Indy Rice League??? ;)

Well, the other thing is that burning ethanol is a bit cleaner than the
petro fuels, so you'd think the Earthy Crunchies would be rallying for it!

Instead we go for Hydrogen, which is just as difficult to produce, is a
LOT more dangerous and right now requires MAJOR engine redesigns!

I'll take the dandelions...they make good wine, too!

 

Call me old fashioned, but I much prefer the close racing of the new
A1 series. 3rd ever meting (races 5 and 6) are this weekend, i think -
www.a1gp.com

The american and Japaneese teams haven't done so well, britain and
canada did well as did New Zeland. Oh and its a british made engine.

 

Actually, so was the Chevy! It was assembled and 'tweaked' in England.

 

Hmmmm....sort of a WorldWide IRL. Looks like the spirit of the IRL; the
cars are all basically the same and have similar engines (if not the SAME
engine!)

So what happens is, it doesn't come down to how much MONEY you throw at
it, but the skill of the driver. i like that!

When Penske was kicking butt in the CART series, as in F1, it was how much
MONEY you had that determined who own the race. When IRL came along I was
initially against it, but it leveled tha playing field and brought the
competition back to the cockpit rather than the garage itself.

This is the first I have heard of A1. Thanks!

 

I find it interesting that NASCAR has it's own little clique of Dodge, Chevy
and Ford-and it gets all the media attention. I am assuming all the rules
and regs for their cars are to mainly keep out Toyota and Honda from
breaking into their little club. When I grew up, the Indy cars had all the
attention. I wondered why you have to really dig to find news about Indy
now. I find the cars are all Toyota and Honda. Thank you Danika Patrick for
bringing some attention back to Indy. When I hear who ever won the recent
NASCAR race, I think to myself, "It must have been his turn to win."

 

Perhaps that is the reason nobody suports indy car racing any more.

mike hunt

 

Man, have you seen the Antifreeze commercial with Danic?!?!

Whoooo Hooooo!

 

Yes, they're all the same engine. The cars are all made by raynard to
the prince's spec, and he bought all 50 for the teams (2 per team, 25
country-teams). Cars designed to make a big hole in the air behind, to
help with overtaking, plus a push-to-pass boost button. All engines
made by a company called Zytec, and lots of scrutineers around to make
sure everyones the same. Everyones even running the same cooper tyres,
although theere are 2 different compounds available

Driver AND pitcrew. There's a manditory pit stop to change all 4 tyres
in the 'feature race'

no probs. For those that don't know, the race format goes like this...
Theres a free practice on the friday
saturday a little practice, and then 4 qualifying sessiosn. Each one
is 15 minutes long, and teams are allowed an out lap, a flying lap,
and a in lap in each. something like 5-10mins between each sessions.
They then take the drivers best TWO times, and add them together, and
base the grid for the sprint off that There is only one car for each
team, so no blocking, team orders etc.

Sprint race is about 18 laps, or half an hour long. Takes place about
1:30pm on the sunday. No pit stops etc. 10 for first, 9 for second and
so on, down to 1 for 10th. Finishing order is then the grid for the
longer feature race that takes place around 3pm. its a hour/36ish lap
race, with a manditory tyre change pitstop. Standing start, F1 style.
Pits are one person per wheel, and no-one to leave the garage, except
the flagman, until the cars stopped. , and the cars must make a pass
over the start-finish line at racing speed with both sets of tyres.
Same points layout for the finish of the feature race, and therse an
aditional point to whoever gets the fastest lap over the two races.
Thats is basiaclly. The engines are 520hp standard, 550hp when under
the 'power boost' (get 4 in the sprint, and 8 in the feature - they're
limited to 30second length, and only work when you've got your
throttle wide open, press the button when you're braking, and you've
wasted one.

Very good, close racing, and a wide range of experiance too, from
former F1 driver jos Verstappen for Holland, down (i don't know if the
russian and chineese drivers ever really did single-seater racing
before)

 

NASCAR has created rules that make the cars from all the manufacturers
essentially the same. Toyota is already competing in the truck series and
will eventually move to the Nextel cup. It is pointless who is identified as
the "manufacturer." The rules are super restrictive. There is no
"technology" competition. If Toyota races cars in the Nextel Cup races, they
will be essentially the same as the "Fords," "Chevrolets," and "Dodges." The
major differences are the decals and the shape of the grille opening. Any
series that tries to control things down to the point of specifying rear
gear ratios, shock absorber designs, and spring rates can hardly be
encouraging innovations. The most important thing is to get a good team.
Winning and loosing depends on fine details. The biggest change in NASCAR
since 1965 is aerodynamics. NASCAR is doing its best to make sure that all
the cars are aerodynamically the same. Strip off the bodies and most of the
parts will look just like a combination of 1965 Ford front suspension and
1965 GMC Truck rear suspension bolted to a homemade tube frame. Think of
NASCAR as WWE in cars with a more corrupt body enforcing the rules.

Ed

 

"THE Prince"? Which Prince? You DON'T mean "The Artist" I am assuming!

Interesting. So THAT'S where Verstappen went!

Hopefully, someone will pick this up on this side of the Pond!

 

No, some shiek from Dubai.

There are a few torrents of the first 2 meetings outt here, but from
http://www.a1teamusa.com/ its shown on "setlanta sports channel" on
direcTV, and you can register on the day of the race to watch a
webcast at a1gp.com, starrts 8am EST

 

The problem most people seem to miss, and i too have no actual figures
for, is in the production of methanol (instead of gasoline) are the
power consumptions greater than fuel. Same with hydrogen cells or
electric cars - the power to charge the batteries comes from power
stations, the power to heat/cool/pump chemical reactions round a
refinery all add up and have to be produced by a non-renewable resource
until we get enough wind/tidal power to replace all power stations.

J