Tag: Mid Ohio Sports Car Course

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.

 

 

Mid Ohio-The Pits and the Pendulum

thepitwindow

Mid-Ohio is all about what happens in the pits. Timing is everything. Execution is crucial. In 2014, Josef Newgarden had the race in hand until a botched last pit stop handed the race to Scott Dixon. Dixon started last and pitted during a yellow at the start to get to the front. Even then, he ran out of fuel just after getting the checkered flag. Last year Graham Rahal won by pitting just before a caution that caught out the leaders trying to stretch their pit window. Charlie Kimball used a stop on lap 10 in 2013 to take the checkered. This year, the pits were unkind to Mikhail Aleshin. He had cycled to the lead after the second round of stops and was maintaining a healthy lead. When the yellow came out for Jack Hawksworth’s accident, everybody pitted for the final time. The vrew released him into the path of  Newgarden. Aleshin hit Newgarden’s car and bumped a crew member from Juan Pablo Montoya’s team. Conor Daly had the lead and the pace, but not enough fuel. He salvaged a sixth place finish after stopping late. The race then returned to the usual suspects.

Simon Pagenaud made a great move on Will Power coming out of the carousel to get into position to win.  It has been several years since a driver has won more than three times in a season. Pagenaud slightly slowed Power’s momentum, increasing his lead to fifty-eight points, although Power has three wins and two seconds over the last five races. I wouldn’t count him out yet. Power is stronger than Pagenaud on ovals. There are still 3.7 races left, two of which are ovals.

Overall, it was a better than average Mid Ohio race.  There was plenty of drama, and different pit strategies to keep the outcome in doubt for most of the race. Scott Dixon’s early retirement was an atypical error on his part, maybe showing a little impatience. That is not the best place to attempt a move like that. I thought Race Control made a good decision not to go full course yellow with three laps to go after Bourdais ended up in the sand. I do, however, wonder why the start of the race wasn’t waved off. Simon had a Helio-esque jump coming to the line

 

A New Fan’s Hot Lap Ride-From Boredom to Let’s Go Again in Two Minutes

My girlfriend Marti had her first hot lap ride Sunday. This was just her second Indycar race. She began the ride with no expectations. In fact, Marti thought it would be boring. By the keyhole she began to appreciate the track.  When she had to grab the passenger assist bar, she understood why she had to sign a waiver. Her excitement suddenly began to build. The lap helped her understand how drivers race- the acceleration, braking, and the approach to each turn. She tried to imagine how she would take each section.  Her favorite part was the esses.  As the car pulled into the pits, Marti was ready to do a few more. Overall, the hot lap allowed her to briefly see the track from a driver’s perspective. She now has a better understanding of racing. Marti is eager to take a 2-seater ride now. Amazing how someone’s attitude can change in just a couple of minutes.

MidO16 055
Sebastian Bourdais collides with Takuma Sato and ends up stuck in the sand

Notes:

Mid Ohio continues to have one of the best crowds of the season. The esses area seemed fuller than last year.

I noticed several new concessions areas this year, including a bar at the foot of the bridge just before Turn 1.

Conor Daly got very lucky after missing Turn 4. he drove across the grass and nearly collided with Charlie Kimball on re-entry.

The start of this race, when all 22 cars are packed together in the space between Turns 4 and 5, is one of the most thrilling parts of the season. Amazing that they usually all get through most years.

R. C. Enerson had an impressive debut weekend. He was competitive in practice and was running well in the race until botched fuel strategy put him well back in the field.

Mid Ohio-Start of the Homestretch

thepitwindow

This weekend Indycar begins the start of its final stretch of races. And by stretch, I mean really stretched out.  After this race, only three races plus the completion of Texas remain. Pocono, the next race, is three weeks away.  The season ends  seven weeks from this weekend.

Mid-Ohio was my first road course race in 2008. This will be my seventh race here, the most at any track outside IMS. I really like this track for a lot of reasons. It is in a beautiful rural settting. There is constant on track action. The tram system makes it easy to get around. I even enjoy that it is still lacks some of the newer things that other tracks have installed for fan comfort.

Race day crowds are consistently large as you can see from the photo above of last year’s race. I feared a steep decline in attendance when IMSA left, but I haven’t really noticed much difference. I enjoy watching from the esses (above). Turn 4 is actually the first racing turn as they start on the backstretch.

Last year was my first trip to Mid-Ohio that was totally rain free. It doesn’t appear we’ll be that lucky again. At my first race, it rained just before the race. The rooster tails on the first few laps were spectatcular. The spray hung in the air for several seconds. I hope it does rain a bit during or right before the race starts. Tire strategy becomes more interesting in that situation.

Indy Lights has a weird history in my time here. In 2008, two drivers collided and ended up near the inside fence at turn 5. They got out of their cars and punches were thrown. Never heard from either of them much after that. I’m not sure which year, but the leader pulled into the pits on the last lap before taking the checkered flag, handing the victory to the very surprised second place driver. Last year in Race 1, the leaders decided to play a game late in the race to see who could make the most mistakes. R C Enerson won the race after riding around fourth or fifth all day.

This race could help determine if Scott Dixon has a legitimate shot at catching Simon Pagenaud for the championship. This has been a good track for Dixon. I don’t expect that to change. this weekend.  Qualifying has been important here in the past, although the last two years pit strategy has determined the outcome.  Dixon won from starting last in2014; Rahal won from thirteenth last year.

Enjoy the race. Remember for those of you playing at home, it’s on CNBC at 2pm Sunday with a re-air on NBCSN at 5.