Save the Open Cockpit Racecars

So I was on the internet the other day, and I found this.  (Yes, I know that’s not how the Top Gear joke goes, but I’m lazy).  I also found an article in Race Car Engineering (a magazine that takes its motorsport commentary a lot more seriously than I do) on the subject of closed cockpit F1 cars.  To boil the argument down to its essence, F1 and Indy Car drivers are racing at 200 plus miles an hour, with their heads sticking out of the cars like a Golden Retriever riding in a convertible, which puts the driver’s at additional risk.  This is what happened in Jules Bianchi’s crash at last year’s Japanese Grand Prix, and was responsible for Dan Wheldon’s tragic death in 2011.

I’m a firm believer that for the good of racing, racing needs to be as safe as possible.  The day racing becomes a blood sport is the day we lose racing.  But I still want to keep the roofs off of the cars and keep the drivers acting like Labradors having the time of their lives.  Simply put, open cockpit racecars adds excitement to the race by letting you see the driver at work.

Take a look at two pictures I took at this year’s Rolex 24 to see what I’m talking about.  The first picture is of a prototype challenge car, the only open cockpit left in top tier American sports car racing.  The second picture is of A GTLM Aston Martin. 

An open cockpit prototype challenge car.  Believe it or not, this Sponge Bob Square Paints painted car took pole in PC class.  Shortly after qualifying, all the other PC drivers committed ritual suicide.

A GTLM Aston Martin.

I’ve never been a huge fan of prototype challenge.  It’s a pro-am class, which means it must be shunned and hated by the auto-racing master race, but sitting in the stands, I couldn’t take my eyes off these cars, and it was because I could see the driver, not because one was sporting a Sponge Bob Square Paints livery.  You could see the drivers heads tilting to side under cornering forces.  It added an element of drama to the watching cars, while the closed cockpit cars might as well have been driven by Skynet.

Racing has a long tradition of open cockpit cars, and if the open cockpit car dies, racing will have lost something special, but tradition alone isn't enough of a reason to keep the roofs off the cars, I think there's a good marketing reason for open cockpit cars.  Some of us, the target audience of this blog, are fascinated with the technical aspect of racing.  While people like us have our favorite drivers, we also love the cars.  In my case, I'm more interested in the cars, and the design of the cars, then the people driving them, but I think I'm in the minority.  I think that most people, especially more casual fans that we need in order to grow the sport, are more fascinated by the drivers, and an open cockpit car puts the drivers closer to the fans.  It adds an extra level of excitement and drama to the racing, and excitement helps sell the product, especially among people who don't really understand the difference between out breaking and out breaking yourself.

I could keep rambling on, but I don't feel like I'm really making a good case for the survival of the open cockpit car, so let me boil the argument down to it's most basic element.  Open cockpit cars are cool, don't get rid of them.

Rolex 24: Pictures and Thoughts

I was fortunate enough to be in Daytona this year for the Rolex 24.  Okay, “fortunate” is probably the wrong word.  It’s not like I was wandering around the country and accidently found myself in Daytona Beach during a race weekend.  Anyway, a week after the end of the race, anyone who cares about the actual results has either seen the race, read about what happened, or most realistically, both.  That means I won’t bore you with a bunch a race analysis.  Besides, that just means I end up plagiarizing a bunch of stuff from RACER anyway.

Of course, just because I don’t have a lot of race analysis to share, doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions (and pictures to post, because everyone loves pictures).  First, if you like sports car racing, you owe it to yourself to go to this race.  A four day ticket, including garage access cost me $90.  I was at the track for about 40 hours over the course of four days.  If there is a better ratio of hours per racing/dollar, I’m not aware of it.

The garage access in particular was one of the highlights for the trip to me.  I’ve been to professional motor races before, but this was the first time I was able to wander around the garage and look at the teams while they’re working.  Being close enough to the cars to touch them really was a thrill for me.  You also get a chance to appreciate the small details on the cars that you don’t normally see when they’re flashing by at 200 MPH.  Like this little flourish on the Starworks Daytona Prototype.



The other major difference between the Rolex 24 and the shorter oval races I’ve been to (besides being approximately 21 hours longer) is that you never know what’s around the next corner.  Literally, I walked around a corner on my way from the east to west horseshoe grandstands and saw this…

Turns out one of the prototype challenge cars was having a bad day and was being pulled out of the escape road near the west horseshoe.  In fact, this guy was having a really bad day, because the position light says he was in second when his car decided to start leaking fluid like a poorly house trained puppy. 

And as I was standing there enjoying someone else’s missery, this guy pulled up…

Good old Delta Wing.  I think everyone knew the Delta Wing was going to break down, because let’s be honest, that’s what the Delta Wing does, but I wasn't expecting them to be done before dinner.  The transmission had different ideas.

I don’t want turn this post into “How I Spent my January Vacation,” which is what’s going to happen if I keep typing, so I’ll end it here, but I do want to close with the idea that if you’re a race fan, you really should do everything you can to watch a race at the track.  I’ve talked to people at work who’ve said that they would love to see a race in person, but they never go.  Going to see a race is an experience you can’t get just by watching the race on TV.  Even if the race itself isn't that great, I've never regretted going.

 I’ll send this post off with some more of my favorite pictures I took at the race and can’t squeeze in anywhere else, but like too much not to share.  Let me know if you guys like the racing pictures.  I have a bunch more I can share.

The infamous Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP.

Krohn Racing Ligier/Judd P2 car.  I was really excited to see a P2 car take pole this year, and not really surprised to see only one P2 car still running at the end of the race.

Everyone loves cars with Martini Rossi liveries right?  Bonus points for being on an open cockpit car.

If we're going to show off pictures of Martini liveries, it's only fair to give the Gulf livery fans equal air time.

Corvette C7R, going through NASCAR 1 and 2, side by side with one of the Chip Ganassi DP cars.  Images like this are why I love sportscar racing at Daytona.

Rolex 24 Pictures

I was working on an article last night regarding open cockpit versus closed cockpit racecars (I know everyone out there can't wait to hear my opinions on the subject).  As I was working on that post, I was going through the pictures I took at this year's Rolex 24, and I stumbled upon this pictures that I took and wanted to share.

In term's of the race's overall story, there's nothing particularly special about this shot.  It's just a picture of a prototype challenge car going around NASCAR turns 1 and 2, but I loved how you could look into the car and see the driver at work.  Sometime racecar pictures really are all you need.