Good afternoon guys, this has been a long long time coming in terms of me just posting thoughts on anything from a post standpoint. This should encompass a lot of what i'm feeling pulse-wise with both series and where last weekend put both in my mind. I'd like to say not much has changed, but that would definitely be wrong. There were quite a few things that stood out that either I never thought about or never had the opportunity to compare until now.. I'll prob emphasize parts to make an easier read - so lets dive in, shall we?
The Series
WEC
WEC raced first so lets start with them. I am in r/WEC writing this after all. Lets start with the basics: the race was as I expected it to go. Not generally holding my attention as much as the IMSA race did, but I think I enjoyed it more (beyond the Toyota fandom wrinkle) and i'll explain why. While there was an extra class on track for the WEC race, you saw from the collective pro and pro/am field a level of driving etiquette that I haven't seen in a while for a premier race at Sebring. Not to take anything away from the caliber of drivers that liter the midfield of the 12hour race, but when corner workers all are commenting on the difference between sessions just being how much more professional and clean WEC boys are, I think i'm right to notice it.
Further, while we can talk to death about the difference in pace between Hybrids and the Privateer P1's - one thing is clear: these hybrids are just mind-melding-ly quick. I'm serious, every single person - whether there for the first year or their 50th (shout to Ray!) made a comment on the power of those Toyota's and just how much quicker you could see with your own eyes than anything else on the planet barring F1 and maybe Super Formula. The Carcar propositions to reduce speed I understand, but this kind of pace is noticeable by everyone young and old. Definitely was the most impressive car i've seen at Sebring since the R18's. Beyond that, the privateer P1 battle completely fell by the wayside in terms of my attention - until they started flying off the track or into trouble, then they'd rear their heads on my mind. That right there is where all of our worries and i'm sure the team's themselves are coming from. The lack of excitement and attention to teams that absolutely should be as fast or faster than the Toyotas to give us the fans at the track and at home something to watch. Yes, its BoPing EoT, but at this point WEC can literally reclaim so much lost ground with just getting the privateers pace somewhat matching Toyota's - not corner exit but top speed or better high end torque. idk.
Off shoot, but the temp paddock was perfect for the space at Sebring. Not only did the new pits give extra stuff to look at from the fans if they could get to the wall, but the access you got to the WEC garage was probably better than almost anywhere else. Oh and pit-in for WEC was right in front of a track gate, so you had fantastic pit in views we never had in year's previous.
GTE was fantastic and I really enjoyed the racing standpoint from both classes. Not really too much more to say other than seeing more makes on track is great, and seeing gaps from pretty competitive GTE/GTLM fields was also a departure from the normal Sunday Saturday GTLM afair.
I loved the more traditional FIA flag rules for their race - less safety cars and more SZ's as well as FCY's for field neutralization for minor incidents felt so much more traditional and fitting for an endurance race. +5 points alone for that (I don't care if you like the wave arounds - it is not a natural policy and creates false advantages which if your a purist... blah blah blah).
IMSA
IMSA had what I can now probably say is a normal Sebring. Which is hilarious because i'd rate Sebring the last 2-3 years being a top 5 race in terms of excitement and results. Lots of action, tons of passing for position (except for prototype classes at the front), and generating potential excitement the entire race.
DPi was a dud. Seriously, while Mazda on fire (lol) provided the flair of randomness, the rest was a Caddy show with the follow-up being the crazy pace flux of the Acura's. CORE seemed solid but looked exactly like a 1-car effort that is still trying to figure out a now defunct race team's car that is the neglected child of a low-motorsport-intelligence OEM giant, and the P2's were just sad. I'm sorry, but WEC for all its bashing had just as boring of a race in P1 as DPi was and that was without late race cautions and a clear lack of competition that IMSA did not suffer. (Semantics between WEC privateers laps down to 3 Caddy's on the lead lap in IMSA so don't PM me that you dweebs - basically mjdiamore... :P)
And yeah, I don't like the wave-around policy in IMSA and their flag-happy SC rules that are there to spice the show up. I get it and its fun, but again, purist? Nah, you earned that gap, I want you to still have some of that advantage if a car dies for 30 sec on track.. no thanks. NASCAR has had debris cautions forever and IMSA had its share after the merger, but cars off-track for 60 seconds don't deserve a SC immediately. That screams intent to neutralize instead of race which is weird. Alright, moving on, i'm ranting on this now.
But the competition in IMSA cannot be understated. For as much stupid shit the Mazda's get into, they were in touch with the Caddy's until they imploded, and Caddy's tehmselves at least have inter-team compettiion. Won't talk about the P2 elephant, but beyond the lower car count in GTLM versus GTE-Pro, that was a close close fight through the race too. And generic GTD is crazy comment insert here. IMSA just owns the 'healthy series card' in the US (put that last one in there because reddit).
GTLM was another great great battle with excellent BoP. Ford throwing away a possible win, but who knows with that time left what would have happened. Porsche prove again to clean up after others faulter and snag GTLM while Lambo continues to be there at the end with another win for the OEM.
Crashes
Unlike last year, nothing major happened on track at least from official practices. There were offs and contact, but nothing spectacular like Lap 1 contact or T17 barrier contact like last year in IMSA. Everyone ran a relatively clean race from both series. Cheers to them.
Facilities
Well we knew it was gonna be packed, but man. That was the biggest crowd i've seen at Sebring ever. By Thursday afternoon lots in Green Park were full like on a Saturday morning for race day. Both races had people just jammed in for parking - with some getting towed for boxing people in. Just ridiculous amounts of people. The infield Party Zone was actually way better than I thought it would be - merch tent, stage, food, and pavilion were in about the best place to put it as people camping there weren't long time fans and was mostly road and some grass area where the local police would set up. Not bad and I don't think that really had a huge effect on camping space. There was just that many people.
New bridge is amazing and offers some perspectives never before seen from that part of the track. The hill that aids the ramp to the top is available to stand and sit on, so you get a 40-50 ft height advantage that lets you see well down to T7 and back up to T3-5. Awesome spot and saved so much time walking from Midway to Green Park.
Not enough porta-johns. Holy shit, that is an understatement people. They had less than they had last year in the section by T10 at least anecdotally. Really unfortunate and kept the lines massive almost all day for showers, bathrooms, etc. You really had to plan bowel movements...
Merch
Ok, here is where there is no question: IMSA KILLED it - WEC did not. IMSA had about as much merch as i've ever seen in their tents, and even had companies like Guy Harvey commission shirts and sold in separate stands (official SuperSebring performance long sleeve is amazing) so IMSA - ya did good. Even the flags had some new ones with IMSA 50th and a pretty awesome SuperSebring Flag. Can't complain at all - they even made a performance tee with the race weekend logos and art on the back - literally told them about that last year and look!
WEC. What. The. Hell. First time i've ever came ready to buy buy buy WEC and team merch and no one - absolutely no one - had anything for sale. Maybe know a crew and get some that way? Otherwise you were SOL if you wanted anything official and had US dollarydoos to pay for it. Grr. At least they had WEC girls wandering around handing out hats and sunglasses for those willing to participate in a survey... Really WEC i'm just upset I saw so much official gear being worn by everyone that wasn't a fan and felt left out!
The Feeling
Fans that i've met for the first time and regulars that I know by name all said there was a buzz about this event they just had to go. Whether that was the combination, WEC, or just the buzz of race fans that drew them - they showed. Many many many regulars were really happy WEC and especially P1's returned - I can't tell you how many enjoyed 'seeing the big boys back'
It simply cannot be understated what a difference the speed between DPi and P1-Hy is. As much as I talked about how DPi was doing well and how messed up this next 2 years may be, we all were just overwhelmed with the speed of WEC and just the excitement of seeing something move that fast. If you can get the competition to match the speed, there is a whole helluva lot of potential not just internationally but in the heart of IMSA-land. For IMSA that too means you can boost these speeds to near Toyota-performance and probably get that wow factor from fans. Seeing Toyota's passing cars is great, but seeing them have to defend their position while doing it? That would be WEC 2015 golden age if you can, and i'd just fall in love with DPi if they could do it.
IMSA meanwhile has a solid, solid product that frankly only needs faster DPi's with potential hybrid to be a perfect series. It won't get Le Mans, but damn if it can get close to speeds you can potentially get that invite and be THE I mean THE best sportscar series on the planet if WEC doesn't nail these regs and their future championships.
Phew, that was a lot. Now to reread and fix typos and defend terrible points I didn't full think through. I'll be back next year and better see some merch, WEC!! Love you all, and see you at the track.
-Cookie
Submitted March 21, 2019 at 08:45PM by CookieMonsterFL https://ift.tt/2JvzFtB
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