, which has produced some excellent racing and a good season overall. Originally known as Sears Point Raceway, the track was built in 1968 by attorney Robert Marshall Jr. and land developer Jim Coleman. The first official race, an SCCA event, was held on Dec. 1, that year. It was sold in 1969 to Filmways Corp., a Los Angeles based entertainment company. In April 1970, Sears Point hosted the 2nd round of the USAC Championship Car season, the Golden Gate 150, which was won by Dan Gurney in his AAR Eagle-Ford. This would be the first and last AOWR/IndyCar race for 35 years. With losses of $300,000 the venue closed in May 1970 and Filmways Corp., used it as a tax shelter. The track re-opened in 1973 and in 1974, it was leased to Bob Bondurant, owner of the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving and eventually bought by Black Mountain Inc., which included Bondurant. In 1981, When Black Mountain Inc., defaulted on payments, the track was bought back by Filmways Corp., and then subsequently sold at auction to a business group that included the 1964 NHRA top-fuel drag racing champion, Jack Williams. The track came under the control of Brenda Raceway Corp., when business partners Dr. Frank N. Scott Jr. and Harvey "Skip" Berg came on board. It was sold in 1996 to current owners Speedway Motorsports, Inc. In 2002, Infineon bought the naming rights in a 10 year deal, renaming the track Infineon Raceway. When the deal expired, the new name of Sonoma Raceway was chosen, rather than reverting to its former name Sears Point. AOWR/IndyCar returned on August 28, 2005, after a 35 year absence, with Tony Kanaan wining the IRL's inaugural race at the venue, the Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix, for Andretti Green Racing in a Dallara IR05-Honda HI5R. Since then the race has been an IndyCar perennial and last year hosted the series finale for the first time. Some trivia: The driver with the most wins: 3, Scott Dixon, 2007, 2014, 2015. 3, Will Power: 2010, 2011, 2013. The team with most wins: 5 Team Penske: 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. The full length road course, is 2.523 miles (4.060 km), with 12-turns and 160 foot change in elevation. It also has a quarter mile (402 m) dragstrip. which was originally part of the start/finish line straight. In 2001, the race track was separated from the drag strip. The venue also hosts rounds for other series, including AMA Superbikes, NASCAR Sprint Cup, NHRA Championship Drag Racing, SCCA and WTCC, as well as IndyCar and can accomodate different layouts for each series. Since 2005, the IndyCar track layout has changed. From 2005 to 2007, IndyCar raced on a modified version of the 2.320 miles (3.733 km) layout used by the AMA. This layout was further revised, with the approach to Turn 7 straightened and was used from 2008 to 2011. The most notable change though, was in 2012. The section from Turn 10 to Turn 11 was extended by 200 feet, with the hairpin now at Turn 11B, increasing the track length to 2.385 miles (3.838 km) and giving drivers more space to out-brake each other and set up a passing opportunity, before going into Turn 12. The exit off Turn 9, the Bus Stop, was widened by 10 feet on the driver’s left, giving additional width to what was already a passing zone and Turn 7 became a u-turn similar to Turn 11B. Track Layout: Original full circuit 2005 - 2007 IndyCar circuit 2008 - 2011 IndyCar circuit Current IndyCar circuit Length: 2.385 Miles (3.838 km) Turns: 12 Lap record: August 29, 2015. Will Power, 01:16.2597, 112.589 mph (181.194 kmh). Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet Indy V6, Verizon IndyCar Series Last year's winner: Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara DW12-Chevrolet Indy V6 Laps: 85 Distance: 195.755 Miles (315.010 km) Race Time: 2:09:14 Average Speed: 94.117 mph (1151.46 kmh) TV Coverage: NBCSN, 6:30pm EST. |
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"If you're not winning you're not trying." Colin Chapman. |
14 Sep 2016, 22:45 (Ref:3672421) | #2 | ||
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The turn 7 hairpin is too dangerous. It should be reverted to the 2008-11 layout.
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Nitropteron - Fly fast or get crushed! by NaBUrean Prodooktionz naburu38.itch.io |
16 Sep 2016, 03:03 (Ref:3672715) | #3 | ||
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The 2005-07 layout did not use the 7A "Budweiser Bottleneck" wider exit to the hairpin turn that NASCAR uses.
I'd say that the (more or less) original configuration of Turn 7, used in 2005-07, was the best layout for it. It's that stupidly acute apex at the entry that leads to all those spear-jobs, punts, and spins. Opening it up with the old corner entry, and leaving the straighter corner exit, also just seems like the best solution for promoting good overtaking. What I have for the track lengths that USAC and IRL/IndyCar have used is as follows: 1970- 2.520 miles 2005-07- 2.300 miles 2008-11- 2.303 miles Current- 2.385 miles No matter how you slice it, so long as they use the Turn 9 chicane and the truncated Turn 11, the racing is going to suffer significantly. Just as a reference, I'd expect the current cars to lap, in Qualifying, in the 1:09s on the 2.520-mile layout. |
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16 Sep 2016, 18:27 (Ref:3672831) | #4 | ||
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Practice 1 is streaming live right now.
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The only certainty is that nothing is certain. |
17 Sep 2016, 19:10 (Ref:3673153) | #5 | ||
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Andretti leads P3 with a 1:16.305. The existing fastest lap for these cars on this layout is a 1:16.260, so we're getting mighty close with Qualifying to come.
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The only certainty is that nothing is certain. |
18 Sep 2016, 10:49 (Ref:3673633) | #6 | ||
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Qualifying
1 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.2565s 2 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.4134s 3 Juan Pablo Montoya, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.5400s 4 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.6659s 5 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.7149s 6 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.9132s 7 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.5700s 8 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.5840s 9 Sebastien Bourdais, KVSH Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.6115s 10 Josef Newgarden, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.8142s 11 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.8909s 12 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.9627s 13 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.9481s 14 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.9288s 15 Takuma Sato, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.9661s 16 Carlos Munoz, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m17.0314s 17 Jack Hawksworth, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Honda. 1m17.0823s 18 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m17.1310s 19 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m17.3052s 20 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m17.1926s 21 Conor Daly, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m17.6771s 22 R.C. Enerson, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m17.3264s |
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"If you're not winning you're not trying." Colin Chapman. |
18 Sep 2016, 15:48 (Ref:3673721) | #7 | ||
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Scott Dixon 7th, I'm disappointed...
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Nitropteron - Fly fast or get crushed! by NaBUrean Prodooktionz naburu38.itch.io |
18 Sep 2016, 22:45 (Ref:3673836) | #8 | ||
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Nice. I have found a stream. Russian commentary (or similar), but it will have to do.
The quality of the pictures is excellent though. Last edited by bjohnsonsmith; 18 Sep 2016 at 22:59. Reason: Sorry hit the edit tab by mistake. |
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18 Sep 2016, 22:51 (Ref:3673840) | #9 | ||
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A very clean start but Kanaan tags Aleshin at Turn 7. Both got going again so fortunately no FCY.
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"If you're not winning you're not trying." Colin Chapman. |
18 Sep 2016, 22:53 (Ref:3673844) | #10 | ||
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Did I see that correctly? A marshall CAN run on track without a full course yellow after all?
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18 Sep 2016, 22:59 (Ref:3673846) | #11 | |||
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Quote:
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"If you're not winning you're not trying." Colin Chapman. |
18 Sep 2016, 23:16 (Ref:3673848) | #12 | ||
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thanks
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18 Sep 2016, 23:40 (Ref:3673854) | #13 | ||
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Looks like Power is out of power.
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"If you're not winning you're not trying." Colin Chapman. |
18 Sep 2016, 23:41 (Ref:3673855) | #14 | ||
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"Knowing that it's in you and you never let it out Is worse than blowing any engine or any wreck you'll ever have." -Mike Cooley |
18 Sep 2016, 23:42 (Ref:3673856) | #15 | ||
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Congrats to Pagenaud, it's done now.
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18 Sep 2016, 23:48 (Ref:3673857) | #16 | ||
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Whatever happens to Pagenaud he's won, so congrats.
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"If you're not winning you're not trying." Colin Chapman. |
19 Sep 2016, 00:39 (Ref:3673876) | #17 | ||
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8 laps to go, Pagenaud is now officially the 2016 champion.
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19 Sep 2016, 00:47 (Ref:3673878) | #18 | ||
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Disappointing end with Powers gearbox troubles but a great season. Indycar delivered again in 2016 and made strides in building its fan base with progression of crowds and tv numbers.
Thoroughly enjoyed it. Congrats to Pagenaud as champion. |
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Upon entry into the Bathurst 1000, it should be mandatory to view the compelling "Moffat - Man and the Mountain" film |
19 Sep 2016, 00:50 (Ref:3673879) | #19 | |
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Couldn't happen to a better guy!
Great to have a new Champion. I tried hard to like the aero on these cars. Still appears as experimental to me. If they could just reduce the rear elements by 50 % , that would look better. |
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19 Sep 2016, 00:53 (Ref:3673880) | #20 | ||
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I can officially say congrats to Simon Pagenaud, a very worthy and popular champion and congrats to Penske in their 50th year.
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"If you're not winning you're not trying." Colin Chapman. |
19 Sep 2016, 01:06 (Ref:3673882) | #21 | ||
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Funny how Aleshin is (one of) the first drivers to come over and congratulate Simon - in victory lane.
Do they have some history together? EDIT: Of course, they were teammates at Schmidt 2 years ago. |
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19 Sep 2016, 01:17 (Ref:3673887) | #22 | ||
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Nicely done, Simon. Nice words to team as well as their families. Nice stamp on the championship with a pretty dominating win.
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"Knowing that it's in you and you never let it out Is worse than blowing any engine or any wreck you'll ever have." -Mike Cooley |
19 Sep 2016, 03:03 (Ref:3673935) | #23 | ||
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Congratulations to Simon, he deserved it. Unfortunate that the last race of the season turned out to be the biggest yawner of the year but they can't all be aces. I'd actually like to see the last race of the year be at Watkins Glen, or at least somewhere the cars can pass.
It was a good season and great for me as I got to attend Sebring testing, St. Pete, Barber, and the Indy 500 in person. Looking forward to next season and will be interested to see how the driver shuffling plays out in the off season. 6 months is a pretty long off season but at least we'll get to see about half the drivers in action at the Rolex 24 like usual. |
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RacefastsafecaR |
19 Sep 2016, 03:53 (Ref:3673961) | #24 | ||||
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Quote:
Quote:
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"Knowing that it's in you and you never let it out Is worse than blowing any engine or any wreck you'll ever have." -Mike Cooley |
19 Sep 2016, 06:30 (Ref:3673991) | #25 | |||
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Quote:
There was lots of speculation during the race about who is going to be driving for whom, so we're going to be in for quite an interesting Silly season. It's a bit of shame there'll be a freeze on aero-kits, as Honda are starting to look good and have made inroads in to Chevy's dominance. Anyway, roll on next season. |
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"If you're not winning you're not trying." Colin Chapman. |
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