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Sherman McCoy's avatar

I watched three races over the weekend:

IMSA Long Beach: Perhaps it was the talismanic power of Porsche enthusiast Jack Baruth’s presence that helped the Sultans of Stuttgart emerge victorious as Street Fightin’ Men! The Porsches gambled and didn’t take tires at their pit stops, and you could see that they were struggling on worn tires at the end of the race. Poor rear end grip (obvious enough to be seen clearly on TV) in the second stint has plagued the 963 since its debut at Daytona.

WEC Portimao: The Porsche’s shortcomings were once more revealed the next day in the WEC race at Portimao. The IMSA GTP / LMDh cars are rear wheel drive and run a spec hybrid system that delivers additional electric power to the rear axle. This means that they absolutely chew the rear tires after the first stint (they don’t receive enough tires to single stint in either series). Meanwhile the WEC Hypercar class cars operate with a freer rule book. The Toyota, Ferrari, and Peugeot have front axle hybrid deployment (at certain speeds), and the privateer Glickenhaus and Vanwall are pure ICE cars. I anticipate a lot of politicking over BOP at Le Mans, but there’s no remotely equitable way I can see to “balance” the inherent tire wear weakness of the Porsche, Cadillac, and Acura versus the Hypercars over a 24 hour race.

IndyCar Long Beach: Scott Dixon didn’t like Pato O’Ward’s move up the inside at Turn 8. I thought it was Pato’s corner.

As for F1: Red Bull has the title sewn up unless they are flagrantly cheating (unlikely) or blow through the cost cop again (also unlikely). Lewis Hamilton’s best days are behind him in my view, and George is clearly the team’s future. Lewis is out of contract at year end. Merc could have their pick of a vastly cheaper driver to support (or challenge) George over the next few years: Leclerc, Norris, Ocon, Albon would all jump at the chance. Or here’s a wild idea - what about a seat swap between Stroll and Hamilton? Fans would get Hamilton vs Alonso 2.0, Stroll Sr would have a box office PR opportunity, and Stroll Jr would have an opportunity to prove himself at one of the historic “top” teams, after which he could return to Aston Martin and deploy everything he’d learned at Mercedes.

Finally, Ashton: She has the strongest jaw I’ve seen since Buzz Lightyear.

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Steve Ulfelder's avatar

Not long ago, we at Flatout Motorsports welcomed a new client - a young man stepping up from karts. This was at Lime Rock. After a test day, the kid immediately put his Spec Miata on pole (against the usual SM crowd stacked with talented, experienced racers). The class was impounded. When they were released, we noticed the kid bucking and stalling on his way back to our trailer. Somebody wondered out loud if the car's clutch was fried. "Oh no," the kid's mother said. "He's just never driven a stick shift before."

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