Real Life Racing / News Thread

[Brainling]

I didn't make race chat today because I was baby sitting. I'll be around for the end of the race though if we're still watch partying.

 

[Brainling]

I'm watch partying in TS. Come watch party the end of the 24 with me.

 

[Jes_971]

Sorry Matt, I got caught up grouting some tile while watching it on my phone. Some pretty good racing throughout the whole race really. Looking forward to next year hopefully there will be more entries.

 

[Skid_Marc_]

For anyone who isn't familiar with some of the names in U.S. racing commentary, I thought I'd give a quick run-down/background on the 2020 D24 Commentators...

Leigh Diffey - (Australia) Leigh made his U.S. debut in 2001, covering CART (now INDYCAR, but not "THEN" Indycar... ). Also covered several other series for Speed Channel (eventually Fox Sports 1) like Speed World Challenge (similar to IMSA Michelin GT), American Le Mans Series, Rolex Grand-Am Cup, and Trans-Am. Starting in 2016, he also covers Formula 1 races for NBC Sports.

Calvin Fish - (England) Rivaled Ayrton Senna in British Formula 3 in the early 80's before coming to the U.S. to compete in various SCCA classes, and IMSA GT, as well as some Indy Lights starts. He won both the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1990 in the GTO category driving a Lincoln-Mercury ( Had to Google that one, but it really was "Lincoln-Mercury Motorsports") Cougar. Regularly commentates IMSA races for NBC Sports and Trans-Am races for CBS Sports.

A.J. Allmendinger - (California, U.S.A.) Made his professional driving debut in Champ Car (now INDYCAR, but still not "THEN" Indycar... ) in 2004 before jumping the sinking ship, with his sponsor Red Bull, and joining the NASCAR Cup Series full-time (mostly) 2006-2018. He competed in thirteen 24 Hours of Daytona, always with Michael Shank Racing (a team he part-owns) Lexus or Ford powered Riley Daytona Prototypes (2006-2014), DPi Ligier JS P2's (2015-16), and GTD Acura NSX GT3's (2018-19). He took the overall victory in 2012, finished 2nd twice (2006 & 2018), and 3rd once (2013).

Rick Allen - (Nebraska, U.S.A.) Started working for FOX Sports in 2003, covering the NASCAR Truck Series and the ARCA Racing Series (think iRacing National car) for Speed Channel (Fox Sports 1). He became the lead announcer for "NASCAR on NBC" in 2014 and official cut ties with FOX at the end of the year. He also has taken Leigh Diffey's spot covering "Indycar on NBC" so Leigh could work NBC's coverage of Formula 1.

Paul Tracy - (Ontario, Canada) The "Thrill from West Hill", Paul made his first splash in professional auto racing winning the final Can-Am race in series history in 1986 at Mosport. He was only 17. After working up through the feeder-series, Paul made his IndyCar debut in 1990 and drove full-time until the INDYCAR unification at the end of 2007. He competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona 3 times, 2006, 2007, and 2012, with a best finish of 7th overall (2012).

Townsend Bell - (California, U.S.A.) Another driver who made his profesional debut in CART in 2001-02. He then went to Europe where he became the first American to earn a podium in F3000. He returned to the states to compete in Indycar (Now INDYCAR, then Indy Racing League Indycars) in 2004-2008 and made random Indy 500 appearances until 2016. He won the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring in his very first start in the American Le Mans Series, driving a Lotus GTE car. He made his IMSA Sports Car Championship debut in 2014 driving a GTD Ferrari 458 GT3. He has worked for NBC Sports as a commentator since 2016.

Brian Till - (Texas, U.S.A.) Mostly a club-level driver in the mid-80's, Brian made 20 starts in CART (now INDYCAR) from 1992-95. He then worked for the American Le Mans Series as a pit reporter, and has worked for FOX Sports and NBC Sports. He mostly covers sports car racing, but also covers the NASCAR Truck series and INDYCAR on key dates that overlap with Formula 1.

Krista Voda - (Iowa, U.S.A.) Yes, I am including Krista Voda here SOLELY due to home-state bias, and she shares an Alma Mater with my dad and my sister, having graduated from the University of Northern Iowa.
She started with FOX Sports in 2003 as a NASCAR pit-reporter, as well as a host for a half-hour pre-race show for the NASCAR Truck Series. She has also covered NFL, the MLB World Series, NCAA College Football and Basketball Championships, and the Kentucky Derby. In 2014 she was added as the pre-/post-race host for "NASCAR on NBC". During this year's 24 Hours of Daytona, Krista shared NBC's "Peacock Pit Box" with former NASCAR crew chief Steve Letarte and former NASCAR driver/current "NASCAR on NBC" commentator Dale Earnhardt Jr.

 

[Jes_971]

Bathurst 12 hour Streaming Information:

Streaming page: https://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/streams-tv/

First Times Listed are AEDT ( Australian Eastern Daylight Savings time ) followed by EST (Eastern Standard Time)

Friday, 31 January 2020
Bathurst 12 Hour Practice sessions – Live audio on Radiolemans.com

Saturday, 1 February 2020
07:20 – 11:15 (3:20pm - 7:15pm EST Friday evening) – Streaming coverage of Bathurst 12 Hour practice and support races
1230 – 18:00 (8:30pm - 2:00am EST Friday evening) – Bathurst 12 Hour qualifying 1&2, Support races, Top-10 shootout live on Fox Sports 506 / Sky Sports NZ
(Streaming coverage of qualifying, supports and shootout on Kayo Sports in Australia and Bathurst12hour.com.au in International markets)

Sunday, 2 February 2020
05:30am – 6:00pm (1:30pm - 2:00am EST Saturday) – Bathurst 12 Hour race live on Fox Sports 506, 7mate in Australia and Sky Sports NZ.
(Streaming coverage on Kayo Sports / 7plus in Australia and Bathurst12hour.com.au in International markets)

Any further information you may want can be found here.
https://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/

 

[Skid_Marc_]

"Amazon Web Services (AWS) will be the 2020 ‘title presenter of SRO Motorsports Group’s GT World Challenge Series in Europe, Asia and North America."

With other series being tied up behind their own streaming services or cable offerings, it's awesome to think Asia, European, and North American GT3, GT4, and TC races will be available via Amazon Prime! I wonder if there will be an added charge for the service?

Could iRacing see AWS replace VRS as the sponsor for their GT Sprint Series, as well? Probably not, but it would be interesting...

 

[Brainling]

That would be interesting. Especially since we know that AWS is where iRacing runs its servers.

On the personal side, it's kind of fun for me because AWS is a big part of my career currently. I do a lot of development work with it and it's been a big mover of my resume recently.

 

[Jes_971]

Jesus H is it Saturday yet?

Here is the Bathurst 12hr Youtube channel. Starting streaming tomorrow (Friday) 3:15pm EST
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBctK8Y-h1EjZUNqgYBGS_Q/featured

 

[Brainling]

Practice is live now.

 

[Brainling]

Oh wow, they had to red flag for kangaroos. The fires and drought have driven a lot of roos to the area and I guess it's more of a problem this year than normal. Watching the roos skip across the track while the drivers were slowing to avoid them was something else.

 

[Jes_971]

Yea that was pretty interesting. It was hilarious watching two of them hopping in zig-zags in front of the pack going up to the cutting.

 

[Brainling]

When it's just them on track you don't realize how tiny these aussie racing cars are...but they look comical behind the full size safety car.

 

[Brainling]

Internet is out at my house so I’m at a coffee shop watching the 12h. I’ll probably be on TS later to race chat presuming my internet gets fixed.

 

[Brainling]

I guess a Dodge sprinter with a wing really can go pretty quick.

 

[Deb]

IKR, the refrigerator won Good race though, too bad for the penalty on the Merc

 

[Skid_Marc_]

IKR, the refrigerator won Good race though, too bad for the penalty on the Merc

I can't help but feel there is a bit of karma going on, after someone questioned "...why are they (Bentley) even here?"

The Brit's proved they know how to build race cars with the Bentley first, and the McLaren 2nd! Nice to see 4 different manufacturers in the top-4 spots.

I'd say the biggest disappointment has to be Aston Martin. Imagine bringing 5 cars across two teams, and the top one finishes 14th..

The lone BMW GT4 barely edged out the lone Mercedes GT4 by a measly 7 laps.. unfortunate to see such a low car count in that category.

And only one MARC II running at the end, as well.

 

[Skid_Marc_]

KCMG, the team that fielded the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 at Bathurst has announced they are switching to Porsche for the Nürburgring 24 and Spa 24. Nissan has not been registered for any more Intercontinental GT Challenge events this year, and, outside of local support at the Suzuka 10 hour race, probably won't see anymore track time internationally in 2020... Not a very "pretty" car, but it's a bummer to see another manufacturer on it's way out...

 

[Brainling]

That's unfortunate but these things always wax and wane. A manufacturer gets what they can out of motorsport and then moves on. I'm sure Nissan will be back in some capacity at some point.

 

[Deb]

I wonder what happened. They seemed to be highly promoting their continued use of the GT-R.

On another note, the next season of Drive to Survive will be released on Netflix on February 28. Really enjoyed the first season of that show and I am looking forward to the new season.

 

[Brainling]

This season Ferrari and Mercedes actually participated! Should be a really good season.