IMSA Race Long Beach 2015

[TheMightyM]

Originally Posted by Lagunaseca_4life

Would be nice if the race was still 2 hours like it used to be with alms,Nothing changed race schedule wise.so what is it,these pro teams can't afford 20 more minutes?anyways I stayed off the web and this forum so I wouldn't know the winner.kinda glad I did,jeeze......

I hope this race goes back to two hours some day,and I dunno I kind of missed it.might be going back next year.

The race is simply easier to package for TV at an hour and 40 rather than 2 hours.

[jasonjessica09]

Originally Posted by TheMightyM

The race is simply easier to package for TV at an hour and 40 rather than 2 hours.

But it was not even live on Cable TV. It should have been long enough to make the DP cars have to pit twice at least.

Also that split start was a terrible idea. Made the field look even smaller than it was. Plus the two classes were half a lap apart. The GTLM's did not take the green until about 35-40 seconds after the prototypes

[joeb]

Originally Posted by CyberMotor

Thank you.

In theory, the P2s should have an advantage with fuel and I'm still attempting to get my head around why they don't have it in these races?

1. Is it because the DPs use more fuel and when they come in, their tanks are 95% empty and when a P2 comes in with a stint of the same length, they are 75% empty due to using less fuel?
2. If so, the Le Mans-type rule of no one working on the car while refueling is going on benefits the P2s but that rule is not being used so is that the reason the DPs are so good on fuel?
3. I also know that I had an old Chevy pickup and I purposely got a 6-cylinder for getting better mileage on a long trip. It turned out that it had to work so hard, especially, in the mountains that I was getting horrible mileage. I dropped a 350 cu in V8 with a big four barrel and got much better gas mileage (unless I put my foot into it).

Are any of these the reasons why?

My guess is #2. The P2 engines are working really hard, the HPD has been given a bigger restrictor and more boost to keep pace with the DPs. But the DPs dont have to stress their engines for similar power so they can make the fuel last longer. This was evident last year when we had competitive P2 cars, but likely won't be an issue this year. That being said, Laguna will give the Ligier a chance to shine. If they are lagging there the rest of the season will be rough.

[Lagunaseca_4life]

The liger will not shine at all ever as long as pew is in the car,I also cant recall Ozzie Negri ever being competitive at laguna even in a dp.i don't see p2 being any different,if they can follow esm's strategy like last year and win I will gladly eat my words......

[Rcz]

Smaller engine means higher revs, means less mileage.

Of course when your way out in front, you don't have to run as hard nor run it at full rich.

[nasportscar]

Great weekend from an IMSA side of things - some thoughts: http://nasportscar.com/arm-chair-rac...sc-long-beach/

[jasonjessica09]

Originally Posted by nasportscar

Great weekend from an IMSA side of things - some thoughts: http://nasportscar.com/arm-chair-rac...sc-long-beach/

Good analysis. Check it out guys. I agree Long Beach was a good event for the IMSA guys. Looks better for sure after PWC's issues. And lets be honest IndyCar just does not match the visual appeal that sportscar racing has. So yeah IMSA has the best race of the week at Long Beach for sure.

[Lagunaseca_4life]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

Good analysis. Check it out guys. I agree Long Beach was a good event for the IMSA guys. Looks better for sure after PWC's issues. And lets be honest IndyCar just does not match the visual appeal that sportscar racing has. So yeah IMSA has the best race of the week at Long Beach for sure.

Not just visual appeal but also audiable! One of my favorite thing at long beach is all the noise bouncing off the buildings and walls when the cars rocket full tilt past the front straight kink,dive into the fountain turn and blip the throttle,or when they tip in and out going through turn 9 to the hair pin,and if your ears are up to it sneak into the parking garage along the back straight just before early Friday morning practice.all the different engines screaming,especially the ferrari and my two all time favorites at long beach the rebellion toyota Lola and the aston Martin lola,it's awesome!!

Indy car.........well it's the same low rpm turbo thuddd,not terribly exciting but not boring either.

[nasportscar]

Data analysis via Ben Wedge http://nasportscar.com/bens-analysis-2015-long-beach/

[GT6]

just watched the race on tv, good battle in the proto class

[TzeiTzei]

I was quite pessimistic with the car count being so low, but it was a good race. Quality over quantity. No FCYs and with lapped traffic being so minimal it didn't really affect to prototypes' pace a lot. Good stuff. Shank has been disappointing since Daytona. And so have the Mazdas. The diesels looked promising at Daytona but since then they seem to have gone backwards. Getting a competitive P2 into this series could spice it up a bit.

[RWill2073]

Is anyone else sick of seeing john doonans dopey smiling face trying to put a positive spin on the joke that is the Mazda p2? The interview with him every race is embarrassing at best.

[nasportscar]

Total Team Performance rankings are updated from Long Beach http://nasportscar.com/total-team-pe...ce-long-beach/

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by RWill2073

Is anyone else sick of seeing john doonans dopey smiling face trying to put a positive spin on the joke that is the Mazda p2? The interview with him every race is embarrassing at best.

What's he supposed to do? Be open about the program being crap? Be honest about how stupid it is to use road car based components for a race program? Discuss how they aren't putting much in the terms of financial resources at it? Suggest that the Skyactiv-D isn't very good?

His corporate lifespan would be pretty bloody short if he said any of the above. they are slowly working on ditching the street components and are installing race-spec stuff.

[Deleted]

FS1 ratings are in for the two hour broadcast in 4-6PM Sunday slot:
0.1 (198,000)

Which is crap again, and not that far from the WEC Silverstone numbers (AM 0.1; 121,000), but some percentage had already watched it live so it's marginally lower than could've been if it was live on Saturday afternoon.

These tape delayed broadcasts are useless unless you are showing them on network FOX

[Matt]

"Not that far."

It's 76k more people out of ~200,000.

That's massive.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Matt

"Not that far."

It's 76k more people out of ~200,000.

That's massive.

No it's not, it's crap in TV world and ratings. And the WEC race was in morning-midday slot, not ideal late afternoon.

[Rcz]

They should have had it on FOX. They should be building an audience now not later.

They got a 1 with around million watching it on FOX late last year right? And they were taped races too.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Chiana

No it's not, it's crap in TV world and ratings. And the WEC race was in morning-midday slot, not ideal late afternoon.

There's a massive difference between 121k and 198k which you said was "not that far."

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Matt

There's a massive difference between 121k and 198k which you said was "not that far."

And once again, in TV ratings that 77k difference is nothing.

[nasportscar]

Paolo's report card from Long Beach http://nasportscar.com/the-report-card-2015-long-beach/

[mariantic]

Originally Posted by Chiana

And once again, in TV ratings that 77k difference is nothing.

Can you explain (quietly)?
Surely these are 77,000 "real living things with feelings"?
That's more than the population of the 5th largest city where I come from (and I guess you...)

Mariantic

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by mariantic

Can you explain (quietly)?
Surely these are 77,000 "real living things with feelings"?
That's more than the population of the 5th largest city where I come from (and I guess you...)

Mariantic

Yeah that's about 9,000 more than in the city I live in (and that's taking account all the nearby areas that count for that number) - of course it's a big mass of people by itself. But when you have TV ratings and we speak of potential TV viewership for a channel that reaches over 84 million potential people in the United States, it is nothing indeed. Ratings in the region of 0.0 and 0.2 do not cause celebration in any circle. If there is one country where ratings do matter - as in whether or not shows live or die - it's the US.

But to be fair, mainstream programming such as baseball and basketball and college football hasn't fared particularly well on FS either against the ESPN and other powerhouses.

[joeb]

It may not be a good "TV rating" but for sportscars on cable it is pretty solid. Those numbers represent people who wanted to watch, and likely very few who just stumbled upon. IMSA touts their numbers from races at the end of last season on Fox as being spectacular, but the numbers likely reflect people just leaving their tv on a channel before/after a football game and they weren't tuning in for the racing.

So yes we can get ~200,000 viewers on cable (which is similar to Indycar I believe?) but to move past that you have to somehow tap into the non-core viewers and no race series in the states has figured that one out yet (besides nascar).

[Danske]

Originally Posted by joeb

So yes we can get ~200,000 viewers on cable (which is similar to Indycar I believe?)[...]

I saw that Indycar at Barber got a 0.25 rating on NBCSN, guess that would be overnight at this point.