Michelin Pilot Challenge EXPLAINED!

[@TheMrFishnDucks]

Thank you for covering many of these support categories. It has been very informative and I will probably watch a few of these races. Keep up the good work.

[@offintheesses]

Glad they were helpful, appretiate you watching them! There's definitely some great racing to be found in these series!

[@JackOldenburg]

You should be a commentator for imsa

[@offintheesses]

Haha thanks Jack!

[@magnusrylander]

The Michelin pilot challenge has slowly become my favorite racing series, thanks for the video!

[@skittlecar1]

One of my favorite series. Hate that TCR is dying though. Eligible models are getting slim.

[@jonnyfull317]

I like the format of these videos. Good editing and great work! These are great for new fans of IMSA!

[@offintheesses]

Thanks Jonny, glad you're enjoying them!

[@kellypfleiger]

Shoutout to Aaron for the interesting insight on the traction control for the TCRs

[@offintheesses]

Yeah Aaron was great to answer some questions and show me around their setup when they came to CTMP!

[@apoapsisperformancesolutions]

Couple small things, pretty much all of those up front in GS are running with TC off like the TCR. GT3 engine maps are now locked as well. 90% of the MPC weekends are Prac Fri and Qual Sat/Sun. This is a seriously good video and idea, thanks for making!

[@offintheesses]

Thanks for those pieces of insight, definitely would not have known about most of the drivers opting for TC off! Also didn't realize the engine maps were locked in GT3 so noted as well! Yeah I was trying to simplify a race weekend schedule as much as I could to drive home that the sessions are spread out over a couple of days and not generally crammed into one day. Thanks for the kind words though! And if you are the Elliott Skeer that I believe you are good luck at the Rolex!!

[@MattePurple1]

I love GTD and GTD Pro, but the GT4 and TCR races are my favorite. The cars are more "accessible" and easier to conceptualize, lol. It's also rad to see a manufacturer like Hyundai do really well in competition.

[@Giratina575]

This series is so underrated. Love the close battles of the GS class. And the TCR class gives taste of European style racing not to mention the man himself Robert wickens is there

[@offintheesses]

Yeah i'm a big fan of the TCR class, some great racing and those cars look like so much fun!

[@JesseKlein-o6y]

Great video. Be sure to cheer on that sexy and fast JDC- Miller #17 Audi

[@AuteryMotorsports]

Awesome video to past the time till the 24 I made sure I woke up today Brisket Birthday and Daytona 24 🤟

[@Icehammer723]

There is actually 1 thing you missed about the Michelin Pilot Challenge Calender is that the Mid-Ohio Round also Doubles as the 3rd Round of the FIA Kumho TCR World Tour. Meaning that there could be as many as 16 additional cars in the TCR Class and Potentially 2 new Manufacturers to the Class. those being Toyota with the Corrola GR-Sport TCR and Lynk & Co with their 03 FL TCR.

[@offintheesses]

True the TCR World Tour will be joining IMSA that weekend. However I doubt that we'll see any new manufacturers come over to the Pilot Challenge for that race. Lynk doesn't have any real North American presence and unless IMSA would waive the marketing fee for a one off race I doubt they would go through the process to race. Toyota I suppose would have a better chance at joining for the race seeing as they have a presence in GS already but I would imagine that IMSA would require it be at a test before the race in order for them to properly BoP it!

[@shawnclavon2891]

I like the series overview touch to the channel. You briefly touched on the cost of the car but not the cost of a season. I think that would be a cool series by season even if you had to estimate the cost. Tire allocations are set by race which is easy to calculate and fuel can be estimated so you really need to estimate a range for the average crew salaries, average number of crew, lodging, food, and travel. You would have to make an assumption of a team based out of x city to estimate the transportation costs (rig gas etc. ) and flights and rental cars for crew or rental cars for races within drivable distance.

[@offintheesses]

I agree it would be interesting to do but it's almost impossible to nail those costs down. Different size teams would command a different price etc and there are so many variables. Maybe I could see if any teams are willing to share a ballpark number on what a typical season would cost if/when I do an updated version of this in the future!

[@Dexter037S4]

It actually dates back to before the Motorola Cup, as the Motorola Cup was a reorganization of the Enduroseries that ran exclusively in Canada from 1993-1997, run by the same organization, and while they aren't really considered to be connected, people who've competed in it, basically have confirmed they were identical and thus really should be considered a continous thing since 93'

[@offintheesses]

Thank you for the info Dexter! I found it difficult to find much information on it so I will definitely make note of this for when I do a refresher video on the series!

[@Dexter037S4]

@@offintheesses Yeah, even IMSA don't acknowledge the Enduroseries sadly, the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame have uploaded some TSN Broadcasts of the 94' Mosport round, 95' Trois-Rivieres and Mosport 2.

[@offintheesses]

@@Dexter037S4 I'll have to look into those! I enjoyed watching some of the Motorola cup races I found on KZbin!

[@Flowformed]

I like how you used some fel sccc pics

[@offintheesses]

Haha I'm glad somebody caught it!! I'm planning to be at both of their Mosport races again next year!

[@Wagonman5900]

I do miss when they were the Street Tuners. "ST" rolls of the tongue a smidge easier then "TCR."

[@yracpontiferous4846]

I’m pretty sure it was the Firehawk series before Motorola became the main sponsor.

[@offintheesses]

It very well might have been! It's a bit difficult trying to track it back much further than that!!

[@johnvandeventer8668]

I feel like this is the NASCAR Xfinity series of IMSA. The VP racing Sports Car Challenge Is like the truck series of IMSA. And tomorrow, will the explanation of the cup series series of IMSA, the WeatherTech championship

[@offintheesses]

It'll be a couple of days before the IMSA class explanations start but they are coming don't you worry!!

[@4410greg]

Any idea what Rebel Rock's plans for 2024 are with the Camaro going away?

[@offintheesses]

Sounds like they will be announcing their plans in the next couple of days!

[@jerryhamilton84]

Can someone explain this to me why the WeatherTech SportsCar Series race length standard is always 2 hours and 40 minutes?

[@offintheesses]

That's a good question and I don't know the exact answer for you. If I had to guess I'd say it's beacuse that fits nicely into a 3 hr TV window.

[@jerryhamilton84]

@@offintheesses I always thought 2 hours and 40 minutes represented their greatest race the Rolex 24. (Number 24 breaks down to 2hrs 40mins) it probably dumb and I'm overthinking it but that's what I always thought

[@offintheesses]

@@jerryhamilton84 That could play into it as well, it would make some sense!

[@plisskenationbackfromthede3657]

​@@jerryhamilton84goes back to the alms days, for tv coverage. 10 minutes pre race, 10 minutes post race. I hate that road america is only 2h40m. Its too short to get around to all of the good spots in person lol should be 4hr at least imo. They did 4h a couple times tho it was perfect length imo ending right at dusk

[@TheMarine015]

Touring car or otherwise know as Hyundai Cup 😂

[@offintheesses]

I mean if we want to go down that road we could call it the Bryan Herta Autosport Cup hahaha. In all seriousness though it is good to see Hyundai and BHA invest so much into the class!