Cleveland practice

[KLang]

On now, in the rain. 7 rookies. This might be interesting. :laugh:

[KLang]

6 min Race Stewards have painted a white line down the middle of the front straight, and drivers must keep left of that line. The intent is to narrow the racing surface to reduce Turn 1 congestion.

For just the start or the whole race? :confused:



10 min RED FLAG Paul Tracy loops it into the tire wall at Turn 8. He's knocked off the rear wing.

Tracy goes off before the rookies. :saywhat:

[Gangrel]

For just the start or the whole race? :confused:




Tracy goes off before the rookies. :saywhat:

He felt he needed to show Dinger how it's done. :rofl:

[KLang]

He felt he needed to show Dinger how it's done. :rofl:


21 min RED FLAG A.J. Allmendinger spun at Turn 9 entering the front straight. He continued, but he clipped a marking cone and left part of his front wing on track.

Guess AJ was paying attention. :laugh:

[Ankf00]

a driver match made in heaven

[Gangrel]

As the official Weekend of Cone Carnage kicked off for 2006... :D

[G.]

Phillipe in P4 and improving his laptimes.

(that's your que, spikkly)

[KLang]

Phillipe in P4 and improving his laptimes.

(that's your que, spikkly)

'54 min Nelson Philippe(#4) improved to 1st with a time of 1:06.555s (113.915mph). '

[Spicoli]

'54 min Nelson Philippe(#4) improved to 1st with a time of 1:06.555s (113.915mph). '

FKNA~!!!

NELSONMANIA!



bEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEyotches!

:woo000t:


:cool: :p :cool:

[Insomniac]

A wet Cleveland. Brings back memories of the pre-defection days when they raced in rain. What a fun race, or at least memorable enough to remember it existed. ;)

[cameraman]

Guess AJ was paying attention. :laugh:

Yet PT felt the need to show him how to do it a second time.
Then he showed him how to smack the wall.

PT just keeps on giving and giving...

[Gangrel]

Ooohhh....

That's gonna' leave a mark....

[KLang]

2nd practice underway. Appears to be dry. Could be an interesting qual session since no one has much time on slicks from the first practice.

[cameraman]

PT brings out red flag #3 on the day...

[KLang]

'11 min RED FLAG Paul Tracy clipped the apex cone at Turn 10 and broke his front wing, leaving it on the racing line. '

Damn, what's up with Paul today? He is quickest so far.

[rabbit]

Practice 2 top six:

Dinger
PT
Bourdais
NELSONMANIA!!!!
Wilson
Bruno

[Gangrel]

'11 min RED FLAG Paul Tracy clipped the apex cone at Turn 10 and broke his front wing, leaving it on the racing line. '

Damn, what's up with Paul today? He is quickest so far.

Perhaps he feels he has something to prove this week?

[KLang]

Perhaps he feels he has something to prove this week?

He probably does. Actually my 'what is up' was referring to his 3 reds in practice.

[Racing Truth]

Practice 2 top six:

Dinger
PT
Bourdais
NELSONMANIA!!!!
Wilson
Bruno

Nice run, again, by Nelson. He may indeed be a racer. :cool:

Russo (right now)= :gomer: :laugh:

[cameraman]

freakin daMatta is orbiting the track in tenth right now :shakehead

[skaven]

Watching Tracy and Allmendinger trade fastest laps in Qualifying 1 session (timing and scoring). :cool:

[cameraman]

Tracy, allmendinger & daMatta on reds
Philippe, Tag, bourdais, servia & wilson on blacks

[skaven]

Tracy improves his P1 time.

[grungex]

I hate Sebastien Bourdais.

[KLang]

SB pulls it out on the last lap once again.

Nice job AJ in 2nd.

[skaven]

QUALIFYING 1

01 Bourdais
02 Allmendinger
03 Tracy
04 Wilson
05 Bruno
06 NELSONMANIA
07 Servia
08 Tag
09 Will Power
10 da Matta
13 Legge
14 Mario D.

Only 18, I thought we had crested at 19? :confused:

[cameraman]

Bourdais 56.851 0.000 0.000 blacks
Allmendinger 56.965 0.114 0.114 reds
Tracy 57.011 0.160 0.046 reds
Wilson 57.312 0.461 0.301 blacks
Junqueira 57.564 0.713 0.252
Philippe 57.779 0.928 0.215 blacks
Servia 57.782 0.931 0.003 blacks
Tagliani 57.931 1.080 0.149 blacks
Power 58.115 1.264 0.184
da Matta 58.499 1.648 0.384 reds
Heylen 58.532 1.681 0.033
Ranger 58.585 1.734 0.053
Legge 58.722 1.871 0.137
Dominguez 58.801 1.950 0.079
Zwolsman 58.859 2.008 0.058
Clarke 59.372 2.521 0.513
Pastorelli 59.410 2.559 0.038
Kasemets 1:00.530 3.679 1.120

[Gangrel]

He probably does. Actually my 'what is up' was referring to his 3 reds in practice.

So was I. :D

[cameraman]

I think that 56.851 is the fastest single lap time since Montoya ran a 56.813 in 1999 :cool:

Track record is 56.417 set by Vasser in 1998

Just in case you were wondering Friday and Saturday Practice and Qualifying sessions will be timed at Line T8, Warm up and Race will be timed at T1.

[coolhand]

Taht second FCR car is no dog. Not long ago Carp was a threat to win each weekend. Mario :thumdown:

[Insomniac]

Just in case you were wondering Friday and Saturday Practice and Qualifying sessions will be timed at Line T8, Warm up and Race will be timed at T1.

That is quite odd.

[Insomniac]

'11 min RED FLAG Paul Tracy clipped the apex cone at Turn 10 and broke his front wing, leaving it on the racing line. '

What are those cones made of? Will we be seeing more of this during the race?

[KLang]

What are those cones made of? Will we be seeing more of this during the race?

Don't know about this one but that for the chicane they added in Houston the cones were bolted to the pavement.

[Anteater]

'11 min RED FLAG Paul Tracy clipped the apex cone at Turn 10 and broke his front wing, leaving it on the racing line. '
:eek:

[Lux Interior]

I was there all day. Took 394 pictures. Will post a TON in the morning. Got some real good ones too. Going with Mrs. Interior tomorrow to qualy and Atlantic race. :thumbup:

[devilmaster]

That is quite odd.

Not really. A few tracks do it. It allows teams to not drive an entire extra lap during practice and quals.... if the timing stripe is a turn 8, they then can go right into the pits instead of timing them at S/F and forcing them to do a cool down lap.

[Andrew Longman]

What are those cones made of? Will we be seeing more of this during the race?

Bolted to the ground, but I also think he hit the tires laying on the corner as well. I noticed they took away the cone on T9 just before qualifying. No tires there, just rumble strips and from the color of the cone it looked as if it had been clipped a few times.

Amazing qualifying yesterday as the times just came down and down and Bourdais grabbing pole out of nowhere

BTW, the place looks great. Many more corporate sponsorships and vendors. New grandstands freshly painted. Jumbotrons!. The pitwalk thing was confusing for some because it is new and different but cool. Muddy yesterday with all the rain but they were working like mad to bring in fill to soak it up and provide walkways. Crowd was sparse but give the weather and that it was Friday it was good and clearly up from what I remember last year.

Also, look for some great TV. They have cameras situated in all sorts of new places on booms and such that give much improved camera angles. It really shows the speed of the cars better

[Insomniac]

Don't know about this one but that for the chicane they added in Houston the cones were bolted to the pavement.

We saw those get taken out with no damage to the front winds. These might not be your average orange cones. Maybe they're the more solid type like the ones they used to put inside tires (on the corners).

[Insomniac]

Not really. A few tracks do it. It allows teams to not drive an entire extra lap during practice and quals.... if the timing stripe is a turn 8, they then can go right into the pits instead of timing them at S/F and forcing them to do a cool down lap.

Ohhh, I see. I remember at RA they'll just mess up their next lap to go through the last turn at the highest speed instead of setting up for the next lap. Just never recall them doing it like this. (Probably because for the longest time they had unlimited laps and just 2 sessions.)

[Insomniac]

Bolted to the ground, but I also think he hit the tires laying on the corner as well. I noticed they took away the cone on T9 just before qualifying. No tires there, just rumble strips and from the color of the cone it looked as if it had been clipped a few times.

Amazing qualifying yesterday as the times just came down and down and Bourdais grabbing pole out of nowhere

BTW, the place looks great. Many more corporate sponsorships and vendors. New grandstands freshly painted. Jumbotrons!. The pitwalk thing was confusing for some because it is new and different but cool. Muddy yesterday with all the rain but they were working like mad to bring in fill to soak it up and provide walkways. Crowd was sparse but give the weather and that it was Friday it was good and clearly up from what I remember last year.

Also, look for some great TV. They have cameras situated in all sorts of new places on booms and such that give much improved camera angles. It really shows the speed of the cars better


Thanks for the information! I look forward to watching it. :thumbup:

[KLang]

AJ takes poll. :thumbup:

Looks like the musical chairs routine the other week sure lit a fire in him.

AJ
SB
Wilson
Servia
Tracy
Philippemania

[rabbit]

Overheard outside the drivers meeting:

CDM: "I hate your car."
AJ: "So did I."

:laugh:

[Insomniac]

PT was 1+ second off AJ today. 10th overall, but starts 5th with yesterday's time.

[KLang]

PT was 1+ second off AJ today. 10th overall, but starts 5th with yesterday's time.

From Champ Car:
'Paul Tracy was not able to improve his time from Friday's qualifying session after having to jump into his back up car due to contact with the wall during the pre-qualifying practice session. The crew of the #3 Forsythe car managed to adjust ride heights, suspension settings, attach a rear wing, swap seats, adjust fuel quantities, and warm up the backup car in only a few minutes which allowed Tracy to have almost a full qualifying run. '

Doubt he would have caught the red-hot AJ but that probably explains the +1 second.

[Insomniac]

From Champ Car:
'Paul Tracy was not able to improve his time from Friday's qualifying session after having to jump into his back up car due to contact with the wall during the pre-qualifying practice session. The crew of the #3 Forsythe car managed to adjust ride heights, suspension settings, attach a rear wing, swap seats, adjust fuel quantities, and warm up the backup car in only a few minutes which allowed Tracy to have almost a full qualifying run. '

Doubt he would have caught the red-hot AJ but that probably explains the +1 second.

Interesting. Doesn't NHR have their back-ups pretty much in synch with there primary cars from session to session for this exact reason? If so, just another reason why everyone is playing catch-up.

So I figure PT will top the charts in warm ups then. ;)

[rabbit]

Interesting. Doesn't NHR have their back-ups pretty much in synch with there primary cars from session to session for this exact reason? If so, just another reason why everyone is playing catch-up.

So I figure PT will top the charts in warm ups then. ;)
The backup was trashed from PT's crash in the a.m. practice.

[KLang]

Interesting. Doesn't NHR have their back-ups pretty much in synch with there primary cars from session to session for this exact reason? If so, just another reason why everyone is playing catch-up.

So I figure PT will top the charts in warm ups then. ;)

I thought in the past everyone kept the backup cars ready to go. Of course they used to practice the backup cars as well. Do the current rules allow the teams to keep the backups prepped that way?

[Insomniac]

I thought in the past everyone kept the backup cars ready to go. Of course they used to practice the backup cars as well. Do the current rules allow the teams to keep the backups prepped that way?

It would seem odd to have the rules prevent them from keeping their backups prepared to run. I don't even know how the engine situation works, do they have 2 engines per driver or do they move the engine over (if it's not destroyed). It has been so long since someone destroyed their car after qualifying, I can'[t even remember if you lose your qualifying spot if you go to your backup car.

[Insomniac]

The backup was trashed from PT's crash in the a.m. practice.

Ahhh, so they were fixing it instead of prepping it. :)

[Andrew Longman]

Its been an expensive weekend for Forsythe

AJ and PT damaged cars yesterday, PT again in prequal practice, Then off three more times in qualifying. The crew has been busy.

But I haven't seen a crew more down than the Coyne guy in the paddock after Mario wadded his primary at the end of morning practice. Not a lot of enthusiasm for cleaning up that mess.

[Elmo T]

But I haven't seen a crew more down than the Coyne guy in the paddock after Mario wadded his primary at the end of morning practice. Not a lot of enthusiasm for cleaning up that mess.

What a pile of junk. The car didn't look horrible - from the highway at least. But to see it dismantled in the pits :shakehead .

And PT with the PG13 radio transmission of "F me" after his hit. :D

[Andrew Longman]

What a pile of junk. The car didn't look horrible - from the highway at least. But to see it dismantled in the pits :shakehead .

And PT with the PG13 radio transmission of "F me" after his hit. :D

yes, the car looked spent and beat even before the shunt. The sponsor decals were partially peeled off.

When I walked up to the paddock it took me a moment to tell the wrecked car from the back up. It seemed the team was struggling a bit to figure out which part from which car was in better shape. And the team didn't seem too interested in making sure they were right.

Perhaps we'll bump into each other tomorrrow. We're in the Tracy stands (G) four rows from the top in second F, three kids in tow

[Elmo T]

Perhaps we'll bump into each other tomorrrow. We're in the Tracy stands (G) four rows from the top in second F, three kids in tow


I'll keep an eye out. We are in "E" stands, Section D, Row 3. Just me and my oldest son.

[Anteater]

Overheard outside the drivers meeting:

CDM: "I hate your car."
AJ: "So did I."

:laugh:

LOL! :rofl: True story?