And then the bad news, Leigh Diffey will once again be in the broadcast booth for NBCS proving once again that sports car racing fans are the red-headed step children of the sports world. Just how much more are we supposed to tolerate? 24 hours of Diffey's constant fan-boy carrying on, paraphrasing driver's pre-race press quotes as if they were directed to him personally, the constant "I had dinner with..." by the end of the race guys are going to be pulling an Elvis and shooting their TVs. Calvin Fish, okay, but ranking him among top sports car drivers is a bit of a reach. At best, he ran for second tier teams such as the Leon Brothers' GTP March-Chevy teams during the GTP era. At least Allmendinger has driven a racing car in this century. Anyone wanting to start a Go Fund Me project to send Diffey back to Australia, the line starts here. https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/diffey-fish-allmendinger-to-lead-nbc-sports-tv-team/ BHW
Quite an interesting prototype race going on now. Why aren't these cars running in the 24 hour race. With only 15 total prototypes entered for the 24, these 19 cars would certainly be welcome.
It's awesome that Alex Zanardi is running the Daytona 24 hours this year! Saw him yesterday (Saturday) heading for the pits during afternoon practice. He must have been doing 25 mph in his wheelchair. Way to fast to get a photo. Al
A Nascar driver talking about sportscar racing along with a screamer. Oh joy. At least Calvin is still there.
that's not really fair, Dinger has time in open wheel and sports cars, including a dozen starts and an overall win in the Rolex 24.
I was there for an hour. it was so crazy packed with fans I left. I enjoyed that event more when there were like 50 people at it. (I live in Jacksonville and had to be in St Augustine that morning anyway, so not too far of a detour)
Amazing, yes, a friend who is also from St. Augustine was also there and reported the same thing. I covered the first few Roars which had to have been before the split and I remember these being media-only type events. DIS is so paranoid about fans running amok on their property, surprising they open this up now. BHW
apparently DIS has formed some alliance with the Boy Scouts to create an event out of the Roar, and it's been wildly successful. good for them-the sport needs to capture young fans.
Question, while I enjoy being down in the pits and in the mix of things, I also like having an oasis to retreat to. What options are there to get into the " suites" or special lounge area's during the 24h ? Is this $725 per ticket 3 day pass the way to go?: http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/Events/2019/Rolex-24-At-DAYTONA/Fan-Hospitality.aspx I may just watch during the day , then go to the hotel overnight , and come back Sunday after breakfast... I will be in Miami Wed-Sat , I plan on dropping by The Breakers in the morning on the way to Daytona, get to the 24h Saturday afternoon , Then head back to DFW Sunday evening. Opinions? S
I THINK that was when Ferrari Challenge was running as a support event, which they are not doing this year... I am going to go ask though! S
I recall the Ferrari tent in Turn 1 as well from years past. I just did some googling and didn't see anything come up for this year. I decided not to bother with a hotel for Saturday night. I did buy the parking outside of NASCAR 4 to catch an hour or 2 of sleep. I am going to try to stay up for the whole thing though.
Saturday was definitely more crowded than I have seen in the past. Sunday was more like I remember past Roars. On the lighter side, who knew Kobayashi was so funny? On why he can do such fast driver changes “Look at me. I’m small.” On getting the phone call from Wayne Taylor “I say of course I know you. But I don’t know him.” And “It was 3:00 AM. I was still awake, and I was not drunk.” Image Unavailable, Please Login
I am loving the retro liveries for this year. The #33 AMG looked awesome at the Roar. Ford is running retro liveries for the 24 as well. I hope other teams follow suit. https://www.imsa.com/news/012019/ford-performance-ford-chip-ganassi-racing-unveil-special-historic-liveries-rolex-24?fbclid=IwAR1zxG4nULXKd8rf1hz53aGL9UKY9sZlLcUpfs-O7xIogpbtyd07AGX2RdA
Agree, Leigh Diffey is so bad that sometimes I have to mute the volume during F1 races. His shouting, stating things he can't possibly know about what drivers are thinking, and complete misstatements are alarmingly bad.
Penske is running a Comptech-inspired livery for Acura: https://racer.com/2019/01/10/acura-taps-comptech-history-for-2019-arx-05-dpi-liveries/
Core just announced their retro livery. I love it! I cannot wait to see the cars in another week. http://coreautosport.com/2019/01/16/core-unveils-nissan-tribute-livery-for-2019-season/?fbclid=IwAR1SrXFKF2XyfIjqkoE1H5x37vBfqVHNzoVuLC4x7Kid4318ZtrVVgIh5Ew Image Unavailable, Please Login
Only 6 more days till the green flag! Image Unavailable, Please Login DSC_1082E2 by Alex Eichmiller, on Flickr
Looking forward to watching the race. NWS forecast looks good for Saturday and Saturday night with temps in the 60s during the day and 50 overnight. 30 % chance of showers/thunderstorms Sunday. Wish I was there instead of the Pennsylvania deep freeze!
Spirit has some pretty cheap flights... Just 4 days till the green flag for the Rolex. Final season for the C7.R. I am going to miss them. We are losing some of the variety that makes sports cars (and sports car racing) great. Image Unavailable, Please Login DSC_0823E by Alex Eichmiller, on Flickr
Rain ending early on Thursday, so a wet couple of practice sessions that morning. No matter. I have an umbrella. Clear and sunny but cold (by Florida standards) on Friday for the Michelin Challenge 4 hour race. (I noticed at the Roar that F-Chat’s own @Ky1e has a couple of shiny new Caymans ready to go.) Clear and cool on Saturday, chance of showers overnight and early Sunday. Sounds perfect!! One of my and Mrs. Rosso’s favorite parts of the weekend is seeing the cars and crews all fresh and ready to go on Friday and Saturday, and then walking through the paddock after the race to see all the battered and war torn cars being pushed into transports by equally battered and war torn crews. Really gives a sense of just how tough this race is on both man and machine.