I was there at Limerock on memorial day watching the race from the esses infield spectator hill. Was a blast to watch them fly around, and I was on the hill right in front of where the black carbon fiber Cobra caught on fire and ran down to the fence to see what happened. I love Limerock for being a pretty challenging circuit with little banking around the corners.

Quote from MAGGOT :

I think some of your post is missing Mattesa. lol

Ah, so it is!

Anyway I had no idea that the "spin the wheel" thing (and variants of), were so common.

As for the rest of my post...

On SPEED Touring:

I love this series. Reminds of me of the golden age of the BTCC and other international touring car series of the era. What happened to the field though? There used to be huge fields with a wide variety of makes and models. These past years it seems everyone's runnng the same thing. It's as if the whole field is either a Real-Time Acura or a Mazda 6.

And now some pics of the Touring Cars for those unfamiliar with the series:

Acura TSXs


Mazda 6


This S40 looks hot! Unfortunately not yet very competitive.

That's a photochop. The real Volvo doesn't look like that (similar paint scheme IIRC though)

Just a question on SPEED WC Tourers - from what I hear they are similar to Super 2000 in performance stakes - is that true? Do they allow S2000 cars?

Quote :

Anyway I had no idea that the "spin the wheel" thing (and variants of), were so common.

Well, it was a replacement for a straight out top 10 reversed. It made race 2 in to a joke when SEAT and Jason Plato (in particular) had a regular gag involving stomping on the brakes if they were running 7th or so - this allowed them to start on pole for race 3, not losing many points in R2 but gaining lots in R3.

A full on reverse grid would be rather entertaining to watch but for points it would be an issue with 25 min races that the BTCC has.

Quote from MAGGOT :

That's a photochop. The real Volvo doesn't look like that (similar paint scheme IIRC though)

Here's the real deal:

Quote from duke_toaster :

Just a question on SPEED WC Tourers - from what I hear they are similar to Super 2000 in performance stakes - is that true? Do they allow S2000 cars?

Here's the scoop on the cars http://www.world-challenge.com/series.php?page=carfacts

This is kind of interesting:

Quote :

Touring Car (TC): Cars up to 2.8-liters that are naturally aspirated are permitted. Forced induction permitted as if it came that way from the factory. The cars can be front-wheel, rear-wheel, or all-wheel drive. The cars must be able to seat four adults, and convertibles are not allowed. Class horsepower range is 225-275 bhp.

I've just skimmed this thread, and I really don't have much to say but... My only chance to watch American Racing is via piranha and I download any roadcourse racing I can get my hands on.

As I understand it, NASCAR owns the Grand-Am sportcar series? Well I don't know if you guys realize this, but that is quality racing right there. Good, competitive cars with good drivers on good tracks. I just wish they wouldn't split up the GT and the DP's as they do on some events.
So... Even if NASCAR are going down the drain with the oval racing, they at least does something right

I also watch SCCA, both GT and TouringCar, and the Touringcar series is what WTCC should be like. Lot's of different makes of cars on the grid at all times, all being more or less competitive. The GT class could use a little more spunk but all in all it's about the same as FIA-GT3 which is a fairly good idea I think.

The sad part this year is that ALMS has been running IMO too many street races. It's not fitting for a four class grid to run on tight, twisty and bumpy tracks where the LMP's can't show off their stuff. And the GT1 class could use a few more cars on the grid.

The really sad part in American racing is the stock cars. These days, it's all about those big super speedways. People watching that doesn't pay attention to the racing ,cause they're all just sitting there waiting for "the big one" and that is not how it should be.