A1GP - Great Season opener

[Tweaker]

***SPOILERS***

I watched the sprint race at Zandvoort, and then watched the Feature race, and my goodness, WHAT A RACE!!!

I think A1GP really has this series going gold because it is just fantastic racing to watch. The cars are all bunched up, always some good racing and battles with opponents, it is just fantastic stuff. For the first race, this was pretty exciting. The gamble that the Netherlands and US team took with tire choice, just so interesting to see it all unfold Congratulations to Germany on taking a win from our hopeful little US driver Strategies were so great in this, and I think I'll be trying to keep track of this entire season as it progresses. I tried watching it last season, but it didn't seem so special.... but this was top stuff Netherlands driver really showed some guts out there, and passing on outside numerous times was a special sight

[xaotik]

Any idea which TV networks cover it? Although I have a feeling bittorrent will come to the rescue on this as well...

[Tweaker]

Originally Posted by xaotik

Any idea which TV networks cover it?

http://www.a1gp.com/broadcast.php

Originally Posted by xaotik

Although I have a feeling bittorrent will come to the rescue on this as well...

Ehem, yeah, seeing that broadcast list, you'll wonder how I watched it

[traxxion]

I watched it live on the website of Circuitpark Zandvoort (cpz.nl), three cams available

But only watched the last 10 minutes of the main race as I was watching the replay of Formula 1 (didnt feel like getting up early ). A shame for Team Netherlands that it was too dry in the end, but yeah... a spectacular race!

[xaotik]

Originally Posted by Tweaker

Ehem, yeah, seeing that broadcast list, you'll wonder how I watched it

Hah, good point. I see we get coverage by this dreadful subscriber channel that normally plays soccer 24/7... ah well, off to d/l it. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Modoff]

How did u watch it? lol

[rc10racer]

Originally Posted by Modoff

How did u watch it? lol

With a tv

[xaotik]

Indeed it was a good one. Nice coverage and excellent marshalling too, especially for the sprint race.

[sil3ntwar]

i didnt think it was that good. Although i went too bed with 10 minutes to go as i was falling asleep. And they went to the ad break just as new zealand made its pitstop and when they came back we were way down the field and i didnt know why. Stupid ads.

[Leifde]

Originally Posted by xaotik

Indeed it was a good one. Nice coverage and excellent marshalling too, especially for the sprint race.

Excellent marshalling? The Pakistan car was pushed across the track for no apparent reason when a car was coming round on it's outlap. A lack of communication I think

EDIT: In the qualifying

[BlakjeKaas]

Too bad Jos didn't drive :-/

Well, I do like the Netherlands was 4th, but if they HAD pitted after rain... :-P

[Modoff]

Yea well pecker u dont live in a country where the main racing channel shows 95% nascar when they could and used to play wrc,dtm,btcc,aussie v8s, all types of good racing. I heard they were gonna show a1gp but i guess they cut it for another nascar truck series cribs edition lol.

But I did get to see the race and was very good. And DAMN u germans lol. Good race

[TagForce]

Originally Posted by Leifde

Excellent marshalling? The Pakistan car was pushed across the track for no apparent reason when a car was coming round on it's outlap. A lack of communication I think

EDIT: In the qualifying

Actually, the marshalls told him to follow the track towards the outside of the turn... He turned onto the track as soon as he cleared the gravel. They couldn't actually leave him there, either, so they really had no choice but to keep pushing... I was sitting on the dunes about 15 meters from that turns and saw the whole stupid move (including him spinning, and then ever so slowly letting his car roll onto the gravel).

Actually, I wonder if the Pakistani driver had ever seen a racing car up close before starting this race.

[sinbad]

Originally Posted by TagForce

Actually, I wonder if the Pakistani driver had ever seen a racing car up close before starting this race.

Heheh, well they surely have to consider whether it's safe to let him participate in future races. If he goes on the whole season in the same way, he WILL directly cause an accident at some point

I thought the races were pretty good, and I'm always happy to watch racing at Zandvoort, but, although obviously they are fast cars, the A1GP cars still seem a tad sluggish for an "upper level" motorsport international single-seater series. (To me). I thought there was a plan to increase their power significantly for this season, but then again I don't remember reading anything about that. Wishful thinking maybe.

[TagForce]

Originally Posted by sinbad

Heheh, well they surely have to consider whether it's safe to let him participate in future races. If he goes on the whole season in the same way, he WILL directly cause an accident at some point

I thought the races were pretty good, and I'm always happy to watch racing at Zandvoort, but, although obviously they are fast cars, the A1GP cars still seem a tad sluggish for an "upper level" motorsport international single-seater series. (To me). I thought there was a plan to increase their power significantly for this season, but then again I don't remember reading anything about that. Wishful thinking maybe.

Well, he did show progress... He started out 20 seconds too slow on friday, but was only 8 seconds too slow in the race...

Racing at Zandvoort is always fun to watch, although the track is a difficult one for overtaking. Having said that, overtaking is possible at a variety of corners, but it takes a lot of guts. F1 would be boring there as they wouldn't even try overtaking at any corner except the Tarzan and Audi S.
For the drivers the excitement lies in the fact that about 80% of the braking and turn-in points are situated so that you can't actually see them until you're on top of it. A lot of corners are blind because of elevation changes.

A1GP this year has a little less power, to level the playing field more. Lesser drivers are more likely to come to grips (pun intended) with the handling on a new track. The boost button however gives you more power (relatively) than it did last season, so the speed differences for overtaking should be higher. This results in a slower looking car, while providing more exciting racing. In the rain these things are virtually uncontrollable, though. Which is demonstrated by looking at the Audi S turn last sunday. Even doing 70km/h these cars were understeering like crazy on full wets. Strange thing is that the US (who were on slicks the whole time) had nothing but oversteer. Probably the perfect combination would've been slicks or intermediates on the front, and full wets on the back.

[shaGuar]

WTF !

Senegal is covering it, but not Denmark ?
I would like to see it

[Ben-Pepito]

Hinchcliffe was racing I believe? I hear he's doing fairly well.