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Registered
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Houston (Clearlake), TX
Posts: 11,342
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I watched the race in person from the turn 12 grandstands and then watched the race on TV when I got home. Usually I enjoy the race on TV more because you get more of the story but not in this case.
First of all in person it didn't look like domination. Grosjean seemed to stay in contention for most of the race since the gap to Vettel wasn't growing very fast. I was watching where Vettel was when Grosjean entered turn 12. For most of the first half, Vettel was in turn 13 when Grosjean was in turn 12 and you could only see a car length or so change from lap to lap.
When Vettel was closing in on back markers I expected him to catch them with ease and dispense of them but he didn't. It usually took a couple laps per car to pass them.
I think part of this slowness to pass backmarkers and Vettel's quick get away at the start of the race is the Red Bull car set up. It looks like they short gear and balance the car for a full fuel tank because they are so fast early. As the race wears on the Red Bull's don't seem as fast. This was also evidenced in Webber passing Hamilton and then catching Grosjean pretty easily at first and then not being able to catch Grosjean in the last few laps.
It was also really cool to see the cars get faster as the fuel burned off. Being in turn 12 you could see the cars braking from top speed to what was probably 1st gear. Near the end of the race it was a really dramatic speed drop.
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2014 Cayman S (track rat w/GT4 suspension)
1979 930 (475 rwhp at 0.95 bar)
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