Round 11: Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, August 06--08, Nashville, Tennessee.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 11: Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, August 06--08, Nashville, Tennessee.

After an extended gap in this year's calendar, due to the Honda Indy Toronto being cancelled for a second year in a row because of Covid-19, the 2021 IndyCar season is back on track with Practice 1 for the inaugural Big Machine Music City Grand Prix starting tomorrow at 4:10 pm ET.

On September 16, 2020, after three years of negotiations between Nashville sports and tourism officials and IndyCar executives, which previously had resulted in three failed proposals to hold the race, IndyCar finally announced the addition of the Music City Grand Prix to the 2021 calendar, which would be held in the city of Nashville, the music capital of Country and Western.

The Big Machine Music City Grand Prix sees the return of IndyCar to Nashville since the Indy 200, which was held at Nashville Superspeedway between 2001 and 2008. It will be also be the first new street race for the IndyCar Series, since the Grand Prix of Houston in 2013, taking the number of street races this year to 6.

The track layout was designed by former IndyCar Project Manager Tony Cotnam. It is 2.17 miles (3.49 km) long with 11 turns. The track layout is highlighted by and features the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge, which utilises the bridge as the main straight away in both directions.






Length: 2.17 miles (3.49 km)
Turns: 11

TV Coverage:
NBCSN, 5:30pm ET, 9:30pm UTC
Sky Sports F1, 10:30pm BST

[mstets]

27 entries, as Helio returns along with Ferrucci for RLL and Cody Ware for Coyne.


https://racer.com/wp-content/uploads...-nashville.pdf

[joeb]

I can't wait to see what this track races like. From the map, and the "virutual onboard" i saw the other day, turns 1-3 might be the only passing opportunities?

[fieldodreams79]

Should be a decent show. I have family in the area and had thoughts of trying to make this but this is the first week of school here and I thought it was going to be hotter than hell in August for a street race in the south. I was half right as it looks like it's gonna be pretty warm.

530 Sunday start is a bit curious....good for me, but a bit strange.

[NaBUru38]

27 is huge! The last non-Indy 500 race with so many entries was Long Beach 2013.


I hope that the race is successful and stays on the calendar.

[broadrun96]

I may have to sign up for Peacock Premium to catch practice in a few and see how the track looks.

[mstets]

Looks like a great crowd on hand for the first practice session. T. Bell just mentioned that the crowd on race day may be the biggest for a sporting event in TN history.

[broadrun96]

Yeah I signed up and DAMN, fans want to be trackside already. The stands shots they opened with were packed like race day.

Guessing the late schedule is to slot in around Nascar at the Glen and final Olympic coverage, if the Glen runs long with weather or GWC finishes we could be searching.

Side note for college football fans, can Tennessee cram any more in to Neyland if it turns out the race has more fans than UT football?

[mstets]

Newgarden and Dixon did a parade lap this morning behind the pace car driven by Franchitti. Newgarden thinks there will be a lot of passing.

It's a shame that this race will not be on broadcast TV. I will have to listen on Indycar radio. I don't understand why the NBCSN feed is not available on Peacock.

[broadrun96]

It will be interesting to see if anyone tries anything during practice

OH GREAT, Cody Ware hasn't ever run on a road course.

And SRO crash has COVERED the track in oil/coolant and drying compound at 5/6. Looks like a blown motor or something serious and he drove off. Aston Martin nose first in to a barrier and lad down hundred plus feet of mess

[broadrun96]

Man, the cars bounce pretty good on the expansion joints on the bridge. Start line is not finish line, like Mid-Ohio it's on the back stretch so coming down the bridge, will be interesting.

Dear god Race Control, red flag it and send out a track cleanup crew if everyone is gonna sit on pitlane

[broadrun96]

Herta with an early 1:20.36, Rahal 2nd with 1:21.5.

Track looks ROUGH and bumpy

[broadrun96]

Pato gets the award, first in the way to bring out red flag. Turn 3 it looks like, bridge entry, clipped right wall and slammed to left wall.

[mstets]

At the red flag it's:

Herta 1:18:29
O'Ward 1:18.62
Rossi 1:18.86
Ericsson 1:18.98
Bourdais 1:19.10
Rahal 1:19.23

Green flag with 42 minutes left in the session.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Man, the cars bounce pretty good on the expansion joints on the bridge. Start line is not finish line, like Mid-Ohio it's on the back stretch so coming down the bridge, will be interesting.

Dear god Race Control, red flag it and send out a track cleanup crew if everyone is gonna sit on pitlane

https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1...130980353?s=19


Almost looks dangerous with that transition from the bridge

[mstets]

Originally Posted by joeb

https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1...130980353?s=19
Almost looks dangerous with that transition from the bridge

I couldn't believe how much Sato's front suspension was moving over the bumps. I can't recall ever seeing that much travel on a modern race car.

[broadrun96]

And it seems like they are taking multiple paths to the same solution. Penske cars seem to be riding higher and RLL cars slammed to the deck and bouncing everywhere

Herta has been staying at the top by a decent margin, .3 over Grosjean now at 1:17.67

[broadrun96]

Herta finally topped by a good margin, Palou 1:17.33 on fresh blacks (i believe)

[broadrun96]

Herta (1:16.58), Dixon, Grosjean, Rossi, Ericsson top 5

Just under 2 seconds covers top 20

In true Indy fashion red flag for Daly ends the session a few minutes early, rear lock and side drift in to the wall/tires.

[macdaddy]

SportsNet 360 is carrying the race live in Canada.

[broadrun96]

Wonder if TA or SRO went over, Indy quali not up yet on Peacock. Or NBC sucks, either way

[broadrun96]

And there it is. And Jimmie BINNED IT HARD on his out lap. No times in the first session, red flag cancel your lap time even mid lap? Apparently yes, red ends your lap as soon as it's shown. Gonna be interesting at the end of the session to get a time in with 5 min to go and no times yet, green with 3 min, will be a maybe 2 lap sprint on reds

And "Hi to my family at home" is Jimmie strategy guy?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Group 2 is green, hopefully no red flags in this session.

[broadrun96]

Damn, Herta is crushing it. 14.70 on blacks. Bourdais second at 15.73 on reds

[broadrun96]

Dixie at the end on reds finally beat Herta's primary tire time.