coolhand
07-07-05, 10:14 PM
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3339316a2201,00.html
Scott Dixon is in the wrong place at the wrong time. In 2003 the fast young Kiwi won the American Indy Racing League championship, and in the middle of last year he impressed in a Formula One test for the Williams team.
But now he is 16th in the IRL, without a decent result all season, and he has become a very faint blip on the radar screen.
No one is saying that Dixon can't drive any more. His problem is that his Target Ganassi team now finds itself with the wrong equipment.
IRL teams have a choice of two chassis and three engines – though at this stage all three engine suppliers say they will be pulling out by the end of next year.
When Dixon won the championship with the same team in 2003, the Toyota engine was the equal of the Hondas and Chevrolets. But when the series introduced smaller engines (3-litre V8s instead of 3.5) last year, in an attempt to cut speeds for safety reasons, Honda got the jump on its rivals and it still seems to be ahead.
Honda took the first four places at Kansas last weekend, where the highest-place Toyota was Dixon's English teammate Darren Manning in seventh.
For chassis, the teams can choose between Dallara and Panoz G-Force.
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Target run the Panoz – and Dallara took four of the top five places at Kansas. Overall the Dallara is certainly doing better, so Dixon's team has the wrong chassis and the wrong engine.
They actually bought a Dallara and tried it earlier this season, but went slower – not surprisingly, perhaps, as they had no experience that would have helped them work out the fine points of setup for it.
On top of that, Dixon has been having some bad luck this season. In the previous round at Richmond he got taken out by another driver after only 37 laps, and at Kansas he was doing reasonably well till his car went wrong. He had qualified a respectable seventh and was looking set for a top-10 finish when around two-thirds distance an inside wheel cover got damaged, upsetting the car's aerodynamics.
"After the second to last pit stop the No 9 Target Toyota just had an incredible amount of drag," Dixon said after dropping from eighth spot to finish 17th.
"There was absolutely nothing I could do. Up to that point I was hanging off the back of the lead pack, biding my time and saving fuel.
"I was hoping to stick it out for a pretty good finish but, unfortunately, that just didn't happen for us today."
Dixon can take some consolation from the fact that his teammates are not covering themselves in glory either.
Manning is 12th and Ryan Briscoe, an Australian who has been a Formula One test driver for Toyota, is 17th. Englishman Dan Wheldon leads the series from two Brazilians, Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves.
Meanwhile, the IRL is heading for an engine crisis. Chevrolet is definitely pulling out at the end of this year, and Toyota at the end of next year.
Incidentally, the Chevrolet-badged engines are actually made in Britain by Cosworth, which till recently was owned by Chev's arch-enemy Ford.
Honda has also given notice that it will withdraw at the end of 2006, partly because it sees no point in competing if it does not have other leading manufacturers to race against.
However, there seems to be a chance that Honda will change its mind and stay in the series.
IRL is now looking at a new engine formula for 2007 and beyond.
Scott Dixon is in the wrong place at the wrong time. In 2003 the fast young Kiwi won the American Indy Racing League championship, and in the middle of last year he impressed in a Formula One test for the Williams team.
But now he is 16th in the IRL, without a decent result all season, and he has become a very faint blip on the radar screen.
No one is saying that Dixon can't drive any more. His problem is that his Target Ganassi team now finds itself with the wrong equipment.
IRL teams have a choice of two chassis and three engines – though at this stage all three engine suppliers say they will be pulling out by the end of next year.
When Dixon won the championship with the same team in 2003, the Toyota engine was the equal of the Hondas and Chevrolets. But when the series introduced smaller engines (3-litre V8s instead of 3.5) last year, in an attempt to cut speeds for safety reasons, Honda got the jump on its rivals and it still seems to be ahead.
Honda took the first four places at Kansas last weekend, where the highest-place Toyota was Dixon's English teammate Darren Manning in seventh.
For chassis, the teams can choose between Dallara and Panoz G-Force.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Target run the Panoz – and Dallara took four of the top five places at Kansas. Overall the Dallara is certainly doing better, so Dixon's team has the wrong chassis and the wrong engine.
They actually bought a Dallara and tried it earlier this season, but went slower – not surprisingly, perhaps, as they had no experience that would have helped them work out the fine points of setup for it.
On top of that, Dixon has been having some bad luck this season. In the previous round at Richmond he got taken out by another driver after only 37 laps, and at Kansas he was doing reasonably well till his car went wrong. He had qualified a respectable seventh and was looking set for a top-10 finish when around two-thirds distance an inside wheel cover got damaged, upsetting the car's aerodynamics.
"After the second to last pit stop the No 9 Target Toyota just had an incredible amount of drag," Dixon said after dropping from eighth spot to finish 17th.
"There was absolutely nothing I could do. Up to that point I was hanging off the back of the lead pack, biding my time and saving fuel.
"I was hoping to stick it out for a pretty good finish but, unfortunately, that just didn't happen for us today."
Dixon can take some consolation from the fact that his teammates are not covering themselves in glory either.
Manning is 12th and Ryan Briscoe, an Australian who has been a Formula One test driver for Toyota, is 17th. Englishman Dan Wheldon leads the series from two Brazilians, Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves.
Meanwhile, the IRL is heading for an engine crisis. Chevrolet is definitely pulling out at the end of this year, and Toyota at the end of next year.
Incidentally, the Chevrolet-badged engines are actually made in Britain by Cosworth, which till recently was owned by Chev's arch-enemy Ford.
Honda has also given notice that it will withdraw at the end of 2006, partly because it sees no point in competing if it does not have other leading manufacturers to race against.
However, there seems to be a chance that Honda will change its mind and stay in the series.
IRL is now looking at a new engine formula for 2007 and beyond.