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Post by René on Feb 24, 2022 17:58:35 GMT
IndyCar 2022 season
The 2022 IndyCar season gets underway this weekend! First race will be on the streets of St. Petersburg, always a sensational venue. Several drivers changed teams so that will be interesting and among them is Romain Grosjean who will drive for Andretti Autosport.
Last week's two days of group testing on the Sebring short course gave a first impression of how the cards are shuffled but of course it never says it all. Day 1 saw the Andretti boys Colton Herta and Grosjean as fastest and second fastest and Penske boys Josef Newgarden and Will Power were 3rd and 4th. Then Felix Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward both driving for Arrow-McLaren SP in 5 and 6. In the second group that tested on the second day it was Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves for Meyer Shank Racing on position 1 and 2, Marcus Ericssson for Chip Ganassi in third, Rinus VeeKay for Ed Carpenter Racing in 4th, new boy Kyle Kirkwood for AJ Foyt Racing in 5th and Scott Dixon for Chip Ganassi in 6th. What does this mean? I don’t know but the first three of Group 1 (Herta, Grosjean and Newgarden) were faster than the fastest time of Group 2. But anyway, it’s IndyCar so it will be close as ever. Very much looking forward again to this season, especially with Romain Grosjean now driving for a top team. And of course hoping for a good season for Rinus VeeKay! Bring it on!
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Post by Carl on Feb 24, 2022 19:35:18 GMT
St. Petersburg is always close and exciting. The street circuit with an airport runway as the main straight is as good as Long Beach once was and, along with Elkhart Lake, would be a great place to convene the round table. Following alarm about disruption of business along Ocean Boulevard, the challenging descent of Linden Avenue and equally steep climb up Pine Avenue were abandoned. Soon the second hairpin disappeared and turns 2-4 were made farcical to accommodate an aquarium. Once great, now emasculated, I would not return.
Over the crest of Pine Avenue 1980  Turns 1 and 2 on the first lap 1976  |
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Post by René on Feb 24, 2022 20:03:08 GMT
St. Petersburg is always close and exciting. The street circuit with an airport runway as the main straight is as good as Long Beach once was and, along with Elkhart Lake, would be a great place to convene the round table. Following alarm about disruption of business along Ocean Boulevard, the challenging descent of Linden Avenue and equally steep climb up Pine Avenue were abandoned. Soon the second hairpin disappeared and turns 2-4 were made farcical to accommodate an aquarium. Once great, now emasculated, I would not return. Over the crest of Pine Avenue 1980 <button disabled="" class="c-attachment-insert--linked o-btn--sm">Attachment Deleted</button>
Turns 1 and 2 on the first lap 1976 <button disabled="" class="c-attachment-insert--linked o-btn--sm">Attachment Deleted</button>
Carl, I wish I could have seen the original Long Beach in real life. That must have been something! But for now, St. Pete’s is not a bad replacement as you said. I have the feeling this is going to be a classic season! The quality of the field is very high. |
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Post by chrisb on Feb 25, 2022 12:05:18 GMT
Oh that is such good news and I will try and watch it live if I can work out how to persuade the USA I am a resident or something,
my man Jack Harvey has also moved teams and I am hoping for great things from him this year -
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Post by Carl on Feb 26, 2022 19:41:30 GMT
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Post by René on Feb 27, 2022 11:44:49 GMT
Congrats to Penske's Scott McLaughlin for his first IndyCar pole position at the St. Petersburg Street Course! An impressive performance to beat teammate Will Power and Andretti Autosport's Colton Herta. Also a very good start of the season for Rinus Veekay in fourth position! Romain Grosjean made a strong debut for Andretti in fifth but had a small get together with Takuma Sato who was very unhappy with the Frenchman! Reigning champion Alex Palou only in 10th and Pato O'Ward even further back in 16th. Looking very much forward to this race!  |
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Post by mikael on Feb 27, 2022 12:22:08 GMT
Any time I see a photo of a contemporary Indy Car I come to think that, F1 made the right decision, after all, regarding the "halo". I see this device more and more as just a natural evolution of the "classic" roll bar, whereas the Indy Car solution to me looks more and more like a closed jet fighter-type canopy. The F1 driver still gets the wind directly into his face, after all. That's no longer the case for the Indy car driver.
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Post by René on Feb 27, 2022 12:54:49 GMT
Any time I see a photo of a contemporary Indy Car I come to think that, F1 made the right decision, after all, regarding the "halo". I see this device more and more as just a natural evolution of the "classic" roll bar, whereas the Indy Car solution to me looks more and more like a closed jet fighter-type canopy. The F1 driver still gets the wind directly into his face, after all. That's no longer the case for the Indy car driver.
Love those Michel Vaillant comics. I still have a box full somewhere in the attic as those were my favorite comic books! The last picture with those futuristic cars is from a story written in the 1970's! I know it from the jubilee book '20 years Michel Vaillant' and it has some interesting future visions not far off reality. As for the IndyCars, you're absolutely right about the (lack of) wind in their faces. They need additional cooling in those canopies for the drivers because there is no cooling from the wind.
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Post by Carl on Feb 27, 2022 18:37:35 GMT
A Formula One driver would have wind in the face only with an open-face helmet...  |
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Post by mikael on Feb 27, 2022 19:34:52 GMT
A Formula One driver would have wind in the face only with an open-face helmet...  Even a karter would need to open his visor to get wind in the face  
The great Mike Wilson (GB, but raced under Italian colours), six times FIA Karting ("Formula K") World Champion
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Post by René on Feb 28, 2022 12:16:10 GMT
It all came together for Scott McLaughlin in the streets of St. Petersburg. A well deserved win after having led most of the race from pole position.
Scott was 'Rookie of the year' in 2021 but as far as I remember there was nothing too spectacular about his season. No remarkable results or actions that I remember but I could be wrong of course. In any case, this was certainly a 'breakthrough weekend' for him and Penske has a new golden boy! 
The race was good but sometimes a bit chaotic with the different strategies going on. Strong start also for reigning champion Alex Palou who recovered from 10th on the grid to finish a close second. Rinus Veekay could not hold on to fourth unfortunately after having stretched his fuel window a bit too long and had to slow down the last few laps to reach the finish.
1. Scott McLaughlin - Team Penske 2. Alex Palou - Chip Ganassi Racing 3. Will Power - Team Penske 4. Colton Herta - Andretti Autosport 5. Romain Grosjean - Andretti Autosport 6. Rinus VeeKay - Ed Carpenter Racing
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Post by Carl on Feb 28, 2022 19:03:21 GMT
Hats off to Scott McLaughlin and Team Penske for a hard fought victory! It was good to see fast race cars on a very cool street course, but the emphasis on pit stop and tyre strategy, with fuel consumption also a concern in Indycar, was maddening. This is always boring... Over the last 30 laps, after final pitstops, the main focus was drivers actually racing each other. In the past, there was a better balance of control between team and driver. Kimi Räikkönen's emphatic "Leave me alone" may have been an early warning of a dismal future: driverless electric race cars controlled by engineers on banks of computers deep within the paddock garages...  I thought Rinus Veekay's chances degraded along with his soft tyres when he needed to stop earlier than anyone else, possibly starting on tyres previously worn during practice sessions and pushing too hard early. He was one of several potential winners who had a bad day.
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Post by René on Mar 19, 2022 20:34:11 GMT
Texas Motor Speedway
Pole position for Felix Rosenqvist on the fast Texas oval near Fort Worth! It’s his second pole and the first on an oval. St. Pete winner Scott McLaughlin second and Takuma Sato in third.
1. Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP
2. Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
3. Takuma Sato, Dale Coyne Racing
4. Will Power, Team Penske
5. Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing
6. Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
7. Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
8. Rinus van Kalmthout, Ed Carpenter Racing
9. Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport
10. Patricio O'Ward, Arrow McLaren SP
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Post by mikael on Mar 20, 2022 21:18:36 GMT
Pole position ... and Takuma Sato in third. 1. Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP 2. Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske 3. Takuma Sato, Dale Coyne Racing ... Takuma Sato's long "shelf life" is impressive. He's becoming reminiscent of another great Japanese sportsman, the baseball player Ichiro Suzuki (known mainly just as "Ichiro" (イチロー)). Ichiro played almost 20 years in American major league baseball (after an initial career of almost 10 years in the Japanese major league). Not the strongest or most naturally gifted player ever seen, but arguably the smartest and most thoughtful.
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Post by Carl on Mar 21, 2022 0:40:59 GMT
The NBC broadcast started abruptly, already on lap 30, and I had no idea why, but the network fast-forward seemed right after watching the entire Formula One race so I did the same, stopping to watch closely when the leaderboard changed.
Jack Harvey had a serious accident on Saturday and wasn't cleared to drive. I hope he heals quickly.
If it wasn't for bad luck, Alexander Rossi would have none at all...
Rinus Veekay, who had driven brilliantly and was often in the lead, was forced to reduce speed and fall back to save fuel near the end. Indycar needs to reduce the artificial importance of good mileage or else go electric.
A very exciting final lap with Josef Newgarden winning by less than 1/10th of a second from the amazing Scott McLaughlin.
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