The 2012 IndyCar Series thread

Jack O Melley · Post by **Jack O Melley** » 15 Apr 2012, 22:14

What a mess at the hairpin

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 15 Apr 2012, 22:21

Dario franchitti and Ed Carpenter for ROTR. Special mention to lotus teams.

Simon Pagenaud for IIDOTR.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 15 Apr 2012, 22:42

I wish I had Sky Sports, so I could watch this...

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 15 Apr 2012, 23:13

Cynon wrote:Get out Dallara. Just get out.

Amen to that

Post by **mario** » 16 Apr 2012, 08:40

Wizzie wrote:
Cynon wrote:Get out Dallara. Just get out.

Amen to that

Now that is going to put Dallara under further pressure over their design - the whole point of the bodywork behind the rear wheels was to prevent cars becoming airborne, but that clip suggests that it hasn't worked as effectively as had been hoped.

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 16 Apr 2012, 10:50

The flight of the DW-12 indeed looked scary and the fenders did not work properly. Dallara has got some serious homework to do.

Otherwise, it was a good race as expected when you have a jumbled up grid. Kudos to Josef Newgarden for making that move and for being in that position in the first place. Also kudos to Simon Pagenaud of Schmidt/Hamilton/FAZZT for being the only challenger Will Power had to face in the latter stages of the race.

Chevy's straight line speed was impressive. This indicates the Indy 500 will be boring since only Chevy drivers will be able to win it. Hence, I will not be watching.

Goodbye guys, see you when I visit here again at some point in the latter stages of the season. Until then, it's back to retirement.

Sublime_FA11C · Post by **Sublime_FA11C** » 16 Apr 2012, 11:31

mario wrote:Now that is going to put Dallara under further pressure over their design - the whole point of the bodywork behind the rear wheels was to prevent cars becoming airborne, but that clip suggests that it hasn't worked as effectively as had been hoped.

How on earth do you get your REAR wheel to 'climb' over another cars rear wheel? The first contact between Andretti's front and Rahal's rear went ok-ish, but if you pause the video at 2:31 you'll se what's got me confused. That's almost impossible.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 16 Apr 2012, 13:07

Sublime_FA11C wrote:How on earth do you get your REAR wheel to 'climb' over another cars rear wheel? The first contact between Andretti's front and Rahal's rear went ok-ish, but if you pause the video at 2:31 you'll se what's got me confused. That's almost impossible.

Actually, it's not that uncommon. The same thing happened to Jacques Villeneuve in the 2001 Australian GP and the same thing killed Jeff Krosnoff many years ago in a CART race in Toronto. In both those instances, once the rear wheels made contact, the airbourne cars made a B-line for the nearest catchfence so in that regard, Marco was incredibly lucky.

Sublime_FA11C · Post by **Sublime_FA11C** » 16 Apr 2012, 15:25

Wizzie wrote:Actually, it's not that uncommon. The same thing happened to Jacques Villeneuve in the 2001 Australian GP and the same thing killed Jeff Krosnoff many years ago in a CART race in Toronto. In both those instances, once the rear wheels made contact, the airbourne cars made a B-line for the nearest catchfence so in that regard, Marco was incredibly lucky.

I meant with this particular car. The rear wheel is blocked by the extended sidepod and floor ahead, and the 'bumper' on the rear.

Why not just put 12" spikes on the bumper and say: "C'mon punk, you feelin' lucky?". That ought to improve safety and keep other cars away.

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 16 Apr 2012, 16:43

I just want to chime in and say I really enjoyed that race. Again, I'm really impressed that these cars race so well together, despite the fact that we saw that strange tangle between Andretti and Rahal. Case in point: The mayor of Hinchtown smacking the back of someone (can't remember) halfway through the hairpin. Didn't damage the rear crash structure, didn't break his wing, didn't cause a spin. That's racing.

Oh, and Dario Franchitti is a piece of shite, and got what he deserved. That is all.

SimtekFan32 · Post by **SimtekFan32** » 16 Apr 2012, 18:20

ROTR for me: I have four nominees.

1. Helio Castroneves (or as we called him in T.O., What-the-Hellio Castro-numbnuts), for thinking he could go through Rubens Barrichello's car in the final hairpin, taking himself, Rubens, Servia and Wilson on the last lap. Or as we also say, typical Helio.

2. EJ Viso, driving the Citgo car, taking Milka Duno's place as moving chicane. Need I say much more?

3. IndyCar: for imposing a preposterous 10 spot penalty for all the Chevy teams, which was as effective as restarting a race on an oval, in the rain (Thanks TGBB.) I thought ineptitude and incompetence was gone from IndyCar, due to Beaux being appointed. Thew winner was still a Chevy from Penske's stables.

4. Dario Franchitti: For his repeated offences of avoidable contact, including the first corner, when he turned right into Josef Newgarden, taking him out of the race.

All in all, an exciting race. I'm also glad that Mr Hinch wound up with 3rd, making the GTA proud.

Chris

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 17 Apr 2012, 01:41

OK, with Sao Paulo the next race,

5 bucks says it rains.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 17 Apr 2012, 02:25

also have a 5er on it raining. so it's 10 now. anyone else uuuhhh POOLing money for this bet?

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 17 Apr 2012, 23:36

SimtekFan32 wrote:ROTR for me: I have four nominees.

1. Helio Castroneves (or as we called him in T.O., What-the-Hellio Castro-numbnuts), for thinking he could go through Rubens Barrichello's car in the final hairpin, taking himself, Rubens, Servia and Wilson on the last lap. Or as we also say, typical Helio.

2. EJ Viso, driving the Citgo car, taking Milka Duno's place as moving chicane. Need I say much more?

3. IndyCar: for imposing a preposterous 10 spot penalty for all the Chevy teams, which was as effective as restarting a race on an oval, in the rain (Thanks TGBB.) I thought ineptitude and incompetence was gone from IndyCar, due to Beaux being appointed. Thew winner was still a Chevy from Penske's stables.

4. Dario Franchitti: For his repeated offences of avoidable contact, including the first corner, when he turned right into Josef Newgarden, taking him out of the race.

All in all, an exciting race. I'm also glad that Mr Hinch wound up with 3rd, making the GTA proud.

Chris

1. Don't see what Helio did wrong, someone jammed on the brakes way too early and accordion-effect ensued.

2. Viso was a dick out there. For no good reason as far as I could tell.

3. How is that preposterous? Because it's in the rules? It's there to keep costs down.

4. Indeed. Officialdom still loves Dario.

Also, the broadcasters flubbed by saying Simona de Silvestro had been black flagged for blocking, when Beaux Barfield stated on Twitter that she was black flagged for a mechanical issue, which would make sense because de Silvestro retired at that point in the race.

It will be interesting to see if Honda can catch Chevrolet in time for the Indy 500, or if the Chevys will be like the 1992 Ford Cosworths -- all of them obscenely fast but none of them actually finish.

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 23 Apr 2012, 19:16

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ ... its-teams/

Interesting article from Marshall Pruett. I'm not surprised that some (if not all) of the Lotus teams are considering dumping Lotus.

'To give some additional context to that scenario, the two Lotus teams would rather spend an additional $1 million to get a Chevy or Honda engine--which will have an increased engine pool size after Indy--and forfeit the money they’ve already paid to Lotus than to stay with their current supplier.'

Oh dear. Also some really stupid comments from Miodrag Kotur.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 23 Apr 2012, 21:26

Pick any two of these drivers and you have the people who will DNQ Indy this year, provided nobody else wrecks really hard:

Alesi
Bourdais
de Silvestro
Legge

Servia will be getting a Chevrolet engine and Tagliani a Honda, reportedly. Dragon Racing has Bourdais so they've actually been able to get speed out of the Lotus, but if Bourdais is Bobby Rahal in 1994, then Legge is Mike Groff (a bit of a deadweight at the moment).

About Legge, TrueCar is a sponsor that motorsport I think needs -- because it's the only sponsor that I know of that only backs female drivers exclusively. Not only that, but the white and metallic blue paintjobs it comes up with are fantastic. One of their liveries in SCCA looks oddly like HRT's livery from last year except instead of red there's blue!

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 24 Apr 2012, 00:30

I pick Alesi and Legge. de Silvestro is actually decent, and Bourdais is Bourdais. Legge might get in, and I haven't heard from Alesi for a while.

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 24 Apr 2012, 00:42

Cynon wrote:Pick any two of these drivers and you have the people who will DNQ Indy this year, provided nobody else wrecks really hard:

Alesi
Bourdais
de Silvestro
Legge

Servia will be getting a Chevrolet engine and Tagliani a Honda, reportedly. Dragon Racing has Bourdais so they've actually been able to get speed out of the Lotus, but if Bourdais is Bobby Rahal in 1994, then Legge is Mike Groff (a bit of a deadweight at the moment).

About Legge, TrueCar is a sponsor that motorsport I think needs -- because it's the only sponsor that I know of that only backs female drivers exclusively. Not only that, but the white and metallic blue paintjobs it comes up with are fantastic. One of their liveries in SCCA looks oddly like HRT's livery from last year except instead of red there's blue!

So like Lynxe in the TM Master Cup series.

You really should start a thread for the TMMC in the McCarthy forum.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 24 Apr 2012, 08:27

Jourdain Jr could replace Filippi and Michael Shank and his merry men set to run Jay Howard

And it's just occurred to me Simon Pagenaud is third in the championship and just 3 points behind Castroneves in 2nd. For Sam Schmidt's team. Something inside me hopes to HWNSNBM that Team Penske and Ganassi keep bathplugging it up so Pagenaud can win the title simply because it would an incredibly fitting result. Execpt possibly if the mayor of Hinchtown can win it.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 24 Apr 2012, 15:38

eurobrun wrote:
Cynon wrote:Pick any two of these drivers and you have the people who will DNQ Indy this year, provided nobody else wrecks really hard:

Alesi
Bourdais
de Silvestro
Legge

Servia will be getting a Chevrolet engine and Tagliani a Honda, reportedly. Dragon Racing has Bourdais so they've actually been able to get speed out of the Lotus, but if Bourdais is Bobby Rahal in 1994, then Legge is Mike Groff (a bit of a deadweight at the moment).

About Legge, TrueCar is a sponsor that motorsport I think needs -- because it's the only sponsor that I know of that only backs female drivers exclusively. Not only that, but the white and metallic blue paintjobs it comes up with are fantastic. One of their liveries in SCCA looks oddly like HRT's livery from last year except instead of red there's blue!

So like Lynxe in the TM Master Cup series.

You really should start a thread for the TMMC in the McCarthy forum.

Basically. Only a different shade of blue. :lol:

I probably would have started a thread for it if I thought more than 2 people would read it (counting myself). :lol:

Also, officially Lotus has split with Dreyer & Reinbold and Bryan Herta. This could be good for Lotus in the long run, because remember how shite Honda was when they started in 1994? They had two cars only (Rahal and Groff) with a third part-time entry showing up rarely (Johnstone), ran like crap (especially Groff), blew up early on, then in 1995 had only 1 full-time car (Ribiero) with two part time cars (Goodyear and Johnstone)... and then in the middle of 1995 it became apparent that the Honda really was the best engine when Johnstone put it on the pole at Michigan, it's just that Ribiero was a noob.

Post by **tommykl** » 24 Apr 2012, 17:11

Cynon wrote:I probably would have started a thread for it if I thought more than 2 people would read it (counting myself).

Well, there would be me, eurobrun, eichy, maybe WaffleCat and I believe ADx_Wales. That's six including you

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 24 Apr 2012, 19:54

tommykl wrote:
Cynon wrote:I probably would have started a thread for it if I thought more than 2 people would read it (counting myself).

Well, there would be me, eurobrun, eichy, maybe WaffleCat and I believe ADx_Wales. That's six including you

Also me, I've been meaning to get into it, but keep forgetting to actually check it out.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 25 Apr 2012, 09:33

Honda and Chevy to go to war on Thursday

This can only end well... What I can't quite understand is why the two parties got to pick the representatives hearing the case but I could be missing something fundamental here.

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 25 Apr 2012, 09:55

Wizzie wrote:Honda and Chevy to go to war on Thursday

This can only end well... What I can't quite understand is why the two parties got to pick the representatives hearing the case but I could be missing something fundamental here.

This will be interesting.

MinardiFan95 · Post by **MinardiFan95** » 25 Apr 2012, 10:15

New IndyCar game announced

As the blog entry suggests, it'll probably be based on the aging rFactor 1 engine (much like the Superleague game from a few years back if I remember correctly), but the fact that I'll be able to race as Takuma Sato once again in a game will probably tempt me into getting it :lol:

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 25 Apr 2012, 10:21

MinardiFan95 wrote:New IndyCar game announced

As the blog entry suggests, it'll probably be based on the aging rFactor 1 engine (much like the Superleague game from a few years back if I remember correctly), but the fact that I'll be able to race as Takuma Sato once again in a game will probably tempt me into getting it

There's one thing I didn't quite understand - will it be an online racing game, or will it be a console game for XBox, PS3, etc?

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 25 Apr 2012, 10:33

Cynon wrote:
eurobrun wrote:
Cynon wrote:Pick any two of these drivers and you have the people who will DNQ Indy this year, provided nobody else wrecks really hard:

Alesi
Bourdais
de Silvestro
Legge

Servia will be getting a Chevrolet engine and Tagliani a Honda, reportedly. Dragon Racing has Bourdais so they've actually been able to get speed out of the Lotus, but if Bourdais is Bobby Rahal in 1994, then Legge is Mike Groff (a bit of a deadweight at the moment).

About Legge, TrueCar is a sponsor that motorsport I think needs -- because it's the only sponsor that I know of that only backs female drivers exclusively. Not only that, but the white and metallic blue paintjobs it comes up with are fantastic. One of their liveries in SCCA looks oddly like HRT's livery from last year except instead of red there's blue!

So like Lynxe in the TM Master Cup series.

You really should start a thread for the TMMC in the McCarthy forum.

Basically. Only a different shade of blue.

I probably would have started a thread for it if I thought more than 2 people would read it (counting myself).

Also, officially Lotus has split with Dreyer & Reinbold and Bryan Herta. This could be good for Lotus in the long run, because remember how shite Honda was when they started in 1994? They had two cars only (Rahal and Groff) with a third part-time entry showing up rarely (Johnstone), ran like crap (especially Groff), blew up early on, then in 1995 had only 1 full-time car (Ribiero) with two part time cars (Goodyear and Johnstone)... and then in the middle of 1995 it became apparent that the Honda really was the best engine when Johnstone put it on the pole at Michigan, it's just that Ribiero was a noob.

I'm willing to bet anyone here that Lotus will pull out of Indycar within the next 2 years.

Post by **mario** » 25 Apr 2012, 10:39

Cynon wrote:Also, officially Lotus has split with Dreyer & Reinbold and Bryan Herta. This could be good for Lotus in the long run, because remember how shite Honda was when they started in 1994? They had two cars only (Rahal and Groff) with a third part-time entry showing up rarely (Johnstone), ran like crap (especially Groff), blew up early on, then in 1995 had only 1 full-time car (Ribiero) with two part time cars (Goodyear and Johnstone)... and then in the middle of 1995 it became apparent that the Honda really was the best engine when Johnstone put it on the pole at Michigan, it's just that Ribiero was a noob.

From the reports coming out about this deal, it sounds like a slightly acrimonious split - I believe that the two teams in question decided that the failure to supply engines for the Indy 500 test session constituted a breach of contract by Group Lotus, something that Group Lotus is disputing. Faustus, I agree that Group Lotus is unlikely to hang around in IndyCars for much longer - two years might even be slightly optimistic given that they are already cutting back in other areas - what happened to the tarmac rally car they were supposedly developing last winter, for example?

dr-baker wrote:
MinardiFan95 wrote:New IndyCar game announced

As the blog entry suggests, it'll probably be based on the aging rFactor 1 engine (much like the Superleague game from a few years back if I remember correctly), but the fact that I'll be able to race as Takuma Sato once again in a game will probably tempt me into getting it

There's one thing I didn't quite understand - will it be an online racing game, or will it be a console game for XBox, PS3, etc?

It is an online only free to play title that is little more than a modified version of rFactor (with some questions over the origins of some of the material that has gone into the game - one modding group has been complaining for some time that this company has ripped off their version of the Mid Ohio race track).

Post by **Londoner** » 25 Apr 2012, 19:46

Mr Jourdain Jr is to return.

16 years between Indy 500 entries, that's got to be some sort of record, hasn't it?

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 27 Apr 2012, 02:17

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 27 Apr 2012, 20:29

Thank you F1000X!!

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 27 Apr 2012, 22:05

F1000X wrote:

THIS
it's almost like the FI-oh sorry about that

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 30 Apr 2012, 13:44

This weekend's IndyCar race from Sao Paulo was televised on Sky Sports F1, so I got to watch most of it (inbetween BTCC races). I only discovered it was going to be on that channel thanks to a Facebook posting from Pippa Mann. :oops:

A very entertining race, particularly in the final stages, and a brilliant result from Takuma Sato.

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 30 Apr 2012, 13:49

dr-baker wrote:This weekend's IndyCar race from Sao Paulo was televised on Sky Sports F1, so I got to watch most of it (inbetween BTCC races). I only discovered it was going to be on that channel thanks to a Facebook posting from Pippa Mann. A very entertining race, particularly in the final stages, and a brilliant result from Takuma Sato.

Good race, wasn't it? I really liked it.
By the way, Sky Sports F1 have and will broadcast all of the Indycar races, including the Indy 500.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 30 Apr 2012, 13:52

The race was ok, I expect that there was far more action going on then the cameras actually showed as the camera work seemed a little shoddy. Sato's move from 5th to 3rd on the restart was gold! Though the commentators reported that Alesi won't be driving at the Indy?

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 30 Apr 2012, 14:45

Faustus wrote:
dr-baker wrote:This weekend's IndyCar race from Sao Paulo was televised on Sky Sports F1, so I got to watch most of it (inbetween BTCC races). I only discovered it was going to be on that channel thanks to a Facebook posting from Pippa Mann. A very entertining race, particularly in the final stages, and a brilliant result from Takuma Sato.

Good race, wasn't it? I really liked it.
By the way, Sky Sports F1 have and will broadcast all of the Indycar races, including the Indy 500.

Ahh brilliant!!! IndyNerdism, here I come! Gonna love the Indy 500!!!

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 30 Apr 2012, 14:51

dr-baker wrote:
Faustus wrote:
dr-baker wrote:This weekend's IndyCar race from Sao Paulo was televised on Sky Sports F1, so I got to watch most of it (inbetween BTCC races). I only discovered it was going to be on that channel thanks to a Facebook posting from Pippa Mann. A very entertining race, particularly in the final stages, and a brilliant result from Takuma Sato.

Good race, wasn't it? I really liked it.
By the way, Sky Sports F1 have and will broadcast all of the Indycar races, including the Indy 500.

Ahh brilliant!!! IndyNerdism, here I come! Gonna love the Indy 500!!!

Same weekend as the Monaco Grand Prix and all. A veritable motorsport extravaganza!

Sunshine_Baby_[IT] · Post by **Sunshine_Baby_[IT]** » 30 Apr 2012, 15:22

dr-baker wrote:This weekend's IndyCar race from Sao Paulo was televised on Sky Sports F1, so I got to watch most of it (inbetween BTCC races). I only discovered it was going to be on that channel thanks to a Facebook posting from Pippa Mann. A very entertining race, particularly in the final stages, and a brilliant result from Takuma Sato.

Unluckily I wasn't able to watch the race, but I hope I could download it somewhere someday...

I followed the news on Twitter yesterday and Sato's result really made me happy.

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 30 Apr 2012, 15:47

James Hinchcliffe, I am disappoint. Taku was great.

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 01 May 2012, 00:09

All I've got to say is the race was ok, but the organizers need to get rid of that silly chicane in the first few corners! Just a simple left-right corner, that's all. I'm pleasantly surprised by Takuma. I wasn't expecting that!

I put down $10 that the race would be delayed by rain... guess what happened today