D* NASCAR Hot Pass in HD starting in '08

Count me in for Watkins Glen and Sears Point. Otherwise 2000 consecutive in car left hand turns doesn't seem like compelling content, HD or not.

Yeah, heel and toe downshifting, trailbraking, outbraking maneuvers, and actual elevation changes are totally lame - especially from an in car camera view.

If you like lots of meaningless passes (based in large part on the luck of who you manage to draft or who gets behind you) over a 3+ hour race where only the ones that occur in the last 10 or so laps really matter to the outcome then I can see how speedways and restrictor plate races (and watching it all unfold from an in car angle) are your thing.

NASCAR coaching

Prodding and kidding aside, I appreciate speedway racing, it has its nuances and interesting points. It makes for a great social event, and I'm sure it is a ton of fun to participate in. I just think that current public perception of NASCAR representing the pinnacle of (American) motorsports deserves to be challenged every now and then. There are plenty of other series that race on road courses that go virtually unnoticed because you can't see the whole track from one seat or people don't appreciate the skills involved. And before someone breaks out the free market/let the public decide arguments... this is the same public that brought you pro wrestling and Paris Hilton.

I follow F1 closely. The back door boardroom crap is a little out of hand though.

IRL - I have the same problems with that as I do with NASCAR, except more so. They are crazy running open wheel cars on ovals side by side like that at those speeds. One tap and they're gone and into the wall. If I'm gonna watch roundy round it's NASCAR.

Champ Car - I like it, but they are going to lose all of their talent to NASCAR if they haven't already because being in Champ Car doesn't pay much in terms of money or fame. It's really sad what Tony George did to CART and American open wheel racing. It used to be held in nearly the same regard as F1 (or at least there you could make the argument without being laughed at) and now both leagues are semi-jokes.

My favorite series though they aren't really popular at all:
The first two are actually run by NASCAR...
1) Koni Challenge (almost no TV coverage this year, though it had some last year under a different name). This is Porsches versus BMWs versus Mustangs, and others.
I like it because the cars actually look like production (i.e. stock) cars and probably started life that way before being modified. NASCAR with the COT is heading straight toward being a glorified version of the old IROC series with everyone driving the same car. On road courses you can just play with the gearing and the weight to make the cars equal. On a superspeedway it is all about the aerodynamics so I know why they are mandating identical cars, but I just don't find that nearly as interesting as a bunch of cars out there with different strengths and weaknesses.

2) Rolex Sports Car - with Daytona Prototypes. Not production cars, but there are different chassis designs.

3) Speed GT World Challenge - productionish cars

4) American LeMans series - sort of a closed wheel version of F1. The winners usually run off and leave everyone.

Since I can't afford to race a car, this is what I do (that is actually me).
http://www.pbase.com/sardian/image/64278234
http://www.pbase.com/dlathem/image/64420684
No feeling like it.

As noted in the HDTV Programming Synopsis, for quite some time.

DirecTV NASCAR HotPass
Viewers can follow five NASCAR drivers in HD each race, in 2008.

Obviously the HD coverage will be MPEG-4 only. How many cars will be in HD, and will it apply to Nextel Cup AND Busch Series or just Nextel Cup races?

Will D* 11 be up and ready to rumble by Feb. 2008, and will a lot of SD channels (including PPV) have to temporarly bite the dust to open up room for coverage?

I'm kind of worried how D* will find room for all cars to be in SD, especially on Sundays opposite NFL Sunday Ticket. There's probably enough room on D* 11 for HotPass SD and HD, but most SD-only customers are only on one-LNB dishes.

Read my post just above.

Perry - I saw a Koni Challenge race at Watkins Glen this year. One of my father's old buddy's son was pit crew for a Mustang team. The cars' shells come right off the Ford assembly line, but then are given about 75lbs of additionial spot welds all over the chassis. Then roll cage, fuel cell, suspension etc. The motor was a "top secret" ford motor I wasn't allowed to take photos of. Sounded great. They had a shot at winning races mainly because the BMWs and Porsche's broke down more often than not



Anybody hear when (if!?) F1 will go HD? I would gladly pay $10/race to see this...

cheers
Kurt

But at least they come off an assembly line as actually production cars.

I'm pretty sure they all use the 5.0 "cammer engine". You can buy one from Ford for $125K http://www.themustangnews.net/refere...2007fr500c.htm

The first year the Mustang was introduced, it dominated and won the championship. After that Grand Am made the Mustangs add some weight and mandated that they use a 3.55 final drive ratio instead of 4.10s which killed their acceleration out of the turns. (Mustangs should be able to beat Porsches you know). For comparision, you can get a stock Mustang GT with 3.55 gears, and many mustang owners that drag race their cars have 4.10s and drive them on the street. My personal car has 3.73s. That said - they have to create parity somehow. Otherwise you'd have twin turbo AWD Porsches out there.