I feel the future of Nascar and F1 is....

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: crit
Yes but why would any sanctioning body license a racer who had intentionally crashed in any race beside a demolition derby?

About stock cars not being stock, I'm sure you really don't want to see a Taurus race a Camry. We aren't going to see a return of the rwd family sedan and fwd cars racing on an oval would require some really masochistic drivers. Be glad that stock cars are purpose built.

It was cool when sedans were legitimate high performance machines and budgets didn't allow teams to buy their way in to the winner's circle. That is not the world today.


I think that'd be a lot of fun. Seeing bone stock "regular" cars battling it out.

I'm surprised Topgear didn't do a true "stock car" race. A modern V6 family car is pretty fast, and with some simple mods to atleast balance the handling and improve the brakes, they could put on a good 10 lap sprint before overheating.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: crit
Yes but why would any sanctioning body license a racer who had intentionally crashed in any race beside a demolition derby?

About stock cars not being stock, I'm sure you really don't want to see a Taurus race a Camry. We aren't going to see a return of the rwd family sedan and fwd cars racing on an oval would require some really masochistic drivers. Be glad that stock cars are purpose built.

It was cool when sedans were legitimate high performance machines and budgets didn't allow teams to buy their way in to the winner's circle. That is not the world today.


I think that'd be a lot of fun. Seeing bone stock "regular" cars battling it out.


Check out the BTCC or WTCC. About as close as you can get on a professional level.

 

[gofast182]

I will second that. My DVR records generic "auto racing" on CBS Sports Network. This catches several series. About a year ago it captured a BTCC race. It was some of the best racing I've ever watched, ever. I wished I started following sooner. The cars are normal-ish but more importantly for me, they were simply allowed to race without stewards inquiries and penalties for everything.

 

[crit]

I don't think those touring cars do ovals.

I think an oval is a novel idea to see a few times a season but not almost every race to the point that the drivers forget how to turn right.

As for stock cars racing, SCCA has stock classes and road courses. I doubt you see many Camry or Taurus even though there is probably a class for that.

Honestly, from tracking my daily driver, you can tell how much you are missing compared to a purpose built race car. Unless you have a good sports car you start thinking this thing is 1,000 lbs too heavy and has 1/2 the power it needs, the brakes suck and the tires are garbage.

I would love to build a Bauer Catfish with a short stroke LS engine, with direct injection and huge compression running E85. build it right and you've got around 600 HP in a 2,000 lb car that runs on pump gas and wears nice sticky tires that don't cost a fortune. That would be worth racing and probably cheaper than race prepping a new Camry.

 

[BrocLuno]

NASCAR needs to eliminate the COT and go back to MFG sheet metal. I don't care what engine is under the hood as long as it came from the same company that stamped the sheet metal body panels. OHC, Push-Rod, V-6, V-8, V-10 - it's all OK by me, but make it EFI and limit the fuel burn and the cubic inches... Say 6L engines and specific fuel limits per team...

 

[crit]

Do you think any auto manufacturer would spend money to add an aero tweak to their bread and butter family sedan?

Not today.

At the very minimum, the wheel wells would be screwed up so you are never going to get factory metal.

The most positive thing about COT is that it eliminates any aero advantage due to the nameplate.

Spec racing can be great. The last few seasons of CART were awesome although I think lack of cost control was a big part of its downfall.

If you gave teams a set of spec valve springs before a race you could control the rpms, increase engine longevity and reduce speeds without resorting to aero packages that preclude overtaking.

When you can make a race about driver skill and car setup, you get fantastic racing. When its about aero, horsepower or tires you get lopsided results and frustrated teams that didn't choose the right combo.

 

[Whitewolf]

Here's an interesting article.
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ecclestone-mercedes-and-ferrari-could-destroy-f1/
Comments?

 

[BikeWhisperer]

Been an F1 fan for years, was a former Champ Car fan before the IRL ruined it. Starting to get interested in Indycar again despite those gawd awful looking cars they drive, though mostly just watch the road/street course races and occasion short oval. NASCAR has never appealed to me, boring with all the cars looking the same. Round and round for 500 miles...yawn. I will usually watch Sonoma and that's about it.

But F1 is getting stupid with their rules and penalties...ruins the racing. The best series for having all kinds of different technology and cars is WEC while the most entertaining to watch is WRC. Sadly both rarely get TV time, mostly have to stream races.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Whitewolf
Comments?

That's been talked about on and off by commentators for some time now. Bernie is finally saying it. Guys like Sir Frank and Ron Dennis aren't picking up their balls and going home. The Mercedes board is one decision away from Toto hopping on a plane to do other duties. The Ferrari board is one decision away from leaving Sebastian and Kimi to look for alternative employment.

Yes, Ferrari and Mercedes have demonstrated commitment to the sport. However, they certainly have the ability to spend just about everyone else into the ground. And then, that's when the risk of that boardroom decision becomes apparent, when several directors are sitting around a table wondering why all these resources are being devoted to a sport with four participants. Increasing market share is one thing, but destroying the market itself is another altogether.

Well, there are a few things that need to be done. You can't just annoy Ferrari and Mercedes and make their involvement and expertise useless. But, you can't bankrupt everyone else at the same time and just say they have to accept being back markers no matter what. And, with respect to dwindling audiences, there are two aspects to that. First, audiences of all shows are dwindling. People watch less network TV, or cable TV, or satellite TV, or over the air TV, or what have you. Bernie has to get on board with streaming services. I know several young people who have absolutely no desire to purchase cable or satellite subscriptions, unheard of in my generation save for the stingiest among us. These people aren't going to be digging to find F1 on some underground site because Bernie is overprotective of TV rights. Alternatives are needed.

Unfortunately, that brings up a lot more than even Bernie can solve, even if Bernie and every team and the FIA agree with him 100%. Regulatory agencies like the FCC and CRTC have a say, as do the networks broadcasting the product in various countries. The only reason I could get the 2015 24H of Le Mans by subscription so easily this year is because no one had the rights in Canada.

 

[dailydriver]

NASCAR is dead to me anyways, now that a Toy has been allowed to (set up to??) win the whole thing, when they should not have been allowed into the series to begin with.

It certainly took them long enough, even with their Camry and Corolla trillion$$ backing their teams.

I do not now care if that series shrivels up and dies for good.

 

[billt460]

Those stupid looking Camry "Pace Cars" look like tinker toys out there. I'd love to see one of them get rear ended!

 

[whip]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
NASCAR is dead to me anyways, now that a Toy has been allowed to (set up to??) win the whole thing, when they should not have been allowed into the series to begin with.

Why should they not be allowed in NASCAR?

NASCAR lost me with the Chase. It effectively made the first 26 races meaningless preseason races. Every change NASCAR has made, has been worse. I might have watched a few laps of 3-4 races this year.

I DVR every F1 race. The biggest problem they have is field stability. They have to figure out a way the back marker teams can make money. Wondering how many cars will race each season isn't good.

 

[BrocLuno]

NASCAR is not NASCAR - there are no "stock cars" being raced. It's a spec series. I have not watched it since the COT was introduced. I caught the first few races and turned it off ...

At least the Aussies still go V-8 sedan racing

 

[Garak]

Agreed. At least if I have sufficient money, I can go to the closest Porsche or Nissan dealer and buy an actual GT3 car. Try to do that with a "stock car" at the Chevy dealership.

 

[whip]

Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
NASCAR is not NASCAR - there are no "stock cars" being raced. It's a spec series. I have not watched it since the COT was introduced. I caught the first few races and turned it off ...

At least the Aussies still go V-8 sedan racing

NASCAR hasn't been stock for over 30 years. Long before the COT.

 

[BrocLuno]

That's true, but it just seemed to loose the last bit of cache' with the COT ...

 

[A_Harman]

Tony Stewart infamously called the first COT's "carpwagons". But the new car seems much better.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
That's true, but it just seemed to loose the last bit of cache' with the COT ...

Same here.

 

[Brad_C]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
NASCAR is dead to me anyways, now that a Toy has been allowed to (set up to??) win the whole thing, when they should not have been allowed into the series to begin with.


Waaa waaa.. someone came in and won in a car that does not have an American badge on it.. boo hoo.. You'll just have to learn to make faster cars.

We had the same thing 30 years ago with our touring cars.. Ir rapidly became evident that Holden (GM) and Ford were incapable of producing real performance vehicles, so we basically banned the foreigners. Yay, now we can have a local winner every year to keep the knuckle draggers happy. Unfortunately they still can't produce fast cars, but as they are also dropping local manufacturing and dropping RWD vehicles we need to get some more blood in the sport, so we've invited the foreigners back but only while hog-tieing them to keep the local guys competitive.

As others have said, the BTCC is about as good as it gets for real racing these days.

 

[morepwr]

Nascar is a dying series. Just look at the stands and how few people are there. The races have gotten boring and it you cant tell one car brand from another unless you look at the sticker on the nose. Fans have been going away for several years.
Then you crown a so called champion after he misses a 1/3 of the season and they no doubt lost a bunch more.