Indycar News & Rumors.

[S griffin]

Not good news, but could have been a lot worse

[Nikki Katz]

I hope he makes a full recovery. Everything’s gone a bit quiet regarding changes to the catch fences. They’re comparatively common accidents really.

[bjohnsonsmith]

In this interview, which Autosport published today, he gives more detail about his injury.

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/139681

[bella]

it’s unfortunately shown the clash between wanting to keep serious injuries private and public interest in someone and their situation going forward. if your career and life has been public interest before, then clarity is important because otherwise there’s misinformation, incorrect reporting and you end up issuing clarifications to clarifications.

all the best to him - his journey through this will help others, especially if he’s reasonably open about it. i can imagine it’s a tricky diagnosis to get your head around, but the uncertainty must fuel the fire to regain as much normality as possible.

[NaBUru38]

It's a steep climb, no question about it.

[broadrun96]

ECR is looking for another sponsor it seems, Fuzzy is taking his vodka and moving on. Not that much of a vodka guy but I don't think I've ever seen it in stores or bars anywhere. Hopefully Ed brings a decent pile of cash with him this season.

[Nick Woodbury]

The first bits of data and timing are being made public from the recent Indycar/Firestone COTA test.

https://racer.com/2018/10/29/early-p...car-tire-test/

Video - https://www.facebook.com/indycar/vid...0593359105490/

The fastest recorded lap of the day was set my Alexander Rossi at a 1:47.8. As it stands, that is currently 13.7 seconds slower than Kimi Raikkonen's fastest race lap set at a 1:34:18.643 during this years US Grand Prix. It will be interesting to compare the lap times that Indycar will then set once the race weekend takes place next year in March, with the tires and setups further optimized from today's test...can we anticipate a 1-3 second decrease in lap times?

[Obizzz]

https://www.autosport.com/indycar/ne...t-with-schmidt

Ericsson confirmed.

[Formulahistory]

Surprised that he is driving for Schmidt Peterson instead of Carlin...

[S griffin]

Yet another ex-F1 driver in the series

Anyway, it seems Indycar is pushing for a return to Surfer's Paradise which is good

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Yet another ex-F1 driver in the series

Anyway, it seems Indycar is pushing for a return to Surfer's Paradise which is good

I haven't read anything about pushing for a return to Surfers.

[Nick Woodbury]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

I haven't read anything about pushing for a return to Surfers.

https://www.speedcafe.com/2018/10/30...t-indy-return/

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Nick Woodbury

https://www.speedcafe.com/2018/10/30...t-indy-return/

Thanks for the link.

A February date would help cut the very long off season.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Nick Woodbury

The first bits of data and timing are being made public from the recent Indycar/Firestone COTA test.

https://racer.com/2018/10/29/early-p...car-tire-test/

Video - https://www.facebook.com/indycar/vid...0593359105490/

The fastest recorded lap of the day was set my Alexander Rossi at a 1:47.8. As it stands, that is currently 13.7 seconds slower than Kimi Raikkonen's fastest race lap set at a 1:34:18.643 during this years US Grand Prix. It will be interesting to compare the lap times that Indycar will then set once the race weekend takes place next year in March, with the tires and setups further optimized from today's test...can we anticipate a 1-3 second decrease in lap times?

13.7 seconds slower is a very big discrepancy.

[Nikki Katz]

At least f2 doesn’t race there i guess! The Indy race might be more interesting though, but with much worse tv coverage

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Nikki Katz

At least f2 doesn’t race there i guess! The Indy race might be more interesting though, but with much worse tv coverage

Why should the TV coverage be worse?

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Why should the TV coverage be worse?

If anything it will be better, the ESPN coverage with the UK feed is terrible. Yelling constantly over simple racing action and 56 reminders each race about tires and 25 times in Q2 how you have to keep these tires to start. NBC will have the race coverage with guys who actually follow the action and can comment as it happens without missing important events. They each have their moments but overall NBC is far better at covering their events.
And add in that F1 is most likely not on ESPN/ABC next year in the US and coverage will be MUCH better of Indy racing. Looks like it's moving to ESPNow or other a la carte system according to more than a few racing industry guy's. It MAY get a reprieve for 2019 but it's supposedly not looking likely, PPV/subscription should do wonders for F1 in the US.

[champcarman]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Thanks for the link.

A February date would help cut the very long off season.

Supercars will not race on the Saturday in 2019, a non Championship Indycar race anyone?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by champcarman

Supercars will not race on the Saturday in 2019, a non Championship Indycar race anyone?

Why won't Supercars race on a Saturday?

[S griffin]

Are they not flexible?

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

13.7 seconds slower is a very big discrepancy.

It's not a good look to do laptimes comparable to low-powered lightweight GP3 or F3 cars despite running 700hp monsters -- it reeks of inefficiency, but low downforce will do that for you.

It's a tricky one -- downforce (primarily a more aggressive floor) would make the Indycar go fast and would cost little to add to the cars, but then the racing would be poor. Yet, as is, the Indycars don't seem slow at circuits like Road America or Mid-Ohio. Hmmm.

PS.
While the Indycars aren't as lightweight as a (classic) F3 (just 500kg!), the Indycar weight is very similar to a modern F1 car weight, so the weight itself isn't the differentiator.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

It's not a good look to do laptimes comparable to low-powered lightweight GP3 or F3 cars despite running 700hp monsters -- it reeks of inefficiency, but low downforce will do that for you.

It's a tricky one -- downforce (primarily a more aggressive floor) would make the Indycar go fast and would cost little to add to the cars, but then the racing would be poor. Yet, as is, the Indycars don't seem slow at circuits like Road America or Mid-Ohio. Hmmm.

PS.
While the Indycars aren't as lightweight as a (classic) F3 (just 500kg!), the Indycar weight is very similar to a modern F1 car weight, so the weight itself isn't the differentiator.

Currently IndyCars weigh, approximately 1,620 pounds (road/street/short oval configuration) and 1,590 pounds (speedway configuration), without fuel, driver and driver weight equivalent.

I was looking at lap times over the years, on some tracks. For example, Hélio Castroneves broke the lap record at Long Beach in 2017, with a time of 1:06.225, 106.980 mph (172.167 km/h). This year Alexander Rossi took pole with a time of 1:06.5528, 106.454 mph (171.321 km/h).

Dario Franchitti, has held the lap record at Road America since 2000, with a time of 1:39.866, 145.924 mph (234.84 km/h). In 2017, the last year of the manufacturer's aero-kits, Helio Castroneves, took pole with a time of 1:41.3007, 143.85 mph (231.52 km/h). This year, Josef Newgarden took pole with a time of 1:43.2026, 140.02 mph (225.34 lm/h).

At Detroit, Takuma Sato, set the lap record in 2017, with a time of 1:13.6732, 114.831 mph (184.802 km/h). In Race 1 Marco Andretti took pole with a time of 1:14.8514, 113.024 mph (181.894 km/h). It rained in Qualifying for Race 2, so the time and speed is irrelevant.

The UAK is a little slower than the manufacturer aero-kits but overall, those times and speeds look very respectable. I can only think that the lap times at COTA were to do with the nature of the tyre test, rather than the cars actually being much slower.

[EffectiveSprinkles]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

It's a tricky one -- downforce (primarily a more aggressive floor) would make the Indycar go fast and would cost little to add to the cars, but then the racing would be poor.

The opposite in fact, which is exactly why they are adding more downforce next year

[bjohnsonsmith]

Mari Hulman George, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Chairman of the Board Emeritus has died.

Condolences to her family. RIP

https://racer.com/2018/11/03/mari-hu...ge-dies-at-83/

[NSX_LeMans]

No reason to go crazy with IndyCar being 13s slower than F1, that is normal! Super Formula is around 9s slower at Suzuka and hybrid LMP1 is around 10 slower at Silverstone.
1:47 is what LMP1 does in race trim, by the way. It is nonsense to say this is comparable to F3 lap times. I hope I just misinterpreted the discussion.