Austin - race weekend discussion

[WickerBill]

Vettel fastest in P1. Times came down from 1:55 to 1:38. Drivers said it was like a wet track at first; not surprising.

Tire choices are medium and hard. (Can we talk Pirelli into not having two sequential tire compounds be labeled as white and "mother of pearl"? So hard to see. What would be wrong with Red/Yellow/White/Orange? Orange and Red would never be used on the same weekend anyway.)

Weather in the high 60s all weekend. Chance of showers Sunday.

[Pilgrims Drop]

The times will drop even further, probably another 2 sec or so... more if it stays dry. Looked like it was F1 on ice the first 20 minutes or so...

And I really liked the track! Some interesting challenges and some of the TV shots looked absolutley stunning to me. Especially the shot high over turn 20 overlooking the start finish straight and the hill up toward turn 1...

Turn 18 into turn 19 seems to be the big lap time breaker... but once they get some more rubber down in the tarmac they'll fly through there as well...

:thumbup:

[Napoleon]

Is this race on Speed or some other channel?

[cameraman]

Speed

[opinionated ow]

got any support categories?

[racermike]

Great first day at Post 16!

Seeing these cars rush by me at 150mph just 15 feet away is unreal. Am working response for F1 and F1 Historics, TSP Light boards for Ferrari Challenge, and Blue Flag for the Pirelli Porsche GT3 group.

Photo from Marshal's pit walk a few hours ago.

http://i.imgur.com/79Vri.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gDcDa.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/8NRd0.jpg

[cameraman]

Perez has lost his damn mind:shakehead

[dando]

Especially the shot high over turn 20 overlooking the start finish straight and the hill up toward turn 1...


A hill in Texas? Unpossible. ;)

-Kevin

[dando]

Is this race on Speed or some other channel?

Speed @ 1:30pm.

-Kevin

[stroker]

Perez has lost his damn mind:shakehead

For those of us who weren't able to watch qualifying, why?

[cameraman]

It wasn't qualifying, it was during fp3 when he dove under Charles Pic and on Friday when he ran Timo Glock off the road while weaving and was speeding in the pit lane.

[extramundane]

Per Will Buxton, apparently Ferrari "changed" Massa's gearbox this morning so the grid penalty would move Fred to the clean lane.

[opinionated ow]

Holy crap there are people there :eek:

[dando]

Nice track. Good crowd. :thumbup: Can't wait to see IndyCar there. :tony:

-Kevin

[JohnHKart]

Amazing place. I hear f1 cars coming from my stick and ball neighbor's tv downstairs. That's amazing!

[extramundane]

Mario makes me want Peter Windsor back :\

[opinionated ow]

That was in fact a brilliant race. Loved the Stetsons (Vettel: "are you serious?") but I'm worried where that may lead to:

Australia: Akubras with corks
China: Rice Paddy hat
Spain: Matador Hat
Canada: Beaver skin or Mountie Hat
Great Britain: Bowler hats
Germany: Tyrolean hat
Belgium: Beret
Italy: Pizza chef hat
USA: Stetson
Brazil: Something from Carnival

[NismoZ]

And yesterday Michael Schumacher bought a 500 acre parcel near Austin. Cash. Gotta hide SOMEplace, I guess. :)

[stroker]

And yesterday Michael Schumacher bought a 500 acre parcel near Austin. Cash. Gotta hide SOMEplace, I guess. :)

The question is, why Texas? He could live just about anywhere he wanted to. Let's hope he doesn't get tractor/bulldozing lessons from AJ...

[Gnam]

From the left hand turn 20, down the pit straight, and up the hill reminds me of Laguna Seca. very nice.

Quote of the race goes to Hobbs' impression of Ferrari engineers explaining what happened to Massa's transmission. "Charlie, I don't a know what a happened. It a come off in my hand." :laugh:

Kinda surprised the Speed crew was not at the track for the broadcast. They were all over the USGP at Indy.

[Rogue Leader]

From the left hand turn 20, down the pit straight, and up the hill reminds me of Laguna Seca. very nice.

Quote of the race goes to Hobbs' impression of Ferrari engineers explaining what happened to Massa's transmission. "Charlie, I don't a know what a happened. It a come off in my hand." :laugh:

Kinda surprised the Speed crew was not at the track for the broadcast. They were all over the USGP at Indy.

They actually had the production rights for the Indy race (as in it was Speed's cameras) I don't think they had them for this race, I think its now done by F1 in house.

[Rex Karz]

They actually had the production rights for the Indy race (as in it was Speed's cameras) I don't think they had them for this race, I think its now done by F1 in house.

Don't forget that F1 is leaving Speed at the end of the season. Speed probably has no interest in spending the bucks to fly these three guys (and a camera and sound crew) down to Austin and have them stand before a camera down there. Much cheaper to keep them in Charlotte (or where ever they are broadcasting).

[cameraman]

Actually they were in Austin, at least Matchett & Hobbs were, before the race but they didn't have the rights to film on site once fp1 started so they had to head back to Charlotte.

[JohnHKart]

This track is a masterpiece , like a work of fine art. Through those esses and the Turkey style double apex they have to lift. Great racing , Just superb stuff, made me want to go drive. And wow, a race on the USA with zero bare metal seen in the stands on race day!::thumbup:

[Insomniac]

So Tilke did a good job?

[stroker]

So Tilke did a good job?

Didn't they say in the broadcast that somebody else designed it?

[cameraman]

So Tilke did a good job?

Tilke's company and the other designers they hired to help. It was a group effort and they did a damn good job.

[dando]

This track is a masterpiece , like a work of fine art. Through those esses and the Turkey style double apex they have to lift. Great racing , Just superb stuff, made me want to go drive. And wow, a race on the USA with zero bare metal seen in the stands on race day!::thumbup:

This. Excellent track. My fave along with Spa and Suzuka. Too many of the other Euro tracks have been neutered. :(

-Kevin

[Lux Interior]

The question is, why Texas? He could live just about anywhere he wanted to. Let's hope he doesn't get tractor/bulldozing lessons from AJ...

Michael is into cutting horses big time - Texas is a great place for that. he has spent a lot of time in Texas over the years in fact.

[Gnam]

I think the lack of testing data also improved the race. The cars and tires couldn't be dialed in so it was up to the drivers to extract those last few tenths. When the teams figure out a track like Spa, the driver's contribution isn't so important. For example, even the back of the field can run flat through Eau Rouge.

Putting the Turn 1 apex on the crest of a hill is pretty smart though. Keeps that car nice and unstable. I hope the track continues to be a challenge.

[j_d]

This track is a masterpiece , like a work of fine art. Through those esses and the Turkey style double apex they have to lift. Great racing , Just superb stuff, made me want to go drive. And wow, a race on the USA with zero bare metal seen in the stands on race day!::thumbup:

I completely agree. The track made the entire weekend so much fun to experience.

What a great racing weekend. We staked out our spot high in the hairpin as well as our Turn 11W grandstand seats so our family had multiple viewing options. The kids walked over to Turn 1 to watch the first part of qualifying. We fell in love with COTA and have already booked our 2013 race trip.

[NismoZ]

Alrighty, then...I'm going to refinance and put all the savings into a Texas Special Event fund. :thumbup:

[Insomniac]

I also didn't see any marbles.

[Hard Driver]

Got to say that is a first rate track. All current F1 tracks seem a bit neutered to old tracks. But COTA did get some challenging corners and interesting topography mixed in with their huge paved runoff areas, etc.

[Indy]

Hard tires = fewer marbles but less grip overall = better racing.

Why don't they do this all the time?

[stroker]

Hard tires = fewer marbles but less grip overall = better racing.

Why don't they do this all the time?

Some people get hung up on lap times and top speeds.

[Insomniac]

Hard tires = fewer marbles but less grip overall = better racing.

Why don't they do this all the time?

They've run this combo before, but still seemed like there was marbles.

[Indy]

I am sure it depends on the surface, and Austin looked ultrasmooth. But we know that gumballs = marbles. Mandate hard tires, slow the cars down but improve the racing, and it will be safer for everyone plus be a great thing to watch. They still have to pit at least once to change compounds, so it is not like anyone can do the whole race on one set.

[Pilgrims Drop]

Came across a few great shots from Austin that reminded me how much I enjoyed this race... looking forward to 2013...
http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/54653_10151299912846140_1852407295_o.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8068/8201227909_76079843cb_b.jpg

http://i48.tinypic.com/1zg5cah.jpg

[stroker]

^^^^^^^^^^ Cool!

[emjaya]

Wow. Just how steep is that hill? In that second shot it looks like a Hot wheels track.

[Wheel-Nut]

Wow. Just how steep is that hill? In that second shot it looks like a Hot wheels track.


I don't know the grade but T1 is 133' above the S/F line.