Round 6: The 99th Indianapolis 500

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 6: The 99th Indianapolis 500, 11 - 24 May, 2015

With the Rookie Orientation Program starting today, along with the first practice session, it's time to start the 500 thread.

Sunday the 24th will see the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500. The Speedway is one of the world's oldest tracks that's still in use and was built in 1909. However, the very first motorsport's event to take place there was a motorcycle race, held on August 14, 1909, on the 2.5 mile oval track, which consisted of a gravel-and-tar surface. Since the very first 500, May 30, 1911, the event has always been held on the Sunday before Memorial Day and the race has also been held every year since 1911, except for 1917-18 and 1942-45, due to World Wars I and II.

Some interesting facts:
The most wins by any driver is 4 and this is held jointly by:
A.J. Foyt: 1961, 1964, 1967, 1977.
Al Unser Sr.:1970, 1971, 1978, 1987.
Rick Mears: 1979, 1984, 1988, 1991.

The team with the most wins is Penske, with 15:
1972, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1985,
1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1994,
2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2009.

The driver/team owner with the most wins is, A.J. Foyt:
1964, 1967, 1977.

Out of the current crop of drivers, the driver with the most wins is Hélio Castroneves:
2001, 2002, 2009.

This year there will be six former 500 winners taking part:
Buddy Lazier, 1996.
Juan-Pablo Montoya, 2000.
Helio Castroneves, 2001, 2002 2009.
Scott Dixon, 2008.
Tony Kanaan, 2013
Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2014.

The first driver to win the race from pole position was Jimmy Murphy, in 1922

The closest finish was in 1992, with winner Al Unser Jr. beating Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds.

The fastest race was in 2013, with a race time of 2:40:03.4181 and an average Speed of 187.433 mph (301.644 kmh).

This season, has seen a few track records broken, some long standing. Arie Luyendyk's Speedway track record has been held since 1996, will this too be broken? I personally don't think so.

Track layout:



Length: 2.5 Miles (4.0 Km)
Turns: 4
Lap record: Arie Luyendyk, May 10, 1996. 00:37.616 seconds, 239.260 mph (385.052 kmh). Reynard 96i-Ford Cosworth, Indy Racing League

Last year's winner:
Ryan Hunter-Reay,
Andretti Autosport,
Dallara DW12-Honda.

Laps: 200
Distance: 500 Miles (805 km)
Race Time: 2:40:48.2305
Average Speed: 186.563 mph (300.244 kmh).

TV Coverage:
ABC.
Green flag at 12:00pm ET.

[sublimao]

Yes you're right May is the month of two great races: Indy and Monaco.
For my humble opinion this year the field is slightly better even if it is far away from the glory of the 60's, 70's and 80's but it is always a great entertaining show. Montoya has a chance to give some spice to the race which has been
ruined in part by political games. This year Indy Motor Speedway will celebrate
Jim Clark and his Lotus lucky guys who is able to attend !

[NaBUru38]

Dan Gurney will attend for the first time since 2001, according to ESPN's Andrés Agulla.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by sublimao

Yes you're right May is the month of two great races: Indy and Monaco.

Not only are they in the month of May, they are on the same day. These two plus the coke 600 at Charlotte for NASCAR makes this Sunday before Memorial Day the greatest single day in motor racing all year, IMO.

the driver entry this year is pretty stellar, I must admit.

[bjohnsonsmith]

IndyCar are streaming P2

http://racecontrol.indycar.com/

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

IndyCar are streaming P2

http://racecontrol.indycar.com/

Excellent! Thanks. Now i am REALLY distracted from work....

[canamman]

7 chevy's and 1 Honda in the top 8 in timing.
So Honda has work to do. Marco was in the top 10.
34 cars practiced.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Castroneves uninjured in practice crash.

http://www.indycar.com/News/2015/05/...-crash-at-Indy

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Castroneves uninjured in practice crash.

http://www.indycar.com/News/2015/05/...-crash-at-Indy

That's not good at all. The lack of aero kits makes the DW12 look better, IMO, but that looked to get airborne with ease.

Glad Helio is okay and I'm no engineer, but I'd be concerned if I was entered in this one. Is that too knee jerk?

[Nikki Katz]

It does look quite alarming, they never used to do that after a comparatively mundane accident. It's probably not a huge risk when he's on his own, but this could be an issue in a race with 32 other cars.

[NaBUru38]

Holy flat bottoms, Spidey!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Holy flat bottoms, Spidey!

But it's not a flat bottom, the Venturi tunnels are clearly visible. What is alarming, considering it has a ground effect under-tray, is that the air got under the rear of the the car, rather than the front, which was the problem with the Dallara IR5, the DW 12''s predecessor.

[bjohnsonsmith]

I just wonder if the modification seen in this pic, to the front of the undertray, which was designed to stop a car becoming airborne hadn't been introduced, this might not have happened?



Up until now, I don't recall the DW12 flipping and taking off, due to air getting underneath it, like it's predecessor the IR5 did.

[icemachine]

I think it's more likely an issue with the rear wing elements more than those at the front. Helio's car came around so fast and hadn't scrubbed much speed, have to wonder if they had a CFD model for that scenario

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by icemachine

I think it's more likely an issue with the rear wing elements more than those at the front. Helio's car came around so fast and hadn't scrubbed much speed, have to wonder if they had a CFD model for that scenario

I'm not talking about the front wing elements, if that's what you mean, it's the 'holes', for want of a better word, at the front of the undertray; the car flipped tail first.

[icemachine]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

I'm not talking about the front wing elements, if that's what you mean, it's the 'holes', for want of a better word, at the front of the undertray; the car flipped tail first.

I understood you, I just wasn't clear enough in stating that I didn't believe it was an effect of the elements at the front of the tray, not the front wing elements.

Either way I expect they will be removed until CFD shows if they were or were not a contributing factor

[fieldodreams79]

I did notice, looking at it again, that it appeared the car started getting airborne after the impact with the wall. Not sure if that means anything, but let's hope this will be the last flying car at Indy this May. I am sure there are some curious and wondering folks in Gasoline Alley.

Also worth noting that Pippa Mann also walked away from a pretty nasty looking crash into the inside wall at pit entrance and then careened off of the pit entrance wall itself, spinning like a top back into the racing line.

[wnut]

Great discipline from Helio to release the steering wheel and fold his arms while waiting to land on his head!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by wnut

Great discipline from Helio to release the steering wheel and fold his arms while waiting to land on his head!

He hasn't worn that very distinguishable crash helmet for nothing,

[D.R.T.]

http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/11...es-car-flipped

To start, the crash has nothing to do with aero kits. Rear blowovers like the one experienced by Castroneves have been happening for decades by cars with large underwings. It happened for the first time in the 1980s when underwings were introduced, and they will continue to happen in any form of motorsports where they’re used in high-speed vehicles.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

He hit the wall backwards and that got air under the car. Add that rear wing and you have lift off! Glad he walked out...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Munoz does lap of fastest lap so far, of 39.1098 seconds, 230.121 mph.

http://www.indycar.com/News/2015/05/...ph-in-practice

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/11...es-car-flipped

Quote:
To start, the crash has nothing to do with aero kits. Rear blowovers like the one experienced by Castroneves have been happening for decades by cars with large underwings. It happened for the first time in the 1980s when underwings were introduced, and they will continue to happen in any form of motorsports where they’re used in high-speed vehicles.

I've seen quite a few front blowovers but I can't remember ever seeing a rear blowover before.

[tux]

In practice today Josef Newgarden had a similar crash to Helios which again led to his car flipping, this needs to be investigated and fixes tried before its too late.

Now, any car that spins and gets air under it at 150mph+ is probably going to take off and in the majority of cases the impact once it has taken off is fairly light considering the spectacular nature of it. However i dont think we should just say, ahh well its just physics, we cant change that...

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by tux

In practice today Josef Newgarden had a similar crash to Helios which again led to his car flipping, this needs to be investigated and fixes tried before its too late.

Now, any car that spins and gets air under it at 150mph+ is probably going to take off and in the majority of cases the impact once it has taken off is fairly light considering the spectacular nature of it. However i dont think we should just say, ahh well its just physics, we cant change that...

https://youtu.be/THfIvk628eo

Same deal as Helio's; contact with wall and then airborne. 2 for 2. Have there been any similar spins/incidents, without wall contact to compare these 2 with this May? I know, hard to spin at the speedway and not hit the wall.

Good news here-drivers walked away, even though Josef looked winded (probably from impact with wall), but they were all alone so bad news, it could have been worse in a pack...