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Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

Just FYI, but on Sundays, starting tomorrow at 9 pm on CBS sports, will be races from the SCCA runoffs this year at Sonoma. Every Sunday evening in December. FF is near the end of the month but there are some good hard top races also.

Sweeeeet. While I know nobody, the racing is still fun to watch.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

Anyone have any comments on Formula E?. The season starts this week.

I struggle with it.

I've really not found myself interested enough to watch an entire race. I've seen bits and pieces, but it does not capture my attention that much.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

I struggle with it.

I've really not found myself interested enough to watch an entire race. I've seen bits and pieces, but it does not capture my attention that much.
The cars are fast and supported by big money but... they don't last an entire race, so the driver has to come in and change cars part way through. Otherwise good racing. I believe SCCA is sponsoring a Formula E series in the US but I don't know much about it.
 
The cars are fast and supported by big money but... they don't last an entire race, so the driver has to come in and change cars part way through. Otherwise good racing. I believe SCCA is sponsoring a Formula E series in the US but I don't know much about it.

I wish they would change the battery packs and not the car. The technology would filter down to the public.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

The cars are fast and supported by big money but... they don't last an entire race, so the driver has to come in and change cars part way through. Otherwise good racing. I believe SCCA is sponsoring a Formula E series in the US but I don't know much about it.

They are no longer changing cars this year. The technology has gotten to the point where the batteries will last an entire race. Interestingly, someone pointed out that this means the tires may not last...

SCCA is the sanctioning body, not sponsor, for the US FE race in Brooklyn. Just like the local FIA approved racing group is the sanctioning body for their country's respective FE race. This is the way it used to work with F1.
 
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Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

They are no longer changing cars this year. The technology has gotten to the point where the batteries will last an entire race. Interestingly, someone pointed out that this means the tires may not last...

SCCA is the sanctioning body, not sponsor, for the US FE race in Brooklyn. Just like the local FIA approved racing group is the sanctioning body for their country's respective FE race. This is the way it used to work with F1.

It helps that they are not changing cars.

But the tracks I've seen them on suck pretty badly. Maybe I'll check into Mexico City, since it's a real track.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

It helps that they are not changing cars.

But the tracks I've seen them on suck pretty badly. Maybe I'll check into Mexico City, since it's a real track.

Even when they use a "real" track, they cut it short. The cars can't handle all out long straightaway running. Heck, even Monaco gets cut short. So did Long Beach when they ran there. So, it's still "suck pretty badly."
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

I'm super pumped for the 2019 season. It looks like Marcus Erickson will be extremely fast for SPR and there is finally more money coming into Indycar even though Verizon has left. I think there is more fan interest this year than in the past and it will be an exciting season.
In F1 I'm picking Renault to be the surprise of the year and I would not be surprised if they surpass Red Bull, making the races a lot more fun to watch. I'm also hoping Williams is more competitive.

As far as SCCA, they continue to shoot themselves in the foot and FRP/USAC are close to( already have) stealing a lot of the open wheel cars away from them. At the 50th Formula Ford reunion at Road America there are 200 cars registered already for a September event and a waiting list. ( This is a spectator event as part of a larger VSCDA race meeting) Registrations are running 4 cars with treaded tires to 1 car on slicks, which says a lot! The action in amateur racing in the US is definitely in Vintage events.
The first race meets of the year have already happened on the west coast (in the pouring rain.)
And Finally Robert Wickens continues to make progress in recovery from the Pocono crash.
 
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Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

The introductions to the new cars are, so far, showing different ideas on how to solve the same thing. Subtle- nothing one can really tell on TV- but different, for sure. It will be interesting to see the cars at winter testing.

Of note- I sure hope Rich Energy does not bring down Haas.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

So day 1 of 8 test days and Williams is a no show. And they will also no show tomorrow and maybe half of wednesday.

Seriously, they have a budget of 150 million dollars, they have hundreds of employees and they can't get it done? All they said last year was, we are going to focus on next year.. Well it's next year now guys. Not only that, rumours from the factory are that the car is 2 seconds slower than last years horrendous car. Two years ago they hired a new Technical director from Mercedes. They pay him big bucks. Lot of good it did.
I feel for Claire Williams having to go out and say to people well, no it won't be today, Or tomorrow or maybe even weds morning. Maybe Weds afternoon.
Sad state of affairs.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

So day 1 of 8 test days and Williams is a no show. And they will also no show tomorrow and maybe half of wednesday.

Seriously, they have a budget of 150 million dollars, they have hundreds of employees and they can't get it done? All they said last year was, we are going to focus on next year.. Well it's next year now guys. Not only that, rumours from the factory are that the car is 2 seconds slower than last years horrendous car. Two years ago they hired a new Technical director from Mercedes. They pay him big bucks. Lot of good it did.
I feel for Claire Williams having to go out and say to people well, no it won't be today, Or tomorrow or maybe even weds morning. Maybe Weds afternoon.
Sad state of affairs.

To be fair, Ferrari expected similar drop off in speeds. Maybe not 2 whole seconds, but considerably slower.

I'm no Ferrari fan- but well done running an endurance race today. I wonder how many laps Charles will get tomorrow.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

Right now it's a crap shoot who is fastest in F1. Top teams are not showing what they can really do, and Mercedes methodology is top notch. I really like how they go about it.
Having said that, I think this year will be extremely competitive with any number of midfield teams getting points and podiums.
Hamilton came out today and said that the mods to the wings, which were meant to make it easier to pass, have made no difference at all thus far.
And the Alpha seems to be very quick.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

Anyone have any comments on Formula E?. The season starts this week.
I've been watching FE so far this year and it's been pretty fun. 4 races done, 4 different winners.

The end to last week's race was mental, 3 of the top 4 ran out of energy on the last lap
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2018- with less winglets.

After the first week of testing it's apparent that Ferrari has a leg up on everyone. Renault is doing quite well and will challenge for podiums and Mercedes has a serious problem wiht front grip. Now up to now, Mercedes solved their front grip problems by upping the front wings effect, but this year, with the new rules, they haven't been able to do that and they are now having understeer problems. We'll see how they solve it. All of the other teams have gone over to more rake in the cars except them. They have resisted because all that rake messes up the rear roll centers, but they may be forced into it.
 
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