First oval

[WickerBill]

We haven't seen this package run in anger on an oval yet. We have different wings, different engines, and a lot of non-oval-driving rookies. What will happen? How will the motors hold up, and what will the wings do for the racing? Most importantly, will the Lola have less or more of an edge over the Reynard?

[Railbird]

I'm hoping the rooks keep their wits about them and learn a little. With the fat downforce package it should shorten up the learning curve somewhat.

Might be interesting to see what Jimmy can squeeze out of the Reynard.

Another thought I've had is on drafting. Will the big wings combine with the relatively high speeds to create another "leap frog" affair or will everyone try to tuck in and play the fuel mileage game?

[Chief]

I'm hoping the turbulence doesn't mess it all up. Legit slipstreaming would be nice with an all out power run. Fuel economy races blow.

[JLMannin]

Drivers with a road race pedigree seen to do really, rally well on ovals.

Examples include Mansell, Villeneuve, Zanardi, Luyendyk.

I think ovals are rather technically easy. But a driver has to have big balls to do well on a big oval.

[mello]

PC will win first his first yet not last race of the season :)

[pchall]

First oval? So CART is racing at Brooklands?

[cart7]

I'm gonna go with Patrick as well. I think this will be his breakthrough race. PT will blow another engine. Bourdais and the rest of the F1, F3000 alumni will be scared s****less their first oval go round. ;)

[Treeface]

Rookie session prior to practice. I presume the increased corner speed will be offset by the increased drag but who knows. Haberfeld and Monteiro tested at Las Vegas but I didn't see any lap times.

[Railbird]

Ya crank up the downforce any wanker can drive an oval.


right?

[Treeface]

Even Alex Yoong?? He'll eat concrete this weekend no matter what the downforce and speed numbers are.

[cartmanoz]

Jourdain all the way!:thumbup:

I think the rookies will be told to take it easy, but the package should/will hopefully make the race exciting to watch.

[WickerBill]

Originally posted by Railbird
Ya crank up the downforce any wanker can drive an oval.


right?


ALMOST any wanker. I guess we'll see.

[Warlock!]

I don't think the newbies will be all that slow. They'll start hot-lapping, not knowing how hard the concrete walls actually are. The big wings will keep 'em off of them. What's the banking at Lausitz anyways?

Warlock!

[pchall]

Originally posted by Warlock!
What's the banking at Lausitz anyways?

Warlock!

It's a fairly flat tri-oval -- like Pocono.

[Ankf00]

Originally posted by Chief
I'm hoping the turbulence doesn't mess it all up. Legit slipstreaming would be nice with an all out power run. Fuel economy races blow. I don't think the road wings are going to add any more turbulence than presently exists, but the cars will be able to get more DF in those turbulent conditions... so I think it'll be close to the old sort of on track racing that used to exist; assuming the undertrays haven't been completely neutered. There certainly won't be any handford kind of bs going on...

[nrc]

Originally posted by Railbird
Ya crank up the downforce any wanker can drive an oval.


right?

Depends on the level of crank. Once it becomes easy flat all the way around ovals are wanker-friendly (e.g. Shiggy).

When going flat is possible but requires great skill and huevos grande it's a true test of a driver.

[Gurneyflap]

Wankers, eh? Like Wheldon? I see he is having a lot of trouble coming to grips at Indy! Nah, watch a guy like Bourdais run away and say 'what's the problem' when interviewed about his 1st oval victory. At this point I think I'd almost rather see a little modified leap-frogging than pits-only passing. Oh, and Brooklands? Might be a slight safety problem with considerations about (too much) runoff and trees and such growing through the pavement! Blame the Great War for why the British didn't focus on oval racing instead of the USA...the roads were already there! Why waste $$ creating race circuits?

[Railbird]

Crash.net (http://www.crash.net/news_detail.asp?championship_id=3&news_id=64894&language_id=)


Like I said, even the wankers look racey when you chop the power and add downforce.

Sebastien quick? no suprise there.

Lavin seventh? Whoa, can you say flying wanker?

[Treeface]

Haberfeld p4. Flying wankers indeed. The nonsense of running what you brung to Brands Hatch :rolleyes:. How much additional weight/cost is it to bring the right aero bits? I mean we're talking about carbon fibre wings not engine blocks right??

[Railbird]

Newman/Haas front row.


Haberfeld, Lavin and Lamarie in the top ten.

Tracy and Carp P16&17, what's up with that?

[RTKar]

Originally posted by Railbird
Ya crank up the downforce any wanker can drive an oval.


right?


LOL, I think what differentiates the simply capable from the truly good on an oval is the ability to diagnose what the car is doing and how it changes over the course of a race. How many times have we seen good drivers in "cars gone wild" barely able to keep the thing on the pavement during a segment? I think that's why a place like Indy is so interesting. Listen to the great drivers, like Mears talk about it, they try to get the car to work for them over the duration, maintaining the car so it's their at the end. While on an oval like Milwaukee, short and flat, things happen very fast and a mishandling car becomes a liability that the driver usually cannot over come and stay in the lead pack with. The rookies won't have that wealth of knowledge to draw from so guys like Vasser and Tracy should have the advantage, yet Bourdais is on a team that has a good book on Milwaukee. I just want to see real passing again at Milwaukee, It darn near had 3 grooves and produced some great racing in the past. The pedigreed drivers should have little problem coming to grips with the nuances of oval racing after a couple days practice.