23 replies to this topic

[Massa]

I figured it'd be better to condense all the information into audio, mostly because doing it, I hoped, would get me a little more excited about this race.  What resulted was a monstrosity of a Delta Force intro...

http://soundcloud.co...r-intro/s-XsXY6

Paul Page, I ain't.

But I'll still criticize the ABC broadcast all weekend.

Sébastien Bourdais will not be racing; Dragon did not pay their engine lease.  Dragon were rewarded 1.2 million USD as part of the TEAM program.  Where that money goes now, I do not know, but teams like Ganassi (#83) and Bryan Herta Autosport (#98) are still without TEAM funding and offer decent merit (Dragon got it because of Jay Penske's network of website domains; Ganassi have sponsor Novo Nordisk, who use IndyCar in their advertising, while BHA won the Indy 500 last year and have a big sponsor with Barracuda Networks).

First race for a new car and all that...

[Massa]

This is interesting:

IndyCar asked for a 19 gallon capacity fuel cell.

Dallara manufactured some cars with 18.5, some with 19, and some with 19.5.

How do you even...why...what...

IndyCar is now mandating 18.5 as the rule.  Dallara being Dallara.

Hopefully there will be no controversies with this, or anything else.  IndyCar have all-new race control/stewards, and are supposed to be a little more transparent with the technical regulations and enforcement.

[HandyNZL]

Well that's what you get working with a bunch of Italians

Shoulda gone with the Lola cars...(they looked nicer too)

[JHS18]

Massa, on 21 March 2012 - 02:06 AM, said:

This is interesting:

IndyCar asked for a 19 gallon capacity fuel cell.

Dallara manufactured some cars with 18.5, some with 19, and some with 19.5.

How do you even...why...what...

IndyCar is now mandating 18.5 as the rule.  Dallara being Dallara.

Hopefully there will be no controversies with this, or anything else.  IndyCar have all-new race control/stewards, and are supposed to be a little more transparent with the technical regulations and enforcement.

Could be worse. Could have asked Marussia for fuel tanks...

[Massa]

I am all for promoting jingoism in automobile racing, as you know, so, the entry list:

Australia
Ryan Briscoe (Sydney): #2 IZOD Dallara Chevrolet (Team Penske)
Will Power (Toowoomba): #12 Verizon Wireless Dallara/Chevrolet (Team Penske)

Brazil
Hélio Castroneves (Ribeirão Preto): #3 Shell V-Power Dallara/Chevrolet (Team Penske)
Rubens Barrichello (São Paulo): #8 BMC Dallara/Chevrolet (KV Racing Technology)
Tony Kanaan (Salvador): #11 GEICO Dallara/Chevrolet (KV Racing Technology)

Canada
James Hinchcliffe (Oakville): #27 GoDaddy.com Dallara/Chevrolet (Andretti Autosport)
Alex Tagliani (Lachenaie): #98 Barracuda Networks Dallara/Lotus (Bryan Herta Autosport)

England
Katherine Legge (Guildford): #6 TrueCar Dallara/Lotus (Dragon Racing)
Mike Conway (Bromley): #14 ABC Supply Co. Dallara/Honda (A.J. Foyt Enterprises)
Justin Wilson (Sheffield): #18 Sonny's BBQ Dallara/Honda (Dale Coyne Racing)
James Jakes (Leeds): #19 Boy Scouts of America Dallara/Honda (Dale Coyne Racing)

France
Sébastien Bourdais (Le Mans): #7 Dallara/Lotus (Dragon Racing)¹
Simon Pagenaud (Poitiers): #77 hp Dallara/Honda (Schmidt-Hamilton Racing)

Japan
Takuma Sato (Tokyo): #15 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda (RLL Racing)

New Zealand
Scott Dixon (Auckland)²: #9 Target Dallara/Honda (Chip Ganassi Racing)

Scotland
Dario Franchitti (Bathgate): #10 Target Dallara/Honda (Chip Ganassi Racing)

Spain
Oriol Servià (Pals): #22 Lotus Cars Dallara/Lotus (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing)

Switzerland
Simona de Silvestro (Thun): #78 Entergy Nuclear Dallara/Lotus (HVM Racing)

United States of America
J.R. Hildebrand (Sausalito, CA): #4 National Guard Dallara/Chevrolet (Panther Racing)
Ed Carpenter (Indianapolis, IN): #20 Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka Dallara/Chevrolet (Ed Carpenter Racing)
Marco Andretti (Nazareth, PA)³: #26 RC Cola Dallara/Chevrolet (Andretti Autosport)
Ryan Hunter-Reay (Fort Lauderdale, FL)⁴: #28 Sun Drop Dallara/Chevrolet (Andretti Autosport)
Graham Rahal (New Albany, OH): #38 Service Central Dallara/Honda (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Josef Newgarden (Hendersonville, TN): #67 Dallara/Honda (Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing)
Charlie Kimball (Camarillo, CA)⁵: #83 Novo Nordisk Dallara/Honda (Chip Ganassi Racing)

Venezuela
E.J. Viso (Caracas): #5 CITGO Dallara/Chevrolet (KV Racing Technology)

¹Expected to withdraw.
²Actually born in Brisbane, Australia.  How awkward.
³Actually born in Trenton, NJ.
⁴Actually born in Dallas, TX.
⁵Actually born in Chertsey, England.  How awkward.

Edited by Massa, 21 March 2012 - 06:51 PM.
Used subscript instead of superscript. How awkward.

[Massa]

Be interested to see if Panther and Foyt show up with engineering staffs this year.  Panther's always been way behind on road/street course engineering, and Foyt engineers with a sledgehammer.  I could have sworn Panther picked up Michael Cannon, the highly rated man he is, and Foyt got Don Halliday.  I thought Foyt made a move at Allen McDonald (Andretti, won pole in brief stint with Tagliani last year), but maybe they didn't get him.

My prediction...

Pole: Hélio Castroneves
1. Ryan Hunter-Reay
2. Hélio Castroneves
3. Ryan Briscoe
4. Will Power
5. Marco Andretti
6. Dario Franchitti
7. Scott Dixon
8. Justin Wilson
9. Mike Conway
10. Oriol Servià

[HandyNZL]

Cream always rises to the top...and Hunter-Reay isn't cream

[Massa]

I agree Hunter-Reay is a pretty crap driver, but he's got the best engine, and AA were very strong in testing.  It's one of his best tracks, too.  Power doesn't like this car, Franchitti's got a Honda...

[Massa]

Maybe I'll make one amendment...

Andretti out, Pagenaud in...

Not like my predictions matter.

[HandyNZL]

That's Marco out, not Michael or Mario???? Or John?

Why's he out?

[Massa]

Marco's still racing.  But I rescind my prediction that he finishes fifth.  Pagenaud will finish fifth.

Michael is out, got kicked off Celebrity Apprentice.  Mario's out of his mind whenever he talks about Marco being better than the F1 field (we all know he's only better than Pérez ).  John's out trying to put together a second Panther ride for the Indy 500.  Jeff's out of racing altogether, so is Aldo, Adam probably is, too.  Jarrett's out to be the next Andretti in big-time racing but I think his career is moving a little too quickly.

[Massa]

Spotters' guide with Indy Lights entry list:

www.indycar.com/media/files/01-STP-SpotterGuide1.pdf

Bourdais still there...but...

[Massa]

Saw this on another forum...it's James Hinchcliffe's actual hard card...not sure IndyCar will like his bar code and all that jazz getting out there publicly, but they seem pretty lax with ID photos...

[Massa]

Well, screw it, I'm ditching this thread.  This race is on at 12:30 PM, F1 reair is on at 3:30 PM.  Not sitting there for four-and-a-half hours watching both, and F1's got my interest a little more this year.  No Indy for me this weekend, which means less complaining for you to read.

[JHS18]

Massa, on 21 March 2012 - 11:55 PM, said:

Power doesn't like this car

Hmm...really?

[Massa]

Read his comments about the car.  He's had nothing but negatives to say all winter long about it.  He's complained about the power, the balance, the weight distribution at the rear, etc.

[HandyNZL]

Don't worry Eric....I'm watching F1 tonight at 9pm, and IRL at 5:30am tomorrow morning (and if I have to leave to go to work before it's over, the recorder is recording as recorders do).  There shall be plenty to talk about I am sure.

[HandyNZL]

Damn...are those barn doors or wings on the back of the cars??????

[HandyNZL]

At lap 38, we have Barrichello in 12th, Sato in the lead, Franchitti in 3rd, Power in 8th, and a battery problem for TK who ran out of puff on lap 20-odd under yellow.  Seems to be a problem with the batteries - both TK and de Silvestro out because of it.  One would think TK will have an alternator fitted for the next race

[HandyNZL]

And, you know, a race car looks like a race car looks like a race car.  They may be a little futuristic looking, a bit Le Mans'ish looking, but you put em all together and you tell em to go fast, and they pretty much do that

The Lotus cars look nice.....being number 27 is a nice touch too.....someone needs to run that number again in F1....used to seem in F1 that number was left for the team that lost the number 1 & 2.



Also the hand clutch is catching a few out, especially in the pits - stalling and such.

[JHS18]

I know Helio is not the most popular driver on this forum, but I won't lie - this brought a tear to my eye.

Edited by JHS18, 25 March 2012 - 10:58 PM.

[Rainmaster]

That was a nice touch.

[JHS18]

Tribute that was shown before the race as well:

[Massa]

There are some really tremendous shots from the weekend (IndyCar and SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge) on markvphotos.com.  I encourage you to take a look, really nice stuff, specific links below:

IndyCar Raceday
SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge Sunday
IndyCar Saturday
World Challenge Saturday
IndyCar Friday
World Challenge Friday

Mark's a good guy, he didn't ask me to do this, but I hope you guys will take a look and don't mind me (well, I'm the moderator so it doesn't matter if you mind now does it ) helping him out a little.  His stuff is really good, I think.