IRL IndyCar Series & Indy Lights @ Kentucky (July 31- Aug 1)

Gabriel · PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:13 am

Meijer Indy 300 @ Kentucky (Includes Indy Lights' 100th race)

Circuit Info: Kentucky Speedway

1.5 miles / 2.4 km
Banking: Turns - 14Â°, Tri-Oval - 8-10Â°, Straight - 4Âº

Entry List:(23 cars entered)
[spoiler]Number / Driver / Team / Race Strategist
2 / Raphael Matos (R) / Luczo Dragon Racing / Jay Penske
3 / Helio Castroneves / Penske Racing / Tim Cindric
4 / Dan Wheldon / Panther Racing / John Barnes
5 / Mario Moraes / KV Racing Technology / Mark Johnson
6 / Ryan Briscoe / Penske Racing / Roger Penske
7 / Danica Patrick / Andretti Green Racing / Michael Andretti
9 / Scott Dixon / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Mike Hull
10 / Dario Franchitti / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Chip Ganassi
11 / Tony Kanaan / Andretti Green Racing / George Klotz
12 / Will Power / Penske Racing / John Erickson
13 / EJ Viso / HVM Racing / Michael Cannon
14 / Ryan Hunter-Reay / A.J. Foyt Enterprises / A.J. Foyt
18 / Justin Wilson / Dale Coyne Racing / Bill Pappas
20 / Ed Carpenter / Vision Racing / Jeff Britton
23 / Milka Duno / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Larry Curry
24 / Mike Conway (R) / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dennis Reinbold
26 / Marco Andretti / Andretti Green Racing / Kyle Moyer
27 / Hideki Mutoh / Andretti Green Racing / Kim Green
43 / Tomas Scheckter / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing /
67 / Sarah Fisher / Sarah Fisher Racing / John O'Gara
98 / Jacques Lazier / CURB/Agajanian/Team 3G / Owen Snyder
02 / Graham Rahal / Newman/Hass/Lanigan Racing / John Tzouanakis
06 / Robert Doornbos / Newman/Hass/Lanigan Racing / Todd Malloy[/spoiler]

FIL Entry List (20 cars entered):

[spoiler]Number / Driver / Entrant
2 / Andre Prendeville / Team Moore Racing
3 / Sergey Mokshantsev (R) / Brian Stewart Racing
5 / Mario Romancini (R) / RLR/Andersen Racing
6 / Pablo Donoso / RLR/Andersen Racing
7 / James Hinchcliffe (R) / Sam Schimdt Motorsports
9 / Ali Jackson (R) / RLR/Andersen Racing
11 / Wade Cunningham / Sam Schmidt Motorsports
15 / Martin Plowman (R) / Panther Racing
16 / Pippa Mann (R) / Panther Racing
20 / Ana Beatriz / Sam Schmidt Motorsports
21 / James Davison / Vision Racing
24 / Mike Potekhen / Alliance Motorsports
26 / J.R. Hindebrand / ARPRO Andretti Green/AFS Racing
27 / Sebastian Saavedra (R) / AFS/Andretti Green Racing
28 / Daniel Herrington (R) / Bryan Herta Autosport
32 / Brandon Wagner (R) / Davey Hamilton/Kingdom Racing
35 / Charlie Kimball (R) / Team PBIR
37 / Richard Philippe (R) / Team PBIR
44 / Gustavo Yacaman (R) / Sam Schmidt Motorsports
55 / Rodrigo Barbosa (R) / ELFF Racing[/spoiler]

Weekend Schedule (All times ET):

Friday, July 31:

12.00 - 1.00 Indy Lights Practice
1.15 - 1.45 IndyCar Practice (for Rookies and entrants outside the Top10 in points)
1.45 - 3.45 IndyCar Practice (All cars)
4:00 - 5:00 Indy Lights Practice (Split groups)
5.45 - 7.00 IndyCar Qualifying
7.00 - 8.00 Indy Lights Qualifying
9.00 - 9.45 IndyCar Practice

Saturday, August 1:

5.00 Indy Lights race (67 laps - 100 miles)
8.00 IndyCar race (200 laps - 300 miles)

______________________

TV:

IndyCar Qualifying and Race, live on VERSUS
Indy Lights Race, tape delayed Monday, August 3 @ 4 PM on VERSUS

______________________

This will be the first oval race where the new aero solutions will be used to allow more close racing. Remember the changes are optional to each team.
It will also be the first race with the new Honda overtake assist system "push-to-pass button", to improve overtaking.

codename_47 · PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:32 am

Oh interesting that yet more CC ideas are filtering their way through to the IRL
TBH we moan about them copying then equally moan about them not having enough Champcar elements in this badly named "reunification" so they can never win really.

Voted yes on the poll as I firmly believe from watching P2P in Champcar, KERS in F1, and Turbo Boosts in such series as F2, Formula Palmer Audi etc that it DOES help the racing.
It doesn't guarentee overtakes which is why labelling it something like "push to pass" is a bit of a mis-step (and something Champcar actually quietly dropped after its first year but it was too late by then, the name had stuck...)
But I've noticed its very helpful if the car is semi-close to the car in front to press the button to help push the car through the dirty air it is producing. Also if both cars have it, both of them pressing it on the straight, zooming along 10mph faster than the lap before into the braking area and still expecting to brake at the same place (or later!) than the lap before without it is usually very exciting to watch!

However it should be noted that the whole time CC had it they disabled it for their unfortunately few oval races....(though IIRC they may have had it one year at Milwaukee but I can't remember clearly..)so this might be one of the first ever oval races with cars with a turbo boost facility. It'll be interesting to see how they handle the various speed diparities between cars on the button and cars not.

As for the other changes, I've said before and I'll say again, adding more downforce is NOT the answer. In a way I really hope they do fail so the IRL will realise this crappy over-downforced ruleset they enforce on their chasis builders has not worked and its time to give the cars more power. (Which in a way the push to pass does...however temporarily, but that's another reason why its a good thing....)
I have a horrible suspicion the IRLs "no power, too much downforce, slowest side by side racing on the planet" "action" will return though, which never appealed to me even when the whole forum was creaming itself about artificially enduced side by side finishes.
If it does everyone will proclaim the racing formula is fixed and we'll never be rid of the crappy downforce machines

CART fan · PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 1:49 pm

codename_47 wrote:

Oh interesting that yet more CC ideas are filtering their way through to the IRL
TBH we moan about them copying then equally moan about them not having enough Champcar elements in this badly named "reunification" so they can never win really.

They can never win because the good ideas they copy are half-assed at best or the other ideas copied have been proven failures like month long breaks between races or going to small TV networks.

Raikkon · PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:47 pm

Wow this is a great day for good news! :thumbsup:

Here is crash.net's article on the news:

crash.net http://www.crash.net/indycar/news/150529/1/indycar_series_introduces_push_to_pass.html wrote:

IndyCar Series introduces 'push to pass'
IndyCar Series officials have announced that a push to pass system will be introduced from this weekend's race at Kentucky.

The system will come in alongside a series of aerodynamic changes in an effort to improve racing, and will be available through the remaining events on the 2009 schedule.

Drivers will be able to call upon a power boost of between 5-20bhp for a limited time, which change on a race-by-race basis. The amount of extra power available will depend on whether or not drivers are conserving fuel when they elect to use the system.

In Kentucky, drivers will be able to call on the system 20 times for twelve seconds at a time.

"If you're on the rich side, you get 5 horsepower because the engine already is producing close to its maximum, where you can get up to 20 horsepower if you're running lean," Indy Racing League senior technical director Les Mactaggart said. "It's to provide the driver, if they're already making a passing manoeuvre, an additional tool to complete the pass. It provides the teams with options which they have to choose how they're going to run, so it brings more strategy from a team aspect.

"Because of the architecture of the engine, you can't have the 100 horsepower that Champ Car had because you could just increase your boost levels on a turbocharged engine and that's how you get the extra power.

â€œWhen you're already producing 100 per cent power with a normally aspirated engine, there isn't anything else other than spark advance to get more horsepower."

Honda Performance Development race team manager Roger Griffiths said he was hopeful that the new system would lead to an increase in overtaking through the remainder of the year.

"We hope that the new Honda button feature will add a little spice to the racing,â€ he said. â€œIt gives the driver/team an additional tool to use during the course of the race that we believe will promote some additional overtaking with the added complexity in that the feature won't be available until the actual race so teams will have to experiment on the fly."

We will see if such a small difference in power makes a difference.. I would say that the difference would be negligable at such high speeds, but I hope the series proves me wrong!

Peter · PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 2:40 am

CC has it in its last Vegas oval race, with its 50hp boost, the cars would just about struggle to get alongside, I wonder how much would a 20hp boost would do.

Squall · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:03 am

Just in case someone is interested by something else than Schumacher come back...here the Starting lineup... ^^

From Indycar.com

Quote:

Persistent "weepers" on the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway asphalt oval from more than 6 inches of rain this week forced cancellation of IndyCar Series qualifying for the Aug. 1 Meijer Indy 300 Presented by Red Baron and Edy's.

The starting grid was set by entrant points, with Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti side by side on the front row. Water was drawn to the racing surface in multiple locations by the afternoon sunshine, which kept Delphi Safety Team and track workers busy while drivers/teams played cards, caught a nap or cleaned equipment

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

Boxy Brown · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 10:40 am

weepers

Coyotekart1 · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 3:51 pm

Boxy Brown wrote:

weepers

fixd

StefMeister · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:43 pm

Not looking too good for the race been held tonight, more rain is forcast & even if it doesnt rain there are still having problems with weepers.

Another thing I read about on the speedtv boards is that the merchandise truck that was at the track yesterday was selling nothing but nascar gear.

They will update track conditions & any schedule changes on the series Twitter page:
http://twitter.com/indycarnation

Mattzel89 · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:51 pm

Tony Kanaan with new aero modifications

http://twitpic.com/cenfx

:lol:

KK3869 · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:16 pm

Gauthier · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:39 pm

codename_47 · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:51 pm

Yeah I'm watching what I think is Lights practice, its typical lights stream though once car being followed on track so it could be the race and there's a 5-wide battle for 2nd behind it....

Yellow for track inspection now...doesn't sound good...

Raikkon · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 10:49 pm

Indy lights race about to start, is the stream on the indy site blank atm or is it just me?

Schumifan · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 10:57 pm

Blank for me aswell.

Squall · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 10:59 pm

Refresh

Squall · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 11:00 pm

2 cars in the wall

Raikkon · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 11:01 pm

missed the start!!

Squall · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 11:15 pm

They are completly crazy

Schumifan · PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 11:17 pm

This is awesome, but I can't help feeling someone's going to end in the catchfence.

TBK-Light.com

IRL IndyCar Series & Indy Lights @ Kentucky (July 31- Aug 1)

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