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Old 18 Sep 2017, 18:56 (Ref:3768365)   #25
Purist
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Join Date: Dec 2003
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Wichita, Kansas, USA
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Purist is going for a new world record!Purist is going for a new world record!Purist is going for a new world record!Purist is going for a new world record!Purist is going for a new world record!Purist is going for a new world record!
It's the NFL, but also, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, which several IndyCar drivers/teams take part in.

Sonoma isn't that quick for a road course. Pole was in the 113-mph bracket. Road America and Watkins Glen are over 140 mph. Next quickest permanent road course in IndyCar is Barber, with a record in the 124-mph bracket. Next quickest road course/temporary circuit, is Belle Isle. (Yes, Belle Isle is faster than the layout of Sears Point that IndyCar currenty uses; I'll just let that sink in for you.)

If they ran the 2.520-mile layout at Sears Point, I'd expect the Pole to be not in the 1:15s, but in the 1:09s. The wider entry to Turn 7 would aid overtaking there, and they'd actually have a long enough run into Turn 11 to do something there. With a more open Turn 7 and 11, cars would stay closer together on the subsequent high-speed sections, allowing more overtaking at Turns 11 and 2.

I think a good road course could reasonably hold the season finale, but Sears Point, in the form they're using it in now, is not that course. If they're going to do an oval finale, it needs to be in October, at Fontana, when sunset is early enough that they actually get some night running in before midnight on the East Coast.

And I'm concerned that the racing may get worse at Barber and Sears Point with the new aero. Being able to maintain high speeds with that downforce reduces the expansions in the physical gaps between cars. Now, in some cases, it will also reduce the shrinkage in the physcial gaps as well, but going into a really slow corner, if you're right up the leader's tail, you're going to have to give up time to not run into him, so the gap coming off that corner will grow even more.

Now, I think Road America and Watkins Glen will be fine. It might help overtaking in some places at Mid Ohio, though it might hinder overtaking there at some less conventional spots. The main place it might help, I think, are the street circuits.

As for ovals, watching the CART races at Phoenix or Nazareth, unless you have guys running 10+ mph off the pace, you won't get the disparities in traffic that lead to those wild passes for position we used to see. And let's face it, a team that is running that slow isn't going to last for very long.

Last edited by Purist; 18 Sep 2017 at 19:18.
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