IndyCar Series 2010

TheChrisD

So, anyone else geared up for the start of the 2010 IndyCar Series this weekend?

That track in Brazil is definitely interesting to say the least. But why are the pits so far from the start-line? I mean I understand them wanting it at the Sambodromo because it's a landmark, but having the pits a third of the way around the lap just look weird.

Also, Sato for Rookie of the Year!

amacachi

Looking forward to it, just a pity there's four races before they go near an oval.

Any pictures of the track or anything?

TheChrisD

amacachi wrote: »

Any pictures of the track or anything?

Track info page: http://www.indycar.com/schedule/show/55-izod-indycar-series/1799-sao-paulo-indy-300/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G8HfgaQlvc

amacachi

Looks surprisingly decent I have to admit.

f1dan

Doesn't look half bad. Is this on tv here?

TheChrisD

f1dan wrote: »

Doesn't look half bad. Is this on tv here?

Not sure if Sky Sports are still showing the Indycars or not. There's generally a couple of people who stream the Versus broadcast if you're in a pinch.

amacachi

Sky are showing it delayed tomorrow night. Possibly will be on the Red Button live.

f1dan

Did anyone else notice that there's 4 women competing in the race? I'm not being sexist or anything, just pointing it out.

amacachi

f1dan wrote: »

Did anyone else notice that there's 4 women competing in the race? I'm not being sexist or anything, just pointing it out.

Yeah, there's usually 2 or 3 anyway in IndyCar.

TheChrisD

f1dan wrote: »

Did anyone else notice that there's 4 women competing in the race? I'm not being sexist or anything, just pointing it out.

Yup, for the past few years Patrick has obviously been there full-time, and plus Milka Duno and Sarah Fisher had part time schedules.

This year, Patrick and Duno have full-time schedules along with Simona de Silvestro, the rookie for HVM. Ana Beatriz has this race as a bonus, with the possibility for more, and Sarash Fisher is again on a partial schedule at most of the super-speedway oval tracks.

It's good to see that the IndyCars aren't completely male-dominated unlike other certain series... *cough*F1*cough*

TheChrisD

Dangit, slept out the quali session. Dario on pole, not much of a surprise, but the rest of the Fast Six is definitely not what I expected.

Watching the race later on then?

amacachi

TheChrisD wrote: »

Dangit, slept out the quali session. Dario on pole, not much of a surprise, but the rest of the Fast Six is definitely not what I expected.

Watching the race later on then?

I'll more than likely watch the Replay on Sky, my connection is awful and it's torture trying to watch a race on Justin.tv. What time is the race actually at?

Half a second covering the Top 10 though, should be close enough. Would like to see Will Power do well because of his name. :pac: Sickner for RHR, he always seems to go well yet he can't get a full season.

EvilMonkey

Youtube highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c553Arr-07M

amacachi

Bloody great race, just wish Sky had shown it live. With 13 minutes to go I got the impression Power was just holding back, happy with the double-dradt from RHR and Briscoe, turned out he didn't need it.
If every road course race runs like that I won't mind them too much.

TheChrisD

I think I saw more passing in this race just for the lead, than I saw throughout the entire field in the F1...

f1dan

Seems like a great race from the highlights. The full course caution is great for keeping the cars together and throwing up different strategies but i don't think it would work in F1 unfortunately.

amacachi

f1dan wrote: »

Seems like a great race from the highlights. The full course caution is great for keeping the cars together and throwing up different strategies but i don't think it would work in F1 unfortunately.

Full course cautions, can't decided how I feel about them. Sometimes they're overused, though I think the IRL has an OK balance for when to use them.


Also someone was saying last year that the IndyCars look awful, and I'll admit they do on the speedways, but I thought they looked pretty good on the track yesterday.

TheChrisD

They are a little more liberal with the full-course yellows yes, but they also do have a higher concentration of street courses to proper road tracks, so you'd expect a few more yellows!

F1, they're just pansies. If they were to have a Safety Car as often as in the IRL, surely the team bosses would complain to no end about it and there'd be another scandal.

smooch71

TheChrisD wrote: »

F1, they're just pansies.

Bit of a silly comment there, but nevertheless.

The pace car is over used on street circuits and road courses in Indycars.

Many of the incidents could easily be covered by a local yellow flag but in fairness to the IRL they seem to be starting to realise this and try to keep the race flowing where possible.

I don't watch Nascar but I've heard of cynical "debris on the track" incidents to close the pack up.

Does anyone know if Sky intend to show the races live this year? The highlights show that was on Sunday didn't really give any real indication of this.

It's a pity we have to suffer these ridiculous looking cars for another 2 seasons but if the racing on Sunday is anything to go by, it may just be worth it.

amacachi

smooch71 wrote: »

Bit of a silly comment there, but nevertheless.

The pace car is over used on street circuits and road courses in Indycars.

Many of the incidents could easily be covered by a local yellow flag but in fairness to the IRL they seem to be starting to realise this and try to keep the race flowing where possible.

I think the IRL are fast on the button due to the amount of injuries and even deaths that have happened with stalled or crashed cars getting run into in the fairly recent past in the US. Mostly down to poor marshalling as far as I can tell.

I don't watch Nascar but I've heard of cynical "debris on the track" incidents to close the pack up.

I thought towards the end of last season they were letting up on that, but then there were a coupla times drivers ended up with tyres disintegrating due to, you guessed it, debris on the track. One was a fairly bit accident as well.

Does anyone know if Sky intend to show the races live this year? The highlights show that was on Sunday didn't really give any real indication of this.

I've deleted my recording but I'm almost certain their contract for live races runs to the end of this season. There were a coupla times last year they had to show IndyCar on the Red Button when the NASCAR was on as well, and I think I'm right in saying that all 4 channels had live sport on while the race was running.

It's a pity we have to suffer these ridiculous looking cars for another 2 seasons but if the racing on Sunday is anything to go by, it may just be worth it.

Do you not think they look good straight-on with a low camera angle? I'll concede it's the only angle I like them from. :pac:

Anyone else quite like the commentary the other night? Seemed to be good banter between them.

smooch71

amacachi wrote: »

Do you not think they look good straight-on with a low camera angle? I'll concede it's the only angle I like them from. :pac:

Anyone else quite like the commentary the other night? Seemed to be good banter between them.

No, I have to say I can't warm to them at all. I was never a fan of the IRL style of car but the current Dallaras are particularly ugly.



The Panoz (above) was nicer but was phased out after 2008 I think.

Of course an Indycar should look like this:




And yeah, I thought the commentary team were pretty good.

TheChrisD

smooch71 wrote: »

No, I have to say I can't warm to them at all. I was never a fan of the IRL style of car but the current Dallaras are particularly ugly.



The Panoz (above) was nicer but was phased out after 2008 I think.

The old school IRL Panoz was always practically the same as the Dallara.

The DP01 though looked beautiful:

smooch71 wrote: »

Of course an Indycar should look like this:

Hopefully Lola will win the 2012 chassis contract. Since they used to manufacture the chassis for Champ Car they have a history. Although the new Dallara concepts aren't all that bad.

But if they go the way of the Deltawing, I can see everyone leaving the sport and jumping ship straight back and revitalizing Champ Car :P

smooch71

TheChrisD wrote: »

The old school IRL Panoz was always practically the same as the Dallara.

The DP01 though looked beautiful:




Hopefully Lola will win the 2012 chassis contract. Since they used to manufacture the chassis for Champ Car they have a history. Although the new Dallara concepts aren't all that bad.

But if they go the way of the Deltawing, I can see everyone leaving the sport and jumping ship straight back and revitalizing Champ Car :P

With you on that one. The DP01 looked like a modern Indycar should have looked and may have looked if the IRL didn't happen.

The Panoz IRL car didn't have that stupid pointy nose thing the Dallara has.

Ideally, I'd like to see Lola, Dallara and Swift being allowed to compete against one another. Then we might see Indycars back on the road to their former greatness.

That Deltawing thing has to be a hoax.

amacachi

I dunno, Champ Cars looked a bit too GP2-ish for my liking.

amacachi

Race is live Sunday evening on Sky Sports. Think it'll clash with the NASCAR so I for one won't be watching it live.

TheChrisD

I'll probably watch the IndyCars rather than the NASCAR, seeing as there's usually more action in the IndyCars, and the NASCAR is boring once JPM and Ambrose are out of it.

Also, keep your eyes peeled for the Indy Lights at Barber in two weeks

amacachi

TheChrisD wrote: »

I'll probably watch the IndyCars rather than the NASCAR, seeing as there's usually more action in the IndyCars, and the NASCAR is boring once JPM and Ambrose are out of it.

Also, keep your eyes peeled for the Indy Lights at Barber in two weeks

I usually find the street races fairly boring, though last week was big exception. You can always watch the end of the NASCAR, think the timings work out that way.


Whyso?

TheChrisD

amacachi wrote: »

Whyso?

Well, nothing's set in stone just yet, so I'm not sure I should be saying anything. It's just a pity that (if it is happening) it's not going to happen in St. Pete...

f1dan

Just looked at the starting grid. 1st to 23rd covered by 1.4 seconds...........and then Milka Duno another 5.5 seconds back.

Is her car worse or is the lack of talent that obvious?

amacachi

I'd take a guess she must've had some problems, she's not usually THAT bad.

smooch71

amacachi wrote: »

I'd take a guess she must've had some problems, she's not usually THAT bad.

Ah in fairness she is.

She couldn't drive cattle

amacachi

FFS. Looking forward to 3 races today and ended up with 1.

TheChrisD

f1dan wrote: »

Just looked at the starting grid. 1st to 23rd covered by 1.4 seconds...........and then Milka Duno another 5.5 seconds back.

Is her car worse or is the lack of talent that obvious?

No, she's just crap. Well OK, no she's not crap, but she's only ever been on the ovals before, so she's new to the road circuits, and it's obviously taking her a while to adjust.

It can't be the machinery otherwise Alex Lloyd would also be way back.

smooch71

TheChrisD wrote: »

No, she's just crap. Well OK, no she's not crap, but she's only ever been on the ovals before, so she's new to the road circuits, and it's obviously taking her a while to adjust.

It can't be the machinery otherwise Alex Lloyd would also be way back.

She's pretty crap on ovals too.


All the adjusting in the world isn't going to make Milka Duno fast.

amacachi

LOL at Milka.


Great start to the race after the messiness at the start.

TheChrisD

TheChrisD wrote: »

Also, keep your eyes peeled for the Indy Lights at Barber in two weeks

Alright, I can spill now :P

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Niall-Quinn/99822108966?v=wall&story_fbid=382763658966&ref=mf

amacachi

How'd Niall get on in the Lights race?


Grand Prix of Alabama on right now, Power looks too damn good again.

f1dan

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I think Niall qualified 7th not bad considering he had zero testing from what I heard. Ill find out more details tomorrow.

Finished 14th of 17, last of the runners on the lead lap. Full race result here

TheChrisD

Yup, quali'd 7th - race wasn't so great as the balance of the car went away on the long run on full fuel.
The cautions didn't help by bunching up the field and then having a gaggle of five cars all swamping him up.
Plus they gave him a drive-through for blocking, despite it being his one and only change of line to defend his position.

EvilMonkey

Highlights of the Indy Lights race

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtoXslNvX8o

TheChrisD

GJ to Hunter-Reay. Missed the first two thirds of the race, but it looked like he deserved it.

Also, nice one for Niall, finishing 9th in the Lights after starting at the back arse of the field

EvilMonkey

Adam Carroll to race for Andretti Autosport.

April 29, 2010 – Andretti Autosport announced today it signed 2009 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport champion Adam Carroll to drive a limited schedule of IZOD IndyCar Series events in the second half of the 2010 season.

http://www.andrettiautosport.com/News_April2010.html#News_April_29_2010

Good luck to him :cool:

amacachi

EvilMonkey wrote: »

Adam Carroll to race for Andretti Autosport.



http://www.andrettiautosport.com/News_April2010.html#News_April_29_2010

Good luck to him :cool:

Fair play to him. Pity he won't be in for Indy, should be funny seeing him trying to negotiate the ovals though. :pac:

amacachi

Sky not showing tonight's race live? FFS I was looking forward to getting onto the ovals.
Mind you, with the amount of sport this weekend I wouldn't have had a chance to watch it til tomorrow anyway. :pac:

amacachi

Decent enough race despite Dixon's dominance. Whole month til the next race at Indy alas.

Ghost Train

Felt a bit sorry for Sato

Watched it on the website, but hard to follow with the radio commentry they use and trackside camera

amacachi

I just left it til Sky's coverage overnight and recorded it.
Some great driving from Sato til his accident, he looked to be completely innocent in it as well.

TheChrisD

I didn't get to see the Sato/Mutoh incident. The video feed on timing and scoring had a major skip and all of a sudden I just see a damaged Mutoh sitting on the apron and thinking WTF happened.


EDIT: Highlights hurrah!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-IfeBtGQHU

EDIT EDIT: Crummy radio commentary because ABC were the broadcasters... I want the Versus team

TheChrisD

So, Helio on pole.

Anyone else sense a 4-peat coming up?

TheChrisD

Now that was a nail-biting finish to the qualifying. Very confusing with the withdrawal of times, and Saavedra making it back into the field despite having been beaten by two drivers and crashing an hour before the end.

Have to feel for both Jay Howard and Paul Tracy. Technicalities with withdrawing times took them both out when one could've gotten in.

amacachi

Tracy not in the 500? That makes me a sad panda.