[...]169. Jaguar to move on? Prototype Prospects. Mid-Ohio is “on” – for IRL. The Obligatory Abruzzi stuff. « murphythebear.com[...]…

Your comment on Dyson bblades is true, however I do worry that the 4 cylinder turbo is at the end of its development and that the Honda engine will win out? Dyson does own AER so hopefully something is in the pipeline,

The Monza Blancpain race was very interesting, held in very wet conditions. The McLarens had another poor race both from a driving and reliability point of view.

Here though I have a problem with GT3….success ballast, there is imo no case for a race winner getting extra ballast in world championship racing, utterly absurd.

We share the same view on the future of GTE, and hence why I do believe in a full on GT3 class for ALMS (if Grand Am doesn’t beat them to it). I think a GT3 type class can be a good replacement for both GTC and GTE-AM (in WEC). Regardless of whether GTE falters, a GT3 class would be a good supplement for the privateer teams… besides I want to see the Mclaren race here stateside.

I enjoy the discourse as well. Definitely looking forward to Long Beach on Saturday. I predict Muscle Milk to win P1, the FBI to win P2, and Corvette to steal one from BMW in GTE.

The future for GTE is of course with manufacturer backing. I would say however that Risi had an uncharacteristly poor season and certainly didnt deserve any manufacturer support, based on that performance. It was noticeable just how superior the AF Corse entered Ferrari’s were, even Extreme benefited from its link with JMW for Petit. Now of course there may be other factors at work here, who knows? I did feel though that the Risi team were not on their game in 2011.

As for the privateers they are never going to compete with the big boys without their support.
Perhaps another argument for a proper GT3 class with Audi’s, McLarens, Aston etc etc. (not just Porkers)

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy Long Beach this weekend, I am sure that I will.

I refer to the ESPN3 deal as the Internet abyss not because I am a luddite, and not because I think the Internet is a fad. I think IPTV has a great future. There are a few things that make the deal suck. IPTV is great at focusing a niche product on a niche audience. Tech shows and comedy shows do well on IPTV because they wouldn’t be on broadcast otherwise. This is the state of the industry at the moment, love it or lump it. This deal takes a marginalized product and makes it more marginalized. Secondly, ESPN3 sucks. The quality of the video is never consistent, it has limited hardware support, and you are still locked to your cable provider to use it. Compare ESPN3 to Netflix’s model. For $8 a month you cut the cable cord, you can watch it on your phone, tablet, roku, apple tv, boxee, PS3, Wii, Xbox360, and a ton of other hardware boxes, and the quality is outstanding. Now we are talking about pre recorded material, but MLB.tv is another product that does it better than ESPN3. The product is behind, way behind, and it drags down all of its properties… mainly ALMS and uhhh college wrestling.