SMP Opening Round (spoliers)

[Sonic]

it was an ok race but it didn't draw me in.

on the other hand at Sandown last weekend I was on the fence for a HQ race on Sunday afternoon with 7 cars battling the whole race for the lead... and had 6 cars within .6 of a second at the chequer with the car who was 4th coming out of the final corner taking the win....

now that's parity!

[Troy01505]

Cool! Another season of parity bitching.

[AlbertM]

Boring as all get out! Can we finally admit, the 9 parity changes to advantage the ZB was 2 or 3 too many! There is no excitement anymore....it's so contrived!!

Can't say I agree.  Qualifying which is the best indication of raw car pace and how parity is determined had the first ZB .35 down on 2 Fords and another .2 advantage in the shootout.  Using race results to call out parity is intellectually dishonest given the plethora of additional variables which go into the results of a 70 lap event.

But it's not about raw car speed. The cars are controlled. The cars are capable of going faster but at the cost of tyre life.

ZB could match the 2019 Mustang in quali, yet the latter still got clipped.

[stevo qld]

Whincup, in his first race as 888 Boss, did two things that resulted in the win:

step 1. He removed a top driver from the field.

step 2. they went with a 3 stop strategy.

I am convinced that the 17 car would have been a lot closer if DJR also did step 2 or even won. I reckon they will Sunday.

If 888 had not done step 1, then the 17 car may have even been third. Of course Shane might have been second or third.

Feeney did well too. A top 10 shootout and ninth in his first race as a full timer.

[Ospif1]

Boring as all get out! Can we finally admit, the 9 parity changes to advantage the ZB was 2 or 3 too many! There is no excitement anymore....it's so contrived!!

Can't say I agree.  Qualifying which is the best indication of raw car pace and how parity is determined had the first ZB .35 down on 2 Fords and another .2 advantage in the shootout.  Using race results to call out parity is intellectually dishonest given the plethora of additional variables which go into the results of a 70 lap event.

But it's not about raw car speed. The cars are controlled. The cars are capable of going faster but at the cost of tyre life.

The parity is controlled on what can be measured which comes down to overall mass, distribution of that mass and aero performance.  The best indication that those variables are as equal as possible is the raw pace of the cars which is best represented by Qualifying.

Attempting to equalise cars based on race results is massively flawed.  What would you change?

At SMP last season the results were:

Qualy (including shootouts):
Ford = 7 (avg 0.4sec ahead of GM)
GM = 3 (avg 0.2sec ahead of Ford)

Races:
Ford = 5 wins
GM = 4 wins

And no changes have been made to the cars since.  But one race and it's all unfair?  If a Ford wins tomorrow will parity suddenly be OK again?

[AlbertM]

Boring as all get out! Can we finally admit, the 9 parity changes to advantage the ZB was 2 or 3 too many! There is no excitement anymore....it's so contrived!!

Can't say I agree.  Qualifying which is the best indication of raw car pace and how parity is determined had the first ZB .35 down on 2 Fords and another .2 advantage in the shootout.  Using race results to call out parity is intellectually dishonest given the plethora of additional variables which go into the results of a 70 lap event.

But it's not about raw car speed. The cars are controlled. The cars are capable of going faster but at the cost of tyre life.

The parity is controlled on what can be measured which comes down to overall mass, distribution of that mass and aero performance.  The best indication that those variables are as equal as possible is the raw pace of the cars which is best represented by Qualifying.

Attempting to equalise cars based on race results is massively flawed.  What would you change?

At SMP last season the results were:

Qualy (including shootouts):
Ford = 7 (avg 0.4sec ahead of GM)
GM = 3 (avg 0.2sec ahead of Ford)

Races:
Ford = 5 wins
GM = 4 wins

And no changes have been made to the cars since.  But one race and it's all unfair?  If a Ford wins tomorrow will parity suddenly be OK again?

Parity is triggered by race lap times not qualifying times. Cars are setup for a hand full of laps for qualifying to gain track position on the grid so it not a true indicator of race speed over race distance.

For example SVG was ~1 second a lap faster on his last set of soft tyres compared to ADP's lap times from his last stop for softs. In the final 10 laps when SVG passed ADP, SVG put ~2 seconds a lap on ADP to the finish. This while Crompton was praising the tyres consistency. Add in SVG literally spent more time in the pits, it shows the leading ZB has speed to burn over the leading Mustang.

The gaps of seconds a lap of race speed dwarf the tenths in qualifying. After all, points are only awarded after a race, not quali.

SVG is gun driver, in his prime and other than ADP nipping his heels, is the best driver in pit lane. Just Like Scott McLaughlin in 2019...Yet Mustang got clipped. 

[REM]

I think you will find they use lap times from the races to determine parity, the fastest and slowest 7 versions from each car.....qualifying can mask a car that lacks aero balance as new tyre grip masks the lack of balance....Scott could drive a car with minimal rear grip very well, but now that he is gone..it's very predictable and awfully one sided....

[Alan59]

Torrential rain all night and still heavy this morning with some thunder and lightning.
They just got away with it last night as rain started soon after finish but today may well be a washout.

[djr18fan]

Wow is this a sign this V8 Central Forum is dead? Why have I missed any comments during an actual race???

Maybe I'm stupid?

Plenty of chat on social media during the race.
V8Central is for whinging about the category, results and perceived favoritism from officials.
The fact that no one commented about the above during the race just confirms there were no such issues during the race.

People bringing up parity issues after the race are just trolling in my opinion.

[falcon_cobra]

The more things change, the more, they stay the same.

[fordman]

One race in and parity being talked about

cannot see how disparity can be proved in race conditions that has strategic choices that effect a race outcome, they all raced on a tyre that they never even tried before, SVG may just have pulled the right chord on set-up for this?? Others may have waited for the rain? Qually showed Ford have speed as do GM. Sprint race no pit stops may show better disparity, but then again with tyre use restrictions questions will be asked who has the better tyre bank shows up in the last race most of the time.

me thinks they wont do anything with Gen 3 on the books, so lets just move on and hope the 'P" word wont be an issue in 2023? yeah I know wishful thinking.

[Joe5619]

Boring as all get out! Can we finally admit, the 9 parity changes to advantage the ZB was 2 or 3 too many! There is no excitement anymore....it's so contrived!!

It posts like this that are killing forms like this, people have just had enough of the BS & go elsewhere.

Nothing is wrong with parity & trying to use what was happened at EC so far this weekend as the bases makes me laugh so hard. Especially when you consider Ford dominated at this track less than 6 months ago with the same cars!

[AlbertM]

OMG having discussion on a discussion forum, OH THE HUMANITY!

The only highlight of the race is to talk about ZB's blinding speed, nothing else happened.

Ford dominated at this track less than 6 months ago with the same cars!

Did it? Because a ZB took home the silverware for the top spot.

[skaifeman]

The only difference in parity I saw was the car that won did so with a completely different strategy.

How can you measure parity on two cars that had different tyre strategies from the get go?
If you compare those that are comparable (the 2 stoppers), ADP wins.

We'll see a few more 3 stoppers today I reckon.

[Joe5619]

OMG having discussion on a discussion forum, OH THE HUMANITY!

The only highlight of the race is to talk about ZB's blinding speed, nothing else happened.

Ford dominated at this track less than 6 months ago with the same cars!

Did it? Because a ZB took home the silverware for the top spot.

Sorry, I meant Ford dominated the 4 rounds last year...