For those that like sports cars and being out in the elements for questionable reasons and for extended lengths of time, the Rolex 24 is coming.
Jan 26-27, 2:35pm to um, 2:35pm
Usually Mr. Jacques is on hand to provide libations and entertainment in the infield.
Sure is, in fact, today starts 3 days of testing known as The Roar Before the 24.
Hey Joe! Rex made it over my way last year. Hope to see you this year! I’m there all 4 days. No promises on my sobriety however.
I am going to try, Phil. Between my races, instructing, and working for the Petty/NRE deal, I have to try to keep the wife happy.
I hear that lol You know how to get in touch with me.
Jacko–If you discover anything that is consistently effective, please share it with the rest of us.
Putting your lips against her tail section is about the only solution I have found. 
I am kidding, my wife has been awesome about my addiction.
pucker up!
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=609&ei=NNsvXPLvK8G8sQWeiovgAw&q=porsche+907+longtail&oq=longtail+porsch&gs_l=img.1.2.0i8i30l4j0i10i24.2055.8473..10957...0.0..0.114.1323.13j2…0…1…gws-wiz-img…0…0j0i10j0i5i30.shTJGoE-oKE#imgrc=zd0wgdumL0kIsM:
Rolex TODAY @ 2:35
Time to head to the track!
By now Phil has had his “breakfast”!
Best go today if you are a goin’, big rain scheduled for tomorrow.
Entry list:
https://racerdigital.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/rolex-entry-list.pdf
We shut down the infield the past two nights. Music was bumping and booze was flowing until 3am. Good times!
Stay safe, Phil.
Racing cannot afford to have anything happen to you.
I have to say I am disappointed in the decision IMSA made to not restart the race. I understand the safety aspect as well as anyone, having raced in the rain many times, including a majority of the 2008 24 Hour. This is a pros series that races in the rain, and should have finished under green whatever they had to do.
IMSACAR/Rolex = FAIL
We are precisely on the same page on this one, my friend.
Consider:
> I do not like driving in the rain.
BUT–
They ALL signed up to do just that.
My strategy would have been to drop back about half a lap coming to the green and then drive at a pace that was relatively safe. As I did at 65mph this morning on I-4 on the way to church, and at 10mph turning into my neighborhood. All in the (gasp, shudder) rain. I did not crash, and I did not cry about it.
Many crashed. And yet they did okay on the dry-the-track/pace laps. It appears to me they chose to drive too fast for the conditions.
The excuses ranged from “we can’t see” to “our new and very ugly cars may not be watertight”. If your junk doesn’t work in the rain, park it. And then fix it.
Regardless, the race is supposed to be an endurance event run rain or shine (per IMSACAR) and “the best drivers in the world” signed up to run in the rain. And then they didn’t.
To make it worse, they were to have an “official announcement” at 2pm and it never came.
Meanwhile, for the last hour they all were standing around in a drizzle talking about it.
IMO, the whole deal comes down to a sanctioning body with a distinct lack of testicular fortitude. :o
They should hire Yoho to run the thing.
ps–If I never hear Wayne Taylor whining about something or other, be it the rain or his kid putting it “in there” for the win, it will be too soon.
You are right, they should be able to drive at a pace they could control, being pros. I feel bad for the people who attended, paying good money to see a race. I hope this gives them a bit of a black eye. It will be interesting to see what the racing pundits have to say. We also agree on Wayne Taylor, he is the most annoying person in racing. If things don’t go exacly his way, he was wronged.
Re: Taylor. Think about it. In addition to when things do not go his way, in both examples I mentioned, Mr. Taylor was whining even when things did go his way.
Right up until the finish it was an absolute monsoon. Horrible conditions. The way they were crashing into each other under yellow flags simply because they couldn’t see past the nose of the car I don’t blame them for calling it. It sucks, but they had to be sensible about the situation. I was near the track until 8pm and it was relentless.
Thanks for weighing in, Phil.
I wasn’t there as I have been down that road before and I wasn’t going to sit in the rain (again) waiting for a bad call.
Was feeling bad for you and your no doubt chipper mood sitting out in that frozen soup with not even an engine running. Felt like “up-home”, eh?
But anyway, moving forward, (not that they will listen to anyone, much less us) I would propose that under similar circumstance, they wait it out–whatever the wait–and ensure one hour of green flag racing at the end.
They also could reduce the ground effects to prevent the jet-boat-like wakes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4BMiGshfN8 (the fun starts about the one minute twenty second point)
In other news, I was unable to google up a rain shortened race at Lemans (you know, the racetrack that has the cars and show that IMSACAR is desperately trying to emulate) or even a shortened event due to the death of one or more drivers and/or spectators.
I am sure it was bad, it was bad here. I agree with OS, there should have been a green finish. And as he said, these guys race in the rain, so build the cars where they can handle the conditions. Even the GT cars have gotten to be more like missiles than automobiles.
It’s not a question of handling the conditions. There is literally nothing you are ever going to be able to do to improve visibility in a situation like that. Ive seen so many in cars if guys blowing corners simply because they couldn’t see them, and some cases where drivers just drove full bore right into others because by the time they saw them, they were already 2 feet from them.
In a timed race, when the clock runs out. That’s it. When they made the call to call the race complete, there was so much ponding in the track and such heavy rain coming down visibility was going to make it impossible to drive. I am usually on board with the finish the race mentality but this was quite different. The conditions were the worst I have ever seen.
“[In] some cases… drivers just drove full bore right into others…”- -PJ
Yep.
In every case that one or more just piled in there, others went by on the track, with intact bodywork, at a more reasonable speed.
I do not drive “fast” in the rain, nor do I drive close to other objects, animate or inanimate, because, you know, I might crash. The harder it rains the more space I give it. And I have only stopped when I literally could not see the road (in a gas station or etc). I did not see rain approaching that level. Not close.
BTW, back in the day I did “lose it” a few times and crashed a few times. I learned. And it was my fault, not the rain’s.
Through the camera it looked bad, but then, so does Cup when the sun is going down.
Patrick Thomas won the 2018 NSS Sportsman Championship with a 3 year old windshield that looked like it first was skateboarded on by insane teenagers, and then covered with black crayon by 2nd graders. No whining.
I have seen more carnage and a smaller remaining field at Showtime in the dry, and they might have red flagged it, but it always went green again until the eventual checker. And they have to back the lap up–including the white–over and over–until they get it right. No whining.
I do believe the Rolex would have had at least one car left, and that would have been the winner.
I reckon we will have to agree to disagree on this one.