Sebring '24

[tomcug]

Finally watched the last two hours of the race It was quite messy in the final one with two yellows... Still, great drive by Deletraz to take the victory and the Ligier LMP2 finishing 4th was fun to see.

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by tomcug

Finally watched the last two hours of the race It was quite messy in the final one with two yellows... Still, great drive by Deletraz to take the victory and the Ligier LMP2 finishing 4th was fun to see.

Is the full replay up already? I missed the last couple of hours of the race as well, sounds like it was a typical hectic end to any race at Sebring.

[tomcug]

The live video on YouTube is available as replay now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OneqE378TLE
But it's missing the final 30 minutes. Last 7 minutes here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-32HdsennM

[J Jay]

Thanks. I'll wait for the full replay in that case and watch the highlights for now.

[skycafe]

I missed the start, but catching up now and watching a highlights video-how Rigon's Risi Ferrari and those around and behind him managed to not end up in a giant heep...

[flatlandsman]

Some of the GT driving towards the end was a bit pathetic to be quite honest.

As the box crew say we only see parts of the action, they see all of it in the stewards room so some penalties or lack seemed harsh.

I have no idea what was going on with penske at the end, their pit strategy seemed at odds with everything, and the car was clearly awful on old tyres early on.

Felt sorry for Sea Bass, Caddy were dominant all day and maybe the car dropped off at night and the Acura came good, BMW looked very good at last and fair play to Lambo, I thought Grosjean trying to keep a lap ahead was superb and that race will do them good.

But it all goes to the Ligier, 4th in LMP2, simply superb.

[tomcug]

Full replay is available with the final 30 minutes as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raO3H4bqYFo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iezP_eQgfsE

[Adam43]

GTP Pace guide.

Acura at the top, although the fastest Cadillac ended up on it's roof Over more laps Cadillac had the advantage, but fastest went to Acura.

Interestingly the winner's 140th + laps are slower than the Porsches.

Average Lap time (ranked top 100)

Rank	Car	Fastest	Top 50	Top 100	Top 200	Laps
1	10 Acura	1:49.620	1:50.626	1:50.965	1:51.626	333
2	01 Cadillac	1:50.186	1:50.731	1:51.038	1:51.577	332
3	25 BMW	1:49.917	1:50.762	1:51.060	1:51.668	333
4	40 Acura	1:49.497	1:50.744	1:51.115	1:51.865	333
5	31 Cadillac	1:49.817	1:50.801	1:51.210	2:01.343	210
6	24 BMW	1:50.235	1:50.948	1:51.294	1:51.924	333
7	7 Porsche	1:50.280	1:51.033	1:51.305	1:51.878	333
8	6 Porsche	1:49.925	1:51.078	1:51.513	1:52.470	331
9	5 Porsche	1:49.799	1:51.172	1:51.536	1:52.272	333
10	63 Lamborghini	1:50.150	1:51.398	1:51.832	1:52.604	323
11	85 Porsche	1:50.672	1:51.448	1:51.965	NA	178

Chart shows the fastest by Top 100 for each. Also added the fastest lap and winner.

[PhilipR]

Interesting that in both Daytona and Sebring , the Caddys were faster and more consistent from the start but by end of race others have caught up.
Is this a set-up thing or are the Caddys just full-on from start and the others just bidding their time? The Vanthoor brothers commented on how at Daytona all manus in the morning found an extra step whilst the Caddys did not and were caught up

[fieldodreams79]

Sounds like a rough time for some folks trackside as the norovirus was going around.... Charlie. I can emphasize. 2009 PLM. Probably the worst time I've ever had at the track.



Also, what a beautiful shot. The second couch sacrificed post race.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3428...2399035632122/

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

Some of the GT driving towards the end was a bit pathetic to be quite honest.

As the box crew say we only see parts of the action, they see all of it in the stewards room so some penalties or lack seemed harsh.

I have no idea what was going on with penske at the end, their pit strategy seemed at odds with everything, and the car was clearly awful on old tyres early on.

Felt sorry for Sea Bass, Caddy were dominant all day and maybe the car dropped off at night and the Acura came good, BMW looked very good at last and fair play to Lambo, I thought Grosjean trying to keep a lap ahead was superb and that race will do them good.

But it all goes to the Ligier, 4th in LMP2, simply superb.

Probably not quite, with the darkness due to limited lighting (thank goodness!) and tons of glare, it's often hard to see what all exactly is going on out there. Sebring has no CCTV (again, thank goodness!) and the tv cameras can only show so much.

Agreed, the GT battle got a tad iffy towards the end, all the restarts were bonkers and when you have a pack of 25-30 cars in just 2 classes with identical cars coming at you, it's easy to miss things!

[GT3_Fan]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

Probably not quite, with the darkness due to limited lighting (thank goodness!) and tons of glare, it's often hard to see what all exactly is going on out there. Sebring has no CCTV (again, thank goodness!) and the tv cameras can only show so much.

Agreed, the GT battle got a tad iffy towards the end, all the restarts were bonkers and when you have a pack of 25-30 cars in just 2 classes with identical cars coming at you, it's easy to miss things!

I have never been to sebring. Is the race watchable at night in person? Or is it just headlights flashing in your eyes?

[seanyb505]

Stay on the insides of turns and it's fine. A lot of apexes have flood lights, and cars these days have interesting LED signatures along with the position panels. If you are a person that struggles with driving at night you'd probably still be fine. Just don't stand at the fence on outside of turn one.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by GT3_Fan

I have never been to sebring. Is the race watchable at night in person? Or is it just headlights flashing in your eyes?

Very tough blue flagging down the back straight from T17. Unless you have bionic eyes or something. Once the cars are basically parallel with you, you're fine and you can enjoy the sights and thrills at night time!

[JT240Z]

Originally Posted by GT3_Fan

I have never been to sebring. Is the race watchable at night in person? Or is it just headlights flashing in your eyes?

Lots of sights and sounds at Sebring. No trouble watching the action from the infield. Miss the old hair pin turn though.

What races have you attended?

[GT3_Fan]

Originally Posted by JT240Z

Lots of sights and sounds at Sebring. No trouble watching the action from the infield. Miss the old hair pin turn though.

What races have you attended?

Daytona and Watkins Glen. Hope to get to VIR this year. Daytona I have found to not be too much trouble to watch at night since they do have the artificial lighting there. Especially right at the flag stand where it is brightest. Yeah I can't just watch headlights. I have a hard time watching the night time TV Sebring coverage. I usually just watch from the in car streams at night exclusively.

[SidewaysSyd]

Hi again..Syd here from the UK. About time I posted my thoughts on the Sebring 12 Hours, or rather on the spectator experience, because I really didn't know much about the race as it happened. I did go for the $75 inside parking in the end and I'm glad I did. I parked up opposite the grandstands and had only 5 minutes to wait for the pitwalk so it was great to see all the cars lined up..my first time to see these awesome new hypercars. I headed to turn 7 for the start and that was where my problems began. It would be good if some signposts were put up pointing to where the turns are..it's difficult to find your way round when every square foot of infield space is taken up with camping and motorhomes. At turn 7 there was a good view of the jumbo screen, but there was no commentary. In fact, I was incredulous that the very first commentary I heard was at turn 5 (I think) at 6.30pm! I knew there was no wi-fi at the circuit (read that on the website) but it said there was a good cellphone signal so I reckoned I could follow the race that way but for my iPhone (using roaming on my UK SIM card) the signal was poor and I could never find a strong enough signal to get to any website...though I saw plenty of people successfully online so maybe it was my roaming service. Next, I tried with my camera zooming onto the jumbo screen to view positions, but the resolution wasn't sufficient. At the first safety car period, I set off walking round (I ended up with 25000 steps by the end of day) and there were definitely some good positions for photos..at the end I was very happy with the results. The heat was a bit of an ordeal..90F or so all day. I didn't bring any water with me as I didn't want to carry the weight of water around all day and while drinks onsite would be more expensive, I'd take the hit for the convenience of buying drinks around the circuit all day. No chance! The first drinks I found were at 2pm near turn 5! (I didn't hear any commentary then but the way..but it was there when I went back later for another drink at 6.30). I asked the the woman serving if she knew of more drinks around the circuit but she said she thought they were the only one. Before that, I'd lost the will to live by about midday and went back to the car and cooled down with the aircon for 20 minutes and listened to the commentary on the radio. The second time I went back to the car, about 4pm, I drove off to get near to some other corners but without signs it was tricky - I'd head off in the right direction but then making turns to try and find a space left me with no idea where I was. Next, so much trackside is blocked off by motorhomes. I went to turn one to get the sunset shot, but the only place to get the cars with sun directly behind them was taken up by 2 massive campers. Earlier on, I'd gone up to the fence in other places by walking between motorhomes and got some dirty looks from people as if they "owned' the space..I was made to feel unwelcome. Thankfully the guys with these two motorhomes were fine and one couple invited me onto their balcony which was perfect. After these shots, the last thing I did was to head to turn 10 to get the red-hot brake discs shot - success. Now the sun had gone, it was dark, and I'd reached the end of my patience -10 hours into the race and apart from 40 minutes in my car and half an hour with commentary by turn 5, I had no idea how the race was progressing so I didn't think there was any point in staying any longer. It was a bit of an unsatisfactory day all round. Great to see a big field of fantastic prototypes and GTs, but even for a life long race fan, just watching cars go round with no idea of positions couldn't sustain me for long. Sorry guys. P.S. I hate Silverstone (a black hole of atmosphere - you certainly can't say that about Sebring) but they do a better job of the spectator experience

[JT240Z]

Sorry to hear that you didn't have a good experience. Too bad you couldn't have hooked up with some more seasoned Sebring enthusiasts. They could have helped you negotiate some of the obstacles you encountered. Seabring is a great place to share with friends. Lots of atmosphere, parties and a race as well.

[SidewaysSyd]

Originally Posted by JT240Z

Sorry to hear that you didn't have a good experience. Too bad you couldn't have hooked up with some more seasoned Sebring enthusiasts. They could have helped you negotiate some of the obstacles you encountered. Seabring is a great place to share with friends. Lots of atmosphere, parties and a race as well.

Agreed JT - I meant to put that in my diatribe...that it would have been much better with friends who knew their way around or if I'd been there on Friday to get accustomed. Going as a complete novice to a massive event with a huge crowd for just the main day wasn't the best way to do it, but it was my only option

[fergus_r]

Thanks for your detailed report Syd.

It was my fourth Sebring (also from the UK) and I very much felt the same as I did on my last trip back in 2019 - it's a great event, but once or twice is enough.

You mentioned the main issue, which is the RV/motorhome takeover - of course, this is par for the course at American motorsport events, but it's a particular pain at Sebring, with where they're allowed to park right up to the fence. This is nowhere near as big a problem at somewhere like Daytona, or Road Atlanta for Petit Le Mans, but those events are much newer.

Sebring has been known, for all its 72 12 Hours', as the place to party, so I completely understand why they still allow the RVs/motorhomes/campers to have a monopoly on the place. So I'm not saying Sebring should change, but it's fair to put it down as a negative, especially for a first-timer trying to watch the racing - and it's why I probably won't go back.

As it happens I was in Florida anyway, and went along for just the Wednesday and Thursday of the event this year. That was more than enough for me. I was happy with the support lineup this year - losing WEC was replaced by MX5s and Lamborghinis so the program was still pretty packed, and after a few years away it was great to be back in a much larger IMSA paddock, see the Hypercars for the first time, etc.

Wednesday is actually my favorite day because of the lack of RVs - far more of the track is accessible, which in turn makes it easier to actually see where to go next! As Syd points out, it's frustrating to get lost in the maze and quite often I've ended up having to venture through people's 'private' areas and have also received the aforementioned 'dirty' looks! It definitely doubles your step count without actually getting you any closer to the next corner...!

[flatlandsman]

Much the same as I found Le Mans the time I went, (I will never go back)

Local organisers utterly unhelpful most info I got was from obviously fellow Brits.

I know it is a foreign place and I was not very good at French, but the only helpful people were the local traders and people who wanted our custom who in the villages I went to were lovely, helpful and friendly. I found it rather a dull and uninspiring place, only really coming alive at night.

I think with these trips you are better initially going on an organised tour, as a novice they are often so bad you feel like never going back and let's be fair you pay through the nose for tours.

[broadrun96]

Wow, just a lot of why weren't they here for MY needs going on, but ok, great fewer people in the way then so that's a plus. But something I have literally heard from no one ever about going to sportscar race.

Looks like we're gonna be down one AWA Vette. Some reporting he's taken his car and going home and some there's issues with the car but the 17 AWA (teal and red one) and Mantella have left the team. It retired early in both Daytona and Sebring.

https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/m...ways-with-awa/

It appears they are actually done and single car for 24, car is up for sale now according to DSC

https://www.dailysportscar.com/2024/...t-of-2024.html

[Enduranceracer]

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience.. This was my 47th 12 Hour and we welcome anyone to visit our 3 spots on exit of Turn 1. We had many ask to walk up and take pictures and no one was turned down along with always offering water and beers. Most at Sebring are more than willing to allow you to come in...It's all about the Sebring experience and again sorry that you did not have an awesome time.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Enduranceracer

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience.. This was my 47th 12 Hour and we welcome anyone to visit our 3 spots on exit of Turn 1. We had many ask to walk up and take pictures and no one was turned down along with always offering water and beers. Most at Sebring are more than willing to allow you to come in...It's all about the Sebring experience and again sorry that you did not have an awesome time.

That sounds more like it, shade, rain protection and beverages often offered to all who aren't already proving they're gonna be a handful