Episode 110 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Join the Paddock trio as they discuss the Indian Grand Prix! What a fantastic venue for a motor race! We will breeze through some IZOD IndyCar Series news as well. Doug gives a proper run down of the Mazda Road to Indy testing going on at the IMS road course. As always, we appreciate the download and hope you enjoy this week’s show!

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2 Thoughts to “Episode 110 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

  1. As per my usual, I have just started the podcast, but also as per usual, I have something to say. And here it is:

    I actually agree with you guys 100% on Hamilton/Massa, on all counts. Lewis F-ed up in practice (the blowing through yellows, which I thought was kind of ticky-tack, because there weren’t actualy track workers on the track at the time, and the flags were in a bad position, but with his history this year, Lewis should be taking extra care to avoid penalties of any sort for these last 3-4 races, then get into the off season when people can forget about his week to week follies a bit, so that’s totally on Lewis), which put him back with Massa. That’s Lewis’s bad. Also, the chances of completing the pass in that corner were less than 100%, and you could certainly say it would have been less than 50% (it’s not exactly a high percentage passing spot). BUT, Lewis was alongside enough that Felipe certainly had to allow Lewis room enough to go side by side into the corner. The fact that Lewis almost had his front wheel even with Felipe’s front wheel, then the contact came Lewis’s front wheel to Felipe’s sidepod tells me that Lewis had just enough time to slow a little extra when he saw Felipe was turning in on the regular trajectory. Lewis made a slight attempt to avoid contact, but Felipe made none. Penalty on Felipe.

    Like all of you, though, I am sick of the “have at it boys” attitude that’s permeating motor sports, starting with NASCAR and now into IndyCar (like at Toronto) and F1. That crap is not why I watch racing. Come up with penalties that have teeth and then enforce them. You nerf somebody out of a position, you park for 30 seconds or a lap, whatever the sanctioning body comes up with. As if we should need any reinforcement of this, but Dan Wheldon’s accident should put this out there in huge neon letters: YOU CAN GET HURT DOING THIS. Contact should be unacceptable.

  2. Yeah, gotta agree with you Speedgeek. Lewis may not have been able to make the pass stick because he would have to give Massa room on the exit of that kink, so he would have been forced to slow a bit which probably meant Massa would have been able to reclaim the spot. But Lewis’ comments after the race indicate he tried to get out of it, but Massa shut the door before he had a chance. Fault – Massa!

    As for “have at it boys”, totally agree with you. IndyCar continues to assess no penalties when they are warranted. They say they don’t want overly penalize for pass attempts that result in wrecks because they don’t want to discourage passing. But sending someone back to the end of the lead lap is not a harsh enough penalty for taking someone out of the race. Further, assessing no penalty because the offending driver stalled on track or had to pit to repair damages (and thus was already at the end of the lead lap) is NOT acceptable. For IndyCar, I think the minimum penalty for flagrant avoidable contact should be a drive thru under green. Further, I would be fine if they put in an automatic escalator so that after your 3rd flagrant avoidable contact, you get parked for an event. Something like that should have happened already in the Massa Vs. Hamilton row in F1 which is now on its 6th installment.

    Thanks for listening and commenting Speedgeek. We appreciate it.

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