2007 Sebring test (Merged)

Phoenix1 · 23 Jan 2007, 19:20 (Ref:1824015)

Good to see Miss Legge up there again (no pun intended - well until I read it back to myself)

Does anyone know why there is a "x" next to two drivers, maybe last years car.

13 cars is not stunning but better than last year (if I recall right) and a good start, few more would be nice of course but at least only 5 off a mininimal starting grid so far hears hoping over the next week or so we can sort a few more cars out!

The times (not that they mean a thing..)

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/R...ts.asp?ID=1658

Pos Driver # Team Lap Time Mph km/h Leader Previous
1 K. Legge 11 Dale Coyne Racing 52.166 115.178 185.361

2 J. Wilson 9 RuSPORT 52.426 114.607 184.442 0.260

3 S. Pagenaud 5X Team Australia 52.528 114.385 184.084 0.362 0.102

4 M. Dominguez 10 RuSPORT 52.529 114.383 184.081 0.363 0.001

5 S. Bourdais 1 Newman/Haas Racing 52.581 114.269 183.898 0.415 0.052

6 P. Tracy 3 Forsythe Championship Racing 52.763 113.875 183.264 0.597 0.182

7 G. Rahal 2 Newman/Haas Racing 53.125 113.099 182.015 0.959 0.362

8 R. Doombos 4X CTE Racing - HVM 53.195 112.950 181.775 1.029 0.070

9 J. Vasser 12 PKV Racing 53.634 112.026 180.288 1.468 0.439

10 R. Dalziel 28 Pacific Coast Motorsports 56.421 106.492 171.382 4.255 2.787

11 A. Figge 29 Pacific Coast Motorsports 57.260 104.932 168.871 5.094 0.839

12 N. Jani 21 PKV Racing 58.118 103.383 166.378 5.952 0.858

13 A. Tagliani 8 Rocketsports Racing 1:15.893 79.169 127.410 23.727 17.775

Peter Ford · 24 Jan 2007, 02:30 (Ref:1824295)

With the latest test sessions having Rahal being the fastest does this show that he ill be quick in the actual races and that Bourdais may have a teamamate capable of beating him and stopping him from claiming his 4th straight championship?.

Coyote99 · 24 Jan 2007, 03:38 (Ref:1824310)

I believe we won't get any hint until the last of the 3 tests. Some teams had issues with the cars while some were making modifications. Let's wait and see but I would be extremely be happy is Rahal finished in the top 3 this year.

marcus · 24 Jan 2007, 09:31 (Ref:1824423)

I thought I would make this a hot topic as we finally have some action for 2007

the times of Day 1 are as follows (all new cars and teams but one man still on top)

1) Sebastien Bourdais - Newman/Haas Racing - 51.024 seconds/117.756 mph/58 laps
2) Neel Jani - Red Bull PKV Racing - 51.620/116.397/50 laps
3) Paul Tracy - Forsythe Championship Racing - 51.708/116.199/57 laps
4) Mario Dominguez - RuSPORT - 51.717/116.178/57 laps
5) Justin Wilson - RuSPORT - 51.773/116.053/59 laps
6) Jimmy Vasser - Red Bull PKV Racing - 51.814/115.961/44 laps
7) Graham Rahal - Newman/Haas Racing - 51.837/115.909/53 laps
8) Simon Pagenaud - Team Australia - 51.989/115.571/56 laps
9) Katherine Legge - Dale Coyne Racing - 52.110/115.302/69 laps
10) Alex Tagliani - Rocketsports Racing - 52.854/113.679/27 laps
11) Robert Doornbos - Minardi Team USA - 52.912/113.555/54 laps
12) Ryan Dalziel - Pacific Coast Motorsports - 54.048/111.168/25 laps
13) Alex Figge - Pacific Coast Motorsports - 57.260/104.932/10 laps

I am not that familiar with Sebring , does anyone know what kind of times the Lola used to cut around there just for comparison ?

enemy-ace · 24 Jan 2007, 12:00 (Ref:1824553)

Any sites with good pics?
Champcar.ws is a little lacking in quality shots IMO.

cos · 24 Jan 2007, 15:22 (Ref:1824781)

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcus

I am not that familiar with Sebring , does anyone know what kind of times the Lola used to cut around there just for comparison ?

Times are about 1 sec off the previous ChampCar record according to crash.net

2112 · 24 Jan 2007, 16:08 (Ref:1824831)

I took a drive to Sebring yesterday.
Sebass and Wilson looked the fastest, maybe it was the liveries.

Tracy straight lined the hairpin twice...maybe it`s the gear problems that`s been reported...it caused some cars stalling on the track and bringing out the red flags.
Tagliani drove around the whole time without an engine cover...don`t know what that was about.

2112 · 24 Jan 2007, 16:33 (Ref:1824851)

BTW, I have not figured out yet why my soundcard is not capturing sound, but I uploaded 2 small clips to youtube. I`ll end up posting proper sounding clips once I figure out the bug.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4CsNLvropw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJy0Xc3zOlg

racinthestreets · 24 Jan 2007, 19:49 (Ref:1825018)

Nice 2112. Thanks. What happened to Gehl and Rahal?

luke · 24 Jan 2007, 20:14 (Ref:1825048)

Cheers, rush.

Tenoch · 24 Jan 2007, 21:37 (Ref:1825164)

Whats dominguez doing testing with Rusport?

boom boom · 24 Jan 2007, 23:19 (Ref:1825267)

Day2 Seabass on top again, Tracy 2nd, Katherine Legge 3rd and Junky 4th. Katherine and Bruno both in Coyne cars I would like to see that end up being the official Coyne team all year. And it seems that the Drivers still love the new car

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/34998/

icemachine · 24 Jan 2007, 23:56 (Ref:1825281)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tenoch

Whats dominguez doing testing with Rusport?

I believe its what most would call testing

From the RuSPORT website

Quote:

"I'm pleased that it worked out for me to drive the 10 car for the initial Panoz DP01 test," said Dominguez. "I had spoken with RuSPORT late in 2006 and this chance to work with the team is a great opportunity for me. I am looking forward to getting to know the Panoz and helping the team develop this great new package that has been designed exclusively for Champ Car."

"Mario's expertise and understanding of Champ Car is a great asset to RuSPORT at a time when we are starting fresh with the DP01," said Dan Pettit, RuSPORT team owner. "I have watched Mario drive for many years now and he is always a good competitor and offers the fans a great show."

Hopefully it turns into a full season gig

Matt · 25 Jan 2007, 00:13 (Ref:1825293)

http://motorsport.com/photos/champca...wt-eg-0122.jpg
Tracy's new livery looks nice.

http://motorsport.com/photos/champca...wt-eg-0145.jpg
Wilson's painted up car.

http://motorsport.com/photos/champca...wt-eg-0114.jpg
And here's the Tagliani car-with no engine cover.

icemachine · 25 Jan 2007, 01:38 (Ref:1825331)

Work is now using CDW to lease our computers, glad to support them

luke · 25 Jan 2007, 13:10 (Ref:1825645)

Both dale coyne cars of Katherine Legge and Bruno Junquiera were fast again.

mandretti39 · 25 Jan 2007, 14:33 (Ref:1825709)

Love Tracy's paintjob. Looks like the car is going so fast, the paint's peeling off the car.

norman-normal · 25 Jan 2007, 22:27 (Ref:1826037)

You Tube has some video of the DP01, one clip in the rain.

Peter Ford · 26 Jan 2007, 01:11 (Ref:1826136)

I notice that Junqueria is driving one of dale coyne's car,does this means dale coyne racing has signed him to race for them this year?.

Snrub · 26 Jan 2007, 17:10 (Ref:1826656)

^ No, nothing is signed that I've heard of. In fact I believe when both CDM and Servia drove for DCR there was never anything signed. It was merely gentleman's agreements. Presumably the driver received prize money.

2112 · 26 Jan 2007, 17:20 (Ref:1826662)

I finally got my sound fixed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd7O-_X4kB0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOL-RYh3qAw

Amar7605 · 4 Feb 2007, 18:22 (Ref:1833362)

Question for everyone: does anyone think that having the new cars will give the lower-tiered teams a chance to be more competitive and pose a significant challenge to NH, Rusport, and Forsythe?

Snrub · 4 Feb 2007, 18:50 (Ref:1833389)

The new cars should cost the teams less so the lower teams should have more money available to devote to being fast, rather than simply keeping the doors open. The problem for the very bottom teams is that their costs are not covered by their own income, the series gives them money. If the series gives them less money because less is required to run the team then they're no better off. The RuSports and the Minardi/HVMs of the series should be better able to keep up with NHs and Forsythes.

The new rules should keep the lower teams closer to the top teams. By vastly limiting what can be done to setup the car the bottom teams will be able to keep up with the top teams. Aero adjustments, development, shaker table testing and different shocks are banned. It hasn't been abundantly clear, but presumably all that's left is the shock valve settings, ride height, spring rate, maybe bump stop height, differential and gearing. With the old cars the difference between a experienced driver (say a Servia, Tag, CDM or Junquiera) in the best equipment and the worst equipment was around 1-1.5 seconds a lap in qualifying. We saw with the old Lola what Tagliani was capable of doing at TA without an engineer. In 2005 there were times where he was able to run at or nearly at NH and Forsythe pace. At the time I remember laughing and wondering if the NH engineering staff was frightened for their jobs.

Presumably all teams will employ an engineer for 2007. I imagine the differences will be between 0.3-0.8 seconds a lap between NH and Forsythe and teams like DCR, PCM and Conquest.

Amar7605 · 4 Feb 2007, 19:00 (Ref:1833394)

And 0.3 - 0.8 seconds are striking distances to each other. Hopefully this year everyone is more competitive. It'll make for some very exciting racing!

norman-normal · 4 Feb 2007, 19:34 (Ref:1833430)

I would guess that talent would create a gap more rapidly, at first, more than money; I'm talking engineering talent(set up to suit driver).

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