Indycar 2011 @ Las Vegas

RtN · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 2:33 pm

Cheeveer · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 2:42 pm

StefMeister wrote:

Indycar has cancelled the Test for the 2012 car which was scheduled to take place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Ashley Judd posted this:

Quote:

I appreciate @IndyCar canceling my husband's test at Las Vegas track. The new car needs development - but not now, and never again there.

David Coulthard wrote in a British paper yesterday that Indycar is 20 years behind in terms of safety & that he had wanted to run in Indycar untill he saw Piquet's crash at indy in '92. Also said they need to limit speeds because ther is no need to run at 220mph.

Coulthard have absolutely no idea what he's talking about.

NVirkkula · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 2:49 pm

StefMeister wrote:

Indycar has cancelled the Test for the 2012 car which was scheduled to take place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Ashley Judd posted this:

Quote:

I appreciate @IndyCar canceling my husband's test at Las Vegas track. The new car needs development - but not now, and never again there.

David Coulthard wrote in a British paper yesterday that Indycar is 20 years behind in terms of safety & that he had wanted to run in Indycar untill he saw Piquet's crash at indy in '92. Also said they need to limit speeds because ther is no need to run at 220mph.

Also Jackie Stewart had his word to say about this and it was something very similar. I'm gutted with all the Captain Hindsights that just have to have their headline time with this matter. So far Coulthard, Johnsson and Stewart have been the worst. I can already see few catch-phrases picking up the trend, like "Russian roulette" and "recipe for disaster" and so on. There's too many people focusing on the accident rather than the loss of a person.

People, the Global Dignity day is tomorrow!
http://www.globaldignity.org/frontpage/
"The mission of the Dignity Project is to implement globally the universal right of every human being to lead a dignified life."

electrodevo · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 3:43 pm

NVirkkula wrote:

Also Jackie Stewart had his word to say about this and it was something very similar.

Not to discount his safety advocacy which has improved the sport tremendously, but, well, this reminds me of his "slow down" commentary after the Patrick Bedard crash @ Indy. In 1984. In a crash which Bedard only suffered a broken jaw. They're going 25mph faster at Indy today yet things are a heckuv a lot safer than the 1980s, which certainly was a heckuv a lot safer than the 1950s. It's not necessarily a matter of speed per se, there are many other factors.

I see that Stewart also added a comment about unqualified drivers racing when talking about the Vegas crash. As Patrick Bedard showed in the 1980s, that's not exactly a new phenomenon in Indy racing. :wave:

The main thread I agree with, is that the pack racing spectacle is too dangerous for open-wheel cars. It's produced the bulk of the nasty accidents since 2000.

NVirkkula · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 3:59 pm

Some pictures from Indycar.com Vegas photo gallery.

Franchitti's helmet

R.I.P Dan Wheldon.

More can be found from here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/izodindycar

Chris D · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 4:16 pm

Jimmy Spencer weighs in, and it's actually a good read.

ellis · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 4:54 pm

theRacingLine.net Big Picture: Remembering Dan Wheldon

Sunoco · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 4:57 pm

buster hymen wrote:

Jimmy Spencer weighs in, and it's actually a good read.

I don't normally like anything Spencer says, but that was an excellent article.

eddyjay46 · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:10 pm

Spencer has definitely been on fire this month when ripping people a new ass. His last paragraph I posted to my facebook this morning. I couldn't agree more with it.

Black_Jack · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:39 pm

ChasKrall wrote:

Black_Jack wrote:

buster hymen wrote:

Foyt and Mario rip Johnson a new one.

Thank you AJ and Mario.

I don't defend the IRL and its insistance to run a car with a flat bottom instead of tunnels to suck the car to ground more effectively, but regardless, Johnson being a shill for Nascar and trying to stab a knife into the heart of Indycar's oval traditions barely a day after Wheldons death strikes me as tasteless. Especially when he takes part in the "plate" shows Nascar puts on at superspeedways. Get off your throne and tell the fans that got hurt from flying debris in 2009 when Edwards got into the fence that Nascar isn't still dangerous with pack racing, JJ, you twat.

I don't agree with Jimmie in this instance. But there is nothing political about his statement. He is not trying to win fans over to NASCAR. He isn't trying to insult Indycar fans. He is offering his heartfelt opinion. Nothing more. He sees the dangers of the game and doesn't see a benefit. That's his decision and I respect him for saying it. For someone who is so often chastised for not being opinionated maybe we shouldn't jump all over him for finally sharing his opinion with us.

That doesn't make him an expert on the topic. He was ready jump into one of these things if Mr. Hendrick would write him a big enough check. Maybe he can share his opinions after he blows this years Chase. He has enough to worry about with that.

Alonsomania · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:19 pm

Versus will be airing the memorial service on the 23rd

Jordi · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:35 pm

Thank God for AJ and Mario. People like Johnson and DC are talking about knee-jerk reactions, and I think knee-jerking is the last thing needed now.

I know it's not a very popular view, but, only Dan died. And because he hit the fence in the worst possible angle. Seeing the ferocity of the crash, seeing 3 or 4 cars flying at about 180 mph, this would've been a disaster in the 1980s and could have been a disaster today. There was bad luck for Dan, but the other 14 drivers involved were extremely lucky. I mean, we've come a long way from the days where death was expected, but zero risk is impossible.

Also, the world is more sanitized than ever, and I think that when we see a death live it impacts people more, because we're not used to seeing it daily and, especially in motor racing, it's gradually been erased of our minds. Guys driving in the 1960s had death nearing by at every corner; nowadays it's super safe, it's actually safer to crash at 200 mph in an oval in a Dallara than to crash at 40 mph in your own car. But as I said, it's nigh-on impossible to eliminate the risk. Max Mosley wanted zero deaths in European motorways and Dr. Sid Watkins would answer that it's impossible to get to that.

So... do we need to change the face of IndyCar forever? I think not. 10 years ago, Reynards and Lolas were doing 250 mph at Fontana and I hardly remember any serious injuries to those guys. We've got a new car coming that will probably solve most flying issues (even if I myself don't like the look of the car - but well).

I think the focus has to be put on what creates inches-apart racing in cars that are not designed to touch wheels. Race at places like Milwaukee or Loudon, or hell, check out Lausitzring and Rockingham here in Europe, or the old Rio oval in Brazil. At those places guys had to brake, or at least, it was not possible to race in a pack. I still want 240 mph cars, but at Michigan and Fontana, and with suitable aerodynamics, but oval racing doesn't always have to be flat-out. We got a great finish in Rio in 98 with Zanardi and Moore, entering a corner where they had to lift. Good racing can happen even if it's not pack-racing.

So, to end this post, no, I don't want canopies, no, I don't want covered wheels, no, I don't want to ditch the ovals, no, I don't want to slow the cars down.
But let's leave Talladega-style racing to NASCAR. IndyCar can thrill, and will thrill, in other areas, in other places.

NVirkkula · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:30 pm

electrodevo wrote:

Alonsomania wrote:

According to CNN the IndyCar Series claimed 7 lives in the past 15 years.
That three of those happened in another championship doesn't matter.

By comparison, the 15 year fatality count in Jimmie Johnson's "ultra-safe" NASCAR is 4.
And if you count the supporting series (trucks, BGN, etc.) you also get 7.
You can also add 1 for NASCAR's brilliant decision to run the Sportsman series at Charlotte in the mid 90s, and 4 for ARCA during that time period, if you want.

The difference is, NASCAR has not had a fatality since 2001 in any of their main series. (The last ARCA death was in 2002.) And I'll give NASCAR credit. Back in the 1990s it did seem like NASCAR was not on the ball and CART was leading the way in safety. This is not the case anymore, NASCAR is quite safe these days. (Although IMHO NASCAR's been awful lucky that their plate racing hasn't resulted in greater disaster.)

I would argue that the IRL is relatively safe too, outside of the banked pack racing format. Since 2001 the worst wrecks outside of pack racing have either been due to poor decisions to run an event (Surfer's Paradise) or T-boning type accidents that are definitely harder to account for in a formula type design (Paul Dana, Will Power). Today's formula cars are definitely a helluv a lot safer than cars in the 1980s, so kudos to Mario and AJ for putting Jimmie in his place.

And if you take a closer look on all these fatalities, majority of the happened on fast oval tracks in all mentioned series.

sennadesillva · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:05 pm

scott goodyear had the best quote about the safety of the cars during the race. "id rather crash in one of these cars at 200mph than my road car at 50mph"

Juihi · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 11:33 pm

StefMeister wrote:

David Coulthard wrote in a British paper yesterday that Indycar is 20 years behind in terms of safety & that he had wanted to run in Indycar untill he saw Piquet's crash at indy in '92. Also said they need to limit speeds because ther is no need to run at 220mph.

For someone that raced at insane speeds at Monaco I really find it surprising he's saying Indycar is too dangerous

Akwel · PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 11:56 pm

Yeah when a car will flip in the tunnel, I don't know what the f1 world will say about that...

Shane · PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 12:01 am

Or anyone who has raced at Spa, Nurb, Daytona, Indianopolis, etc...

ChasKrall · PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 12:20 am

How sad this situation is all the way around. Dan is gone, as is the car he won the race with - destroyed in a crash at Texas. The pole winning car, also a heartwarming story, driven by Alex Tagliani, was the car Dan was driving at Las Vegas. The 2011 Indianapolis 500 was all about underdogs beating the superpowers, and now they're all gone.

Juihi · PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 12:21 am

Indeed, the fact is motorsports is dangerous and yes what happened at Las Vegas was an absolute tragedy and the Indycar community will learn from it, but these other drivers who have raced at plenty of dangerous places themselves should really consider what they are saying

Gaara · PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 1:09 am

JJ clarifies his comments on IndyCar.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ ... statements

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Indycar 2011 @ Las Vegas

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