I have a feeling many are indifferent but anyone going?
I’d love to go, but I’m way too busy at the moment.
Interestingly, my wife is in Austin right now, with her sister who just had surgery for spinal cancer, and will be flying home on Sunday. She texted me earlier to ask when the race was starting, so that she could try her best to avoid the lion’s share of the traffic.
It seems to be Hamilton’s circuit; I wonder if Rosberg can take it from him this year. I’d prefer seeing Räikkönen or Vettel win, but that’s not remotely realistic. Another possibility is Ricciardo; he’s been pretty impressive in the Red Bull lately (e.g., Malaysia, Singapore). Maybe he can pull off a win.
Sorry to hear about your sister in law. Hope she recovers quickly.
I’m a pretty casual observer of racing so you know a lot more than I do about the tracks and the drivers. I went to the inaugural COTA race weekend in 2012 and this weekend, I got a really cheap G.A. ticket. Went yesterday and watched the afternoon qualifying, a Porsche cup race, and a historic f1 race.
Huge concert after, Taylor Swift said there were around 80k people there. It was funny seeing all the older men dressed in f1 livery and young “Swifties” dressed in tutus and sparkles in one place. “Ugh, two races left” - some teenage girl I overheard haha
Skipping Sunday.
Thanks, hp. The surgery went well, and my wife says that she’s doing pretty well, but they’re still fiddling with her pain meds to get the proper mix and dosage.
How was the Porsche Cup race?
We went to the first USGP at Indianapolis in 2000:they built a rather nice infield section on the track – full of twisties – then included part of the (banked) turn 1 and most of the front straight (although, it typical F1 fashion, they ran the race clockwise). There was a Ferrari race before the grand prix that was pretty interesting; fortunately, none of the cars hit anything.
As for your teenage girl: sigh. People come to the party for different reasons, I guess.
I really enjoyed Porsche cup, pretty intense racing from the corner I was standing at. There are a number of G.A. areas so I was moving around quite a bit.
That’s awesome you went to the Indianapolis in 2000, V10 era! I bet it sounded glorious. V6 turbos sounded okay, definitely quieter than the V8s.
V10s at 19,000 RPM: they screamed!
We had seats near the end of the front straight, at the best overtaking spot on the track; we saw lots of action.
Engines with many cylinders are starting to feel antiquated nowadays. My reaction to “10 cylinders” was like “wow is this 2001?”. I think the consumer is being conditioned to accept cylinder elimination as progress. Maybe it is different for gear heads or people over 45, whose perceptions are more permanent by now. I wonder if this will affect F1, which requires a perception of high technology to retain viewer interest. Eventually, will they emphasize hybrid technology, or even transition to full electric powertrains?
Anyway, I haven’t been to one of these things, but sounds interesting.
^ Auto racing without engine noise would be really strange. I wonder if they’ll put engine noise simulators on the cars when they go full electric.
Here’s what formula e cars sound like:
[video:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7zBFeAPSpbM]
I’m all about high cylinder counts. The historic formula 1 races are more interesting to me than the current V6 turbos.
The primary factor in acceleration is torque, and the primary factor in torque in a piston engine is the surface area of the pistons.
For a given displacement and bore-to-stroke ratio, the greater the number of cylinders, the greater the surface area of the pistons. A 12-cylinder engine will have 14% more piston area than an 8-cylinder engine, and a 16-cylinder engine will have 26% more.
Of course, eventually the advantage of the greater surface area will be overcome by the additional friction between pistons and connecting rods, and between connecting rods and the crankshaft.
isnt there going to be a formula E event in brooklyn next year or something? i might check that out, i find racing interesting when its on tv as long as they dont go around in the same oval again and again. Need some weird turns to make me interested
Those Formula E cars sound horrible. Definitely need some synthetic engine noise. Maybe they can tape baseball cards to the rims.
When racing engines get downsized, there might have to be some way to compensate for the lost benefit of taking dates to see car events. Rather than synthesize sounds, perhaps the racing venue should play advertisements of shirtless men doing laundry and washing dishes.
This makes sense. When I’m bored, I stroke much more.
Enter Taylor Swift! Because of her, race weekend attendance broke a 4 or so year over year decline and even broke the inaugural races record.
It really was a great concert, I must admit.
Looking back, I think one of my favorite moments was during the Porsche cup race. I was watching the race along with everyone along a small section of fence. I look down and see a 3 year old or so boy with big earmuffs trying to see past me. I moved so he could get in front of me and after he did, he looked up and gave me the biggest smile 
Yay a NASCAR thread.