Mexico City: things to like

[oddlycalm]

- Man-In-Black Jim Swintell on the track with the final checkered flag of the season... again. :thumbup:
- RuSport 1-2 and domination of a race weekend in only their 2nd season in the series shows what we can expect in the future from homegrown Atlantics Teams moving up.
- Wilson gets a well deserved victory after a season of moderately crappy luck.
- Tony Cotman does yet another great job of presiding over a race. The clown act has now officially faded into a distant memory status.
- Significant new sponsor news and 2006 broadcast announcement
- PT admits he srooed the pewch and takes responsibility. Not as good as not having done it, but way better than the stupid denials and hollow finger pointing we hear from a lot of drivers.
- Champ car completes a very credible 2nd season less than 2yrs since they bought the assets of a dead series with progress made on all fronts. :thumbup:

oc

[G.]

(I hate to do this, yet I love to do this, as it is so stupid.)

Me too.














On all counts.

Due to things at home, I was unable to catch the whole race, but I saw PT owning up to his, umm, error at the end. Wow. Class. Whodathunkit?

[cart7]

I too didn't get to see the whole race, missed the last 20 laps. (thank God for rebroadcasts next year). Great race overall. Plenty of on-track action and the telecast was pretty darn good. Overall, I'm looking forward to next season. :thumbup:

[KLang]

:thumbup:

Pretty good race to finish a pretty good season. I'm very optimistic about Champ Car's future at this point.

Houston Grand Prix details supposed to be due Wednesday. :)

Edit:

Almost forgot, Congrats to RuSport!

Did you catch the end of the post race interview with AJ? Almost forgot to pimp the sponsors but got it in at the end. :laugh:

[Methanolandbrats]

Excellent Racing :thumbup:

[tllips]

Excellent race! I only wish that they would have covered PT's race back to the front. I was as surprised as Daly when he realised PT was in 3rd :eek: . I wish we could have seen how he got back through the pack.

[pchall]

It's nice to feel positive about the future again, isn't it?

[Dr. Corkski]

Excellent race! I only wish that they would have covered PT's race back to the front. I was as surprised as Daly when he realised PT was in 3rd :eek: . I wish we could have seen how he got back through the pack.His race back up to the front consisted of Bourdais and da Matta crashing and then using that as an excuse to gain multiple positions by cutting the track. Again. :gomer:

[oddlycalm]

Question. Can anyone explain to me why they gear the cars so they are on the limiter for the final 20% of the main straight in Mexico City. Last year I heard speculation that winds goofed them up, but that's clearly not the case. I feel like I'm missing something obvious, but it totally escapes me why they can't handle that with the gear sets they have. :confused:

oc

[KLang]

I only heard Daly mention that in regard to Wilson. Where other cars doing it too?

[oddlycalm]

It appeared like they were all doing it to some degree. I first noticed it (this year) with an in-car on Dominquez. Also on Wilson as you posted. We all know how fast these cars will go on a big oval, so it isn't about not being able to pull a taller gear. On a straight that long they should be pulling some serious top speeds IMO, no? Instead they are hitting speeds similar to what we see on much shorter straights elsewhere. The altittude shouldn't be a factor with the turbo.

oc

[KLang]

Perhaps Champ Car mandates a maximum gear? Although the way Daly said it I think he thought the team goofed.

[Easy]

It could have been due to missing the mark with the wings. If the temp went up and they weren't producing as much downforce the cars could have hit higher speeds and thus the rev limiter. Or, they just accepted that compromise in return for better acceleration in top gear. It seemed to work okay for Wilson.

[Dirty Sanchez]

the altitude is a factor. they reduce the boost to 39" for mexico and increase the overtake time to 180 seconds. when on overtake, boost is increased to 41.5" which is their normal roadcourse spec.

I think they also give them some super sticky tires for mexico to help compensate.

[Gnam]

Maybe they were trying to save fuel and/or the brakes by limiting the top speed before Turn 1.

[NismoZ]

I think the fastest car on the weekend was the two-seater.

[DagoFast]

I think the fastest car on the weekend was the two-seater.


That's just really f-en sad if true. And we wonder where all the crowds have gone....

[Anteater]

Getting back to the original topic of "Mexico City: things to like", I'll add--da Matta finished the race! :cool: :thumbup: He was running very well until the "Crash of the Champions", too. Overall, it was a great race. With all the on-track drama, I'll bet that the awards dinner was an interesting place to be last night. And does Timo Glock have a bodyguard?

[Jervis Tetch 1]

Great year :thumbup:

[RusH]

Timo Glock :thumbup:

I was on-board with him in RD the whole race as he gained positions to P3, but using all his P2P before the restart did him in.

[FTG]

His race back up to the front consisted of Bourdais and da Matta crashing and then using that as an excuse to gain multiple positions by cutting the track. Again. :gomer:

Funny. I thought a full course yellow bunched up the field and PT passed two cars on the restart.

[Andrew Longman]

Or, they just accepted that compromise in return for better acceleration in top gear. It seemed to work okay for Wilson.

I saw it on a lot of cars and can only assume this is the reason. Having been there years before I just doubt all the engineers would be "fooled" by air density and the like. There certainly would have had a gear tall enough to take them down the backstretch without hitting the limiter if indeed that produced the fastest lap times.

But it certainly seemed odd backing off so early for T1

On Topic. Yeah everything was cool. I'm just missing a great shot of Swintell with the Checkers like the ones they took the last two years.

[Dirty Sanchez]

http://uk.tnpv.net/2005/11/07/LAT2005110748178_PVW.jpg

[Andrew Longman]

http://uk.tnpv.net/2005/11/07/LAT2005110748178_PVW.jpg

Thanks. This doesn't seem to be on the CC site, but I haven't looked again today. Maybe LAT will keep it to themselves.

A little disappointing I must say. Not bad but none compares to Tracy's shot two years ago for composition and sense of festival and speed :D

[racer2c]

A little disappointing I must say. Not bad but none compares to Tracy's shot two years ago for composition and sense of festival and speed :D

Cuz there was ONLY 271K there this year! :cry: