Mid Ohio...well that was painful

[blacksheep-1]

As you are no doubt aware, PWC has hung 75 pounds onto our car along with the 52mm intake restrictor, I can only assume we'll be chaining Kias to our back bumpers next. In any case Dean Martin was pretty hooked up finishing 2nd on Friday and 3rd on Saturday. Phoenix was fortunate enough to finish 3rd and 5th on Friday, 7th and 8th on Saturday, It was pretty obvious that the restrictions were killing the mustangs, you could drive into the corners and the Astons and Porsches..not quite so much with the Camaros, would pull us down the straights, so essentially you got balked in the corners and couldn't build enough steam to pass at the end of the straight. Camaro I think won Friday, Aston on Saturday....we did keep the point lead, Martin in and his mustang is right behind us and it looks like Ford will pretty much lock up the manufacturer's championship shortly.
Basically, unless you pull some magic start out of your hat, you end up where you start, the Porsche broke on the line (and on the pole) Friday, that helped and a couple of cars got frisky and went off later. Saturdays race was not much, although Martin drove his rear end off to keep the 2 Camaros behind him, it was apparent, if they did get around, they would've pulled away. In the end, all the mustangs were running about the same lap times. Also as a not Gigliotti brake checked Kurt right at the finish line on Saturday and was fined and put on probation...nice. We had already lost a car on Thursday so we have no backups at this time.

 

[DGRacing]

And this is what annoys me about pro racing orgs. The teams and manufacturers don't have to do anything to be fast, ultimately. Because if a team can't win and whines enough (Aston, Camaro), they get benefits. And if a team puts the R&D and training in (Phoenix, RR) to build fast cars and drivers, they get punished. A team can show up with an iron body steam powered car and everyone else will be restricted down to the average.

Then, as you say, you finish where you started because everyone has been equalized.

But I do like the fastest lap in race 1 determines your race 2 grid position. It adds a dimension, but even that is designed to help the weak who aren't racing in the pack and have clean air, can turn a fast lap.

As I said before, the best compromise of this in my opinion, is for the BoP committee to make END OF YEAR changes only, so teams can engineer to the new rules off season. Then they have to live with the rules for all next season. If a team runs away with it, so be it. Change the BoP next season and live with it.

But as is now, the broadcast is designed for idiot watchers rooting for team X who know nothing about engineering a championship.

 

[blacksheep-1]

OK Giglioti was charged 1K and probation, Kurt got probation.
like the qualifying format as well, when Baldwin in the Porsche broke the drive at the first start, they repaired the transaxle, and he ripped off a 1.28 or so lap time to start pole in the next race even though his first race was over...we've done the same thing at Barber with Kurt when he was penalized, he was still able to get a decent start on the second race.

 

[VoodooBoss]

Sorry to hear about the results this past weekend. I'm sure it's challenging for race promoters to keep cars fairly even when running different cars. I know other series make you dial in a weight to power ratio but I'm not sure if that's a better way to go or not. Changing rules mid-season has got to be very frustrating. Good luck the rest of the season and see you at Sonoma.

 

[302 Hi Pro]

If memory serves me, this is not the first time they pulled this on the mustang teams after the Boss 302R's became the dominate force to beat in SCCA racing.

Wasn't it the summer of 2012 when in protest of the restrictors the Mustang teams ran a few laps at Mid-Ohio and then all pitted, and DNF?

Many of the teams lost engines due to overheating issues caused by the mid-season rules changes.

I have to agree with the above poster that rules changes should not happen mid-season. Teams need time to test and tune to the new rules and required setups.

Let's see what they have in store for the new GT350R once it becomes the new dominant force on tracks across the country.

Good luck with the rest of your season.
Dave
302 Hi Pro

 

[twistedneck]

As you are no doubt aware, PWC has hung 75 pounds onto our car along with the 52mm intake restrictor, I can only assume we'll be chaining Kias to our back bumpers next. In any case Dean Martin was pretty hooked up finishing 2nd on Friday and 3rd on Saturday. Phoenix was fortunate enough to finish 3rd and 5th on Friday, 7th and 8th on Saturday, It was pretty obvious that the restrictions were killing the mustangs, you could drive into the corners and the Astons and Porsches..not quite so much with the Camaros, would pull us down the straights, so essentially you got balked in the corners and couldn't build enough steam to pass at the end of the straight. Camaro I think won Friday, Aston on Saturday....we did keep the point lead, Martin in and his mustang is right behind us and it looks like Ford will pretty much lock up the manufacturer's championship shortly.
Basically, unless you pull some magic start out of your hat, you end up where you start, the Porsche broke on the line (and on the pole) Friday, that helped and a couple of cars got frisky and went off later. Saturdays race was not much, although Martin drove his rear end off to keep the 2 Camaros behind him, it was apparent, if they did get around, they would've pulled away. In the end, all the mustangs were running about the same lap times. Also as a not Gigliotti brake checked Kurt right at the finish line on Saturday and was fined and put on probation...nice. We had already lost a car on Thursday so we have no backups at this time.

58mm?? is that some kind of joke?

another 75lbs. so you have a solid axle, heavy front end muscle car with a severely neutered V8 and they still have to give the other guys these kind of cheats.

reminds me of the most horrible of all Drag racing, the dreaded bracket race. PWC needs to take a page from Donald Trump. Political correctness is destroying our American economy by squashing ideas, eliminating creativity, and creating a huge paranoid workforce. This BOP is killing innovation, making races too close, causing crashes, and in general reducing the spectacle.

I know a great driver can still make a huge difference and that is important, but what happened to the engineers and designers who dream up these game changing cars? they are squashed! they dare to be too fast? Its racings version of PC.