New Regs fro 2003

[KC]

After much deliberation by CART and its owners and Franchise board a new set of regulations have been ratified.

1. The engine formula will change to 3.5 liter naturally aspirated V8s limited to 12,000 rpm. This creates a common formula between CART and the IRL. An annual cap on engine costs of US$2.7 million will be instituted and include engines used in qualifying and testing.

2. The chassis will also feature a common ground with the current IRL chassis design. The central tub will be the same but the current front and rear suspension clips will be used to configure the cars for the various circuits used. The chassis will also feature a yet to be determined cost cap to lower the expenditures for the team. This allows the teams to adjust rear downforce, something not available on the current IRL package.

3. Traction control systems will be permitted.

4. A US$60,000 cost cap will be placed on gearboxes. Uniform rule constraints will be applied to all gerabox manufacturers.


I have forseen the change to the IRL engine package for quite some time. I don't particularly like it, but want the CART series to continue instead of fail. I agree with a price cap to help reduce costs. A cap on gearbox costs merges well with a chassis cost reduction as well.

Using a common chassis tub but with adjustable aero packages makes sense as the current designs will not work with the larger and heavier engines. Lola and Reynard are already roducing IRL chassis and are up to speed on this part of it.

I do not agree with traction control. This is a mistake that reduces the ability of driver to induce oversteer on street courses. This will damage the persona of CART far more than the engine change.

The question cames down to this. Will Honda and Ford continue to be a presence in CART? I certainly hope so. But both manufacturers F1 projects are struggling at best and this may the excuse to quit altogether.

[Dave S]

Plus these competition rules changes for the 2002 season.

1: The return of Friday qualifying at road course races and a revised qualifying procedure that will see the fastest driver from each day of qualifying awarded a bonus point. Each race's pole winner will again be determined by the fastest lap of both Friday and Saturday qualifying sessions, but the provisional pole winner will be guaranteed a front row starting spot regardless of the outcome of final qualifying.

2: Maximum of 15 timed laps per session with a guaranteed 45 minutes (of a 60 minute session) of green flag time at road course events. Additionally, all race cars will qualify in one group. The penalty for creating a red flag situation in road course qualifying has also been changed. Drivers causing such conditions will now lose their fastest lap in that session rather than be parked for eight minutes in the pits as has been the case the last few seasons. The practice of carry-over penalties to the next race has also been abolished.

3: Oval track qualifying order will also revert to the inverse of that weekend's total practice speeds, with the fastest drivers of the weekend to that point qualifying last. Pit lane speed limits have also been abolished in oval track qualifying.

4: Race finishes under caution have also been addressed with CART committing to red flag stoppages for late-race incidents whenever possible. Extended full-course caution flag periods will also be minimized and CART will now follow the worldwide FIA standard for local caution flag periods whenever possible. This basically lengthens the on-track area of the local caution period from flag station to flag station while leaving the pits open the entire time.

5: Timed races and fuel conscious "economy runs" have also been given some needed attention. Although miles-per-gallon fuel stipulations will still be in place, CART Race Operations will develop a formula that will give competitors more than enough fuel to compete "flat out" in FedEx Championship Series races. The details of this exact formula will be announced at a later date. Additionally, timed races will rarely be mandated this season due in large part to the increased amount of television time available within the SPEED Channel relationship

[KC]

Thanks for the additional info Dave.

They have basically adopted the F1 qualifying method. Thats sounds good. No problems there. Also a guaranteed amnount of green flag time as well. Good.

I am also glad to see them allow the teams to have enough fuel to sprint the races instead of maintaining status quo until the end.

[macdaddy]

So there will be two bonus points for pole qualifying on road courses? I don't know if I like this. I think that the sole point should be awarded only to the polesitter. And I also question the provisional polesitter being guaranteed a front-row start. What if he ends up being 15th fastest overall? So if one guy ends up fastest on both days, he'll get two bonus points to go along with the pole? CART needed to look over a few of their regulations, but I don't feel that changing the point structure was one of them.

[Dave S]

I have to agree macdaddy. I realize CART hopes this encourages faster Fri. times, but it's a bit much. I can live with the point for Fri. fast time if need be. But no front row guarantee, & then give the actual pole sitter 2 points.

[Crash Test]

Also I don't agree with the Nascarisation of CART by throwing a red flag late in the race... Shoot, they have enough trouble at the moment sticking to their scheduled finishing time- will they follow normal proceedure during the red flag and have to refuel all of the cars down pit lane?

[Arneal]

The technical changes to the cars are a bummer, but the weekend event changes are good. I'd like it if they could eliminate the fuel economy runs, excessive yellows, and timed races. The F1 style qualifing should be better than what CART has been doing as well.

[tanalised]

I quite like the way the CART board is thinking with their new rules for 2002 season. If they can then increase the use of just local yellows especially at street & road courses and not stop the whole field with full course yellows then perhaps a vast improvemnet will take place in the race spectacle. Papis' victory at Laguna Seca lastt year galled me and I think the less that kind of finish happens the better

[mac]

Sorry, traction control is evil! In the technological world of F1 - maybe. But CART is about pure racing.

How is this going to reduce costs? Will TC be used on ovals (if so, imagine some of the speeds they could reach)? Not a good idea!

[R]

TC=

More use of local yellows, and the changes to the qualifying procedure is a good step forward, having everyone qualifying together instead of a "slow" and "fast" group is a much more fair system IMO. I agree though that the bonus point should only be awarded to the polesitter, not the fastest man from each day. The fastest man on Friday being guaranteed a front row start is also something I don't agree with. And timed races are a necessity sometimes, aren't they?

But overall, the rule changes are a good step forward for CART, I think.

[Alpina]

Here is a question for you. I would think traction control decreases tyre wear so would the teams go softer compound and get faster lap times or have fewer tyre changes. If it is the latter how how do you think the strategy will be affected by the new fuel regs?

[macdaddy]

It was a rarity to see anybody pit just because their tires were worn, unless if they had a spin. Safe to say that the tires already can last for an entire fuel load. And because there is only one tire supplier, thus no competiton, I don't think that Firestone will soften them up too much. What I do foresee happening is an increase in "splash-and-go" stops in the late stages, without taking on rubber.

But it is a fascinating question, Alpina, and I suppose that it could effect strategies at certain events quite alot.

PS-I love the spelling "tyre". Just thought I'd share that.

[R]

My dictionary says tyre = tire. I think I use both spellings.

I agree it's an interesting question. A puzzle to solve when the team owners work out the strategies...

[Dr. Austin]

They are still going to lean on the tires really hard. the guys who managed tire wear well by smooth throttle application are going to lose an advantage here. If you just go for broke and wear the edge off the tire, you are a duck at the end. But if you take car of the tires and wait for your opportunity, you will be massively effective. that's how Prost did it. Take care of the car, pounce when it counts.

But the TC will give the driver one less plane of the friction circle to worry about. It would be interesting to hear what Mark would think of all this.

[Arneal]

Tire is spelled "tire" in the US & Canada. The British and, I believe, the antepodeans, spell it "tyre". I too like the tyre spelling and also find their wierd pronunciation of "aluminum" to be funny.

As a Norwegian, I'd say R should be spelling tire "dekk".

[Liz]

I notice they have not mentioned that strange little rule that caused all the trouble at Road America last year during the Red Flag period -- that is, if we're having more red flags now, are we dumping the no-working-on-the-car rule too or are we going to just continue to ignore it as we always have?