Open-Wheel(Non-IRL) News

[mlittle]

There's three non-oval events on the IndyCar schedule, julian...

April 3--Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg(streets of St. Petersburg, FL)
Aug. 28--Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix(Infineon Raceway--road course)
Sept. 25--Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix(Watkins Glen--road course)


They've already been to St. Pete, where Patrick started 15th, ran as high as 2nd for a bunch of laps before losing 5th gear; they switched out gear stacks in the car, but it took about 4-5 laps to do so, and she finished 12th, 5 laps down. I saw most of the race and from what I saw, she did a pretty decent job out there(didn't block anyone, drove cleanly and made some great overtaking moves especially at turn 10 twice).

As far as Infineon and Watkins Glen....If the testing sessions are used as a barometer, she should do okay. She was about 2-3 secs. off of Briscoe's pace at the Glen(16th fastest of the 19 drivers there) and she was 1-1 1/2 secs. off of Franchitti's pace at Infineon, so there's still some work to be done, but w/the experience that Rahal-Letterman have w/road courses(from the team's yrs. over in CART) she should do pretty good at both. And, with the new qualifying format the series has(all drivers take one flying lap to qualify, then the top 6{P1 to P6} go back out for a 10-minute shootout to set rows 1, 2, and 3) if she makes P6 or better, she will have a legit shot at pole. We just won't know until they get there.

[Julian Mayo]

There's three non-oval events on the IndyCar schedule, julian...

April 3--Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg(streets of St. Petersburg, FL)
Aug. 28--Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix(Infineon Raceway--road course)
Sept. 25--Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix(Watkins Glen--road course)


They've already been to St. Pete, where Patrick started 15th, ran as high as 2nd for a bunch of laps before losing 5th gear; they switched out gear stacks in the car, but it took about 4-5 laps to do so, and she finished 12th, 5 laps down. I saw most of the race and from what I saw, she did a pretty decent job out there(didn't block anyone, drove cleanly and made some great overtaking moves especially at turn 10 twice).

As far as Infineon and Watkins Glen....If the testing sessions are used as a barometer, she should do okay. She was about 2-3 secs. off of Briscoe's pace at the Glen(16th fastest of the 19 drivers there) and she was 1-1 1/2 secs. off of Franchitti's pace at Infineon, so there's still some work to be done, but w/the experience that Rahal-Letterman have w/road courses(from the team's yrs. over in CART) she should do pretty good at both. And, with the new qualifying format the series has(all drivers take one flying lap to qualify, then the top 6{P1 to P6} go back out for a 10-minute shootout to set rows 1, 2, and 3) if she makes P6 or better, she will have a legit shot at pole. We just won't know until they get there.

Briscoe seems to be getting a rep for being quick in practice but failing to convert that to a podium, if he keeps it on the black stuff at all.

[mlittle]

That seems to be the consensus in the IRL paddock, julian. Part of the problem's the team--Target/Ganassi Racing's had an awful year so far, and it's hurt all three drivers(Dixon, Manning and Briscoe). As to being fast in practices and testing but not at race time....he was Toyota F1's test driver in 2004, so he's still in that mode, so to speak, cause' he's always pushing the car to its' absolute limits(w/the occasional shunt into tirewalls, concrete, etc.). He should take a page from Danica; she wrings as much from her car as he does but she knows when to "throttle down" and let the race come to her, which she's proven a couple of times this year(Motegi and Indy). Once Briscoe(and to a lesser extent the other rookie, Tomas Enge) learn that difference, they'll do immensely better than they are now. There might actually be a battle for the rookie award then, julian.

[Julian Mayo]

yes, he was like that at Toyota, I think they still own him, and have loaned him out.

[Bundy]

julian, i'm positive that is the case.

one other thing mfer.....is there any difference in the specs of the IRL & ChampCar vehicles?
Could they compete against each other or does one series have a more powerful car than the other?

[mlittle]

The cars are pretty similar but there are differences....

1--The ChampCars have what the engineers call "ground-effects'' chassis(on the bottom are, for lack of a better term, inlets for air to flow faster underneath the car) which help the ChampCars "stick" to the track surface(this is especially important on street circuits), along with a slightly longer/wider chassis than an IndyCar(the IRL prohibits ground-effects chassis').

2--ChampCars use a spec-engine, the Ford-Cosworth XFE-2 2.65L turbo-engine w/750 hp(w/the engine's 'boost' function, add 50 extra hp) while the IndyCars use a normally-aspirated 3.0L engine(Toyota, Honda or Chevy) which can produce 650 hp.

3--Both series use racing slicks; the IRL w/its Firestone Firehawk, and ChampCar w/its Bridgestone Potenza(both are made by Bridgestone USA).

As far as competing agst. one another...not a chance, bundy. Since the IRL prohibits ground-effects chassis and turbocharged engines, any ChampCar team wanting to compete in the IndyCar Series has to essentially build a separate car for those races alone(and vice versa). This is why only the top CCWS teams(Forsythe, Newman-Haas, RuSport, etc.) ever go to Indy for the 500(and after NHR lost Junquiera to a back injury suffered at this yr.'s 500, I honestly wonder if they'll be back next year). That's why teams like Marlboro-Team Penske, Rahal-Letterman, Andretti-Green Racing and Target/Ganassi Racing all switched series the past few years--it was too expensive to field cars for both,and their sponsors wanted a firm commitment to one or the other series, so they switched.

[Bundy]

i like that boost function.....maybe that is something that F1 could replicate.

[mlittle]

It'd certainly help F1...the thing about the boost function on the ChampCar engines is that drivers get btwn. 60-90 secs. of boost(depending on the track) for the entire race in 1-sec. increments(which is good for overtaking down some of the long road-and-street course straights). Once the driver uses it up, it's gone. Formula 1 could definitely use that, bundy.

[Julian Mayo]

It'd certainly help F1...the thing about the boost function on the ChampCar engines is that drivers get btwn. 60-90 secs. of boost(depending on the track) for the entire race in 1-sec. increments(which is good for overtaking down some of the long road-and-street course straights). Once the driver uses it up, it's gone. Formula 1 could definitely use that, bundy.

Bring back carbys I say

[mlittle]

Only when they start running the engines w/gasoline instead of methanol or ethanol or whatever -ol they'll find.

[Julian Mayo]

Only when they start running the engines w/gasoline instead of methanol or ethanol or whatever -ol they'll find.

I defy you to tell me you have heard a racing engine that sounds better than a big block V8 with a 4 barrel, and lets face it, for those of us who but watch, aural stimulation is just as important as visual.

[mlittle]

Try 33 wailing' banshees at full throttle down the front-stretch at Indianapolis when the 500 begins...There's not a better sound than those NA-engines at full RPMs' tearing through turn 1, julian, with a deep, throaty roar emanating from them. Now if they could run the race in the evening....nah, we'll let those stock-car drivers have the night...because Memorial Day Sunday begins at Indianapolis, and its' three+ hours of unadulterated, full-throttle excitement.

[mlittle]

Well, it's the halfway point for the CCWS as they travel west to the heart of Alberta(Edmonton) for the West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix of Edmonton, Rd. 7 of 14 this year. Here are some of the storylines revolving around the ChampCar paddock...

1--SeaBass/Tracy III:Twice already this year(at Monterrey and Toronto) Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais have locked horns on-track, w/Bourdais winning both times. With the Cleveland-type temporary circuit, could there be a third round of what is arguably ChampCar's biggest rivalry this year?

2--Any new faces in victory lane? It could happen; Tracy has 2 wins this year, while Cristiano da Matta, Sebastien Bourdais, Justin Wilson and the currently recovering Bruno Junquiera have 1 win each. There are some racers who'd love to get their first victory of the season here(Allmendinger, Vasser, to name a few). With a new course, anything's possible.

3--Dalziel out, Bremer back at Dale Coyne? In the never-ending driver switches that ChampCar's version of Minardi F1, Dale Coyne Racing, are infamous for, Ryan Dalziel is out as driver of the #19 American Medical Response FC/L and Ronnie Bremer is slated to sit in the car this weekend. At the rate they're going, they should have plenty of one-off rides for just about anybody.

As w/the IRL coverage, I'll provide QS-1 and Qs-2 summaries on Friday and Saturday, plus a race summary on Sunday, w/commentaries to follow afterwards.

[Graham Ross]

Good work mlittle on the Champ and Indy coverage. I don't know much about either series but I'm familiar with some names as they are ex F1 drivers. How does the championship look for both series ?

In Australia Champ Car is covered on Ten usually late on the Monday following the race

[mlittle]

In the IRL IndyCar Series, despite a 21st-place finish, points leader Dan Wheldon still holds onto the lead, 67 pts. ahead of reigning series champion Tony Kanaan. This was Wheldon's first DNF of the year, but it didn't hurt him as Kanaan finished 19th. Dario Franchitti sits third, followed by Helio Castroneves and 2-time series champion Sam Hornish, Jr. in 4th and 5th.

On the CCWS side of the ledger, reigning champion Sebastien Bourdais leads 2003 titleist Paul Tracy by 15 pts. while ex-F1 racer Justin Wilson, fresh off a first-ever win in Toronto, sits third, followed by A.J. Allmendinger and Oriol Servia. They race tomorrow at the West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix of Edmonton Sunday at 3:30 PM EDT(US East-Coast Time).

Here are the series' website in case you want to follow either series more:
www.indycar.com
www.champcarworldseries.com

Thanks for asking, graham. Check out the new open-wheel trivia quiz on the Indy Racing League forum. Enjoy!