California 8H 2017

[jjvincent]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

Can you pay with your credit card or is it all cash?!

Even better. You just give them your credit card and it gets automatically charged at the end of the weekend. At least that better than some track pumps where they have a credit card on the pump but you can only get $50 at a time. One time at Road Atlanta, I timed it, it took 25 seconds for the pump to shut off. Then you had to go through the whole pump routine again.

[kevin993]

Quick takes -

1) Enjoyed the weekend, but the low car count in the main event was a bummer. Cars got strung out and ran alone much of the time. Multi-class racing can be a challenge, but creates some excitement and challenges.

2) I love endurance racing, but the event never really had an endurance feel to it (at least to me). After 2 hours or so, teams were just lapping with little dicing or racing. We didn't get much of the never say die, fix it to get it back out and finish feel.

3) No spectators. Even with friends and family of the teams, there was a pretty empty venue.

4) The track PA announcers were dreadful. I can't even humanly recall let alone replicate the pronunciation of driver names. Awful. Disrespectful.

5) There was clearly odd SRO/World Challenge/SCRAMP dynamics, but mostly worked out as people just went with it. But there was wierdness. The fan grid walk was a good example. Another example was that we were told in the briefing for media photographers that a firesuit and helmet was required to be anywhere in pit lane - even behind the wall. I've heard of that for over the wall, but never behind the wall. Of course, many team members, friends, etc. didn't have firesuits and helmets, so created an odd position of whether to respect the advice and put your credential at risk. I did, but not all did when it became clear it wasn't being enforced.

Will it be another Bathurst? I'm skeptical. Was it fun? Absolutely.

[jjvincent]

Maybe they should run it at CoTA. That place is set up like a European track and the pits will make all of the European teams feel welcome due to the wall can be removed. If you are not relying on the fans to show up just go to the track that obviously doesn't need them.

[MaskedRacer]

Originally Posted by jjvincent

Maybe they should run it at CoTA. That place is set up like a European track and the pits will make all of the European teams feel welcome due to the wall can be removed. If you are not relying on the fans to show up just go to the track that obviously doesn't need them.

The 24 hours of COTA in a couple weeks takes care of that already. You got small grids for this Laguna race and I don't expect the 12 hours of Sepang to get much either. I don't think this Intercontinental GT Challenge thing is working out too well. No criticism though. I like Stefan Ratel a lot! He has no issues with taking a risk and going for it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. Also I just love how he is so much a proponent of GT racing. He clearly does not like prototypes. I'm a GT fan first myself.

Sportscar racing world wide is much better for having Stefan Ratel around.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

The 24 hours of COTA in a couple weeks takes care of that already. You got small grids for this Laguna race and I don't expect the 12 hours of Sepang to get much either. I don't think this Intercontinental GT Challenge thing is working out too well. No criticism though.

It's not working too well at the moment when trying to make its own path (see here and Sepang). Tying its path to events which are either well-established (Spa 24h) or on a meteoric rise (Bathurst) seems to work though.

[Akrapovic]

The IGTC is only 1.5 years old. This is the first running of the Laguna Seca event, and Sepang is being shifted to Suzuka. I'm not sure what people really expected (other than maybe a little more cars), but it's a bit harsh to say it's not working. Moving the event to COTA just guarantees it'll fail, rather than giving it a fighting chance.

Is having a white line in the pit lane that the teams step over a big deal? Works everywhere else, it just changes what's behind the team members backs. That way you get consistent rules throughout.

I know everyone was a little disappointed with car count (me included), but otherwise the event seemed fine for a first running of an event in only the second year of a series.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

It's not working too well at the moment when trying to make its own path (see here and Sepang). Tying its path to events which are either well-established (Spa 24h) or on a meteoric rise (Bathurst) seems to work though.

Even Bathurst took quite a hit in the first year they switched to the GT3s - and the race itself was nothing to write home about either. So I think there's still hope for Laguna - or a different North American venue.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Even Bathurst took quite a hit in the first year they switched to the GT3s - and the race itself was nothing to write home about either. So I think there's still hope for Laguna - or a different North American venue.

True, but that was still slightly outside Ratel jurisdiction and they still had the weird combined race with Aus GT (and the Aus GT runners parked after one hour). I went to see it trackside in 2016 (the first year with the IGTC branding); it had the unmistakable feeling of an event on the ascendancy, even with a smaller entry.

But yes, agreed, if the tie-ups with local series and local runners are exploited correctly, there's no reason why the US event shouldn't grow on a similar pattern.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

The IGTC is only 1.5 years old. This is the first running of the Laguna Seca event, and Sepang is being shifted to Suzuka. I'm not sure what people really expected (other than maybe a little more cars), but it's a bit harsh to say it's not working. Moving the event to COTA just guarantees it'll fail, rather than giving it a fighting chance.

Is having a white line in the pit lane that the teams step over a big deal? Works everywhere else, it just changes what's behind the team members backs. That way you get consistent rules throughout.

I know everyone was a little disappointed with car count (me included), but otherwise the event seemed fine for a first running of an event in only the second year of a series.

Yeah, a spinning car with a wall to your back means you can get pinned between the car and wall, instead of getting more room to move about into a garage.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Matt

Yeah, a spinning car with a wall to your back means you can get pinned between the car and wall, instead of getting more room to move about into a garage.

If we're playing what-ifs, then the situation you've mentioned works even if you remove the white line. As soon as the people are over that wall, they're now in danger of being pinned - especially if the fuel on that side, or when changing tyres on that side. That "what-if" scenario paints with or without the line equally as poorly, and the only difference is pure timing.

Series need consistency. It isn't any more dangerous than the pit stop itself. It looks a bit odd because we've never witnessed such a thing before, but it's no more dangerous than the rest of the pit stop. It's very similar to when IMSA installed walls at COTA - it's just a way of keeping the rules the same so you can have consistency. It looks very silly, but if it means you aren't changing the rule book for individual events then it's a good thing.

--

I know the car count was low, and the race itself wasn't thrilling, but I've seen worse and for a first event in a very young series, it really wasn't bad. The first few races of the combined IMSA series was an absolute cluster and looked like it was laying the groundwork for a horrendous future. And now it's become one of the best series in the world.

[Bcarr6]

I think it's unfair to judge this race on its grid size from the first running. It's a outstanding venue, some outstanding cars, and I'd say a pretty decent run length. All the makings of a great classic. If only they could tie it into the Monterey concours and classics festival in some way, I know it's modern Racing but what a way to showcase the spot


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[schmidder]

I think running it a week after petition hurt too. If us teams are gonna show, I would think gtd teams would be more likely that world challenge. Also, I thought the point of using the weekend it did this year was to piggy back on the world challenge gt finale, only it was over at sonoma. No one at laguna seca bothered to update the website, pretty misleading.

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[jjvincent]

No one at laguna seca bothered to update the website, pretty misleading.

Not misleading at all. It's the difference when you rent the track as opposed to the track paying a sanction fee. This is why they don't advertise a lapping event. They rent the track and thus, the track is providing their end of the deal.

It's just like at CoTA and the Creventic event. They rent the track and CoTA provides the services. No need to promote the race, thus it's hard to find info on it. You have to remember, "Pro" sportscar racing in the US is becoming this way. There was a day when an SCCA club event would draw 20K spectators, lucky to get that for a Pro event today. So, it's the job of the sanctioning body to just get the track rented and everything up and running. At that point, the event is a go and if spectators show up, that's a bonus.

[schmidder]

Uh, the laguna seca website was misleading or just wrong if you want the truth, you seem to be arguing who was responsible for it. It had pictures of the gt class, and said it was the championship round, so it was misleading..

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