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Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

I really have to wonder who, if anyone, is in charge at Indycar. I just read that the street course at Baltimore isn't read yet! I would have thought that after the mess in Brazil last season that Indycar would have been on top of making sure a street circuit was ready on time. Oh, who is the genius who thought it was OK to have part of the course go over RR tracks! Good grief. :(
 
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Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

MattS said:
I really have to wonder who, if anyone, is in charge at Indycar. I just read that the street course at Baltimore isn't read yet! I would have thought that after the mess in Brazil last season that Indycar would have been on top of making sure a street circuit was ready on time. Oh, who is the genius who thought it was OK to have part of the course go over RR tracks! Good grief. :(
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wait, IndyCar is taking cues from one of the darkest races in all of CART's history? RR tracks??? Yea, we all loved seeing them get air. Thankfully, they all wear driver gear, so that we didn't see the bruising.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

alfablue said:
wait, IndyCar is taking cues from one of the darkest races in all of CART's history? RR tracks??? Yea, we all loved seeing them get air. Thankfully, they all wear driver gear, so that we didn't see the bruising.
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Apparently. RR was news to me until I read it today. That is why Indycar added the chicane to the front straight. To slow the cars down before the RR tracks.

From Speed:

Cement barriers and fencing were still being positioned as of 9 a.m. ET, while the temporary chicanes added to the front straight, poured on Thursday, have dried a received a coat of paint.

The controversial chicanes were added to slow cars just ahead of the railroad tracks that run across the front straight.

"If they'd poured concrete to fill the tracks," Barnhart continued, "we wouldn't need the chicanes."

Even with the open-wheels and sports cars slowed by the chicanes, most teams expect cars from all series to get airborne over the railroad tracks in a similar fashion to what teams experienced at the former San Jose and Las Vegas street circuits.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

Watching the IndyLights race right now. For a street course it's not too bad- seems as if there are a few places to make some pasing attempts. Wide most of the track, and bumpy- you could see that much of the repairs were made well before it was imagined that this would be a race course. But I drive on a lot worse.

The chicane for the RR tracks seem to make that no worse than any of the rest of the bumps- so it's not too bad.

The Lights drivers interviewed seem to like the course.

So...

BTW, I see Willy T Ribbs running. hm.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

sound like Tony Kanaan had a horrific experience losing his breaks this morning in warm-up. the video on the web site is scary. either TK or Helio could have been gravely injured but thank God neither was...wow. I've NEVER seen something like that.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

For the IndyCar coverage, it seems pretty consistent that this is a very, very rough track. Tony's brake failure was probably due to the roughness. And maro's oil fitting failure was probably due to the roughness.

OTOH, everyone seems to love it here, so the odds would put it that improvements will be made so that they come back for a better show.

I want to love this racing.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

Did I hear the announcers right, the Twin Ring race will be on the road course? (due to the earthquake)
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

alfablue said:
For the IndyCar coverage, it seems pretty consistent that this is a very, very rough track. Tony's brake failure was probably due to the roughness. And maro's oil fitting failure was probably due to the roughness.

OTOH, everyone seems to love it here, so the odds would put it that improvements will be made so that they come back for a better show.

I want to love this racing.
Click to expand...

I think part of the problem was the hurricane the prior week kept them from completing some of the work in time. I bet next year will be even better and no chicane. that was a pretty nice street course, much better than Toronto IMO and Long Beach for that matter.

great crowd and I hope they got a good taste of just how fast these cars actually are, especially in comparison to the taxi-cabs in the south.


Re: Motegi, yes they're racing the road course there. I have no idea what that has to do with the earthquake. I mean even if the oval was damaged they've had enough time to repair the track.

props to Simona today. She ran a terrific race and showed why she's better than Danica hands down. 11th was only because her pit strategy sucked. otherwise she had a top-5 nailed.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

All in all a decent race with passing, interesting strategy (can Power pullout a gap to keep the lead?) and great attendance. The chicane sucked, but hopefully they can fix it for next year.

They are going to Michigan again, it will be interesting to see what kind of speed the new cars/engines get to.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

alfablue said:
Monza... :)
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Not sure what just happened, but it was not the most exciting ends of all time.

The last Q3 lap looked to be incredible as it started, with a long line of competitors.

But Hamilton locked it up, and bailed on his lap, Button was fast, and bailed in the last corner, and the only driver who actually went faster was Vettel.

1- Vettel
2- Hamilton
3- Button.

etc.

So most of the drama happened early in Q3. Oh, well.

(can I take this moment to brag that I have run around this course? :) )
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

Nice race by Vettel- outside of being passed at the start of the race, well, not much effort there.

Bad start by Hamilton put him behind Mikey- who reminded me why I don't like him- driving Lewis off the road to allow Button by both of them, and then blocking enough to put Ross Brawn on the radio to warn him. Had that been anyone other than Schumi, there would have been penalties. Don't be like Mike.

Hamilton closed pretty quick on Fernando at the end, but too little too late. Oh, well.

Tough start, with one car being pushed off to take out 3-4 other cars.

While cars can pass, the speed really doesn't seem to allow them- slow cars set up to go fast in a straight line and all (Mercedes, say). And Senna fans should be happy with his finish.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

Favorite F1 track?
Spa or Monza?

Me -- Spa
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

joecct said:
Favorite F1 track?
Spa or Monza?

Me -- Spa
Click to expand...

Hard to say. I LOVE Spa, but have gotten to run around Monza.

For sure, if you plan to go to Europe to see a race, you'll enjoy either one. TOTALLY different- Spa is more out in the country side- even with the towns of Spa and Francorshaps quite close by- it's very woodsy around the track. Monza is in the middle of a park in Monza, which is a 'burb of Milan. Spa is very hilly, Monza is dead flat. That finish crowd post race at Monza is pretty incredible.

So, it's hard to say. :)
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

Timothy A said:
Heck yeah, tell us the story....
Click to expand...

??? I didn't post something last fall? Wow...

You all know I went to the F1 race in Monza last year, right? Part of the trip also included a half marathon that was run the week after the race, starting and ending at the start/finish line, and running the entire track plus just over 10 miles in the surrounding park.

It's pretty cool to be on the actual course, although, I remember some turns more than others. It's still kind of surreal that we actuall did that, btw. But if you are interested, the Mezza di Monza is an annual run the week after the F1 race. http://www.mezzadimonza.it/

The only picture of us is registration, since 1) we were the only Americans running, and 2) my wife was the first woman to register, I was the second man. Midnight Monza time is pretty easy to hit in the east coast.... this is us the very rainy day before the race- http://www.fotopodisti.net/2010_09/displayimage.php?album=837&pid=203198#top_display_media
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

alfablue said:
??? I didn't post something last fall? Wow...

You all know I went to the F1 race in Monza last year, right? Part of the trip also included a half marathon that was run the week after the race, starting and ending at the start/finish line, and running the entire track plus just over 10 miles in the surrounding park.

It's pretty cool to be on the actual course, although, I remember some turns more than others. It's still kind of surreal that we actuall did that, btw. But if you are interested, the Mezza di Monza is an annual run the week after the F1 race. http://www.mezzadimonza.it/

The only picture of us is registration, since 1) we were the only Americans running, and 2) my wife was the first woman to register, I was the second man. Midnight Monza time is pretty easy to hit in the east coast.... this is us the very rainy day before the race- http://www.fotopodisti.net/2010_09/displayimage.php?album=837&pid=203198#top_display_media
Click to expand...

Very cool!
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

:)
alfablue said:
??? I didn't post something last fall? Wow...

You all know I went to the F1 race in Monza last year, right? Part of the trip also included a half marathon that was run the week after the race, starting and ending at the start/finish line, and running the entire track plus just over 10 miles in the surrounding park.

It's pretty cool to be on the actual course, although, I remember some turns more than others. It's still kind of surreal that we actuall did that, btw. But if you are interested, the Mezza di Monza is an annual run the week after the F1 race. http://www.mezzadimonza.it/

The only picture of us is registration, since 1) we were the only Americans running, and 2) my wife was the first woman to register, I was the second man. Midnight Monza time is pretty easy to hit in the east coast.... this is us the very rainy day before the race- http://www.fotopodisti.net/2010_09/displayimage.php?album=837&pid=203198#top_display_media
Click to expand...
Very cool indeed. Now, that's my idea of a vacation.:) On another note, Vettel and Red Bull are dominating this year's series now as everyone knows. I thought a few weeks ago that Ferrari may be able to compete down the stretch, but it looks like the series is already over.:(
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

Runsub5 said:
:)
Very cool indeed. Now, that's my idea of a vacation.:) On another note, Vettel and Red Bull are dominating this year's series now as everyone knows. I thought a few weeks ago that Ferrari may be able to compete down the stretch, but it looks like the series is already over.:(
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Based on how the race ended, IMHO, McLaren is a little closer to RB than Ferrari is. It's a race to second place.

Next- I would put Mercedes clearly ahead of Renault, but Senna seems to have brought a breath of fresh air to the team.

Force India over Sauber over Williams- TR seems to mix it up on some tracks.

And normally Lotus over the rest of the also rans. The new teams are kind of interesting- a force of ego over technology. There was an interesting article from Dallara about the HRT (I think) car that they originally developed. They had phase 2 and 3 planned, but once the ownership changed, the subcontract was immediately ended. oops.
 
Re: Open Wheel Racing 2011, hurry, before we downsize your engines....

So it's Dan Wheldon to start from the back and try and win $2.5 million for himself and $2.5 mill for a fan..
http://www.indystar.com/article/201...weighs-NASCAR?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Sports

that's a good (not great) alternative to penske and ganassi being total pusswads and backing out on Zanardi and Khane.

Wheldon also mentions the Indycar field is more talented than nascar...well, I've ALWAYS felt that it's just unfortunate nascar dip****s are too afraid to come do Indy like Donnie Allison, Cale Yarborough and a few others did so we can really see who's boss.

or stick JJ, and the Busch brothers in indycars at Texas or road america. I doubt they'd crack the top 10 in a 25-car field, most likely 15-20th
 
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