Murphy muses about various topics and reports a few things he’s heard, then gives you his Punter’s Guide.
All About Watches
Watches have to be the most reliable cash cow for motorsports of all kinds. Rolex sponsors every concours and historic race it can lay its hands on, and keeps the 24 Hours of Daytona more or less on the map. Interestingly, its famous “Daytona” model predates its sponsorship of that race by over two decades. The “Daytona Paul Newman” is thought by some to be the most valuable of the many collector Rolexes.
Sebring has a new watch sponsor, Alpina Genéve. At Bahrain we heard that Dutch watchmaker TW Steel is sponsoring Renault F1, has signed Emerson Fittipaldi and will produce a special TW Steel Emerson Fittipaldi watch. Hublot, part of the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey group, is the new Official Watchmaker of Formula 1. Hublot’s first F1 watch will retail at $23,000.
Tag Heuer funded Porsche’s Formula 1 motor, its “Tag Turbo” name displacing Porsche entirely. The most iconic Tag Heuer, by far, however, is the “Monaco” worn by Michael Delaney in “Le Mans.”
Breitling bankrolled Bentley. LP Italy sponsored Risi Competizione, and launched its Stratosphere Competizione model in 2006.
Girard Perregaux’s is one of Switzerland’s “Cadillac” watchmakers; its “Chebby” Jean Richard subsidiary was fittingly an ALMS (since then Autocon) sponsor. Tissot is the official watch of NASCAR (which has an “Official Pain Reliever” – no, not Goody’s Headache Powders – amongst its 50 “official” partners). Then there’s the tasteless Debaufre…
Murphy’s trying to decide whether he’ll get a Rolex Daytona Paul Newman, or a Tag Heuer Monaco Steve McQueen. The Bear needs your advice.
Where’s the Rocket Part?
According to an unnamed alms official after Wednesday’s test, Rocketsports would sit this one out if it couldn’t get the Cat around Sebring in a reasonably competitive time – something it hadn’t yet done, struggling to a 2:29.5 in just two laps. Murphy expects the Cat has now “qualified,” managing a sub-2:05 today, running 22 laps over the course of 2 sessions, the best showing to date.
Late note: The Cat missed night practice. Will they get a free pass? The drivers haven’t all previously night-driven at Sebring, the basis for previous waivers.
In Murphy’s Mail
My name is Albert Wong, am a Singaporean citizen and a seasoned Banker in (Berhad office), A deceased client of mine died. He lost all the members of his family in the incident. He secured a contract of (10,000,000.00 million dollars) left behind in the bank. I contacted you in distributing the amount before it is confiscated by then bank. Please get back immediately to proceed.
If the Bear wants to go racing, he should call Albert, right?
Dead Horse Department (added)
The Bear’s heard that Zoran Stefanovic is headed to a meeting tonight with Hurley, Anderson, Windsor, et. al, and expects to walk out with a purchase agreement for USF1 that will put him on the grid at Melbourne with USF1′s entry. But Todt says, “no, the entry is forfeited, and be ready to pay a fine for missing the first races.” He can’t really have it both ways, if you don’t have an entry, you really can’t be fined. The FIA (Jean Todt) says you have to attend all races, while the Concorde (Bernie) says you can miss; so we still don’t know who is in control here, and probably don’t until it all ends up in a French court – which is exactly where Zoran intends to take it. Getting the smoking hulk left by Ken Anderson at USF1 is the first step toward that.
There seems to be some belief (Anderson, the Bear supposes) that USF1 would then build its own cars for 2011 after running whatever Toyota had left over for this season. Murphy thinks that’s dilusional, and in any case is about 5 steps removed from where this thing is now.
Lost
Andy W. apologized for being “quiet” in a Feb 27 “Hi Folks…” then went on about getting “things finalized for the ALMS,” and the C10 “rocketship.” Probably got lost somewhere in South Carolina. It’s good the Bear doesn’t easily get excited.
The Stars
Michael Schumacher returned; the German average audience during the Bahrain F1 race was 10.5 million. Last season it was 5.4 million. Fernando Alonso drew 5 million in Spain. Sports car racing claims drivers aren’t important. “The cars are the stars.” Right.
The Racing Disease
Murphy’s crack staff has connected Scott Tucker to electronic funds processing services at a buck a pop, 600K pops a day. It seems he went for the Challenge LMPs to bolster a Le Mans dream, but then found he could just buy his way in – not just as a driver (perhaps $300K), but footing the whole enchilada for an Audi, more like $2 million.
Driving Mister Fehan
With Emmanuel Collard and Antonio Garcia on board at Sebring you might think future Chebby pilots are ‘set.” Yes, the Bear’s heard there will be significant change in the team for 2011, but it’s not quite that simple. Corvette Racing will stick around Sebring after the 12 Hours to test possible future drivers. Butch Leitzinger, Paul Edwards and Graham Rahal are testing.
Lotus
Lotus will launch a sports car program with Kevin Kalkhoven’s KV Racing Technology and Cosworth, another Kalkhoven company. We’ve been here before, haven’t we? Murphy says, “slim and none.”
The Perloined Part
There’s been a little mistake. A differential for a reptilian Porsche ended up with a raptor Porsche. The latter immediately jumped up the performance chart. They like the part a lot better than the one they had and have so far refused to return it.
Murphy’s Sebring Punter’s Guide
Murphy’s Le Mans Punter’s Guide is again a “simulpub” with Last Turn Clubhouse, here. Honestly, that site’s software handles tables much better than the Bear’s little blog.
Tags: 12 Hours of Sebring, Albert Wong, Alpine Geneve, Bernie Ecclestone, Butch Leitzinger, Chad Hurley Zoran Stefanovic, Cosworth, Creation, Doug Fehan, Fernando Alonzo, Goody's Headache Powders, Graham Rahal, Jaguar, Jean Todt, Kevin Kalkhoven, KV Racing, Lotus, Michael Delaney, Michael Schumacher, Paul Edwards, Paul Newman, Porsche, Renault F1, Rocketsorts Racing, Rolex, Scott Tucker, Tag Heuer, USF1, Westfund
Don’t forget about the Rebellions either Mr. Bear.
I would put the Aston at 30-1.
Patron Highcroft should be closer to 3-1 in my book.
Considering the AM would need both Peugeots to fail to win, Murphy thought it was higher. Anyway, he decided to put the Aston in the “Field,” otherwise, there is no way anyone would take the “Field” against the Peugeots at any odds.
Patron Highcroft is a good bet for you then, wrestle….don’t forget, a punt by a “C” ends the day. (Murphy trusts Peugeot will remember that…but they’ve got two ways do win, don’t they?)
The new Tag Heuer Silverstone Limited Edition is one fine looking watch, Mr. Bear.
Go for the Paul Newman Daytona and I’ll bring a case of Bud to Limerock and we can raise a few to toast #70 …
Why would you need cars to fail in order for AMR to win???????? You only need to hit problems. Audi hit problems the LMP2′s were close enough and guess what they won, that’s all you need is an opening.
The top 6 cars are about a second apart.
If any of the 908′s run into issues, the LMP2 cars will be less than a lap behind if not less as we’ll have a few early full course yellows because of the varying levels of driving talent out there, especially in LMPC and GTC. Not to mention The Lord in his own car is a spin waiting to happen if not contact with another car waiting to happen.
I say its unlikely for an ACO spec LMP2 car to win overall, but if there’s a team that can go toe to toe with both 908 crews with equal driver pace and likely better mileage with the LMP2 its Highcroft.
I’d even say the 908′s woild get split for overall, maybe one wins outright but second goes to a Drayson car pedaled by Cocker and Pirro the entire way after the first few hours, Graf and Massen in the Milky Porsche and Highcroft all going podium positions.
Risi is still the team to beat at Sebring until otherwise noted, they tested in the 2:01′s all this winter, their race pace is in the 2:01-2:03 range.
I didn’t know a Bear could afford a 5 digit watch and write for a Blog what’s your day job chasing Ranger Smith???
Your analysis is fine, Anthony, but Murphy still disagrees. Here’s why: you are looking at qualifying times. I’m not, because I think the 908′s can run 1:45′s anytime they want, but the best-of-the-rest can eke out a 1:46 only on low fuel, and with soft tires. Race pace differential could be as much as three seconds a lap, amounting to 10 laps over 12 hours. That’s why I think it will take something major happening to both Peugeots for the Aston to take the win. One will undoubtedly get delayed, but the Bear’s odds are with the assumption that both will not.
Clearly Pirro is the measure of anyone at the head of this field.
Greetings Mr. Bear
Dyson on Dunlops ? and only running one car this season, must be economics…
That Muscle Milk Porsche, Is that a former Dyson car ?
Merci.
Yes, microeconomics. The Cytosport RS Spyder was the 2008 Dyson No. 20 Porsche.
well the 908′s never ran into serious problems, everybody else did though.
I don’t what time rules are, but Muscle Milk should really considering only putting Greg in the car during a middle portion of the race. They lost 2 laps with Greg driving the car and had to count on problems with Highcroft and Dyson having issues, luck rolled their way and they won.
Risi might have won anyway, once the balance was restored in the car, Bruni just ran away and head, getting out to double digit leads easy. Might be the best GT driver in the World and Melo is a close 2nd, these two are going to be scary fast during the season. I wouldn’t be shocked if they came out of Long Beach with a victory, Dirk Muller did it in the Tafel car in 2008.
I think we’ll see the first REAL GT2 battle at Long Beach, this could be one for the ages Murphy and I hope I can be their live.
Hopefully the Bear was in hibernation for this one.
Well, wrestlerrob, Murphy does admit to dozing off occasionally.
Anthony, the Pugs were on cruise control, never challenged. You can put drivers in anytime you want. Beginning, middle, or end, but if Highcroft doesn’t lose 24 minutes with a bad wiring installation, the outcome is the same: the Porsche is multiple laps behind at the finish. If sixty-two year-old drivers insist on driving rather than running the team, as they should, it will remain that way.
As a spectator, the Bear doesn’t like Senior golf, Senior tennis, and he doesn’t like senior racing. Come to think of it, he’s not a big fan of pro-ams, either.
I don’t enjoy Senior Golf either. I remember Hale Erwin was a middle of the road Pro, once he became eligible for the Senior Tour, he cleaned house for about two seasons until his skills where diminish a bit more and another new mid 50′s player came along and still could wack the ball.
Anyway I don’t mind Greg driving the car, I just wonder how much these people want to win and given all the available drivers including fellow Cali boy JR and Rahal’s kid is it really that important to drive the car in only the longer races where your speed or lack of it has less of an impact?
Oh well Murphy I guess that’s why Grand Slam is largely unpopular with the “base”.