Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: ALMS viewing woes

« on: March 31, 2011, 01:12:43 am »

It seems that ALMS always had this idea that they had to get on a bigger network for more exposure.  As a result they always put at least one or two races on CBS or NBC despite only being able to get a two hour time slot and no promotion on the part of the network.  With that in mind, I'm not surprised by this move too much and suspect it would have more to do with Speed not putting a few races on Fox rather than any NASCAR/Grand-Am issues.  I don't think having live coverage of every race on the internet is the right way to go (I still had dial up until a month ago, so I almost missed Sebring), but I do suspect that the hardcore fans will find a way, and since there are hardly any casual fans in the US, it won't hurt too much.

One positive is that I was pleasantly surprised that the ESPN3 feed had the Radio Le Mans commentators, since I knew that Speed wouldn't be giving up Leigh Diffey and, quite frankly, racing commentary in the US is horrible apart from the Speed F1 and sports car crews.

2

General Discussion / Re: Congratulations to Oreca

« on: March 20, 2011, 08:18:27 pm »

To be honest, I thought the race was going to lose excitement once the second Audi was hampered by its crash.  I was pleasantly surprised by both the poise of the Oreca team and the pace of the new Highcroft car.  Great job to both of them for outracing Peugeot.

What a shame the fuel leak was for OAK.  I'm not sure they could have held TK off for 4th, but they were having a nice run.

3

General Discussion / Re: Online streaming

« on: March 20, 2011, 06:43:29 pm »

I'll give those a try.  Thanks.

4

General Discussion / Online streaming

« on: March 20, 2011, 03:21:03 pm »

Just a quick question. I know there's race audio from Radio Le Mans, but is there an online video feed for LMS races anywhere?  Even a recap show would do, since in the US, we don't even get that. 

5

General Discussion / Re: Camp site pics

« on: June 10, 2009, 08:09:56 pm »

Love the Merc-Aston.  Can't wait to head out tomorrow.

6

General Discussion / Re: Have a good time everyone and travel safely!

« on: June 05, 2009, 04:01:34 pm »

I do feel bad for anyone who has to miss this year.  I remember the first year I decided to skip the Canadian GP; I spent the week trying to follow the Montreal papers to see the off-track activities and basically throwing mini-tantrums about where I was "supposed" to be.  Then the race ended out being the crazy one with Kubica's giant crash and the field all jumbled.

7

General Discussion / Re: Have a good time everyone and travel safely!

« on: June 05, 2009, 03:56:07 pm »

It's 5 hours behind Britain, so the Speed coverage would start at 1:00pm.

8

General Discussion / Re: Driving music

« on: June 04, 2009, 10:16:49 pm »

Darude, Oakenfold, Faithless, Tiesto, Groove Armada, Pink Floyd, Bowie etc...

>Martini...LB

If I were actually driving, my list would be close to that.  Of course, if there was anyone else in the car, that would only last about an hour. 

9

General Discussion / Re: The "Club Arnage Guide to the 24h of Le MAns 2009" is ready for download

« on: June 03, 2009, 01:08:05 am »

Nice job.  I particularly enjoyed Mark Galvin's stories from his days in the Mazda.

10

General Discussion / Re: Getting in the mood and ready for Le Mans

« on: May 27, 2009, 02:47:18 am »

I have the old PS2 version of Test Drive Le Mans as well as the even older Dreamcast version, the only real difference being that the PS2 version had more recent cars availabe.  It was a good game, especially since it did go through changing weather and realistic dusk and dawn.  The only problems I had with it were that if you set the weather to variable, it didn't tell you what the weather was at the start, and it was a bit too easy.  You shouldn't be able to win overall in a Corvette.

Now I just use Gran Turismo since the track is more up to date.

11

General Discussion / Re: Cars your Dad had!

« on: May 27, 2009, 02:36:46 am »

If we're just talking about what my dad had during my lifetime, it wasn't an exciting list (and I get confused as to what were his cars in his youth and which were his 3 brothers).  Anyway there was a mid 70s Cougar up until about 1978, followed by a 1976 Audi Fox (badged as Audi 80 in Europe), and an early 80s Ford F100 pickup to get through the 1980s.  A Chevy Corsica and Chevy Citation II replaced them in the early 90s.   Since then, it's included a Ford Escort wagon, a Mazda pickup, and a Kia Rio.

Of those my favorite is the Corsica, if only because I split my time in high school driving that and the Citation, which was a piece of junk.  Of course, since my first car was a ten year old but low mileage 1981 Escort, I couldn't complain too much.  That car was my grandfather's and with only 32,000 miles put on in the first 10 years, the gaskets had dry-rotted.

12

General Discussion / Re: Very quiet .......................

« on: May 25, 2009, 03:34:24 am »

I'm excited to see what Aston can do in LMP1.  Unfortunately, last year's tv coverage largely ignored the GT1 battle in favor of some French car chasing an Audi.  Go figure.  If nothing else, I expected the US announcers to talk up the fight from the Corvette side, but they didn't touch on it too much.  Just one more reason to hop a flight to France.

13

General Discussion / Re: Getting in the mood and ready for Le Mans

« on: May 25, 2009, 03:20:59 am »

Been getting in the mood by pounding around La Sarthe on GT4 and watching McQueen's epic.  I might just be talked into driving a 3 hour kart race next weekend, too.

Other than that, I hate to say it, but apart from getting my stuff packed up, all I have left to do is wait.

14

So You Think You Know About Le Mans / Re: Paul Newman and Steve Macqueen

« on: May 19, 2009, 04:01:45 pm »

The rumor is that Steve may have driven the camera car, which managed to finish ninth despite extra stops to change film and the extra aero drag of the cameras.

On a sadder note, racing may have contributed to McQueen's lung cancer, as his fire protection for his face consisted of rags soaked in liquid asbestos.

15

Just To Say Hi / Re: Hi from the US

« on: May 19, 2009, 03:11:44 pm »

I'm actually from Allentown, so I couldn't get much closer without being in Bethlehem.  Apart from an autograph session back when the Andrettis owned some car washes, I've never had the pleasure of meeting them, but I have been able to compare my time with Marco at our local LVGP indoor kart track.  (For the record, I was able to take advantage of more experience at the track to be only .3 slower than him when I first heard he was there, but he stretched that out more recently).