...real racing is rain or shine (photo: Cahier Archive)
This was in 2007, I think today they would both be penalized and sent to a corner, I think this was one of the most exiting duels since the famous Villeneuve-Arnoux battle in Dijon in 1979, what do you thin?
Amen, brother
ReplyDeleteAmen!
DeleteI agree. Oval racing in the wet seems kind of nuts though - does any series do it?
ReplyDeleteOK, but Grand Am runs most of the tri Oval in the rain
Deleteas traction control is gargling away...
ReplyDeleteI tried not to poke too much fun at my parental units, as they sat through the entire broadcast waiting for the race to start. ~4 hours of petty, pedantic interviews, they were reaaaaaally reaching for filler by the time the decided to postpone.
ReplyDeleteI made a joke about which one of the jet-dry trucks had won the race, to get an icy stare from my stepmonster. She'd just realized the afternoon was an almost complete waste.
Meanwhile, it's all I can do to watch an F1 race on the big screen in the living room uninterrupted. The word 'boring' has been used. I dared not ask how exciting it was to watch the track dry...
I love it how now matter where Massa goes,... Kubica is always there pushing, geez Kubica was good.
ReplyDeleteKubica for Ferrari 2013
You cannot put a pack of 43 cars on an oval track while it is raining as there would be zero visibility. It's much different than a road circuit where cars are much more spread out with longer lap times -- there would be less time for the spray to dissipate on an oval. When it rains in Daytona, it is usually very heavy.
ReplyDeleteGoodyear produced 200MPH oval tires for Nascar in the 1980s, but it was impossible to use them as there was too much spray and no visibility.
Yeah I can see your point Mike, but at the end of the day thats why it's exciting to watch. It tests the drivers beyond what they are comfortable with and thats why racers and fans alike love wet weather competition.
ReplyDeleteNascar is the only racing series in the world I know of that will stop an entire race at the first sign of a light shower.
AC-
My girlfriend is from the south and she was glued to the screen the entire Massa v. Kubica video. She couldn't even be bothered to turn the race on!
Everything else > Nascar.
Putting 43 3500 lb cars on a 31 degree oval even on a damp track would be absolute suicide. The cars are already severely grip limited, visibility limited, and the spray would make for on 2.5 mile long rooster tail. No on would be able to see the end of their hood. Open wheel cars are completely different and the Grand Am cars make an ass load more downforce than a Cup car at every speed and the field is spread out over the entire course, not nose to tail the entire way around. I get that they should do it on a road course, but to suggest doing it at Daytona is ignorant. It cannot be done safely and that's why it isn't in this series, a little objective opinion and some actual common sense is needed here. Since no one except NASCAR has any brains when it comes to this situation, that's the correct decision that should have been made. Guffaw all you guys want, you're just ignorant.
ReplyDelete(I HATE NASCAR by the way, just sayin')
but surely on banks you have little standing water issues and I doubt the cars make that much less downforce than a "humble" gt3 cup car. http://vimeo.com/30264115. Have them put chicanes in, I bet it would be a riot to watch.
DeleteIf one is taking this so seriously as to accuse others of ignorance, I suggest they may have missed the larger point. Any form or automobile racing that has to shut down due to rain isn't a true form of motor sport, in my "elitist" yet humble opinion. Racing in the rain is intrinsic to the nature of competition driving. I have theories beyond safety concerns as to why NASCAR really does not race in the rain, but that's another argument
DeleteJH -- are you seriously trying to argue against NASCAR not racing in the rain on an oval track? Do you realise that racing in the rain on an oval track would result in drivers looking at a solid grey windshield? Why should they do that? So elitist "race fans" can then complain about how the drivers involved in the race are not "real race car drivers" because they cannot handle wet conditions?
DeleteGive me a break.
Racing on an oval, no matter what kind of car it is, is stupid and too dangerous; and NASCAR is not the only series that does not do it.
Hey Mike. No, I am not making such an argument. Don't think you read my post correctly. I merely stated that I don't particularly care too much for NASCAR, and offered a reason why. The "elitist" quip was half honest, half cynical jest at how quickly one must duck(!) if they dare question the series in any fashion.
DeleteYou are ignorant JH. You obviously know nothing about NASCAR and how those cars behave on a high speed oval. Those cars already have VERY little downforce in cars that are very heavy for the amount of tire they run on. I'm not saying that NASCAR cars aren't crap, I'm saying that in their current form and rule set, racing on THAT track, in THOSE cars is suicidal. There are many improvements and changes they could make to the cars and the series overall, but not racing on an even damp oval is the right decision to make. You're not elitist, you're ignorant or blind to the facts and you can't make an objective assessment. Even a Formula 1 car would have trouble going around that oval in the rain. Those cars race too closely together in conditions that are as perfect as they can be and they are very hard to control even then.
DeleteI don't like NASCAR, but I support their decision not to race on THAT oval in THOSE cars in the rain or on a damp track. I'd bet a very large amount of money that even you JH, and "elitist" racing fan couldn't hold onto one of those cars in full race trim in the dry all by yourself, much less with 42 other drivers around you and in the rain. You're not elitist as I said before, you're ignorant and you can't think objectively.
Hilarious.
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ReplyDeleteNascar just gets the people going....
ReplyDeleteto believe that NASCAR should run 43 cars all within 300 yards of one another at 180 mph in the rain is the height of ignorance about the sport. Yes, other forms of motorsport run in the rain, but no other series attempts anything like what NASCAR does in the rain OR the dry.
ReplyDeleteand for all those who want to believe that NASCAR is somehow a lesser series, take a look at all the drivers who have had success in open-wheel series (Sam Hornish, Montoya, Franchetti to name only a few) and haven't done squat in NASCAR. I love F1 and Rally wayyyyyy more than NASCAR, but to call NASCAR a lesser series, or to tag f1 fans as elitist because NASCAR is a lesser series, is to ignore the facts and unique challenges NASCAR presents to its competitors.
ReplyDeletefinally - real racing means being able to bump one another without a carbon-fiber suspension piece bursting into a million pieces, a wheel falling off and the car requiring $143,596 in repairs. ALSO regarding real race car drivers...I'll take Tony Stewart in a fight against any TWO F1 drivers (being able to fight used to be a prerequisite for a driver, not so sure anymore).
ReplyDelete