New Robin Miller Article on Airborne IRL Cars

[Chitowncartfreak]

A good read - includes comments by engineers and drivers.

http://espn.go.com/rpm/irl/2003/1106/1655795.html

[RichK]

One of Robin's best articles, IMO.

[Chitowncartfreak]

Originally posted by RichK
One of Robin's best articles, IMO.

I agree. His earlier articles were great, but now that he has the opinions of drivers and engineers to support his position, he makes a very powerful case for why change is needed.

[rabbit]

Good stuff from Big Mo:

Gugelmin feels like the specter of fear permeates the IRL paddock but many drivers won't voice their concerns.

"The saddest thing is that a lot of talented drivers were forced to go to a series where they have to hope and pray every time they go out on the track that they're not going to be the next one. I know that for a fact," said the Brazilian, who practiced at 242 mph at Fontana, Calif., in 1997.

"I hope some of the drivers have the courage to step up and say this is unacceptable. Gil de Ferran certainly didn't say those words but I'm pretty sure that's why he is stopping. He still loves to drive but it got to the point where you look at life and you look at the risks, which are tremendous in this case.

"He stood up and said, 'Look, I'm out of here.'"

BTW - Is Robin saying what I think he's saying when he said: "impaled him on the catch fence"??? :saywhat: Uggh.

So which is the solution: A) More power/less downforce or B) Less power/more downforce? One of the two has to give. I vote A, but I'm no tech expert.

[FRANKY]

"an IRL car creates 1,000 pounds less downforce than a CART car."




"The IRL needs more downforce, not less power," he said. "But any solution is going to cost money and the trick is not to bankrupt the series but keep the close racing."

"They've come to us and asked our opinion. They're not sitting back. They want to do the right thing."

There in a nutshell. They should easily know what to do. Hopefully they will.

[RaceGrrl]

They've known for a long time about this problem and ignored it, and a driver is dead because of their negligence. To add insult to injury, they're blaming it on driver error. Yeah, Renna flapped his arms and made the car fly.

I hope that they'll do the right thing, but I'm not convinced that they will. They started denying a link between the five flying car accidents immediately after Renna was killed. I'll believe the changes when I see them.

[Dr. Corkski]

Originally posted by Chitowncartfreak
I agree. His earlier articles were great, but now that he has the opinions of drivers and engineers to support his position, he makes a very powerful case for why change is needed. Not only that, but he offers up solutions dealing with it instead of the token FThis or FThat.

I do however, Big Mo's use of the word "forced" to be rather interesting.

[Lizzerd]

The balance for IRL officials is a tenuous one. They need to make sure the cars quit flying but they want to keep their photo finishes.


I'll wager right now that they will opt for the photo finishes.

I just checked TF. As of 6:05 PM EST, not a peep about this article. Heads in the sand... all of them.

[rabbit]

Originally posted by Lizzerd
I just checked TF. As of 6:05 PM EST, not a peep about this article. Heads in the sand... all of them. http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34954
Looks like the evil Robin Miller is up to his usual IRL "bashing." :rolleyes:

[Racewriter]

Originally posted by rabbit
http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34954
Looks like the evil Robin Miller is up to his usual IRL "bashing." :rolleyes:

You knew it would be.:rolleyes:

One of Robin's best. Well backed up with quotes - a serious article about a serious issue.

[Don Quixote]

The lemmings wish Miller would go away, but he won't. This topic needs to be brought out into the light, and Miller hasn't let it drop.

[RTKar]

Originally posted by RaceGrrl
They've known for a long time about this problem and ignored it, and a driver is dead because of their negligence. To add insult to injury, they're blaming it on driver error. Yeah, Renna flapped his arms and made the car fly.

I hope that they'll do the right thing, but I'm not convinced that they will. They started denying a link between the five flying car accidents immediately after Renna was killed. I'll believe the changes when I see them.

Just like NASCAR did during a period when several drivers died a few years back. It wasn't until Dale Sr. died, that anything was done and even then NASCAR tried to blame Bill Simpson. I just hope that it won't take a car going into the stands before the situation is corrected.

[pchall]

Originally posted by FRANKY

There in a nutshell. They should easily know what to do. Hopefully they will.

After eight years of IRHell, what makes you so optimistic about it's management now?

[SteveH]

The first irl car's problem with being tail heavy was not remedied. Nothing was done. Except by the ortho's.

[FTG]

"We're always trying to trim the car out as much as possible at Indy to reduce the drag.

"That forces us to do unconventional things like running the nose up in the air to unwind the rear wing. Last May some guys were running minus eight degrees on their rear wings and that's like taking the wing off.


This is the most important part of the article. They faster you set them up, the more likely they are to fly.

The engineers all know it. Must make them sick to their stomach. Must make them feel guilty too,

[JLMannin]

Originally posted by FTG
"We're always trying to trim the car out as much as possible at Indy to reduce the drag.

"That forces us to do unconventional things like running the nose up in the air to unwind the rear wing. Last May some guys were running minus eight degrees on their rear wings and that's like taking the wing off.


This is the most important part of the article. They faster you set them up, the more likely they are to fly.

The engineers all know it. Must make them sick to their stomach. Must make them feel guilty too,

The amazing thing is that none of the Indy-only teams that formed the elite core of the original IRL had the brains to raise the noses of the cars to get the rear wings the hell out of the air to go faster. It took the CART turncoats to show them how to engineer around rules.

Knowing the IRL, they will probably do something stupid like force the cars to run top-fuel dragster wings. :shakehead

[pchall]

Originally posted by RTKar
Just like NASCAR did during a period when several drivers died a few years back. It wasn't until Dale Sr. died, that anything was done and even then NASCAR tried to blame Bill Simpson. I just hope that it won't take a car going into the stands before the situation is corrected.

The IRL doesn't have a star of the dimension in marketing achieved by Earnhardt. Somehow I think that in the IRLuniverse, fans are just as disposable as the drivers. :(

[RTKar]

Originally posted by pchall
The IRL doesn't have a star of the dimension in marketing achieved by Earnhardt. Somehow I think that in the IRLuniverse, fans are just as disposable as the drivers. :(

That's what I was thinking when I made the referrence to probably needing a car going into the stands before the earl does anything... Dare I say government intervention ?

[cart7]

Finally, what some of us have been talking about all along. Change the spec to put driver skill back into the equation. Thanks RM, this really needed to be said. :thumbup: