- 7,524
- Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- BlackRose_Atomic
[VRR][B-SPEC] 2018 Vodafone IndyCar Series season
- Thread starter Eva
- 237 comments
- 15,929 views
- 7,524
- Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- BlackRose_Atomic
@Sakura @Kingofweasles @catamount39 @nascarfan1400 @DcrRaikkonen @quietgirl @PinkKitty13 @Zooparker @Suzumiya @NearCptNitro @GranTurismo916 @Whitetail @Rebellion765 @KuniKino****a @Formidable @Antares26 @Michelin @RACECAR @GTRacer22 @amaterasu @YayoiGT2 @Niku Driver HC @Eh Team @BKGlover @Smurfybug @Clayton Hardy @Pezzarinho17 @aarror @ukfan758 @AudiMan2011 @tbwhhs @Luis Torres @Ph1sh @RESHIRAM5
- 7,524
- Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- BlackRose_Atomic
After spending most of her rookie campaign battling to stay in the top 24 in points, Nicole Liechti couldn't be happier to be a career best 3rd in the IndyCar World Championship standings. After a podium at St. Pete, and another top 10 finish at Phoenix, momentum feels good for the Lausanne native, one of two Swiss drivers in the 2018 roster. "The start of this season has definitely been a lot brighter for me. Outside of Calder, every race so far has been kind to me, so motivation is pretty good right now." Unlike her, her Black Rose Racing teammates have not shared the same level of success so far, with them being in 14th, 15th, and 17th in points. "Obviously, it would be great for the team to have more cars up near the front, but there's only so much I can do to assist that. They already have access to the setups we decide to use in qualifying and the race, so I don't know how I could help that any more."
Simona Leroux has not had near the success her fellow countrywoman, Nicole Liechti, has shared. Being injured in the same crash that claimed the life of E.C. Gadget in the Monster Showdown, she missed the first three races of the season due to a concussion, as well as injuries to her legs and shoulders. Coming to Phoenix, there was a chance for a rebirth for Leroux, who moved stateside after 7 years in Formula One, taking 14 F1 race victories, including three in the principality of Monaco. That would not be the case. Thirteen laps from the finish, her Honda engine blew, giving up a potential top 15 finish on her official debut. Despondent, she shrugged when asked questions by reporters. "I don't know why the engine let go. It seemed fine. Temperatures were fine. We were stellar on fuel. It just let go...it isn't easy, being through what I've been through these past few months. At this point, I'm just looking forward to being in Champ Car next year in a car that won't be as dangerous."
A rarity in IndyCar happened in Phoenix, when three championship contenders failed to qualify for the event. Cristine Espinoza and Astrid Krane, who both had won a race prior to Phoenix, missed the cut, as well as Jamie Ngaire-Jardine. When asked about her feelings, Cristine showed confidence; "It's not the best feeling in the world, to be honest. I didn't miss this feeling! But we are still in a very great position in points to lock ourselves in at Nazareth. The team did everything they could have done, but unfortunately, we just barely missed out. It's a big part of IndyCar, so I can't dwell on it. Just looking forward now to Sonoma to pull a race back."
- 7,524
- Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- BlackRose_Atomic
@PinkKitty13 @Sakura @Kingofweasles @catamount39 @NearCptNitro @Eva @Suzumiya @nascarfan1400 @quietgirl @Formidable @Whitetail @DcrRaikkonen @Michelin @Zooparker @RACECAR @GranTurismo916 @Rebellion765 @Pezzarinho17 @KuniKino****a @Clayton Hardy @amaterasu @Antares26 @Niku Driver HC @GTRacer22 @Smurfybug @YayoiGT2 @BKGlover @Eh Team @aarror @ukfan758 @tbwhhs @AudiMan2011 @Luis Torres @Ph1sh @RESHIRAM5 @swiftsmith @LITTLEBLACKO
- 12,893
- Divided States of America
- MikuHime80
Attagirl.
- 13,267
- GTPlanet
- Street-King-07
- Quattro Saltire
After missing out on qualifying for the third time this season, frustrated Ecurie Ecosse driver Gary Slater told media he was evaluating where his future will lie in 2019. "I honestly don't know where I'll be going next year," the exasperated Scot stated, "I love racing Indycar but we're just getting nowhere. We've failed to qualify 3 times already this season, even losing out by just tiny margins. We're trying our hardest, but with such a cut-throat field it's tough to make that progress."
Slater then said he might possibly look to a future either in Champcar or outwith single seater racing itself. "Right now Champcar is looking like the most tempting place to go. I'm not sure if the team will be willing to transfer but I'll be watching the driver market very closely on that one. There might possibly be an option of going to GT racing in Japan as a free agent driver. I've been hearing about progress on the All-Japan GT series so there's another option on the table."
Slater then said he might possibly look to a future either in Champcar or outwith single seater racing itself. "Right now Champcar is looking like the most tempting place to go. I'm not sure if the team will be willing to transfer but I'll be watching the driver market very closely on that one. There might possibly be an option of going to GT racing in Japan as a free agent driver. I've been hearing about progress on the All-Japan GT series so there's another option on the table."
- 373
- Ridge State
- TakatsukiYayoi
With a series of disappointing results and inconsistent performance throughout 2018, current Ford driver Adrian Ragus expressed clear frustrations with the manufacturer... and his team. "Considering my previous results with the non-works Sovereign-Cosworth package, the expectation was that moving to a factory outfit would improve performance. But with everyone else moving forward in development, I'm sliding down the order with a works team that seems content to rest on their laurels."
- 1,382
- Minnesota
- SQE_HAZ3L
Good result :3 hopefully we can keep it up though!
- 6,113
- Texas
Adrian has every right to be angry, God knows I am. There's nothing I can do anymore, though. Because we didn't sacrifice one aspect to the others, we're screwed on all fronts. I don't know what Ford is doing in the engine room because they forced me to sign a contract giving them control of it for this season, all I've been told is that VRR knows what they're doing and they're still paying their bills...not that they have many left when maybe one car qualifies week in/week out. And yet the only thing I can say is that I warned everyone this was likely to happen. At some point in conversation, between last year and now, I told everyone who'd listen that this team likely wouldn't be able to sustain performance.
If Ragus wishes to continue with Indycars into 2019, Starion will turn over all assets to him as soon as I can get the Ford cronies out of the building. As for me, as I said after the last race, I'm done after this year. If I recall correctly, we either go 5 or 6 races before the PQ reshuffle, so if it's 5 I'm SOL, and if it's 6 then I get one more week as IndyCar's Jar Jar before I'm dismissed to pre-qualifying, so it's a two fold issue. I was never supposed to be here, and I'm being forced out of the field by faster drivers who are. Any way I look at it...I stop existing here beyond the Finale.
If Ragus wishes to continue with Indycars into 2019, Starion will turn over all assets to him as soon as I can get the Ford cronies out of the building. As for me, as I said after the last race, I'm done after this year. If I recall correctly, we either go 5 or 6 races before the PQ reshuffle, so if it's 5 I'm SOL, and if it's 6 then I get one more week as IndyCar's Jar Jar before I'm dismissed to pre-qualifying, so it's a two fold issue. I was never supposed to be here, and I'm being forced out of the field by faster drivers who are. Any way I look at it...I stop existing here beyond the Finale.
- 7,524
- Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- BlackRose_Atomic
Correction: All of the engine regs are the same as they were last year. The difference is in the application of the upgrade package, which was adjusted to be a one time event for all the manufacturers. Ford has pace. But they are the only ones that took the approach of being decent everywhere, but not top of the line anywhere else. Alpine focused on engine. Ferrari focused on aero. Honda focused on reliability, Chevrolet focused on engine and aero, Ford focused on none so there isn't a standout trait anywhere and they're always going to be second to another supplier in any given scenario. When the 2019 season prep begins, everyone can use what they have learned from the past couple years to make their engines better. Starion is still going to be the Ford factory team. They are the only Ford team that satisfies the requirements. So there is an opportunity for redemption. Being gloom and doom when next year pre-qualifying won't exist is not the approach to take. Everyone gets a chance to build on what they have built.
- 6,113
- Texas
1. We'd have to have the money to fund the effort. That cash flow is about to die a sudden and painful death.
2. It'd have to be more than the people I have. @YayoiGT2 has finally discovered my full nature of being utter shingle-sitting ***** and is likely gone ASAP. Fisher doesn't seem to give a damn, and I believe EH said he was thinking about giving up the offline stuff. Slater is gonna bolt for anyone, Kamaz or Tesla would be better options, and no one in their most delusional, drug induced, AND/OR in a revelative state would or should consider any offer short of offering myself as a servant forever in reality. Ford is gone.
3. What can I build off? The platform has been scorched by literally everyone else. Either I won't go far enough and end up even further back than we are now, or I go bat:censored: and put literally everything on the others and end up dead because of it because everyone else has been conversing with each other and has an idea where the lines are. I'm screwed no matter what.
4. I had some plans in mind on how to change things...and then Champ Car came to be.
2. It'd have to be more than the people I have. @YayoiGT2 has finally discovered my full nature of being utter shingle-sitting ***** and is likely gone ASAP. Fisher doesn't seem to give a damn, and I believe EH said he was thinking about giving up the offline stuff. Slater is gonna bolt for anyone, Kamaz or Tesla would be better options, and no one in their most delusional, drug induced, AND/OR in a revelative state would or should consider any offer short of offering myself as a servant forever in reality. Ford is gone.
3. What can I build off? The platform has been scorched by literally everyone else. Either I won't go far enough and end up even further back than we are now, or I go bat:censored: and put literally everything on the others and end up dead because of it because everyone else has been conversing with each other and has an idea where the lines are. I'm screwed no matter what.
4. I had some plans in mind on how to change things...and then Champ Car came to be.
5. I'm 🤬 tired. I've hoped, wished, willed, watched, and waited. Hope is gone, Faith is destroyed, there is no more willpower, I'm done waiting just to end up with nothing to watch or enjoy. I've offered all the help I can, and not just here. I have three different sites I go to for this...and these five videos for this season, the few from last, and some sporadic twitching from the zombies are all that I have to attempt to justify it. I've made cars, I've made logos, I've offered to make what I could, and try on the rest...I can't justify the effort for nothing anymore, and I'd rather nothing over embarrassment. I am ashamed of this. I'm ashamed of myself. I'm ashamed of the ridicule brought on to anyone I've associated with. I'm ashamed of my existence in it's entirety.
- 7,524
- Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- BlackRose_Atomic
1) You have over $6M in the bank, and other teams are making due with half of that. It's definitely recoverable.
2) Ragus and Taylor are looking elsewhere because you have painted yourself into this bubble that what has gone wrong is unable to be fixed, when that's never been the case. You tell yourself that because of laziness, not because you can't.
3) What can you build off of? Well for starters, the knowledge that specializing in one specific area is more valuable than trying to hold the middle ground everywhere.
4) Champ Car is for those that seek an alternative to IndyCar that requires more invested time and a series that yields more direct results from decisions made. Whether or not that applies to your team is where you would have to decide, but you definitely could do that.
5) This entire storyline world has its ups and downs. Your driver has not been killed, you have averaged a race win a year. You have over $6M in the bank when other teams are hardly able to cover rent, and you have drivers that have not yet finalized their 2019 plans. Not all is lost, it never has been, and there's always solutions to the problem if you care to look into them. Seeing that you're having a bad year and deciding to call it quits is the easy, uninspired way out, which is sad because there is a ton of potential if you care to explore it or ask those that already have. We are a community that enjoys seeing competitiveness, from ourselves and from the others. That's why we do this. To tune in knowing you have a chance to win, or at least a chance to learn and improve yourself so you can the next season. Personally, I'd urge you to at least look at how 2019 is shaping up for VRR's offline canon and see where you want to be. Quitting after a bad season, when you've been in the top 10 in points before, just doesn't sit well.
- 1,421
- California
- WeaselKing707
- N/A
Well hell BK, I would've hired you for a third full-time car over here at Phantom if you just wanted to be a driver and leave team ownership and Ford dramas to somebody else. But from what I've read I take it that you're dead-set on retirement after the season's over, so I wasn't going to press the idea.
- 6,113
- Texas
As a Driver option, you'd be better off recruiting a hamster. Along with screwing over the team with that ordeal, I've screwed over myself twice now...and it's the EXACT SAME as the car build. Life lesson: Balance is 🤬 useless.
- 1,944
- It's cold here
- The_EH_Team_43
I'd like to know when I said that because I don't remember saying that. I'm actually doing quite the opposite and you'd know that if you hadn't suddenly dropped off the face of the VRR planet. Remember you considered me a co-owner when we joined forces to be a factory team? Yeah I've got plans on keeping the boat afloat once you jump this totally not sinking ship. Names will change, drivers may come and go, but a team with a pile of cash and 4 cars doesn't just disappear.
- 6,113
- Texas
Ok, I was wrong about you saying that. Don't know where I got it crossed with someone else, but I did.
But, why did this start being talked about AFTER I left the discord? I was there for months, and nothing was brought up about this series beyond Eva's posts and my own BS. Also, I still have a discord account, so I could have been addressed there, and I could have been addressed here. But the only person who said anything was Eva, and if you already have a plan in place, then what is the point of her trying to keep me around when nothing of value will be lost? You get the team, Ragus has some renewed faith, you know how not to build the car, and I imagine drivers 3 and 4 wouldn't be hard to find because you are a good person and know how to set everything up. There is almost no way it can go wrong.
- 1,421
- California
- WeaselKing707
- N/A
- 7,524
- Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- BlackRose_Atomic
NOTE: Drivers in green occupy cars that are safe from pre-qualifying for rounds 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
@Kingofweasles @catamount39 @nascarfan1400 @Sakura @PinkKitty13 @DcrRaikkonen @NearCptNitro @Formidable @quietgirl @Suzumiya @Whitetail @Michelin @amaterasu @Rebellion765 @GranTurismo916 @RACECAR @GTRacer22 @Clayton Hardy @Antares26 @Zooparker @Pezzarinho17 @KuniKino****a @Niku Driver HC @YayoiGT2 @tbwhhs @Smurfybug @BKGlover @Eh Team @aarror @ukfan758 @AudiMan2011 @Luis Torres @Ph1sh @RESHIRAM5
- 1,382
- Minnesota
- SQE_HAZ3L
Thank goodness we're safe from having to pre qualify because that was loosing us valuable points
- 13,267
- GTPlanet
- Street-King-07
- Quattro Saltire
Getting real tired of not qualifying.
We need to unlock more pace somehow. These Ford power units aren't cutting it.
We need to unlock more pace somehow. These Ford power units aren't cutting it.
- 12,893
- Divided States of America
- MikuHime80
Thats 2/3 locked in. No real pressure Aaron, we know what you can do, keep your head up and it'll be fine. Still plenty of season left. Dig dig dig.
- 373
- Ridge State
- TakatsukiYayoi
Another middling result leaves Adrian Ragus standing 26th after the Indy 225, relegating him to the Pre-Qualifying elimination sessions. "In any other car, I think our strategy of aggressively pursuing pure race pace performance at the cost of qualifying would have done us well. The Ford just doesn't quite have that special edge that the rest of the manufacturers possess."
- 35,166
- Addison,Texas
- GTP_RACECAR
Another race where we had amazing pace but just awful timing with the strategy. Can I get just one win? Just one?
Also, finally I'm back to doing these. Weeeeeee.
Its almost time to get into my best mood for a certain race:
- 7,524
- Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- BlackRose_Atomic
@Kingofweasles @NearCptNitro @Sakura @DcrRaikkonen @PinkKitty13 @catamount39 @Whitetail @nascarfan1400 @Formidable @quietgirl @GranTurismo916 @Suzumiya @Michelin @amaterasu @Clayton Hardy @GTRacer22 @Rebellion765 @KuniKino****a @Niku Driver HC @RACECAR @Antares26 @Zooparker @Pezzarinho17 @tbwhhs @YayoiGT2 @Smurfybug @Eh Team @aarror @BKGlover @Luis Torres @ukfan758 @AudiMan2011 @Ph1sh @RESHIRAM5 @swiftsmith
AI Driver Form (Gen 2): https://goo.gl/forms/FUjS3AxZ0FW2Vcka2
2019 Champ Car thread: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/vrr-b-spec-2019-at-t-champ-car-world-series-season.379638/
