5 days from now they will release 300 new tracks, 100 new cars, new tyre models, improved physics, improved damage, and they will introduce an official Live for Speed series with a 1,000 Euro prize purse.
Before I start let me admit that I've never been further west than Alabama, but I am accusomed to traveling insde of the United States on the East Coast. I'll assume that the west is not much different.
1. Use Trivago.com to find a hotel. It's new (to me), and it has been very helpful in planning my trip this March to Martinsville for the Cup race. For example here's a 3 star hotel I found using Trivago.com (I don't need luxury, but 1 or 2 stars usually isn't good for a week or more stay) in San Fran. for $110 (80.89 Euros) a night (plus tax I'm sure). Phoenix (closer to LA and the Grand Canyon and less popular) you'd be looking at about the same price for a decent hotel room . Like this one
2. Why did you chose San Fransico out of curiosity? Along with that question, why do you want to go on this trip exactly? Adventure? Cultural Experiance? The Beach?
3. If you're coming for a cultural experiance there's a VERY cultural experiance in Phoenix on the weekend of Sunday, March 2nd. OR, there's also a race in Las Vegas on the following weekend (March 9th), but Phoenix would be a better fan experiance probably. I'm a little bias on the NASCAR idea though, so I'll receed to other things if you're doing it for reasons other than culture.
4. I cannot really contribute much more unless I know why you want to go on this vacation . As somebody said earlier I do suggest going to see the Grand Canyon since you are semi-close to it. I obviously haven't seen it before, but I do beleive that it would be something to remember. Grand Canyon from San Fran. looks to be about 11 hours. From Phoenix is looks like 3 and a half. From LA it looks like 7 and a half. Las Vegas is a little over 4 hours drive from the Grand Canyon.
And the 2014 Rules package is out. No more ride height, a square leading edge on the splitter (not exactly sure what this is), 8 inch spoiler with the top 2 inches clear for visibility reasons, and ajustments to the sides of the cars in height and shape I beleive.
Overall effect = MORE downforce
In any event, NASCAR is going to restrict RPM to keep speeds at their former levels. I always question NASCAR.
On Double Points
I just heard about the double points finale in 2014 for Formula 1. All I can say is that I'm disappointed. I was recently criticizing NASCAR for multiple things that they have recently been trying to do in order to increase interest, and all that while I was talking up Formula 1 for their lack of doing the same.
Let me be clear about something, Formula 1 is a competition based form of motorsports. NASCAR is a spectator form. This changes my feelings on all of this, sadly. Although I will continue to enjoy the races themselves, now the season will lose something to me, just the same as with my feeling on the Sprint Cup Series and the Chase for the Cup.
Make no mistake, this is almost as though Formula 1 had added a chase for the Driver's Championship and Constructor's Championship. It's not the changes it will cause, they will be minimal, but it's the idea.
Then again, remember, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
On Driver Numbers
Sounds just fine with me. Tradition is lost, but be that as it may I suppose. I haven't been subject to F1 long enough to have feelings on that front.
On Budget Cap
Here, my answer is why? Because the teams are spending too much money (duh)? If this is so, it sounds like teams are being paid too much for their participation and/or success. Reducing the pay for victories or championships and increacing the pay for poor finishes will continue to encourage participation, but it will help prevent a single team from spending a large amount of money and gaining a large advantage over other teams because of their success.
Let's face it, if teams receive less money they will have to cut profit to or accept more loss to continue obtaining it. At the same time if lower teams receive more money, they would be able to either pocket more money or increase performance. If they pocket more money, eventually they would be replaced by another team that is willing to make less or lose more money.
Rarely are rules the solution to problems. It is more effective to disincentive things which you want to get rid of. Motorsports allows this more often than other sports. If you don't want drivers to use track outside of a certain area, plant grass there; don't paint a line and tell drivers not to use it, because they still will try, and then the officiating body will have to penalize it, but make no mistake, they will try to use it as much as they can.
Formula 1 does paint lines and says not to use the area at almost all race tracks, and they have made a similar mistake with this budget cap. This of course is one man's opinion.
Please respond either in favor or against this series happening if you plan on participating.
This proposed series would be comprised of four racing events staged three months apart each starting in February of 2013 and ending in November of 2013. Each of the four rounds have been designed to emulate an existing discipline of car racing. These four disciplines include Open Wheel, Sports Car Endurance, Street Car, and Stock Car racing. Each round will adopt rules to conform with the series which it is attempting to emulate. Both drivers and teams will accumulate points. If there is enough interest in this series we will go ahead with our schedule as follows. Currently we will only be able to accept drivers who have a way of understanding written English.
Schedule
All rounds begin at 17:00 GMT on both dates. Round 1: Stock Car Racing / Daytona 500 Kyoto 400 – 216 laps at Kyoto Ring Oval (KY1) in FZR
January 25th & February 1st General Rules:One driver per entry. Only R2 and R3 tyres are permitted in all sessions. Double file start and restarts. No passing prior to the start/finish line on starts and restarts. Upon the issuance of a safety car pit lane will immediately close. The highest running car 1 or more laps down on each safety car will be permitted to overtake the safety car and start at the tail end of the field (free pass). Cars between the safety car and the leader at the one to go signal will be permitted to overtake the safety car as well and start at the rear ofthe field (wave around). Unless there are penalties, restarts will be in position order. Wave around & free pass recipients start behind all other entries and penalized entries will start behind them. Pit entry will be at the exit ofturn three rather than on entry to turn three as is traditional. TeamSpeak connection is required for all competitors in all sessions. Ability to speak is not required. Qualifying Rules:January 25th – Single car qualifying with an out-lap, one or two hot laps and an in-lap. Best lap of two hot laps is lap of record. The top two qualifying times who complete their duel race will start on the front row. This will be followed by two 100 mile (54 lap) qualifying races which will split the field in two based on their qualifying times. The first duel will directly determine odd starting positions 3rd through 23rd. The second will directly determine even starting positions 4th through 24th. The final 6 starting positions will be awarded to those drivers who have the quickest lap of record from single car qualifying who are not already on the starting grid. Reserves will be pulled from the rest of this list if needed. Race Rules:February 1st – Race will begin with 4 pace laps. Points Treatment:Team points will be awarded to the top two finishing entries from each team. Individuals will receive points as usual. Round 2: Open Wheel / Monaco Grand Prix South City Grand Prix – 83 laps at South City Town Course (SO5) in BF1
May 3rd & 10th General Rules:One driver per entry. Pit road will remain open upon issuance of Safety Car. Local yellows must be obeyed. No overtaking under a local yellow. Only R3 and R2 tyres are permitted in all sessions. Qualifying Rules:May 3rd - All cars will be permitted to take the track for the firstqualifying session, which will last 20 minutes. Any entries which fail to meet 107% of the fastest speed in the session will not be permitted to race. If more than 32 cars attempt to qualify this session will be split in half to accommodate the extra drivers. The bottom third of the field at the end of this firstqualifying session will be set to start at the rear of the field in order oftheir times. Times for the top two thirds will be removed, and these entries will participate in a second qualifying session. This second session will last 15 minutes and allow all remaining drivers on the track. At the end of this session the bottom half of the remaining entries will be placed on the grid inorder of their times from the second session. The top half will once again have their times removed and moved into a third and final qualifying session, which will last 10 minutes. This session will determine the remaining starting positions in the upper third of the starting grid. In all sessions spectating outside of pit lane and jumping to the pits outside of pit lane will be permitted. Race Rules:May 10th - Race will begin with a warm-up lap in which overtaking will not be permitted. Drivers will return to the starting grid and reassume their previous positions. Race control will count down to a start and when the signal is given the race will begin. Those who leave the grid prior to the signal will be given a stop and go penalty. Safety Car usage will be kept to a minimum and only used when a local yellow is deemed too dangerous to remedy asituation by race control. Entries must maintain at least 120% of their typicallap times until they catch the safety car queue unless they pit in a particular lap. In which case they must maintain an appropriate pace until entering pitlane. Exceeding 110% of an entries typical lap pace prior to reaching thesafety car queue is also prohibited. Race control will post a target lap time range upon the issuance of a Safety Car. Race control will allow a one secondbuffer to either side of this time range for competitors. After all drivershave been given a chance to pit the safety car will pick-up the field in frontof the current race leader. Points Treatment:Team points will be awarded to the top two finishing entries from each team.Individuals will receive points as usual. Round 3: Endurance Racing / Grand Touring Class 12Hours of Westhill – 12 Hours at Westhill International Reversed (WE1R) in GTRclass.
August 2nd and 9th General Rules:2 to 5 drivers per entry. Each entry will be affiliated with a single teamregardless of the composition of the drivers. Drivers may only be a member of oneentry in this event. XRR will assume a 1% intake restriction and the FZR willassume a 4% in take restriction. FXR will run unrestricted. A single driverwill not be permitted to be on more than one entry’s roster. Driver rostersmust be submitted and complete before 4:00 GMT on August 1st. Changesafter that point will not be permitted. Qualifying Rules:August 2nd - A single hour long qualifying session will be ran in which each team must electa single driver to represent them in qualifying. The driver who is elected toqualify for the team must also start the event in that entry. Jump to pit andspectating will not be permitted in this session. Race Rules:August 9th - The start will be from a stand still in standard LFS fashion. Upon the issuance of a full course caution flag from race control all competitors will be required to turn on their pit road speed limiters immediately. Failure to do sowill result in a drive through penalty or more. Overtaking will not be permitted under a full course yellow flag. Drivers must maintain maximum speed with their speed limiter as to not slow down other competitors behind them. Pitlane will remain open at all times unless blocked or otherwise dangerous to navigate under conditions of green flag or yellow flag. Local yellows must be obeyed and over taking under them is prohibited. At least two drivers mustpilot an entry over the course of this event. Only two drivers are permitted tobe on a server for a team at a time. Following a driver change the former driver must immediately leave the server. Driver changes may occur at any time. Points Treatment:Team points will be awarded to the highest finishing entry for a team. Individuals will be given points based upon their entry’s finish. Drivers must be behind the wheel for at least 2 hours total in order to receive individual points. Round4: Street Stock / Continental Sports Car Challenge – Street Tuner Class Blackwood Challenge – 118 laps at Blackwood GP (BL1) in TBO class.
November 1st and 8th General Rules:2 or 3 drivers per entry. Each entry will be affiliated with a single team regardless of the composition of the drivers. Drivers may only be a member of one entry in this event. XRT will assume a 2% intake restriction and the FXO willassume a 5% in take restriction. RB4 will run unrestricted. A single driverwill not be permitted to be on more than one entry’s roster. Driver rostersmust be submitted and complete before 4:00 GMT on November 1st. Changes after that point will not be permitted. Qualifying Rules:November 1st - A single hour long qualifying session will be ran in which each team must electa single driver to represent them in qualifying. The driver who is elected to qualify for the team must also start the event in that entry. Jump to pit and spectating will not be permitted in this session. Race Rules:November 8th - The start will be double file rolling after two pace laps. Upon the issuance ofa full course caution flag from race control pit lane will close. Local yellowsmust be obeyed and over taking under them is prohibited. Cars between theleader and the safety car at the one to go signal will be permitted to overtakethe safety car and take position at the rear of the field. At least two drivers must pilot an entry over the course of this event. Only two drivers are permitted to be on a server for a team at a time. Following a driver change, the former driver must immediately leave the server. Driver changes may occur at any time. Points Treatment:Team points will be awarded to the highest finishing entry for a team. Individuals will be given points based upon their entry’s finish. Drivers must complete at least 35 laps total in order to receive individual points.
PointsTable
1st place – 56 points
2nd place – 42 points
3rd place – 36 points
4th place – 32 points
5th place – 28 points
6th place – 24 points
7th place – 20 points
8th place – 18 points
9th place – 16 points
10th place – 14 points
11th place – 12 points
12th place – 10 points
13th place – 9 points
14th place – 8 points
15th place – 7 points
16th place – 6 points
17th place – 5 points
18th place – 4 points
19th place – 3 points
20th place – 2 points
21st place – 1 point
22nd or worse – 0 points Tie Breakers (In order): Number of Wins, Number of Podiums, Number of Top 5’s, Number of Top 10’s, Average Finishing Position, Numberof Poles, Finish in Final Event.
Last edited by Cornys, .
Reason : Copy and Paste removed spaces. Fixed it.
Also, NASCAR conducted 5 races at Charlotte today in (assuming) 5 different configuations. Here's PDF of thye results from each of those races just for the heck of it. No word on what each configuation is, but I'd like to see #2 not knowing anything or having seen the racing
Yes, there are, and a I agree, but once again these statistics would need be be diluted as I have done once again.
I think that the new car probably did produce better racing in the middle and the back of the field, but it failed to produce great racing at the front due to the aero-issues. This was especially true on flat tracks and wide tracks I thought.
I'll look deeper into loop data statistics here soon, but until then I'll reference my favorite race, the Southern 500, compaired 2013 to 2012. I thought this year's Southern 500 was the worst I've ever seen, but let's see how the number stack up
Total Green Flag Passes 2012 = 2,525
Total Green Flag Passes 2013 = 2,370
2012 Yellows / Debris Yellows = 5 / 3
2013 Yellows / Debris Yellows = 8 / 1
Green flag passes per run 2012 = 505
Green flag passes per run 2013 = 296.25
(Why bother with green flag passes per debris caution 2012 has way less)
The most important Statistic? The total passes of the top 10 drivers in terms of average running position. None of these drivers DNF'ed in these events.
2012 Total green flag passes of the 10 lowest (best) average running position drivers = 583
2013 Total green flag passes of the 10 lowest (best) average running position drivers = 402
I think that this says a lot about the new car and proves my point. I haven't looked at other races yet, but I'm sure that they show the same type of things. I don't have time to look at the entire season though.
Compair this to the first Southern 500 to feature loop statistics (2005)
2005 Total Passes (Generation 4) = 1672
2005 Cautions = 12 | 3 for debris 2005 Total green flag passes of the 10 lowest (best) average running position drivers = 370
Note: Kahne and Newman had 19 & 17 passes respectively and were 2 of the 10 drivers with the best average running position. Harvick also was included with a total of 67. Outliers in 2012 were 33, 39 & 93. Outliers in 2013 were 22, 32, & 80.
2006 Total green flag passes of the 10 lowest (best) average running position drivers = 276 2010 Total green flag passes of the 10 lowest (best) average running position drivers = 403
Maybe we have just been spoiled by the CoT (Gen 5) with regards to front runners swapping positions, but then again, this is just Darlington
Wrapping up the 2013 season with some statistical analysis and compairing it to last year. NASCARnomics.com & racing-reference.info provides some of the the information.
Lead Changes: '12 - 681 | '13 - 700
Lead Changes without plate races: '12 - 556 | '13 - 572
Cautions: '12 - 216 | '13 - 287
Cautions without plate races: '12 - 190 | '13 - 267
LC/Cautions: '12 - 3.153 | '13 - 2.44
LC/Cautions without plate races: '12 - 2.926 | '13 - 2.14
Debris Cautions per race: '12 - 1.6 | '13 - 2.0
Incident Cautions per race (wrecks & spins): '12 - 3.7 | '13 - 4.8
Mechinical Cautions per race: '12 - 0.6 | '13 - 1
Total LC/Debris Cautions per race: '12 - 425.6 | '13 - 350
Total LC/Debris Cautions per race without plate races: '12 - 347.5 | '13 - 286
Of these statistics I find the last most representative of the quality of the racing. Cautions cause lead changes, so the LC per caution count is also important. I don't like including plate track statistics in my statistics as you may have noticed
Not sure if this is going to go ahead or not, but the event dates will be 25th of January and the 1st of February rather than what was previously mentioned. OP edited. (DoP 24H on the 18th)
Something to remember, if you get a nice car, and spend a lot of money on it, in only a few years you will have lost about half of that value and have paid insurance and gas into it as well.
If you get a lower vaule, older car (but reliable!) you'll not lose much money in depreciation, spend less on insurance, and maybe not lose money on interest either if you've saved up a bit of money .
I bought my first car this summer and only spent $2,450. As long as I don't crash it or something like that I'll be able to sell it for about $1,900 three years from now.
If I'd spent $7,500 on a vehicle that was newer, I'd only be able to sell it for around $4,000-$5,000 three years from now
I'm getting pretty fed up with the "debris" cautions when there's no evident debris anywhere. Have been for a while. At Phoenix somebody went close to the wall and NASCAR threw a yellow flag.
I've been slowly losing attraction towards all three series', but the Cup series especially. That's not to say I don't like the racing, but the yellows for no good reason never cease to anger me and turn me away from the series'.