IMSA Race Daytona 24 Hrs - Roarlex Act ii

[seanyb505]

Meant to start this thread last week as to encompass the Roar immediately before the 24 and the actual 24 Hr race taking place within a 7 day time span. Following a brief 2 day intermission, cars will be on track starting Wednesday January 27.

In a new season that I personally feared might be the first of two lame duck seasons before the LMDh regs in 2023, there's still things worth looking forward to and noting.


- Mazda MX-5 Cup will run with IMSA again starting this year and will be present at Daytona. Their two races will be Thursday evening and Friday morning around brunch.
- New Acura teams. WTR and MSR will campaign the two Acuras in 2021. I don't think either team had a necessarily strong Roar or qualifying race, but both teams feature strong line-ups and patience to keep in contention over 24 hours when not quite featuring at the speedy end of the field.
- That Cadillac. I'll be the first to admit I yawn when media outlets lose their mind of nascar drivers entering sportscar races. Having said that, the 48 Cadillac feels like a huge hail mary of a lineup and it'll be interesting to see what result they can achieve.
- P2 class has 10 entrants, probably the largest number of P2 entries in IMSA in a long time (I may fact check this during the race unless someone in the class knows the answer). Quality looks to be about 50/50, and the class wasn't ignoring during the Motul 100. The more professional teams should be entertaining to watch. Also of note on the entry list, one Robert Kubica is listed with "?" as his nationality. I may also look that up during the race.
- P3 in the big show. There's some decent talent sprinkled in this class. I'll be interested to see which Am drivers throw this one away and in what fashion. I know some may lament the inclusion of the class. It's definitely helping shape the 50/50 blend of prototypes and GT cars in the field. IMO the P3 V8s do have a pleasant in person exhaust note. Enjoy it if you're track side!
- GTLM Maybe the racing will be good? It's difficult to be excited for the current 6 car field knowing it'll eventually drop to Corvettes & Cooper. Could be worse, and maybe the P3 cars will add some spice to the GTLM pace and race management. Hope all teams can keep it clean. At least at the green flag, these two classes in particular will be separated by quite some real estate if the same protocol is followed as the Motul 100.
- GTD is by far the largest class with 19 of the 49 entries. Lots of familiar faces here. Potentially surprising there's only 1 NSX on the entry - wasn't it touted as the car to have as 2020 drew to a close? The strength in numbers award goes to 911 teams with 4 entries. Would have been 5 before the Tim Pappas withdrawal. Otherwise there's decent variety in the class, usually one of my favorite aspects of GT3 racing.


- Michelin Pilot Challenge is usually decent racing and helps me get excited for the main race. This year's 4 hour race takes place during second-lunch and dinner appetizer hours of 135-535 on Friday.
-GS has decent variety and will host the debut IMSA race for the Toyota Supra GT4 in the states. (Has it raced anywhere else yet?)
- TCR should be an interesting watch as this class usually features fairly close racing, at least for a while. Hyundai represents about a 3rd of the class, and I'm surprised to see the next numerous car is the Honda. I've felt that car has struggled with the tire the most over the last few years. It was reported there has been an evolution of the S9M dubbed S9M+ for the front axles of TCR cars.

Overall the Daytona track doesn't really get me going as a track, but the start of the season and being back to racing has got me looking forward to the weekend. Links of various shapes and sizes to help follow the event:

Schedule - Daytona 24 green flag at 3:40PM EST


Entry List

Weather

Session Results

Spotter Guides

Link to this thread

Live Timing - A few different options here. theracingline.net/timing/ utilizes the alkamel systems feed a lot of us are used to and love. I know you can also download a desktop app with that feed which includes some additional options. IMSA tweaks the feed into a different presentation which I feel doesn't quite allow you to geek out as much. Your mileage may vary.

Streaming and other watching - NBC proper will air the start and end of the race. It'll flip over to NBCSN during various points. I'm not 100% of their broad casting schedule. All races during the event should be available on Trackpass as was the case last year. International viewers should be able to utilize IMSA.tv with the RLM commentary. A few tenthers reported spotty streaming during the Motul 100. I'm sure at some point the internet will stick a stream on youtube.

Daughter's birthday was yesterday, so no now 2yo party shenanigans to deal with on race day this year. That'll allow me to focus on food and drink.

Seanyb505's 2021 Daytona 24 Hotdog/drinking game:
- Driver's Start engines - start pouring your drink
- Race starts - start your hotdog (This assumes you have adequately cooked your hotdog of whatever national heritage you choose)
- First yellow flag caused by a P3 car - drink
- It's a super long yellow relative to the actual incident - finish your drink, start another hotdog
- Lack of rain causes commentators to start calculating record distance - finish your hotdog, start another drink
- 4 hour green flag run - take a nap
- Any lull in the race filled by discussing how there's so many drivers from other disciplines - take a shot of whatever national drink dictated by the nationality of your favorite special appearance driver's
- Overnight fog red flag - sleep
- Sun rises on Daytona - breakfast hotdog with eggs (skip breakfast if it's cloudy)
- 24 1 hour sprints and just needing to make it to the last hour mentioned - take a drink for every remaining hour of the race (This may also be a finish your drink if it happens early enough in the race)


Bring on the racing!

[GriffM3]

thanks for putting this together and looking forward tot he granddaddy of motorsports races in North America!!!

Forza BMW!!!

[Racing Harz]

The Supra GT4 raced 2020 on the Nordschleife, in British GT, GT4 European Series, DTM Trophy, FFSA GT4, in Japan...

[seanyb505]

Well good on them then. Hope their first Floridian Atlantic coast outing is a positive one!

[joeb]

Originally Posted by seanyb505

Well good on them then. Hope their first Floridian Atlantic coast outing is a positive one!

Fantastic opening post as always! I feel like there should be a part in your game where you drink if somebody says hi to your family at home or mentions Scott Pruett at all. Possibly another drink if someone mentions the Daytona 500 coming up.

[WyldStallion]

Wow a 3:40 pm race start on Saturday afternoon. That has to be the latest ever. I don't know if I like that or not. Sleep in on Saturday morning and get nap on Saturday evening if you can.

Not attending race in person this year unfortunately. Wife has internship stuff going on plus with a family you feel like going to the theme parks down in Florida but not this year with mask mandates.

Will probably use NBC Track Pass for start, but in the night time I enjoy just having the engine noises from the on-board streams and the live timing and that's it. Saving the TV/IMSA Radio commentary for the daylight. I follow the GT classes mainly so that allows me to do that more.

[ATLFalconsFAN]

Originally Posted by joeb

Fantastic opening post as always! I feel like there should be a part in your game where you drink if somebody says hi to your family at home or mentions Scott Pruett at all. Possibly another drink if someone mentions the Daytona 500 coming up.

Another one would be doing a shot anytime Shea Adam mentions it being cold. Or Rodney Sandstorm or Taylor's dogs name is mentioned.

[seanyb505]

Hey man I don't make the rules I just play by them.

I honestly forgot about hi to my family at home. Feels like as far as family at home communications go, he went to the grocery store for some milk after Sir Bill Auberlen passed him in the IMSA wins column.

Re: Shea, maybe I'll add some food/drink rule for whenever they spend 3 hours developing some story line without speaking to the driver in the car, and then upon exit of the car the driver has no idea what's going on and Shea just looks like a mean girl throwing inside jokes at innocent bystanders.

[GriffM3]

BMW M8 handed 20kg weight increase by IMSA. Well their goes a competitive race in GTLM. Corvette assured or victory.

[seanyb505]

Yikes they must be the heaviest car in class now to match the size..

Wait no, still 20kg lighter than Corvette and Ferrari. 25kg lighter than the Porsche. Well now they're assured to beat cooper.

[Gingers4Justice]

Always surprised how light the M8 is. Body shell must be made out of rice cakes.

[GriffM3]

no doubt, for as big as the M8 boat is its amazing BMW was able to shave as much weight off of it.

They wont have that issue with the M4 GT3 next year though.

[justracing]

Is the race streamed live please?

[GriffM3]

Yes it will be streamed on imsa.tv I believe.

[justracing]

Many thanks, just found their You tube site. Just wondering if any of the qualifying sessions will be streamed also, trawling around their site is like wading through treacle!

[seanyb505]

That looks like a decent timing link, thanks! Is there a sitemap for that source? It's currently not showing the ongoing Pilot Challenge race.

Trackpass muted with RLM is my default. Getting the two synced isn't that difficult and you can usually get it within milliseconds by the first round of pit stops. Onboards and air guns are great markers.

Pilot Challenge race has been decent so far. Not the greatest ever, but entertaining enough for a Friday afternoon at work. The Toyota is incredibly quiet/dull sounding.

[belt driven]

Originally Posted by seanyb505

...Getting the two synced isn't that difficult and you can usually get it within milliseconds by the first round of pit stops. Onboards and air guns are great markers.

Tried that. TP is 50-odd seconds behind IMSA timing/RLM.

[WyldStallion]

Originally Posted by seanyb505

That looks like a decent timing link, thanks! Is there a sitemap for that source? It's currently not showing the ongoing Pilot Challenge race.

Trackpass muted with RLM is my default. Getting the two synced isn't that difficult and you can usually get it within milliseconds by the first round of pit stops. Onboards and air guns are great markers.

Pilot Challenge race has been decent so far. Not the greatest ever, but entertaining enough for a Friday afternoon at work. The Toyota is incredibly quiet/dull sounding.

I usually don't listen to IMSA Radio live unless its a safety car period. I like to save their commentary for the youtube replay.

[Akrapovic]

Well that Pilot race was very enjoyable wasn't it?

[WyldStallion]

Could we get a 3rd straight year of DPI, GTLM, and GTD winner being Cadillac, BMW, and Lamborghini respectively?

Caddy has won every Daytona 24 in the DPI era going back to 2017. I think it would be cool if they end up winning all of them. DPI ends in 2022.

[WyldStallion]

Apparently Gradiant Racing team...the #22 Acura from IMSA Sprint Cup last year, is running the SunEnergy1 #75 Mercedes.

[fieldodreams79]

Just took a tour of the entry list and this is one of the strongest driver lineups I've seen at this race in some time! So many from a variety of other racing categories. And at nearly 50 entries, I'm really looking forward to this one!

And looking at weather.com, they have it down as a 1 to 7 % chance of precip this evening through the end of the race...WTF does that mean? Floridians?

Originally Posted by seanyb505

Seanyb505's 2021 Daytona 24 Hotdog/drinking game:
- Driver's Start engines - start pouring your drink
- Race starts - start your hotdog (This assumes you have adequately cooked your hotdog of whatever national heritage you choose)
- First yellow flag caused by a P3 car - drink
- It's a super long yellow relative to the actual incident - finish your drink, start another hotdog
- Lack of rain causes commentators to start calculating record distance - finish your hotdog, start another drink
- 4 hour green flag run - take a nap
- Any lull in the race filled by discussing how there's so many drivers from other disciplines - take a shot of whatever national drink dictated by the nationality of your favorite special appearance driver's
- Overnight fog red flag - sleep
- Sun rises on Daytona - breakfast hotdog with eggs (skip breakfast if it's cloudy)
- 24 1 hour sprints and just needing to make it to the last hour mentioned - take a drink for every remaining hour of the race (This may also be a finish your drink if it happens early enough in the race)

Bring on the racing!

Yessir! And thanks for starting the thread! I'll have a go with the hotdog / drinking but likely replacing hotdogs with a steak at some point and i did just have some cheesy, ham eggs this morning and it's cloudy here so I'm ahead of the game or cheating!!

[WyldStallion]

I wonder if the viewing habits of anyone will change because of the late 3:40 pm start? It will for me. Watch the race until it gets dark at the start of the 3rd hour and take a long nap. The overnight hours will still be the 'early" part of the race. Sunrise will still be the early part of the 2nd half of the race.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Just took a tour of the entry list and this is one of the strongest driver lineups I've seen at this race in some time! So many from a variety of other racing categories. And at nearly 50 entries, I'm really looking forward to this one!

It is amazing how many 'stars' there are, and how they are distributed through the different classes. Great publicity-wise for the race.

Enjoy the race all.

I would love to see Risi take the GTLM class.

[Ferrari333SP]

Really looking forward to this one; hoping for an all-out fight, especially with very little chance of bad weather