Round 8--Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose

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With one half of the Champ Car World Series past us, the season moves from the "Texas" of Canada to the southern end of San Francisco Bay, San Jose to be exact, for the inaugural Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose, marking the first time since 2002 the series has run back to back debut races(2002--Montreal and Denver). Set on one of the shorter street circuits in the series, a 1.6-mile romp through the heart of downtown San Jose, the race is expected to be, as Edmonton was, a good ole' fashioned street fight. While there aren't many(by the look of the track map) places for overtaking, two are immediately noticable. The 'technical' sect. of the course(turns 5-9) look to have some overtaking areas, but the big overtaking spot will be turn 3, a hairpin at the end of the Almaden Blvd. straight where the cars will slow to around 40-45 mph, after flying down the road at upwards of 170-180 mph. The hairpin is probably the slowest corner on the CCWS schedule, and if the drivers time their passes just right, the momentum gained through the turn will payoff handsomely through the technicals. Here are a few of the storylines that are at the front of the line....

1}SeaBass vs. Tracy, Round III? Twice already, the two have tangled on-track, and twice Tracy has come out on the short end, so to speak. If PT wants to mount a serious charge for the Vanderbilt Cup, it starts here and will require him to outduel the Frenchman on the track; he doesn't need to fall back or Bourdais could begin to pull away from the others as the season progresses.

2}Can RuSport rebound from Edmonton? The mark of a great team is the ability to bounce back from bad outings and this race could mark a new chapter for the Colorado-based squad. Allmendinger had the victory in Edmonton wrapped up, and he let it slip w/a bangup 8 laps from the end. Expect Flattop(Allmendinger) to aggresively charge the course as at Edmonton, and if some luck and presistance, could notch his first win of the season.

3}How will the last third of the Toyota Atlantic Championship shake out? With four races left in their season, the title fight is close, as 5 drivers, from points leader Charles Zwolsman down to 5th place racer Katherine Legge, are separated by 41 pts., the closest margin w/4 races to go in the past few yrs. Whoever wins here will have, I believe, a clear shot at the title and the chance at a ChampCar ride in Mexico City at the end of the year. Who'll win....like Edmonton, its' anybody's to win.

Qualifying for the GP of San Jose is on Friday, July 29th, at 5:25 PM EDT and Saturday, July 30th at 5:25 PM EDT(both 21:25 UTC), with the race set for 5 PM EDT(21:00 UTC) on Sunday, July 31st. As always, I'll provide qual. and race summaries, plus updates and commentaries when needed.

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In an effort to improve the team's performance going into San Jose this weekend, HVM Racing(formerly Herdez Competition Racing) has made a driver change, removing Alex Sperafico from the #55 Ansan FC/L and bringing back journeyman driver Rodolfo Lavin. Lavin, who last drove the Corona FC/L for Forsythe Championship Racing in 2004, has been without a ride for the first half of the season due to sponsorship woes. He is the third driver to run for the team this year. The team's Long Beach roster included rookies Bjorn Wirdheim and Ronnie Bremer, but sponsorship problems took Bremer out of the seat Lavin will step into. However, Bremer, who currently drives the #19 American Medical Response FC/L for Dale Coyne Racing, will be w/HVM beginning in 2006.

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Due to "unforseen delays" w/the last touches of constructing the street circuit to be used in running the Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose, ChampCar officials have pushed back the Friday practice sessions to 4:50 PM EDT(1:30 PDT), with a second session to follow roughly 45-50 mins. after session #1. In addition, friday qualifying was cancelled, meaning that the drivers will get only one qualifying session, on Saturday(QS-2). Instead of a QS-1 summary, unless anything else happens, I'll have a practice summary for the evening.

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After delays contracted the Friday CCWS schedule, the inaugural practice session for the Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose went off w/out a hitch, and to no one's surprise, Sebastien Bourdais and Paul Tracy led the timing sheets, Bourdais fastest w/a time of 53.701 secs.(97.091 mph), while Tracy was close behind w/a time of 53.894 secs.(96.723 mph) Third was the Walker Racing/Team Australia entry of Alex Tagliani, while SeaBass's teammate at Newman-Haas, Catalonian Oriol Servia, was P4. The big surprise in the first practice was Rocketsports driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, who sits in P5 after the session. The second session is slated to begin in about 20-25 mins. at 8:05 U.S. EDT(5:05 PDT 29 July/00:05 UTC 30 July). Because the first qualifying session was cancelled today, the grid for Sunday's race will be set by the times in QS-2.

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As in the first practice session, Newman-Haas Racing's Sebastien Bourdais(#1 McDonald's Ford-Cos./Lola) led the session w/a time of 52.615 secs.(99.074 mph).His teammate, Oriol Servia(#2 PacifiCare FC/L) posted P2 w/a time of 52.655 secs.(98.999 mph), while series rookie Timo Glock(#8 DHL FC/L) sits third after the session. As in the first session, there were a few surprises, as Mi-Jack Conquest's Nelson Phillipe(#34 Wellbox FC/L) posted a time of 52.868 secs.(98.600 mph) while Forsythe Championship Racing's Paul Tracy(#3 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L) was 5th fastest. If there is one major complaint the drivers seem to be having, its' the large bumps throughout the technical sect. of the track(turns 5-9) causing many of the racers, including Bourdais and Tracy, to either flat-spot the tires or use the runoff areas to avoid crashing. However, most teams were satisifed w/the track course and the practice sessions today were largely uneventful.

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And I thought San Francisco was an interesting place to visit....here's some friday observations to wonder about....

1}What "unforseen delays"? Two things held up the friday schedule at San Jose....1=the walk-off of a crane operator Thursday night, and 2=the "repositioning" of the bleachers along Almaden Blvd. going into the turn 3 hairpin. Going into Saturday, they'll probably end up working on the turn 1-2 chicane, which caused many of the racers to catch some "air" as the center of the chicane is crowned by a set of light rail tracks. This should make for some very brave racers Sat. and Sunday.

2}New sponsors for Walker Racing/Team Australia? VISA(the credit card conglomerate) signed a long-term, $20 million USD deal w/Derrick Walker and Craig Gore, the team's two prinipal co-owners, to provide sponsorship for not just the ChampCar team(associate sponsorship), but for a proposed Toyota Atlantic team, a proposed Formula BMW squad and Gore's V8 Supercar team, WPS Racing.

3}Good attendance for a Friday debut. Granted, they didn't get the 55K+ that Edmonton got on their Friday start, but 44K+ can't be wrong. They got to see a very fast, interesting ChampCar and Toyota Atlantic practice and Atlantic qualfying session. Wonder what the attendance figures will be for Saturday?

As before, I'll provide a qual. summary on Saturday, plus a race summary and observations.

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In convincing style, Newman-Haas Racing will sit P1 and P2 for Sunday's Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose, as the duo of Sebastien Bourdais(#1 McDonald's FC/L) and Oriol Servia(#2 PacifiCare FC/L) kept trading fast-lap after fast-lap, w/SeaBass besting the Catalonian by 6-thousandths of a second. Placing third for the race was Forsythe's Paul Tracy(#3 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L) and he wasn't too pleased w/Servia after the session. Said Tracy, "(Trying) to get a clear lap (here) is everything, and I didn't get any help from Oriol. I got held up four times by him, and it was pretty frustrating." Servia, when told about PT's remarked, quipped, "It's just the nature of the game (on a street circuit)." Rounding out the top 5 are RuSport's A.J. Allmendinger and Tracy's Forsythe teammate, Mario Dominguez.

Amidst all the hubbub, controversy, and tightened pace of the weekend came out one great bit of news for ChampCar's top-level support series, Toyota Atlantic...make that, the ChampCar Atlantic Championship, beginning in 2006. With Toyota departing at the end of 2005, not only will there be a new series name, but a new series vehicle for Atlantic racers to use. According to CCWS officials, the cars will be Swift-chassised, Cosworth-powered racers w/300+ hp, a 50-60 hp increase from the Toyotas' in use now. Top-line speeds are expected to be around 175 mph, a 5-10 mph increase from this year. While Swift will return for 2006, next year will mark the return of Cosworth to the Atlantics, where they supplied engines to the series from 1974-1989.

[Julian Mayo]

In convincing style, Newman-Haas Racing will sit P1 and P2 for Sunday's Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose, as the duo of Sebastien Bourdais(#1 McDonald's FC/L) and Oriol Servia(#2 PacifiCare FC/L) kept trading fast-lap after fast-lap, w/SeaBass besting the Catalonian by 6-thousandths of a second. Placing third for the race was Forsythe's Paul Tracy(#3 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L) and he wasn't too pleased w/Servia after the session. Said Tracy, "(Trying) to get a clear lap (here) is everything, and I didn't get any help from Oriol. I got held up four times by him, and it was pretty frustrating." Servia, when told about PT's remarked, quipped, "It's just the nature of the game (on a street circuit)." Rounding out the top 5 are RuSport's A.J. Allmendinger and Tracy's Forsythe teammate, Mario Dominguez.

Amidst all the hubbub, controversy, and tightened pace of the weekend came out one great bit of news for ChampCar's top-level support series, Toyota Atlantic...make that, the ChampCar Atlantic Championship, beginning in 2006. With Toyota departing at the end of 2005, not only will there be a new series name, but a new series vehicle for Atlantic racers to use. According to CCWS officials, the cars will be Swift-chassised, Cosworth-powered racers w/300+ hp, a 50-60 hp increase from the Toyotas' in use now. Top-line speeds are expected to be around 175 mph, a 5-10 mph increase from this year. While Swift will return for 2006, next year will mark the return of Cosworth to the Atlantics, where they supplied engines to the series from 1974-1989.

Paul Tracy will never die from brooding on things, he gets all his complaints out in the open!!! Good comeback from Servia I thought.
Gore is a wheeler dealer, isn't he. He continues to rock the traditionalists in V8 Supercar racing.
Cosworth are going to be a very busy outfit over the next couple of years
Just quietly, with their vast experience, and tradional ability to produce race wining V8's, I am hopeful that Williams will be a surprise package in F1 next season.
What do you think about a "Formula Atlantic" Thread, you don't seem to have much else to do.

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Darn, I thought I lost julian in the Mission District up in 'Frisco. Well, here goes.....

1}New look for Atlantics in 2006. When the CCWS top-level feeder series begins its' 2006 season, it won't be known as Toyota Atlantic, but as the Champ Car Atlantic Championship. Also out will be Toyota's 4A-GE 245hp engine, and replacing it will be a Cosworth engine which will crank out around 300hp, coupled to a Swift 016a chassis. For Cosworth, it means that there will be some very busy engineers in their English HQs, for they will be building three different Cosworths--one for Williams F1, one for their ChampCar teams and one for their Atlantic teams. Speaking of teams, a couple of ChampCar teams, most notably Walker Racing, announced that they will be fielding Atlantic teams next year. Returning next year, also, will be Sierra Sierra(S2) Racing, which ran Atlantics alum Ryan Dalziel in 2004.

2}Work progressing on track.... Memo to track officials. When building a street circuit, make sure the track's wide enough to prevent one car from blocking the entire road. CCWS track officials spent Friday night and Saturday morning widening the turn 1-2 chicane in hopes of preventing just such an occurance. It didn't stop 2003 series champion Paul Tracy from noting, "These aren't World Rally cars." Of course, the fans in attendance watching the big-screens got to see some of the cars do some "air" over the 1-2 chicane, but at a price. A shock bearing on Bourdais's car failed, and the engine pop-off valve on Mario Dominguez' car blew on his.

3}Track attendance looking good. The announced attendance figures were around 50,000, making the two-day total about 94-95K so far. If Edmonton's attendance is a guide, I'd say there should be about 70-75K there Sunday.

[Julian Mayo]

a kindly missionary showed me the way to go home. Now what about the Atlantic thread!!!!

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I'm keeping the Atlantics' info firmly within the ChampCar forum. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

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In a street race that saw cars taking air over the 1-2 chicane and only nine of the 18 cars seeing the checkers, Newman-Haas Racing's Sebastien Bourdais won his third race of the year, eerierly mirroring his 2004 successful campaign, when he won four races in a six-race stretch to win the Vanderbilt Cup. As the green fell, Bourdais sped off to the lead, yielding only on pit stops when other teams tried alternative pit strategies, none of which worked in the end. For the first 28 laps, SeaBass led, giving up the lead to pit as the front-runners followed. Yet one stayed out...Dale Coyne's Ronnie Bremer(#19 American Medical Response FC/L) would lead the next ten laps, yielding back to Bourdais when Bremer stopped for fuel/tires. While Bourdais continued to lead, several of the series' 'young guns' saw their days end.

A.J. Allmendinger(#10 CDW FC/L) smacked the turn-4 wall, breaking the right-rear suspension and ending his day, while mechnical issues retired the Wellbox FC/L of #34 Nelson Phillipe, who had been running in the top-5 when his day ended on lap 20. While Bremer was leading, the Rocketsports entry of Ryan Hunter-Reay(#31 CytoMax FC/L) saw his day end w/mech. problems. Meanwhile, Bourdais would retake the lead as Bremer pitted, only to give it up to HVM's Bjorn Wirdheim(#4 EuroSport FC/L), who like Bremer, was on an alt. fuel strategy. By lap 72, Wirdheim would pit for fuel and tires, handing the lead back to Bourdais, who would not relinquish it again. One more caution ensured a time-shortened race(from 105 laps to 93 laps) when PKV's Cristiano da Matta(#21 Bell Micro FC/L) collided w/the turn-4 wall. Amazingly, during the caution, RuSport's Justin Wilson(#9 Intel FC/L) effected some on-track repairs to his car, when his car's front shock cover loosened during the race. Being over 6 feet tall(6'5', exactly), he reached forward and slammed the thing shut, refastening his seat restraints and going on to finish 4th. Meanwhile, Paul Tracy(#3 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L), who was never in contention the entire race except for one brief moment when he nearly took the lead from Bourdais early on, broke up a potential 1-2 sweep for NHR, passing Oriol Servia(#2 PacifiCare FC/L) late in the race for second.

With Bourdais's win, he now has 13 in his career, placing him in a tie for 17th all-time w/Tom Sneva. Leading 63 of the 93 laps, Bourdais now has 930 laps led under his belt, passing both Cristiano da Matta and Dario Franchitti for 24th all-time; just ahead of him is Helio Castroneves w/946 laps in his CCWS career. Also, SeaBass is on pace to beat legend Rick Mears for most laps completed in a season, w/840 of 841 laps finished. Mears, back in 1979, CART's inaugural season, finished all but 6 laps out of over 1350(1342/1348 laps).

Next up...the Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver, Aug. 12-14 at the Denver Street Circuit.

NOTE: If you've read my latest posting in the F1 idiots bar, you'll probably notice the caption "Katherine 3, Danica 0." While Danica Patrick's day ended w/a blown engine at Michigan, Katherine Legge bested a large field of Atlantics racers to take her third victory of the season, putting her squarely in the championship fight w/three races to go there. I'll have a commentary in the ChampCar Commentary thread concerning her season so far later this week. It should be an interesting read.

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With round 8 behind us, here's some commentaries on the day.....

1}Paging the FIA...When you consider how the USGP turned into a fiasco, the fact that ChampCar was able to run two successful temp. road/street circuit races, even after having to make changes in certain areas to both tracks, maybe the FIA could learn a few lessons from their American counterparts. Lesson #1--Listen to the drivers; they're the ones out on the track. Lesson #2--When they suggest a change to the course, listen to them...change the course. And Lesson #3--When in doubt, just run the race. Give the fans what they came to see. And for three races in a row, that's exactly what they've seen...three good races in three good venues.

2}How do you feel today, drivers? Considering how bumpy and narrow the course was, especially going over the 1-2 chicane(crowned by light rail tracks), it's no wonder the drivers felt rattled and a little shaken. Said RuSport's Justin Wilson..."I was really banging my knees over the tram tracks. At the end of each fuel stint it was really bad, leaping over the tracks in a porpoising effect. Just how much damage we did to the car we won't know until we take the bodywork off. As for me, I'll probably find out when I wake up tomorrow morning." Enough said.

3)Okay, so I was off a couple of thousand. Yesterday, I predicted the attendance would be around 70-75K people. The attendance figures were announced at 62, 731, which makes the three-day total (unofficially) 153, 767. This means that, for the first time in the "modern era" of ChampCar, there were three events in a row on the calender w/150K people for the three-day events. Those events...Toronto, Edmonton, and San Jose. Hopefully, in 2 weeks, Denver will extend it to four in a row.

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Here are the updated ChampCar World Series overall and rookie stdgs. after San Jose....

1}Sebastien Bourdais 216 pts.
2}Paul Tracy 188 pts.
3}Justin Wilson 175 pts.
4}Oriol Servia 160 pts.
5}A.J. Allmendinger 126 pts.
6(tie)}Mario Dominguez 125 pts.
Jimmy Vasser 125 pts.
8}Alex Tagliani 124 pts.
9}Timo Glock(R) 109 pts.
10}Cristiano da Matta 99 pts.


R-1}Timo Glock 109 pts.(9th overall)
R-2}Ronnie Bremer 98 pts(11th overall)
R-3}Andrew Ranger 87 pts(12th overall)
R-4}Bjorn Wirdheim 78 pts(13th overall)
R-5}Marcus Marshall 67 pts(16th overall)
R-6}Ricardo Sperafico 51 pts.18th overall)
4 other rookie drivers have raced once each:Ryan Dalziel, Michael Valiente, Fabrizio del Monte, and Jorge Goeters.