Reilly Brennan

2013 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona Couch Kit

Another long-distance race, another great opportunity to let technology act as our war room for maximum enjoyment and shirtsleeve analysis. This is another installment in my couch kit series, highlighting the best in terms of web streams, feeds, useful info and anything else I think is worth mentioning while keeping the race going twice around the clock.

(Note this page updates frequently throughout the week / weekend)

Start time: Saturday, January 26, 3:30PM Eastern standard time

TV coverage explained: Speed (TV): 3:30PM - 11PM, then SpeedTV.com until 9AM, then Speed (TV) until 3:30 checkered flag. All times Eastern.

Live video streams:

• Speed.com web stream (11PM Sat - 9AM Sun)
• Speed broadcast feed in very high-def on Justin.tv
• French Motors TV — Motors TV but with French commentators. There’s a 30-second ad that plays but then you’ll see it.
• MotorsTV — but beware of popups and make sure you wait 30 sec for the cover-over ad to disappear.

Team streams: Mazda USA, Turner motorsports, Magnus Racing

Radio feed: Radio Le Mans, MRN (timing and scoring on top, radio feed with controls at bottom), SiriusXM Channel 90 (aka the NASCAR channel) if you have a subscription.

Phone / mobile apps

• Radio Le Mans on iPhone: Download F-stream (free) from iTunes and then add this URL in as a new Favorite (go to Edit, then add a new station). 
• Radio Le Mans on Windows Phone: Requires Windows 7 or later. Thanks Brian Roche for the tip!
• Grand-Am app for iPhone and Android

Timing and scoring: Grand-Am site, mobile-enabled

Other useful stuff:

• Entry list
• Race notes and another version of race notes from DSC
• Spotter’s Guide via Jalopnik. Sadly Andy Blackmore isn’t doing one of his great guides this time!
• A great preview by the boys at DailySportsCar includes a DP preview and a GT/GTX preview
• Cool Porsche-only Daytona site. Tweets, historical stuff, very neat.
• Twitter searches: #rolex24, #daytona24, Metacool racers list

2012 info, just to keep in mind:

Winner’s average speed: 126.300 mph

Winner’s total laps: 761 (1 short of the all-time record set in ‘92)

Winner’s best lap: 1:41.473

Winners: Allmendinger, Wilson, Negri, Pew (Michael Shank Ford-powered Riley)

(Photo above: one of the TRG Porsches from test days, photo via Grand Am)

2012 24 Hours of Le Mans Couch Kit: Streams, Entry Lists, Good Stuff

Another Le Mans means another awesome day of watching from across the Atlantic via a series of tubes. If you want to follow along, I’ve pulled together some of the better resources here, in my recurring lazyman’s Couch Kit series. 

(Note: this page updates frequently throughout the week and weekend)

Start time: 3:00PM CET (9AM Eastern), Saturday June 16

U.S. TV coverage explained: Speed’s coverage of the race is primarily on its TV channel, with 23 hours on air. Unfortunately the experience is broken up across a few sections because they cut away to NASCAR for a bit, during which they are live on Speed.com. Here is the full schedule (Eastern times) for U.S.

• Speed TV: 8:30AM - 1PM
• Speed.com: 1PM - 2:30PM
• Speed TV: 2:30PM - 7PM
• Speed.com: 7:00PM - 7:30PM
• Speed TV: 7:30PM - remainder of race (through 9AM Sunday) 

Audio Stream

• Radio Le Mans: The team at Radio Le Mans does round-the-clock, we-never-stop coverage and they are quite good — and funny, which is what you need when you cover something for 24 hours.
• Team streams: Flying Lizards, JRM

TV / web streams

• Speed.tv splits their coverage between broadcast and online, meaning that when it’s on TV it’s not online. That is sort of frustrating, but when the feed is on it is very, very crisp. When the full feed isn’t available online, they do show Corvette on-board.
• ACO feed: ACO gave their official feed to DailyMotion here. There are some other team-related streams below the feed.
• Corvette on-board: Actually the same as the Speed link above, but showing only Corvette when Speed doesn’t show their coverage online. Confused yet? 
• Audi on-board: In addition to dominating Le Mans, Audi dominates web streaming as well with bandwith, quality and coverage that is in keeping with their herrschaft.
• Eurosport: This one shows Eurosport, with Radio Le Mans as its audio (ads go away after 30 seconds) — I should note this one has been very stable. This is another (ads disappear after 30 sec) — thanks to Rory O’Connor for this one. Or try here for Eurosport Germany link.
• Ten Sport: a TV station from Australia, who will provide coverage of the entire race. Update: deggis4 comes in hot with some tips on how to access this outside of the outback — see the comments below.

Timing/Scoring

• ACO / WEC: Official timing and scoring from Le Mans
• Baekdal’s dashboard: A mix of a twitter feed from official sources and timing and scoring. Here’s Baekdal’s dashboard for iPhone/iPad optimized viewing.

Phone / mobile apps

• Radio Le Mans on iPhone: Download F-stream (free) from iTunes and then add this URL in as a new Favorite (go to Edit, then add a new station). Thanks to Dan Edmunds for this tip!
• Radio Le Mans on Windows Phone: Requires Windows 7 or later. Thanks Brian Roche for the tip!
• ACO iPhone app: (has timing/scoring built in) I don’t think there’s an Android version.
• Baekdal iPhone optimized page. 

Entry List

• Spotter’s Guide: A great visual view of the entries, from the great Andy Blackmore (direct link to PDF).
• Official ACO entry list: From the sanctioning body (opens PDF)

Other useful stuff

• Twitter searches: #LM24, #LeMans, #WEC, Metacool racers list, @almsnotes, @24hoursoflemans (official feed)
• Drive will be online live from YouTube for 25 hours, in the words of the team there: “we are not broadcasting the race, we are broadcasting interviews and discussions from the track and the New York Studio.” I love Drive and expect we’ll see good stuff from them throughout the day.
• Michael Fuller’s notes from Le Mans on the always incredible Mulsanne’s Corner. 
• Technical review from Racecar Engineering (PDF, requires email)
• Audi released another awesome installment of Truth in 24 from the 2011 race (high res YouTube link). (Part I - 2010 race is here, too.)

2011 info

• Winner average speed: 125.06 mph
• Winner’s total laps: 355 (record)
• Winners: Fassler, Lotterer, Treluyer (Audi R18 TDI, named ‘Red Sonja’)
• Winners: being awesome below

2012 12 Hours of Sebring Couch Kit

For 12 hours on Saturday I’ll be glued to my screens, watching the American Le Mans Series kickoff at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Admittedly, Sebring isn’t beautiful, but it is legendary. Traditionally known as the kickoff event for the ALMS teams, there’s more focus on the race in 2012 because it is also the first event in the ACO’s newly formed “World Endurance Championship,” meaning it has a bit of a double billing. The new WEC championship is the first true ‘world championship’ for sports cars in some 20 years, with events in North America, Europe and Asia. So, if a team wins the race on Saturday, they’d be collecting points for both the ALMS championship and the WEC championship (although running in both championships would be difficult given the scheduling conflicts, in September especially).

Sadly, the race isn’t on television (an abbreviated version of the race will be shown one day after the event, on ABC, which does me as much good as reading about it in the newspaper), but there will be enough in the way of streams to watch it live on Saturday.

Start time: Saturday, March 17, 10:15AM Eastern time

TV coverage explained: (US market) No live terrestial TV coverage; ESPN3 will provide a live stream, while ABC will show a shortened highlight of the race on Sunday. (Outside of US) live streaming coverage on FIAWEC.

Live Streams

• ESPN3.com (US market)
• FIAWEC.com (Non-US)
• French Motorsport feed (Worldwide, seems to have some downtime issues today)
• Motors TV
• HDRacing feed
• Radio feed: Radio Le Mans

Timing / Scoring

• ALMS live timing & scoring

Other useful stuff

• Entry list (PDF — and a little hard to read, since it is broken out into two different areas for ALMS and WEC, but, hey, at least they tell us about the tire manufacturers) 
• Visual spotter’s guide (PDF) (Thank you Andy Blackmore!)
• Twitter searches: #Sebring, #ALMS, #WEC, Sebring drivers list, Metacool racers list, @almsnotes
• Michael Fuller’s notes from Sebring on the always incredible Mulsanne’s Corner

2011 info, just to keep in mind

• P1 average speed: 102.299 mph
• Winner’s total laps: 332
• Winners: Lapierre, Duval, Panis (Peugeot 908 HDI)

Below, a great interview with Audi factory driver Alan McNish about Sebring, his car, life and all sorts of good stuff. It was produced by Drive, a new YouTube-only series of shows that is starting to become one of my favorites. The part at 24:20 is my favorite, where McNish actually gives us a real-time indication of where his eyes and brain are trained while behind the wheel; wicked stuff.

(Photo by Audi Sport Press)

2012 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona Couch Kit

I love settling in for these long distance races with all manner of televisions and computer screens at my disposal, like some all-knowing war commander. In reality I am just watching like the wide-eyed fan I am while Andrea rolls her eyes.

Here’s how I’ll manage the 24 Hours of Daytona race this weekend. (BTW, if you’re unfamiliar with the race, read this piece by Sam Posey. This year marks the 50th running of the event.)

Start time: Saturday, January 28, 3:30PM Eastern standard time

TV coverage explained: Speed (TV): 3:30PM - 11PM, then SpeedTV.com until 9AM, then Speed (TV) until 3:30 checkered flag. All times Eastern.

Live streams:

• SpeedTV web stream (11PM Sat - 9AM Sun), or this hijacked Speed television feed. MotorsTV (in French). 
• Radio feed: Radio Le Mans (with John Hindhaugh, my favorite) MRN (timing and scoring on top, radio feed with controls at bottom)
• Team streams (mostly pit views, some cars): Turner motorsports, TRG, Magnus Racing
• Track views: Tower view looking at T1

Timing and scoring:

• Grand-Am live timing and scoring

Other useful stuff:

• Entry list
• Graphic spotter’s guide view of all the entries by Andy Blackmore
• Twitter searches: #rolex24, #daytona24, Metacool racers list
• New cars I’m eager to watch: Audi’s R8 making a semi-factory-backed debut (with two teams), the new “Corvette DP” prototypes (five cars, including the #90 seen above)

2011 info, just to keep in mind:

• Winner’s average speed: 106.877 mph
• Winner’s total laps: 721
• Winner’s best lap: 1:40:936
• Winners: Hand, Pruett, Rahal, Rojas (Ganassi BMW-powered Riley)

2011 24 Hours of Le Mans couch kit

Until 6AM tomorrow morning I am hunkered down watching my favorite motor race in the world. I was lucky enough to attend the race twice as a team member but these days I watch from the command center known as my laptop. If you want to follow along, I’ve pulled together some of the better resources here:

Audio stream

• Radio Le Mans: The team at Radio Le Mans does round-the-clock, we-never-stop coverage and they are quite good — and funny, which is what you need when you cover something for that long.

TV streams

• Eurosport hijacked through someone’s Justin.tv account. Seems to be delayed from live by about 15 seconds.
• Speed.tv splits their coverage between broadcast and online, meaning that when it’s on TV it’s not online. That is sort of frustrating, but when the feed is on it is very, very crisp. Click the bottom right thumbnail.
• Corvette on-board: Actually the same as the Speed link above, but click on the top thumbnail on the right.
• Audi on-board: The little map on the right is useful. Note the audio here is from Radio Le Mans.
• Peugeot on-board: This is really great and you can control multiple cameras from on-boards to pit views.

Timing/Scoring

• ACO: Official timing and scoring from Le Mans
• Baekdal’s dashboard: A mix of a twitter feed from official sources and timing and scoring.