The stupid human tricks are getting expensive

[cameraman]

Off of speed.com


The recent spate of crashes in the Champ Car World Series has created a shortage of spare parts and, more importantly, monocoques for the venerable Lola B2K chassis (which is scheduled to be replaced by the Panoz DP01 in ’07).

Alex Tagliani and Dan Clarke crashed heavily in Houston while Nelson Philippe, Bruno Junqueira, Oriol Servia, Cristiano da Matta and Tagliani hit the wall in Milwaukee. Indeed “Tag” was forced to miss the race owing to the fact that Team Australia had no spare car in the wake of their Houston crash.

Last weekend at Portland, of course, Servia crashed twice – destroying the tub on his primary car, heavily damaging his spare and finally completing the race in the spare car of PKV Racing teammate Katherine Legge. In Cleveland, it was Legge’s turn as she walloped the wall in Turn Eight in Friday morning practice (although the car was repairable in time for qualifying). Then Mario Dominguez wrote off one of Dale Coyne’s cars in the same Turn Eight when he knocked the front wing off his car on the marker cone at the apex of Turn Eight and slammed into the outside wall with an impact that registered a whopping 86Gs on the car’s data recorder. Sunday’s race saw a number of shunts, although no more write-offs despite the best efforts of several Champ Car drivers. It ain't like Lola is going to build more tubs. People have been wadding up cars this year as though they were free.

[oddlycalm]

Keeps fat Carl in cigars I guess. Lola is supplying spare parts for certain. I'd be surprised if that didn't include tubs as well.

The price of those spares and the shipping cost is one of the primary reasons CCWS indicated to decide them in favor of Panoz for the 07 car. Makes sense to me. An entire series using one car there is going to be some serious business done in spares every season.

oc

[KLang]

There are always crashes. I wonder if it's really any worse this year then other years. I suspect not.

[grungex]

It ain't like Lola is going to build more tubs. People have been wadding up cars this year as though they were free.
Lola will be happy to make more tubs. I doubt anyone wants to spend the cash, though.

[cameraman]

Lola is doing the tub repair work too but at some point it will become a losing proposition. You trash a tub at Montreal or RA is it worth the small fortune to get it fixed so you have a spare for Surfer's and Mexico or do you just go with 1 car?

[L1P1]

I wonder if lightly used Reynards might actually start looking attractive.

[cameraman]

Lola will be happy to make more tubs.

What is the turn around time on a tub order? You have to wonder how many they have squirreled away, if any.

And this is the kind of stuff Champ Car should be producing for its TV filler material, not the blond at the tee shirt rack.

[grungex]

Many weeks to get a new one, at best. There are none sitting around waiting for an order, AFAIK.

Very few tubs get damaged beyond repair. Some can be fixed by the teams or CF specialists in Indy, the worst have to go back to Lola in the UK. That can take a few weeks.

[Dr. Corkski]

I am sure Hole in the Wall Camps will gladly pay for a new tub everytime Blinky trashes one.

Wouldn't surprise me if some teams are already pulling a Coyne and running pre-2002 tubs with update kits.

[Ed_Severson]

Wouldn't surprise me if some teams are already pulling a Coyne and running pre-2002 tubs with update kits.

Not yet.

The tubs are, in most cases, easily repaired, and the only problem with repeatedly having to do that (aside from the cost, of course) is that the tubs get a little heavier each time they're pieced back together. Not a big deal if you have a light driver and don't have trouble getting down to your minimum weight, but if you've got a big boy in the cockpit, you're probably giving up a few pounds.

[Andrew Longman]

Not yet.

The tubs are, in most cases, easily repaired, and the only problem with repeatedly having to do that (aside from the cost, of course) is that the tubs get a little heavier each time they're pieced back together. Not a big deal if you have a light driver and don't have trouble getting down to your minimum weight, but if you've got a big boy in the cockpit, you're probably giving up a few pounds.

Really? They don't add ballast to get up to the minimum while putting weight where they want it? Not saying I know anything

[Ed_Severson]

Really? They don't add ballast to get up to the minimum while putting weight where they want it? Not saying I know anything

The teams with lighter drivers can, yes. The minimum weight required for the car depends on the weight of the driver relative to the driver average. For, say, Cristiano da Matta, the team will add ballast to get the car up to minimum weight. In Paul Tracy's case, the team can't get the car down to their required minimum. I can't give you a specific number, but Forsythe is giving up a signifcant amount of weight to most of the field with Tracy's car.

[cameraman]

Not yet.

The tubs are, in most cases, easily repaired.

Except the whole point of the article is Servia and Dominguez's tubs were destroyed and Tagliani's had to be shipped back to England for repair.

[Ed_Severson]

Except the whole point of the article is Servia and Dominguez's tubs were destroyed and Tagliani's had to be shipped back to England for repair.

Understood. Like I said, nobody but Coyne is running a pre-2002 tub yet, despite the carnage of the last three races. Mario's car was a 2K Lola with an update kit; everybody else is still running a 2002-or-newer model.

[grungex]

Except the whole point of the article is Servia and Dominguez's tubs were destroyed and Tagliani's had to be shipped back to England for repair.
Did anyone (other than a TV announcer or reporter) actually state they were truly destroyed? This would be rather unusual. Shipping back to Lola is a more common occurrence.

[pferrf1]

Off of speed.com

It ain't like Lola is going to build more tubs. People have been wadding up cars this year as though they were free.

In some ways they are. These cars had to have been fully depreciated by now.