Q: I watched the 24 Hours of Le Mans and really enjoyed it. I told my Facebook friends to turn it on if they like cars and/or racing. One of my friends who is trying to get into racing couldn’t watch because he doesn’t have cable or MotorTrend+. I love MotorTrend, but it isn’t the greatest channel to build a fan base in the United States in 2023. Say what you want about NBC and Peacock, but they are a great home for IMSA. I was shocked that NBC/Peacock didn’t have this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Is there any talk of getting WEC races on the new MAX app (like the other Discovery properties) or new TV partner in the future? WEC is getting a lot better and I think people in the U.S. would start watching if it was on a more accessible platform.
John Berger
MP: Well, just imagine if you’d tuned in last year — before the official WEC broadcasters were used — and you had the Eurosport commentary team making you want to punch holes in the TV or stomp your phone/tablet into a thousand pieces. For that, MotorTrend deserves a massive thank you.
The problem we have is in the U.S. is, Le Mans has almost no profile, so the former SPEED Channel, and now MotorTrend, is where it lives because bigger cable outlets see no value in airing a 24-hour race that generates limited ratings. For those of us who know and care, we want the LM24 to get the best coverage, but there’s no business argument to be made at the moment to support such a thing.
Q: Le Mans is over and Colin Braun has another victory to add to his impressive resume. I am of the opinion that he is one of the best drivers in America, and have always wanted to see him have a shot in IndyCar. Were we ever close to seeing him in the sport? And is there still a chance even for a one-off, or has that ship sailed?
Josh M.
MP: He’s been close a few times, with RLL being the most recent. I can only hope MSR considers him for something because if the team is going to drag itself out of IndyCar irrelevance, a top-tier driver like Colin — roads/streets and ovals — with peerless engineering knowledge and input is exactly who they need to help the turnaround. The idea of MSR taking its full-time IMSA duo of Blomqvist and Braun and shifting them to IndyCar would be among the most brilliant things they’ve ever done.
Q: Rinus VeeKay is in very interesting career situation. He has potential, but only one victory. I understand he is under contract to Ed Carpenter Racing but let’s say if Alex Palou leaves Chip Ganassi Racing and either moves to Arrow McLaren or moves to F1, could VeeKay end up with a top-notch team like Arrow McLaren or Ganassi? I feel like if he stays with ERC for another season, he might not get another shot to win another IndyCar race. The team he’s driving for now is as bad as Rahal Lanigan Letterman Racing.
Alistair
MP: I’ve heard a lot of names mentioned to fill vacancies at Andretti and Ganassi, but RVK hasn’t been one of them. Is that because it’s all been super top secret and none of those conversations have reached the light of day, or is it because his stock has dropped during ECR’s ugly downward spiral? The knock on Rinus is he isn’t a significant contributor to making the cars faster; he’ll drive the wheels off of whatever he’s given, but isn’t going to make a bad car better with sharp feedback. Whether that’s true or false is immaterial; that’s what I’ve told by big teams when I ask if he’s on their shopping list, and if that’s the belief, it’s a hard one to shake.
On a personal level, I love the kid and really hope he and the team with RHR now in the mix can find some of what they’ve been missing. If they don’t, the whole jettisoning of Conor will have been a waste and RVK’s future beyond ECR will be cloudy.
Q: The G56 car was very cool to watch, but the Corvette GT Am car lapped faster in the race, if I’m not mistaken. From a cost standpoint, which car is cheaper to run? A production-based car modified for racing, like the C8.R, or a pure, purpose-built race car, like the NASCAR Camaro? I realize a one-off is more expensive than a season-long effort, and the economies of scale with the large number of NASCAR chassis produced. But if you were running a season of a spec-car road racing series, which route would be the most cost-effective?
Bary
MP: The G56 Camaro was a ton faster in single-lap pace, but the team, doing the car’s first-ever 24-hour race, was wise to back its pace down a bit for the sake of longevity. The Next Gen Cup car would be the way to go because it’s a purebred creation done in a modular fashion. Going with a production-based car is loaded with constraints and compromises; everything that’s allowed to be upgraded and fortified is upgraded and fortified, whereas a purebred machine is designed to be optimal in every area from the outset.
Q: The Conor Daly/ECR split made me curious about how BitNile was doing, so I took a look at the stock price and recent 8-K filings, and things look really grim. BitNile just did a 1-for-30 reverse stock split last month to keep from being delisted, and Ault Alliance did a whopping 1-for-300 reverse split three days later but the stock continues to decline. Yet they’re still sponsoring both ECR cars? Something’s very fishy here and I would be shocked if BitNile came back in 2024. You must be hearing rumblings?
Ben Malec, Buffalo Grove, IL
MP: I can tell you a lot about bumpsteer and gear ratio choices, but I’ve never understood crypto and just smile when those who do try to explain how it’s real and sustainable. With that known, I just hope the money keeps flowing in to keep the ECR cars going.