TBK-Light.com

new thread for the new year

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Long Beach extended through 2028, also alleviates some future concerns with the planned LA Summer Olympics having events in Long Beach
https://www.presstelegram.com/2022/01/0 ... velopment/

Andretti has a new engineering lineup
https://racer.com/2022/01/05/andretti-s ... ar-season/

notable Penske engineer Gavin Ward moving to Arrow McLaren SP
https://racer.com/2022/01/04/arrow-mcla ... neer-ward/

Rahal has a new engineering lineup
https://racer.com/2022/01/06/rll-retool ... g-line-up/

Romain Grosjean is lightly looking into Midget racing according to Matt Weaver

Indycar have released a fan survey you can fill out

https://global-indycar-fan-survey-2022. ... V4-MnKHzSg

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"An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government"


3x TBKL rFactor Hillclimb champion

Montoya back at SPAM for the 500.

https://racer.com/2022/01/11/arrow-mcla ... -indy-500/

The 29th confirmed car\driver combo for the 500.

_________________
Wouter Weylandt ¦ 1984-2011
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

'Are you saving your tyres?' 'No!' 'Can you go any faster?' 'No!'

For those lamenting the loss of SealMaster and the scaling back of the Menards sponsorship, Andretti have your dayglo needs covered;

And a more widespread overview from Pruett, looking at engineering changes and not just drivers;

https://racer.com/2022/01/13/pruett-the ... e-of-play/

Some key points;

-Rahal's former TD Tom German has moved to Toyota Racing Development, which several sources believe is a signpost for the manufacturer's entry into Indycar.
-Aitken has ruled himself out of the running at ECR, which leaves Daly and RHR. If RHR had the money, he would have already been confirmed. And Daly might have the money.
-Cusick wants to (and has the means to) buy a ride for Stefan Wilson, but there has been no opportunity so far.
-There is a story on Carlin's future but Pruett is waiting for something before publishing.

_________________
Wouter Weylandt ¦ 1984-2011
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

'Are you saving your tyres?' 'No!' 'Can you go any faster?' 'No!'

I really want Daly to have a full time ride.

Edit: My wish came true.

You did get your wish. Special Ed will do the 500 only - the 30th confirmed car\driver combo.

_________________
Wouter Weylandt ¦ 1984-2011
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

'Are you saving your tyres?' 'No!' 'Can you go any faster?' 'No!'

Qualifying will remain as-is on circuits with right hand corners on them.

https://racer.com/2022/01/14/indycar-to ... g-process/

With 25 full-time cars and only 1 confirmed part-time car on any non-oval (Montoya @ Indy GP), the anticipated issues around space will not arise.

_________________
Wouter Weylandt ¦ 1984-2011
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

'Are you saving your tyres?' 'No!' 'Can you go any faster?' 'No!'

The count is now 2 - Calderon will drive a third Foyt car at all the non-ovals.

_________________
Wouter Weylandt ¦ 1984-2011
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

'Are you saving your tyres?' 'No!' 'Can you go any faster?' 'No!'

Tatiana Calderon in for #11 Foyt car on road/street courses

https://www.indycar.com/news/2022/01/01 ... deron-foyt

The Foyt press release states an ambition to find a driver to do the oval races in that car, so it should end up as the 26th full-time car.

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Barge boards to be introduced as optional aero pieces at Texas, Iowa and Gateway.

https://racer.com/2022/01/17/indycar-cr ... ree-ovals/

_________________
Wouter Weylandt ¦ 1984-2011
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

'Are you saving your tyres?' 'No!' 'Can you go any faster?' 'No!'

Interesting that they're not mandatory so you might have different aero configurations out there. ...

If they prove to be effective though we might get one race with a barge board/no barge board split before they all opt into them

_________________
RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

The mention of the PJ1 compound on the Texas surface makes me wonder/hope if NASCAR's Next Gen package will help make that shit extinct.

i hope i'm wrong but nothing will help Texas

and the same goes for Charlotte, Kentucky, Michigan and any of the other tracks that used a insanely high durability mix for the asphalt

IndyCar is doing a special esports race on February 9th with IndyCar drivers participating.

It'll be using rFactor2:

Wait, the developers of rF2 will make the Indycar game?

Motorsports Games acquired Studio 397 back a few months ago, but from my understanding they will not be doing the IndyCar game directly. It'll be the same kind of deal as the NASCAR Ignition dumpster fire game unfortunately.

Pruett did an article for RACER magazine at the end of last year regarding the hybrid system which has now been made available for free on the website;

https://racer.com/2022/02/02/insight-in ... solutions/

tl;dr
-The chosen vendor is MAHLE, a German company also working with the DTM.
-Instead of a battery-based or flywheel-based system, a supercapacitor will be used.
-For ovals, the supercapacitor will be charged using a paddle at the driver's control, to effectively replace the coasting that is normally seen in traffic.
-Testing is expected to begin in March or April.

_________________
Wouter Weylandt ¦ 1984-2011
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

'Are you saving your tyres?' 'No!' 'Can you go any faster?' 'No!'

As expected, Carlin has been absorbed into Juncos-Hollinger.

https://racer.com/2022/02/02/juncos-hol ... ar-season/

There are no plans to enter a second car for the 500.

_________________
Wouter Weylandt ¦ 1984-2011
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

'Are you saving your tyres?' 'No!' 'Can you go any faster?' 'No!'

Well, from the headline I thought both will field cars, but it seems that Carlin is just plain gone.