A New Look for Indycar Weekends; P2P Revised; Reds GetMore Track Time

thepitwindow

Yesterday Indycar announced format changes for race weekends. Most of the new procedures affect road and street course events.  The oval  races at Phoenix and Gateway will have a new prerace look also. Some of the changes affect certain tracks only. Here are the changes, followed by my thoughts. Thanks to Eric Smith of Race Review Online for providing the list.

• Phoenix and Gateway qualifications: Qualifying at two oval tracks – Phoenix Raceway and Gateway Motorsports Park – will be held on the same day as those Saturday night races. The first day of those two-day event weekends will focus on a pair of practice sessions, the latter falling within the same evening time slot as the race.

• Firestone alternate tires: At road and street courses, each car will receive an additional set of Firestone’s red-sidewall alternate tires, bringing the total to four sets of the softer-compound Firehawks available for the weekend and allowing teams to better gauge performance characteristics of the alternate tires in comparison to Firestone’s more-durable, black-sidewall, primary-compound tires prior to qualifications. Each entry must return one set of tires – either primary or alternate – following the first practice session of a weekend and another set – the opposite compound from the first returned set – following the second practice session.

• Overtake assist time allotment: Push-to-pass overtake assist in road and street races will be based on a maximum time allotment for each car instead of the number of uses. The events at the streets of St. Petersburg, Raceway at Belle Isle Park and Sonoma Raceway will have a total overtake time allotment of 150 seconds for each race, with the other road/street races set for 200 seconds. When a driver engages the overtake via a button on the steering wheel, it increases engine turbocharger boost pressure by 15 kilopascals (kPa) to 165 kPa – good for about 60 added horsepower. Once engaged, push-to-pass will run for a pre-established duration equivalent to approximately the time needed to drive the length of the track’s main straightaway (15-20 seconds). Drivers will now have the ability to disengage an overtake activation midway through its use to save time for a later use. In addition, push-to-pass will not be available at the start of a race or for any restarts, with the exception of a restart commencing with two laps remaining in the race.

• INDYCAR Grand Prix schedule: Verizon IndyCar Series on-track action at the INDYCAR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course will consist of two days, Friday and Saturday, May 12-13, to create a more action-packed event. All three levels of the Mazda Road to Indy development ladder will still have track activity on Thursday, May 11.

• Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix qualifications: For the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix doubleheader in June, qualifying sessions for each race will see the field divided into two groups based on practice times, with 12 minutes of track time allotted for each qualifying group (with five minutes of guaranteed green-flag time). Previously, qualifying for the first race followed the advancement round format used at other road/street events. Qualifying groups for Belle Isle will be based on best lap times from the practice session immediately preceding Race 1 qualifications. If a car causes a red-flag situation during a qualifying session, its best two timed laps will be disallowed and it will not be permitted to continue in the session. One driver and entrant championship point will be awarded to the fastest car in each qualifying group on both days.

• Standardized road/street practice times: Practice sessions on the first day of most road/street course event weekends will have standardized start times of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. local. Each session will be 45 minutes in duration.

 My thoughts:

I love same day qualifying. It is hectic for the teams, but it really provides value for the fans. I have been to many races where the race starts in late afternoon and there are no support events.  A night practice for a night race makes sense, especially in the same time slot as the race. Indycars under the lights are an amazing sight. Unless there is a drastic change in weather in 24 hours, this will help teams know what to expect.

About time drivers are allowed to practice on the alternate reds during practice. I’ve always thought it was silly to not be able to practice on what you would use in qualifying. Another step helping the teams put on a better qualifying show. Thanks to Firestone for the extra work this involves making the extra sets available.

The push to pass change will make starts and restarts fairer and possibly safer.  I really like that a driver can decide not to use a full burst and save time for later. This is essentially is the same amount of time as before, but a driver could get more uses from it.  I wonder if all teams and the fans will be made aware of how much time other drivers have left. Indycar attempted to keep that information hidden for awhile last year, but that policy seemed to fade away.

Compressing the Indycar Grand Prix of Indianapolis schedule is a good idea. Thursday was mainly just let’s get the dust off the track day.  I like the idea of the three Mazda Road to Indy series getting the entire Thursday to themselves.  Anytime the future stars can get a showcase can only help Indycar in the long run.

The Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix qualifying format makes sense for a couple reasons. The schedule at Belle Isle is really packed. It will free up 30-45 minutes of track time.  This is the procedure used for race 2 qualifying, so it standardizes the weekend’s qualifying procedure. One thing I would change is have the groups on Sunday based on Saturday’s starting positions rather than have the same groups both days.

I will like going to a track on the first event day knowing when the practice sessions are. I always take a copy of the schedule with me, but it will be nice to know the first session is at 11 and the second one is at 3.   Shortening the practice sessions to 45 minutes and allowing practice on the reds should make for more on track action during the sessions.

These are great changes for the Verizon Indycar Series. I like that they are trying to have practice sessions simulate qualifying and race conditions while providing more on track running.  Adapting procedures to the situations of different tracks is helpful as well.

Notes:

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports announced Copper Moon Coffee will be the team’s official coffee supplier through 2018. Will the steering wheels have an espresso button?

Zachary Claman DeMelo signed with Carlin for his second Indy Lights season.  I thought he showed steady improvement during the year. It appears there will be 12-14 cars on the Indy Lights grid. Considering that Schmidt is not entering the series this year, that is a nice number.

We are just 32 days away from the first practice day at St. Pete. I’m ready.

I’m working on my season preview, which I plan to publish March 1. I will be back before then.  You can’t get rid of me that easily.

 

 

Indycar News-All Seats Accounted For; Rolex24 Photo Gallery

thepitwindow

Mikhail Aleshin returns to Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports in the #7 car. There was some doubt about his filling this seat. Seems he had been talking to Trevor Carlin about driving for him, but Carlin is going to wait at least another year before joining the series. Funding apparently was not the issue.

Sage Karam will be back for the Indianapolis 500 in the DRR entry. Karam was having a great race last year, moving up to 6th place before his contact with another car put him in the wall.

7-Eleven returns to the series as an associate sponsor for Tony Kanaan, highlighted in four races- St. Pete,Long Beach, Indy, and Texas. 7-Eleven was a long time sponsor of Kanaan’s in his years at Andretti.

Tim Cindric will be the strategist for Josef Newgarden in his first year at Penske. This move appears to be an attempt to help Newgarden have a comfortable first year with Penske. Simon Pagenaud struggled in his first year with the team, and it may be that Team Penske learned from his struggles.

Starting February 1, Firstone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg ads began running in the Tampa Bay Times. The ads have run daily. I noticed them last year as well. This is a city that really gets behind the race. Each year I have been here local support seems to have increased.

Rolex24 Postscript and Gallery

First, after watching a replay of the late race incident between Ricky Taylor and Fillipe Albuquerque, I stand corrected in what I stated in my last post. Taylor was in no way at fault, and I agree with the no call by the stewards.  Enjoy the photos.

0126171425

0129170909f

0129170909d

0106171513

0129170909h

Cold, Wet, Wild- Rolex24 Recap

thepitwindow

After the 1992 Indianapolis 500, I was positive I would never be any colder at a race. After last year’s Angie’s List Grand Prix, I was positive I would never be any colder at a race. After last weekend’s Rolex24 at Daytona… you get the picture.  This race completed the podium of cold weather races on the top step.  Plus there was rain. Despite the weather, it was a great race. The skies cleared and the temperature warmed enough at the end for an exciting finish.

 

Endurance racing is a different type of racing. Race three hours. Try to survive during the  night. Race the last three hours. Some drivers must drive a designated amount of time. A driver can only drive so many hours in a certain time frame. Pit stops must work around these factors.

The opening segment had lots of good racing throughout all the classes. As evening came, most teams settled in to their long range strategies. The rain began around 8 pm and continued for thirteen hours off and on. Mostly it was a steady light rain punctuated by two heavy downpours.

Your intrepid reporter put up a good fight, but surrendered at 1 am.  I went back to my lodging and tried to sleep. I returned to the track around 7. I found out the previous hour was almost entirely under caution for rain. The class battles  tightened up after the race returned to green. The rain finally stopped for good a little after 9. The skies eventually lightened and actually got a bit sunny by the end of the race.

As for the end of the race, I happened to be sitting directly across from turn 1. I thought Taylor could have waited to pass Albuquerque. His car was the fastest the entire race. It had cut through the field to regain lead in short order after every pit stop. He would have passed on that lap anyway.  But contact occurred and the stewards ruled no foul.

The GTLM class had a four car battle going until the end. The #66 Ford GT of Chip Ganassi.Racing won with a late pass. Indycar driver Sebastien Bourdais was a driver on the winning team. Other Indycar drivers didn’t fare as well. All had car problems at some point. Some Indycar drivers will return at Sebring the week after the Verizon Indy Car Series opens at St. Pete.

Good places to watch

There are several great places to watch this race from. The most popular is the bleacher section at the exit of the International Horseshoe, turn 3. From here you have a view of turn 1, where the cars exit the oval; pit out, the horseshoe, and the straight leading to turns 4 and 5. I also like standing behind the fence at the apex to turn 3 and at the entrance to turn 3.  From the last two spots you get a great sense of how to drive this corner. There is quite a difference in the approach of prototype and GT car.

In the main front stretch grandstand, the entrance of turn 1 provides a great view of 95% of the track. You can see the entire road course section, watch some pit stops, and watch the reentry to the oval. This year I walked along the grandstand to the end, to turn 4 of the oval.  It’s a beautiful view of the cars sweeping through the high banked turn. As the cars come in to the pits, they all come to nearly a complete stop as they try to get down to pit speed before the cones.  The rain made for great rooster tails here. As I went to my car parked outside turn 4, a cloud of spray rose from the track as cars ran through the turns.

Notes

Cadillacs are fast and proved to be durable in their debut.

The GTLM class will be the one to watch for close battles this year.

I hope there are more video boards next year. There is one in the fan plaza and one in turn 6 very far away from most spectators.

I really enjoy the vintage cars display and the fact they take laps before the race. Below is a 1962 Ferrari and two Lolas.

I will publish more photos in a couple days as well as catch up on Indycar news.

 

Rolex 24 Qualifying

thepitwindow

Action Express swept the front row for the Rolex 24, making Cadillc’s debut a successful one so far. Ford GT  took the first three spots in GTLM.

As far as IndyCar drivers’ cars, Sebastien Bourdais fared the best, on class pole in the 66 Ford GT

Other results for the IndyCar drivers by class:

P. Mike Conway p. 2

R C Enerson p.8

Spencer Pigot p. 9

James Hinchcliffe p.10

PC.  Pato O’Ward, p. 1

Buddy Rice p. 3

Conor Daly, p. 5

GTLM.  Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe, p.2

Tony Kanaan, p.6

GTD.     Graham Rahal, p.7

Ryan Hunter-Reay, p. 9

Townsend Bell, p. 16

Night practice last night was stunning. The rain held off until practice was over.

One more practice today.  I am going to spend most of the time drooling over the vintage cars on display.

 

Rolex 24 Update

thepitwindow

The afternoon practice session was red flagged after 26 minutes. The #81 P carnlew an engine and the #22. P also had an issue

It’s a windy day hete.

Fast times this session:

P #5 Action Express Cadillac

PC#20

GTLM #68 Ford HT

GTD #73 Porsche

 

Rolex 24 Indycar Driver Tracker

thepitwindow

First, a sad note from Indycar- Chuck Weyant, who drove in the Indianapolis 500 from 1955-1959, passed away at the age of 92. He was the oldest living 500 veteran.

8 active and 8 former Indycar drivers will be driving this weekend in Daytona for the Rolex24. This guide has the class, car number, drive,r and car. I hope this helps make it easier to track the Indycar contingent throughout the race.

 

P class:

31    Mike Conway   Cadillac

52     R C Enerson      Ligier

55       Spencer Pigot    Mazda

70       James Hinchcliffe      Mazda

 

PC class- all cars Oreca

20       Buddy Rice

88        Sebastian Saavedra

 

 

GTLM class

66      Sebastian Bourdais   Ford GT

67        Scott Dixon                 Ford GT

Ryan Briscoe

69         Tony Kanaan              Ford GT

 

GTD class

14      Sage Karam          Lexus

23       Townsend Bell    Audi

75       Tristan Vautier         Mercedes

86        Ryan Hunter-Reay     Acura

93         Graham Rahal          Acura

Katherine Legge

 

Qualifying begins Thursday afternoon at 3:15.   I’m planning an update post qualifying. Enjoy the race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Indycar Silly Season- It Was Done, Now It Isn’t; My Season Begins

thepitwindow

Just when we thought all the rides were filled, one may be open again.  Spencer Pigot returns to Ed Carpenter Racing to drive the 20 car on road and street courses. He joined the team after the 500 last year and drove the remaining street/road courses. This is a great move by ECR. They have a driver they are familiar with and who worked with them last year. Continuity is always an advantage for a young driver.

Almost at the same time, doubt was cast on Mikhail Aleshin’s ride in the 7 car for Sam Schmidt. This is most likely a funding issue.  Aleshin had some great races last year, winning the pole at Pocono and nearly winning the race at Mid-Ohio. Things have been very quiet about what will happen there.

It appears we have seen the last of KV. Nothing new has surfaced since reports of talks with former F1 driver Pastor Maldonado a couple of weeks ago.

In a great move for A J Foyt racing, Will Phillips joins the team. Phillips is the latest addition to a team that is building toward having a much improved season.

Next week: My thoughts on the new season.

……………………………

My at track season begins this weekend with the Rolex24 at Daytona. I hope to have reports all weekend as I track the Indycar drivers taking part.  There are a lot of them. I will get a list out later this week. As a free service for the race, I will telephone you personally at 3 am Sunday morning with a live in-race update. Just DM or message  your number.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Spine Chilling Roar

thepitwindow
0107170934a
Cadillac

0106171430    It was the same weather that fans endured for the 1992 Indianapolis 500  and last year’s Angie’s List Grand Prix.  Fans arrived to a cold, windy, rainy track. But it is January, What else can you expect in India- oh, wait. This is Florida. The Roar before the 24 it’s called. I’m not sure if the name refers to the cars or the wind.

.  I have begun to rekindle my interest in sportscar racing.  Before the  Indycar season gets started it’s a nice way to see some racing early in the year. Since it is the off- season, several Indycar drivers drive in both the Rolex24 in Daytona and the Sebring 12 hour race.

The IMSA Weather Tech Sportscar Series holds this annual test the first weekend in January, three weeks before the Rolex 24. It is a chance to test new cars and see what improvements have been made to returning machines. The three day test consists of seven practice sessions.

Fans who have purchased tickets to the Rolex24 receive free admission which includes paddock access. The garages at Daytona are very open, providing easy viewing for spectators. Some garages have windows in the rear outside the paddock for viewing. This is more than a test; it’s an event. Driver and officials make scheduled appearances at the plaza for question and answer sessions and to talk about technical aspects of the series.

Yes, there are race cars. Lots of them.  All four classes participate in the test.  The prototype class has changed to a new formula this season. The cars are now known as DPi, Daytona prototype international. There are three engine manufacturers in DPi- Cadillac, Mazda, and Nissan. Oreca, Dallara, and Cadillac supply the chassis. The cars have distinct body styles, mainly in the front. All of them in my opinion are quite beautiful. They have brought back some of the shape of  cars of the past.  The other classes are basically the same as before.

I was impressed by the size of the crowd. The infield parking lots were quite full. Some people were brave enough to camp.  The greatest part of the weekend, though, was the fact it was the first week of January and I was watching race cars on a track. That went a long way toward taking my mind off the weather.

Below are some prototypes. Notice the differences in design.

0107171311

0107171312
Oreca
0107171311a
Oreca

The Race Fans’ Christmas Gift Guide

thepitwindow

Race fans are always happy to receive gifts, especially gifts related to racing.  Here are some suggestions for the race fan on your list, including many gifts that I have enjoyed over the years.

One of the best things I’ve received is tickets to a race. Many fans say they would be happy to go to more races if they had the budget. Race tickets  as a gift are a big help in making races more affordable. If you have never been to an Indycar race, get one for yourself as well. It’s silly to let your friend go alone.

A ride in an Indycar 2-seater will delight any Indycar fan.  It was one of the best I ever got. The ride is good at any track offering them.  There are sometimes discounts on Groupon.  It’s the best way to see what driving an Indycar is all about.

My friend George Phillips, in his Oilpressure.com column yesterday,talks about the Indy Racing Experience. You get to drive an Indycar on your own at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.This is something I want to try in the next couple of years.  If you haven’t read this column before, check it out.  It is always a good read.

Have friends who collect things?  We fans are eager to get our hands on anything related to racing. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum has lots of things for the collector. They are currently having daily sales on selected items. They also have a clearance sale in mid-November with incredible deals. Also, check eBay for items like old programs and ticket stubs.

Books about racing, especially racing history, are one thing I can’t get enough of.  I highly recommend Black Noon by Art Garner. It tells the story of the 1964 Indianapolis 500 and talks about how the events of that day came to be and their lasting effects on racing  The author does a great job profiling Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald. This is one of the best books on the history of the 500 I have read.

Beast by Jade Gurss details Roger Penske and Imor engineering developing the Mercedes badged engine that dominated the 1994 500.  It was not as easy as it appeared. Gurss also discusses the brewing storm that led to the split in 1996. Even though you know the outcome, the narrative creates a suspenseful conclusion.

I have not read Lionheart by Andy Hallberry and Jeff Olson. I anticipate receiving it in a few days.  I have heard great things about it, and I will share my thoughts in January. The IMS Museum shop has it online for purchase.

Trivia buffs will enjoy Pat Kennedy’s compilations of trivia questions. He has two volumes of How Much Do You really know about the Indianapolis 500?, The Official Indy 500 Trivia Book, and Indy 500 Recaps, the Short Chute Edition.  The recaps book has a summary of every race and a results table for each race.

Other books I have enjoyed are Vukovich by Bob Gates and Umbrella Mike by Brock Yates. Umbrella Mike tells the story of Mike Boyle, whose cars won three Indianapolis 500s, including the famous Maserati car driven by Wilbur Shaw in 1939 and 1940.

Hard Luck Llloyd by John Lingle is a biography of Llloyd Ruby, a great racer who almost won the 500 several times, but bad luck always seemed to thwart his trip to Victory Lane.

I hope everyone has a great holiday season. I will be back after the first of the year when I settle in following my southern migration.