|
|
Post by Joel_W on Aug 11, 2021 5:21:25 GMT -8
Watched the 1st ever Nashville Indy Car race that was a huge success as far as ticket sales go, but the race was absolutely one of, if not the worst Indy Car race I've ever seen, and that includes the disaster at the Meadowlands years ago. What genius came up with the track plan that featured two long and Identical straights over a very rough surface bridge in opposite directions with one end basically a box to reverse direction, and the other end somewhat a more complicated multi sided box to reverse direction again, plus sections with turns just barely a car's width wide. What it produced was 32 yellow and red caution laps out of 80 laps as well as a mysterious water patch that just appeared out of no where. All told the race seemed to drag on and on with no end in site.
Herta completely dominated the race and most likely would have won by a huge margin if it was any other race but this sad excuse for a street course.
While the tv announcers must have been told to praise the track and Nashville, Tracy did get in more then a few digs in. More then a few auto racing columnists gave the race organization a 10, but the race itself rated generally a 2 out of 10!!
Not sure how they can fix the layout as this one is more then pretty poor, but Nashville has a 3 year contract. All I can say is that if nothing changes, I'll be watching other racing those weekends or going to my local track to watch a demolition race up close and live.
joel
|
|
|
|
Post by Ben_B on Aug 11, 2021 5:46:28 GMT -8
I missed the Indy race but watched the two GT America races. Both ended under yellow because of crashes on the narrow track. Not fun to watch. I saw a comment on another forum speculating that the route of the track was set up that way just so they’d have an excuse to race over the bridge. They need to rethink the route for next year.
Another problem, which was due to GT America’s broadcasting on YouTube, was that it seemed like the announcers were sitting somewhere remote, watching the race on TV. All you could hear was them talking; no noise from the track at all. IMSA does a far better job. Granted, they have deeper pockets.
Ben
|
|
|
|
Post by vintagerpm on Aug 11, 2021 5:50:14 GMT -8
Despite the cautions, I really enjoyed the Indy Car race. The track just needs a few tweaks. Better than any track we ever had here in Houston.
On the other hand, the Trans-Am race sucked. Especially the broadcast which spent way too much time using in-car cameras. Maybe keep the tin-tops off this course.
As for Herta, he did it to himself, that was not the track's fault. Not like he hadn't been through that corner inumerable times before with no issues.
Mike
|
|
|
|
Post by Joel_W on Aug 11, 2021 6:09:30 GMT -8
Ben,
I recorded the Trans Am race from Nashville and just started to watch it late last night, but fell asleep as these days I'm not exactly an Night Owl. But from what I saw, they were much better suited to Nashville then the Indy Cars. Still, they had their share of yellows even in the short time that I watched the race.
I don't think that Nashville will be willing to give up the bridge as a centerpiece of the track, but certainly the novelty of twice over the same bridge per lap needs to go, and will allow for many more track options. If the track doesn't change, I'm betting that after year 3 of this so sad of an excuse for a race, it will be history.
Like you, I do watch a lot of GT road racing on You Tube, but save a good deal of it for off season over the winter when I'm just itching to watch some outstanding racing other then e racing, and this is coming from a long time sim racer who drives mostly GT3 cars these days.
joel
|
|
|
|
Post by Joel_W on Aug 11, 2021 6:16:29 GMT -8
Mike,
I can see how you liked the race that consisted of 32 out of 80 laps under yellow or red being entertaining compared to Houston. Honestly, I'm not a fan of any of the current street courses as the cars are just to powerful and way to fast to safely race on them, and that includes F1 at Monaco which isn't a race but rather a time trail for the pole, as that's basically the finish of the front of the grid.
For me being a old timer, my favorite road racing was always at Bridgehampton my home track watching Can AM, Trans Am, and USSR racing. I did travel 6-7 hours a few years to watch the F1 GP at the Glen which was fantastic but short lived.
joel
|
|
|
|
Post by Ben_B on Aug 11, 2021 6:48:36 GMT -8
YouTube has become a great source for GT racing. You can see a race livestreamed from somewhere in the world almost every weekend. The British GT Championship races have been pretty fun to watch.
I just saw where IMSA is moving to USA and Peacock (pay) networks for 2022, since NBCSN is dying a well-deserved death. Hopefully, race coverage will be better there. More than likely, I'll just continue to watch recoded races on YouTube, commercial-free and with IMSA Radio's excellent announcers.
Ben
|
|
|
|
Post by Joel_W on Aug 11, 2021 10:42:43 GMT -8
Ben,
I pay way more for cable then it's worth as it is. Every station seems to be repeated 3 times. As more and more sports and channels start to stream as a pay for service, the less and less we'll be watching tv. I guess that this is the start of the death of Cable as we now know it.
joel
|
|
|
|
Post by sylphide on Aug 11, 2021 12:38:09 GMT -8
From a spectacle standpoint it was good for the city and for Indycar but the on track product was a joke, however I cant say I wasn't expecting it to be like that anyway. The layout for sure needs some changing, the bridge is the only spot where they gain enough speed to try outbraking on the other side but the layout is so garbage on both ends that you cant do anything once you get there. The "Baku" section should've never even been a draft, just a glorified useless U-turn probably used so the city didnt have to close more streets.
It for sure goes down there with the likes of the disaster 2015 Nola race.
|
|
|
|
Post by vintagerpm on Aug 11, 2021 13:21:34 GMT -8
YouTube has become a great source for GT racing. You can see a race livestreamed from somewhere in the world almost every weekend. The British GT Championship races have been pretty fun to watch. I just saw where IMSA is moving to USA and Peacock (pay) networks for 2022, since NBCSN is dying a well-deserved death. Hopefully, race coverage will be better there. More than likely, I'll just continue to watch recoded races on YouTube, commercial-free and with IMSA Radio's excellent announcers. Ben Ben, the coverage won't change. USA & Peacock are part of the Comcast family, along with NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, & NBCSN. The problem with NBCSN was that they couldn't get it on all the cable providers. They also had more channels than they had programming for, especially after losing the NHL. So, NBCSN will be shut down and programming moved to their other platforms. As for GT & Prototype race coverage, I think they are almost all bad. I rarely care who is in the car driving, just let me know what kind of car it is - Porsche, Mazda, Ferrari, whatever. Maybe even the team. I can't memorize 40 or 50 car numbers. Japanese Super GT (watched on Youtube) does it best as they almost always have the car make up on the leaderboard. And those broadcasts aren't even in Engish. Mike Addition/Correction: I watched a Super GT race last night. The team names & car models are always listed on the leader board. |
|
|
|
Post by Joel_W on Aug 12, 2021 5:38:43 GMT -8
The best tv coverage by far is Sky for F1. Not counting commentators, pre-race or post-race, the overall tv coverage at every race is 100% spot on. They can follow any car for a complete lap with rare exceptions. That allows us to actually follow the race and know what's happening without the commentators having to tell us. Not counting Nascar ovals and tri-ovals, CBS is the worst with their GT coverage. The races are impossible to watch as you can't follow the action for a full or nearly complete lap. It's more like a little more then 1/2 the lap. They simply don't have anywhere enough tv cameras. the races at VIR are always a joke.
If a network signs a contract to cover auto racing, then they should plan to have enough cameras for proper coverage. It's strange but when I watch British and European GT racing, the camera coverage is always much better.
joel
|
|
|
|
Post by pnance26 on Aug 12, 2021 6:35:43 GMT -8
I was wondering where to find a place to comment on the IndyCar race in Nashville...
So the hype was over having a race over a bridge. Mention of the standby rescue boats and divers etc... for a course that in all likelihood would NEVER see a car breech one of the barriers on the bridge unless there was a catastrophic suspension failure. Weirder things have happened, I guess.
But as for the rest of the course, the designed should be fired! Whomever decided that a track with less than two lanes on a straight going into a corner was a good idea has never driven a race car at speed. And it showed... just the one pile-up that took out six or seven cars at one corner should be plenty of evidence of "what the eff were they thinking?" It grew to be a boring race and I applaud the winner having taken a little flight and then repairs were made so that the car and driver could win, but as to the rest of the race? Meh...
And it never was explained what was the source of the mystery water coming under the wall. There was a bar just outside the barrier, so maybe it was ice machine runoff but it sure didn't help a shitty race get any better.
I was all set to send my son over if he had the time off but thankfully, that didn't materialize. And for all the hullabaloo about the race going right over to downtown Nashville, did you notice ALL of the coverage was either the bridge or the other end of the track? 5th street is right there in the middle of the highest profile area of Nashville along with Bridgestone arena. Oh wait, Bridgestone is a competitor of Firestone so we damn sure can't show it or mention its name.
All in all, I thought it was a boring race on a boring street circuit. I do not understand why they keep going back to these temporary circuits when you Watkins Glen, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Mid-America, Laguna Seca, Sonoma... it makes zero sense at all.
|
|
|
|
Post by starfighterace on Aug 12, 2021 7:13:14 GMT -8
I was all set to send my son over if he had the time off but thankfully, that didn't materialize. And for all the hullabaloo about the race going right over to downtown Nashville, did you notice ALL of the coverage was either the bridge or the other end of the track? 5th street is right there in the middle of the highest profile area of Nashville along with Bridgestone arena. Oh wait, Bridgestone is a competitor of Firestone so we damn sure can't show it or mention its name. Bridgestone owns Firestone. Bought it in 1988.
|
|
|
|
Post by illeagle10 on Aug 12, 2021 9:28:54 GMT -8
A good name for the race would've been "A Bridge to Far"! I was ticked because they put this race in place of the Pocono Race! A home race for me. I guess they thought the Pocono race was to hazardous! I guess getting launched off a bridge is safe. Go figure.........
Jim
|
|
|
|
Post by pnance26 on Aug 12, 2021 9:33:09 GMT -8
I was all set to send my son over if he had the time off but thankfully, that didn't materialize. And for all the hullabaloo about the race going right over to downtown Nashville, did you notice ALL of the coverage was either the bridge or the other end of the track? 5th street is right there in the middle of the highest profile area of Nashville along with Bridgestone arena. Oh wait, Bridgestone is a competitor of Firestone so we damn sure can't show it or mention its name. Bridgestone owns Firestone. Bought it in 1988.
Odd then how they didn't ever show Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators. |
|
|
|
Post by Joel_W on Aug 12, 2021 13:13:22 GMT -8
Jim,
Living on Long Island, having a Indy Car race at Pocono would be a dream come true. There's just no track close enough to me for a 1 day journey. For what it's worth, I was at the very 1st Cart race at Pocono raceway way back in 1971, Team Penske with Mark Donahue just blew the field away.
joel
|
|
