I don't really follow IRL but GT America is a support race in my youtube feed and I caught a bit of it.
What do we think of the track? It's not Monaco, but the bridge over the river makes for good television.
Like most city circuits everything is concrete walls so any mishap causes a yellow flag period.
Also, bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, and bumpy.
My buddy went for the weekend. He sent me videos of practice with all the different cars. It looked pretty cool. There is one left hard left hand turn that is right in front of an Exxon station. And that parking lot sits kind of in a bowl surrounded by a bunch of tall buildings. The cars sounded awesome during tne practice sessions be sent.
Herta's team clearly guessed better than anyone else on the setup. But I'm starting to think more and more that he's a special talent, too.
I watched practice and will watch the race (provided I can figure out where NBC will air it when the NASCAR race goes long....)
The bridge shots of cars going each direction are awesome. But those expansion joints in the bridge and the transition from the bridge to the road are crazy.
Add some very tight single car sessions and I'm expecting some carnage.
Should be fun and exciting.
-Rob
Unfortunately the race is on NBC SN rather than broadcast so I'll have to wait for the highlights. But watching the quali highlights Colton's car looked alive on his pole lap. They may have nailed the set up, but damn was he on fire, he was dancing with that car. So so impressive.
In reply to rob_lewis :
IMSA used to do a street race in Columbus, Ohio with a few bridge crossings.
Man, there are several sections of this track that make Monaco look like an 8-lane highway.
Reminds me a bit more like Baku.
And they've gone full indycar!
Well this is a cluster..........
In reply to Tom1200 :
not getting any easier with the blending of cars coming from the pits.
That track makes Baku seem terribly spacious.
And Herta's day is done......it was cool while it lasted.
In reply to Tom1200 :
eh. He drove well, but this track....
I think Herta's team banked too heavily on his outstanding speed and he had to come from behind, pushed too hard and was frustrated and overdrove the car. Obviously hindsight is 20-20 but I would've changed the strategy to go towards fuel save like the others did and try to keep him out front. It happens though, even the best teams get the strategy wrong sometimes.
Think there'll be a 2nd race on this course?
Lotta unhappy bazillionaires after this many cars get torn up.
I've been enjoying it.
Given the size of the weekend, they will come back. over 110K through the gates for the weekend. Hopefully on a different weekend because early august in Nashville is brutal which is why I didn't go.
In reply to alfadriver :
The perils of a narrow street course. Came up a foot short.
bmw88rider said:Given the size of the weekend, they will come back. over 110K through the gates for the weekend. Hopefully on a different weekend because early august in Nashville is brutal which is why I didn't go.
Yeah, my verdict is great event, garbage track.
But for Ericsson's car to survive that hit and go on to win the race? Those Dallaras are friggin' tanks.
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
Newgarden too. They kept pointing out his steering wheel not being straight. As for the track, I never really like street circuits. They are restricted so much on the street routes that there are too many narrow spots. They could come to Chicago and run all alleys and it would look the same and just as rough too! Next weeks double with NASCAR at Indy should be fun
It seems aggressively stupid to run a race like this in a city lining the entire course with barriers and fencing. Build more bleachers at a real race track and be able to enjoy racing more and slamming into the chicane wall less.
I think they'll have a long hard look at the track layout for next year to see if they can do anything to reduce the number of incidents.
In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :
Seemed like the track was a gimmick just to use the bridge. One side was incredibly narrow and bumpy, the other side was mostly a square. Neither was in a nice looking area- at least for Baku, the tight area is in a historic area of the city- this was a connector to connect the track to get back on the bridge.
It made for good TV.
Not my kind of course. But busting 175 over the bridge to then enter a tight little corner was interesting.
Crowd looked large, good for racing.
The only reason I watched was because of the race being on city streets.
I wasn't expecting as many incidents as there were, I doubt anyone was.
IMO, IndyCar, for the most part, is pretty boring to watch.
It's probably been 20 years since I watched the 500.
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