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Post by René on Mar 11, 2019 8:31:16 GMT
Yes it was good ‘old school’ racing. Carl, you’re right of course, Felix isn’t that young anymore for a debutant, I almost forgot. But he raced like a young lion and if he can manage the ovals he could be a serious factor in the championship. That was an impressive piece of driving.
I was amazed by the way that there was no caution to remove the banner that was lying on the track for many laps.
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Post by Carl on Mar 11, 2019 16:24:00 GMT
Yes it was good ‘old school’ racing. Carl, you’re right of course, Felix isn’t that young anymore for a debutant, I almost forgot. But he raced like a young lion and if he can manage the ovals he could be a serious factor in the championship. That was an impressive piece of driving. I was amazed by the way that there was no caution to remove the banner that was lying on the track for many laps. They apparently have a new policy to avoid caution periods whenever possible and decided the banner would stay beyond the racing line. You are right about Rosenqvist. He's raced ovals in the past, but higher speeds will present a higher challenge. |
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Post by René on Mar 24, 2019 11:27:57 GMT
Looking forward to the race at Austin, Circuit of the Americas this evening! Pole position for Penske's Will Power with Alexander Rossi in second. Good effort again by Felix Rosenqvist in fifth.
It's interesting we can compare lap times this time between Indycar and F1 on exactly the same circuit (COTA). And it must be said, the difference is huge! That doesn't take anything away from Indycar which is still very fast but it is clearly much more basic with way less downforce.
Will Power's pole time is 1m47.017s. Compare that to Lewis's pole time from last year which was a 1m 32.237s and we're talking a gap of almost 15 seconds! I knew F1 was faster but honestly I didn't realize it was that much faster. An F1 car would start lapping the Indycar field after six laps! A Williams could win the race, easy. And then to think the cars are even faster this year.
Comparing F1 to Formula 2 from last year at Silverstone shows a pole position time for Lewis of 1m 25.892s. George Russell did a pole lap of 1:39.989s in the Formula 2 car so a difference of 14 seconds. So on road courses an Indycar seems about as fast as a Formula 2 car.
I would have thought the Indycar to be a bit faster but obviously it is not. Of course this is a consequence of the direction Indycar has chosen to improve the racing which is good I think but it also shows it would not be easy for F1 to take that direction with F2 already as fast as Indycar. They would need to change all the categories.
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Post by Jamie on Mar 24, 2019 16:14:15 GMT
Yes I was amazed when I checked difference as well Rene. The Indycars were moving around nicely at COTA and looked a real handful around there so hoping for a good race.
I'd like a Felix Rosenqvist or Colton Herta win, failing that I'm never disappointed if Dixon wins.
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Post by charleselan on Mar 24, 2019 17:18:52 GMT
When one first looks at those differences in lap times it seems huge and would appear to make Indycars look somewhat anaemic in comparison with F1 vehicles. However many things come into play here like the huge amounts of downforce generated by current F1 vehicles compared with the quite basic one make chassis formula of Indy. Also the rules have been constructed in the American series to bring things more into perspective and I believe to make the cars harder to drive physically, a point that has been outlined several times when I have watched the races.
In the past I have alluded to the fact that when watching car racing as a spectator it is often hard to tell the difference between a car going 5 seconds a lap faster than another in a different category. In fact it can be said that watching a car with far less downforce and adhesion is more spectacular and rewarding to the viewer. The circuit that the cars are racing on also plays a part in this degree, just watch film footage of 1970's F1 cars at the old Nurburgring and tell me they don't look quick, let alone impressive.
Stefan Johansson's excellent piece on improving F1 refers to the fact that the cars need to be seen to be difficult to drive and moving around and not stuck to the track surface as if on velcro.
F1 cars/vehicles could easily be legislated to be 10 secs a lap slower and who would know the difference other than by the stopwatch. They would still be 5 seconds per lap faster than Indy or F2 which to me is a most acceptable margin. Also at race end I want to see a guy get out of the car looking like he has had to fight the thing for 90 minutes, not like having stepped away from a video game.
One final thing, as abysmal as Team Williams are looking these days in current F1, I would bet my hat that if they were so minded and allowed by the rules to build an Indy car they would be right at the sharp end, just as would McLaren. One reason, it is a fairer playing field, not perfect but fairer.
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Post by Carl on Mar 25, 2019 0:20:26 GMT
I knew Indycars would be slower, I thought by about 3-5 seconds. The huge difference mirrors, as Rene found, roughly the speed differential between F1 and F2. Wow! The sophistication of chassis designs and downforce explains some of the speed differential, and one third more horsepower augmented by the instant thrust of a supplemental electric motor does wonders for a lap time.
No wonder it's called Formula One! |
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Post by Carl on Mar 25, 2019 0:38:55 GMT
When one first looks at those differences in lap times it seems huge and would appear to make Indycars look somewhat anaemic in comparison with F1 vehicles. However many things come into play here like the huge amounts of downforce generated by current F1 vehicles compared with the quite basic one make chassis formula of Indy. Also the rules have been constructed in the American series to bring things more into perspective and I believe to make the cars harder to drive physically, a point that has been outlined several times when I have watched the races. John Charles, Well stated as always and exactly right about physical effort. Indycars, unlike Formula One, have no power steering, something new arrival Marcus Ericsson says makes them far more physically demanding to drive.
Another difference is in the overall amount of money involved, and Indycar remains less expensive. During the degradations of ecclestone and mosley, massive amounts of corporate cash were solicited so more would be available in Formula One to steal. As you have pointed out, this has become the model for MotoGP, possibly for the same reasons. Cheers, Carl
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Post by Carl on Mar 25, 2019 1:23:58 GMT
The race in Austin was excellent. Poor Will Power deserved a better outcome, but the way Colton Herta drove away from his pursuers over the final ten laps (following the only full course yellow) was amazing. I was sure Josef Newgarden would prevail on the basis of talent and experience, but Herta simply drove away. Herta's bold passing throughout foretold the result, although when Alexander Rossi brilliantly passed him mid-race on the approach to Turn 12, he seemed the more likely winner.
Herta and Patricio O'Ward, fierce competitors last year in IndyLights, are the most impressive young duo to emerge since Michael Andretti and Al Unser, Jr. in the early 80s.
Firestone should have had better tires (proper Texas spelling), especially after several days of recent testing. Drivers should be free to race all day at 8/10ths without having to obsess about tire degradation. Oh well, there was abundant cut and thrust racing, enough to delight the crowd.
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Post by Jamie on Mar 25, 2019 20:42:36 GMT
Really pleased for Colton Herta, he drove brilliantly in the last dash to get a thoroughly deserved win.....good to see a quick young American driver getting results. A real shame for Power as Carl said, car trouble eventually did for him but he wouldn't have won anyway because of Indycars' rule of closing the pits when a yellow is thrown which put him at a massive disadvantage (as was Rossi) as he hadn't pitted. He'd dominated until that point and this ruined the race for him, its very artificial and Indycar need to change that rule, it seems so stupid but they must have a reason?  Power was very vocal about this in the pits afterwards and rightly so. |
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Post by René on Mar 25, 2019 20:56:51 GMT
It was a good race Carl and always nice to see a first time winner. Colton Herta is clearly 'the real deal', a future champion and it was a well deserved win albeit a bit lucky with the yellow. Patricio O'Ward was also impressive, a racer.
I felt for Power, he drove a perfect race and then it went all away for him. Josef Newgarden was never really on the same pace as the leaders so to finish second was probably more than he'd hoped for.
I liked Brian Herta when he was still driving so it was great to see him as a proud dad on the pit wall. Won't be the last time!
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Post by Carl on Apr 3, 2019 4:16:33 GMT
This coming weekend, IndyCar races at one of the great natural terrain road courses, Barber Motorsports Park. Should be a good race, maybe a great one with young hotshots Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist and Patricio O'Ward energizing the series this year. 2.4 miles  |
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Post by charleselan on Apr 3, 2019 12:51:11 GMT
This coming weekend, IndyCar races at one of the great natural terrain road courses, Barber Motorsports Park. Should be a good race, maybe a great one with young hotshots Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist and Patricio O'Ward energizing the series this year. 2.4 miles Carl, I think that this is going to be one not to miss. A truly wonderful circuit and a series that has many good things going for it. The old CART series races from that venue was always very special back in the 1990's. I used to tape the recorded races that were shown on a now defunct sport program that was aired over night on the Free To View UK Channel 5; then watched the recording the following evening on VHS. I probably still have many of those recordings stashed away somewhere  . John Charles |
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Post by René on Apr 3, 2019 15:55:56 GMT
This coming weekend, IndyCar races at one of the great natural terrain road courses, Barber Motorsports Park. Should be a good race, maybe a great one with young hotshots Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist and Patricio O'Ward energizing the series this year. 2.4 miles Looking forward to this one Carl! And thanks for writing a small preview for every Indycar race. Much appreciated!  |
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Post by chrisb on Apr 3, 2019 20:27:16 GMT
hear hear Rene,
Carl it is with gratitude you do these previews,
there is a nice little piece in this months MOTORSPORT which has a bit on Bryan coming to Europe many years ago and talking about how he felt about his son winning his first race - its really nice
sadly aside form 2.5 minute highlight on utub I don't get to see much of the racing now, long gone are the days in London when I had cable and could watch back to back motor sport all day Sunday, maybe that explained why so many girlfriends got annoyed, well, at least I think that was the reason....
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Post by Carl on Apr 6, 2019 22:53:51 GMT
Once dominant Chevrolet was a clear second to Honda engines in qualifying at Barber Motorsports Park. Teammates Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal are on the front row with Scott Dixon third. Ten of the fastest twelve qualifiers have Honda engines.
The best starting position for Team Penske is seventh, seen by some as a sign of Armageddon.
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Power was very vocal about this in the pits afterwards and rightly so.
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