The 2012 IndyCar Series thread

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 02 May 2011, 11:10

Rain, rain go away, Indy wants to race...

To be honest though, it's kind of stupid the way IndyCar has been handling this. If your 'rain tyres' are rubbish, why bother having them at all? And since your tyres are crap, why schedule a race in Brazil during this time of the year, as many have already said?

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 02 May 2011, 11:13

Exactly, maybe if it were on an actual road course like Interlagos or one of those instead of a street circuit then the rain would not be as big an issue. And apparently Indycar wants to put together another race in Brazil for sometime in September? At least make it a permanent road course facility.

JohnMLTX · Post by **JohnMLTX** » 02 May 2011, 12:54

SATO IS LEADING!!! SATO IS LEADING! AND NOT JUST ON PIT STOPS, HE GOT AROUND WILL POWER INTO TURN 1!

He's got 2 SECONDS on Viso in 2nd, and it's a KV 1-2! WOW!

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 02 May 2011, 14:14

JohnMLTX wrote:SATO IS LEADING!!! SATO IS LEADING! AND NOT JUST ON PIT STOPS, HE GOT AROUND WILL POWER INTO TURN 1!

He's got 2 SECONDS on Viso in 2nd, and it's a KV 1-2! WOW!

Yet, somewhere along the way, things went horribly wrong. Besides, Viso got a penalty for blocking...

rffp · Post by **rffp** » 02 May 2011, 16:21

golic_2004 wrote:Exactly, maybe if it were on an actual road course like Interlagos or one of those instead of a street circuit then the rain would not be as big an issue. And apparently Indycar wants to put together another race in Brazil for sometime in September? At least make it a permanent road course facility.

None available. Jacarepaguá received a death sentence and Curitiba is not suitable. The others are way below par.
September would be fine for a street race, but Porto Alegre, a strong candidate for the 2nd race, cand be awfully cold (for Brazilian standards) in the winter.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 02 May 2011, 16:43

rffp wrote:
golic_2004 wrote:Exactly, maybe if it were on an actual road course like Interlagos or one of those instead of a street circuit then the rain would not be as big an issue. And apparently Indycar wants to put together another race in Brazil for sometime in September? At least make it a permanent road course facility.

None available. Jacarepaguá received a death sentence and Curitiba is not suitable. The others are way below par.
September would be fine for a street race, but Porto Alegre, a strong candidate for the 2nd race, cand be awfully cold (for Brazilian standards) in the winter.

What would be the possibility/enthusiasm for an F1/IndyCar double bill at Interlagos?

Valrys · Post by **Valrys** » 02 May 2011, 18:00

dr-baker wrote:
rffp wrote:
golic_2004 wrote:Exactly, maybe if it were on an actual road course like Interlagos or one of those instead of a street circuit then the rain would not be as big an issue. And apparently Indycar wants to put together another race in Brazil for sometime in September? At least make it a permanent road course facility.

None available. Jacarepaguá received a death sentence and Curitiba is not suitable. The others are way below par.
September would be fine for a street race, but Porto Alegre, a strong candidate for the 2nd race, cand be awfully cold (for Brazilian standards) in the winter.

What would be the possibility/enthusiasm for an F1/IndyCar double bill at Interlagos?

That would be bathplug awesome, imo

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 02 May 2011, 21:13

yea, if they decide to Up the safety and security there.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 02 May 2011, 22:47

so, they finished the race today. just saw it on OLN*cough* EXCUSE ME, VERSUS. (but they still have hunting and cycling shows out the arse)
i'm disappointed because Takuma Sato was doing very well, but then realized that his car does not have infinite fuel, virtually GIVING the win to will power.
i think roger penske and tony george are good friends at this point.

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 03 May 2011, 00:25

Cynon wrote:
JohnMLTX wrote:Spoiler Alert

Ana Beatriz is channeling the spirit of Lucas Di Grassi today.

Yeah, but she isn't hitting the walls, unlike di Crashi... but she is very disappointing so far. Granted, she has an awesome teammate, and it IS Dreyer & Reinbold... to whom consistency is a foreign language...

Today she should have very well been the top finishing woman in today's race after Danica and Simona crashed out together on lap 1. Unfortunately she blew it by having a mechanical failure. And both Simona AND Danica had their cars fixed & finished ahead of her.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 03 May 2011, 02:38

nome66 wrote:i think roger penske and tony george are good friends at this point.

1.) Penske sided with CART during the split. Don't think he's all that happy with Tony George for the CART/IRL split.
2.) Tony George is no longer running the IRL.

rffp wrote:If their rain tire is not great, then they shouldn't race where it rains, or at least move the race to June-August, since the winter here is awfully dry.

It's more like an intermediate tire, not a wet tire, because today seemed to go fairly well as long as people weren't braking on the paint. Again, had St. Pete and Barber not been total fail then I think they might have tried to race in the rain. Then again... Tony Cotman is the race director...

I think the lesson the IRL learned here is GET A RAIN TIRE.

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 06 May 2011, 14:27

Oh my! It-it-it's him!

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 06 May 2011, 15:45

Indycar has a Need for Speed?
I think not.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 06 May 2011, 18:49

Shizuka wrote:Indycar has a Need for Speed?
I think not.

The Need for Scott Speed will be seen when he either barely squeaks in on Bump Day or fails to qualify. Scott Speed was not suited to F1 and certainly not to NASCAR... so I can't imagine he'll do well at Indy. Kind of a shame really, he has one of the best names ever in racing.

jpm · Post by **jpm** » 07 May 2011, 19:10

Cynon wrote:
Shizuka wrote:Indycar has a Need for Speed?
I think not.

The Need for Scott Speed will be seen when he either barely squeaks in on Bump Day or fails to qualify. Scott Speed was not suited to F1 and certainly not to NASCAR... so I can't imagine he'll do well at Indy. Kind of a shame really, he has one of the best names ever in racing.

It'll be hilarious if he gets beaten by his team-mate Ho Pin Tung. I can see James Jakes failing to qualify, as it will be his first ever oval (likewise for Ho Pin). Howabout Alex Lloyd as a dark horse for indy, or Paul tracy to take his her-herm, second win at the Brickyard...

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 08 May 2011, 03:15

Cynon wrote:
Shizuka wrote:Indycar has a Need for Speed?
I think not.

The Need for Scott Speed will be seen when he either barely squeaks in on Bump Day or fails to qualify. Scott Speed was not suited to F1 and certainly not to NASCAR... so I can't imagine he'll do well at Indy. Kind of a shame really, he has one of the best names ever in racing.

Have to say it. Scott Speed < Lake Speed

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 08 May 2011, 09:43

Lake Speed managed to keep a fairly lengthy if anonymous career in NASCAR and was actually fast for a brief period of time.

Scott Speed managed to make himself persona non grata in NASCAR and got booted out of the POS Team Red Bull cars for being shite after a measly three years.

jpm wrote:It'll be hilarious if he gets beaten by his team-mate Ho Pin Tung. I can see James Jakes failing to qualify, as it will be his first ever oval (likewise for Ho Pin). Howabout Alex Lloyd as a dark horse for indy, or Paul tracy to take his her-herm, second win at the Brickyard...

Oy...

1.) Team Green knew, just as everyone else did, that all the caution lights may not flash on at the same time.
2.) If one of them was on, race is under yellow.
3.) One of them was on before Tracy completed the pass on Helio Castroneves.

Not much ground to stand on.

As someone who sided more with CART than the IRL, I acknowledge Castroneves as having won the Indianapolis 500 in 2002. Politics between CART and the IRL did not help the situation, however...

jpm · Post by **jpm** » 09 May 2011, 12:32

Well I guess I'm just a P.T.ite; I thnk Paul €tracy is great for the series, and just wish he and Bourdais had front running machinery. I really hope that he can make the field after last years non event; Bump Day this yearshould be the best for years!!!

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 11 May 2011, 08:56

I took a peek at the 2012 Dallaras, and I like what I saw for the most part, especially the Road Course car... with those 1984-F1-Esque-Double-Wings at the rear.

Only thing I hate are those stupid rear fender-thingies on the cars, but I'll live with it.

JohnMLTX · Post by **JohnMLTX** » 12 May 2011, 16:59

Cynon wrote:Only thing I hate are those stupid rear fender-thingies on the cars, but I'll live with it.

Sorry Cynon, but I gotta get up on my soapbox here.

Those fenders are there to prevent cars from getting launched when they touch tires, a la Mark Webber in Valencia, Mike Conway at Indy, Fabio Leimer in Istanbul, Dario Franchitti in Michigan etc. They're a necessary safety feature as per the new regulations for oval cars, and to be quite frank, they've done a fairly decent job in designing them to not look as stupid as they could have been. And, to be honest, I'd rather see some extra bits on the back than watch cars do backflips everytime they bump on an oval. Call me crazy, but semi-couth fenders > dead drivers.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 12 May 2011, 20:18

the aero kits shown look too much like GP2 for my taste. actually.....almost like the HRT.....
can't wait to hear those turbo Chevy motors and Lotus engines sing through Baltimore next year though!

ADx_Wales · Post by **ADx_Wales** » 12 May 2011, 20:35

It appears that none of the teams want these cars next year.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 12 May 2011, 20:43

JohnMLTX wrote:
Cynon wrote:Only thing I hate are those stupid rear fender-thingies on the cars, but I'll live with it.

Sorry Cynon, but I gotta get up on my soapbox here.

Those fenders are there to prevent cars from getting launched when they touch tires, a la Mark Webber in Valencia, Mike Conway at Indy, Fabio Leimer in Istanbul, Dario Franchitti in Michigan etc. They're a necessary safety feature as per the new regulations for oval cars, and to be quite frank, they've done a fairly decent job in designing them to not look as stupid as they could have been. And, to be honest, I'd rather see some extra bits on the back than watch cars do backflips everytime they bump on an oval. Call me crazy, but semi-couth fenders > dead drivers.

I get what they're for, but they look a bit silly.

ADx_Wales wrote:It appears that none of the teams want these cars next year.

It's probably more of a budgetary concern than anything else...

Anyway, Rookie Orientation has been run today... all of the drivers except Jakes have passed it so far (Jakes needs to run one more session).

Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Time Speed Diff Gap Best Lap Total Laps
1 4 Hildebrand, JR (R) D/H/F 00:40.6260 221.533 --.---- --.---- 59 68
2 8 Tung, Ho-Pin (R) D/H/F 00:40.8206 220.477 0.1946 0.1946 52 53
3 06 Hinchcliffe, James (R) D/H/F 00:40.9716 219.664 0.3456 0.1510 98 101
4 83 Kimball, Charlie (R) D/H/F 00:40.9833 219.602 0.3573 0.0117 68 73
5 8 Speed, Scott (R) D/H/F 00:41.0534 219.227 0.4274 0.0701 36 37
6 36 Mann, Pippa (R) D/H/F 00:41.0647 219.166 0.4387 0.0113 32 35
7 18 Jakes, James (R) D/H/F 00:41.9457 214.563 1.3197 0.8810 48 51

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 12 May 2011, 20:45

Cynon wrote:Anyway, Rookie Orientation has been run today...

Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Time Speed Diff Gap Best Lap Total Laps
1 4 Hildebrand, JR (R) D/H/F 00:40.6260 221.533 --.---- --.---- 59 68
2 8 Tung, Ho-Pin (R) D/H/F 00:40.8206 220.477 0.1946 0.1946 52 53
3 06 Hinchcliffe, James (R) D/H/F 00:40.9716 219.664 0.3456 0.1510 98 101
4 83 Kimball, Charlie (R) D/H/F 00:40.9833 219.602 0.3573 0.0117 68 73
5 8 Speed, Scott (R) D/H/F 00:41.0534 219.227 0.4274 0.0701 36 37
6 36 Mann, Pippa (R) D/H/F 00:41.0647 219.166 0.4387 0.0113 32 35
7 18 Jakes, James (R) D/H/F 00:41.9457 214.563 1.3197 0.8810 48 51

Ho-Pin Tung for the championship next year!

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 13 May 2011, 16:34

DanielPT wrote:
Cynon wrote:Anyway, Rookie Orientation has been run today...

Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Time Speed Diff Gap Best Lap Total Laps
1 4 Hildebrand, JR (R) D/H/F 00:40.6260 221.533 --.---- --.---- 59 68
2 8 Tung, Ho-Pin (R) D/H/F 00:40.8206 220.477 0.1946 0.1946 52 53
3 06 Hinchcliffe, James (R) D/H/F 00:40.9716 219.664 0.3456 0.1510 98 101
4 83 Kimball, Charlie (R) D/H/F 00:40.9833 219.602 0.3573 0.0117 68 73
5 8 Speed, Scott (R) D/H/F 00:41.0534 219.227 0.4274 0.0701 36 37
6 36 Mann, Pippa (R) D/H/F 00:41.0647 219.166 0.4387 0.0113 32 35
7 18 Jakes, James (R) D/H/F 00:41.9457 214.563 1.3197 0.8810 48 51

Ho-Pin Tung for the championship next year!

And Pippa Mann for the Indy 500!

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 13 May 2011, 16:39

dr-baker wrote:
DanielPT wrote:
Cynon wrote:Anyway, Rookie Orientation has been run today...

Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Time Speed Diff Gap Best Lap Total Laps
1 4 Hildebrand, JR (R) D/H/F 00:40.6260 221.533 --.---- --.---- 59 68
2 8 Tung, Ho-Pin (R) D/H/F 00:40.8206 220.477 0.1946 0.1946 52 53
3 06 Hinchcliffe, James (R) D/H/F 00:40.9716 219.664 0.3456 0.1510 98 101
4 83 Kimball, Charlie (R) D/H/F 00:40.9833 219.602 0.3573 0.0117 68 73
5 8 Speed, Scott (R) D/H/F 00:41.0534 219.227 0.4274 0.0701 36 37
6 36 Mann, Pippa (R) D/H/F 00:41.0647 219.166 0.4387 0.0113 32 35
7 18 Jakes, James (R) D/H/F 00:41.9457 214.563 1.3197 0.8810 48 51

Ho-Pin Tung for the championship next year!

And Pippa Mann for the Indy 500!

We are Ho-Pin for it!

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 13 May 2011, 16:43

Scott Speed 2011 Indy 500 Winner :lol:

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 13 May 2011, 16:47

Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:Scott Speed 2011 Indy 500 Winner

Only if he has enough Will Power to succeed!

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 17 May 2011, 05:52

Code: Select all

 1.  Alex Tagliani        Sam Schmidt              39.8445s
 2.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi                  39.9779s  + 0.1334s
 3.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi                  39.9874s  + 0.1429s
 4.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske                   39.9972s  + 0.1527s
 5.  Oriol Servia         Newman/Haas              40.0172s  + 0.1727s
 6.  Vitor Meira          Foyt                     40.0332s  + 0.1887s
 7.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi                  40.1059s  + 0.2614s
 8.  Helio Castroneves    Penske                   40.1163s  + 0.2718s
 9.  Marco Andretti       Andretti                 40.1401s  + 0.2956s
10.  Will Power           Penske                   40.1815s  + 0.3370s
11.  Ed Carpenter         Sarah Fisher             40.1916s  + 0.3471s
12.  Paul Tracy           Dreyer & Reinbold        40.2180s  + 0.3735s
13.  Buddy Rice           Panther                  40.2307s  + 0.3862s
14.  Raphael Matos        AFS                      40.2405s  + 0.3960s
15.  Danica Patrick       Andretti                 40.2530s  + 0.4085s
16.  Justin Wilson        Dreyer & Reinbold        40.2800s  + 0.4355s
17.  Bertrand Baguette    Rahal Letterman Lanigan  40.2813s  + 0.4368s
18.  John Andretti        Petty/Andretti           40.2921s  + 0.4476s
19.  Townsend Bell        Sam Schmidt              40.3002s  + 0.4557s
20.  JR Hildebrand        Panther                  40.3224s  + 0.4779s
21.  Ho-Pin Tung          Dragon                   40.3277s  + 0.4832s
22.  Tony Kanaan          KV                       40.3528s  + 0.5083s
23.  James Hinchcliffe    Newman/Haas              40.3638s  + 0.5193s
24.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti                 40.3717s  + 0.5272s
25.  Davey Hamilton       Dreyer & Reinbold        40.4048s  + 0.5603s
26.  Bruno Junqueira      Foyt                     40.4316s  + 0.5871s
27.  Takuma Sato          KV                       40.4485s  + 0.6040s
28.  Ana Beatriz          Dreyer & Reinbold        40.5037s  + 0.6592s
29.  Scott Speed          Dragon                   40.5086s  + 0.6641s
30.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM                      40.5926s  + 0.7481s
31.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi                  40.6220s  + 0.7775s
32.  Dan Wheldon          Herta                    40.6740s  + 0.8295s
33.  Tomas Scheckter      KV/SH                    40.6865s  + 0.8420s
34.  EJ Viso              KV                       40.7063s  + 0.8618s
35.  Sebastian Saavedra   Conquest                 40.7129s  + 0.8684s
36.  Pippa Mann           Conquest                 40.7502s  + 0.9057s
37.  Alex Lloyd           Dale Coyne               40.8145s  + 0.9700s
38.  Mike Conway          Andretti                 41.0286s  + 1.1841s
39.  James Jakes          Dale Coyne               41.0780s  + 1.2335s

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 19 May 2011, 05:15

Meanwhile, at Indianapolis... :lol:

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 19 May 2011, 05:59

Cynon wrote:Meanwhile, at Indianapolis...

Oh dear.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 19 May 2011, 08:59

Cynon wrote:Meanwhile, at Indianapolis...

Planking?

I didn't knew that existed!

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 19 May 2011, 15:15

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91496

Monteiro

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 19 May 2011, 15:22

golic_2004 wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91496

Monteiro

So, Monteiro is going to try wining Las Vegas. Interesting development. Perhaps he can be a bit less rejectful this time and might just pull it off, if 3/4s of the field retire before the start that is!

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 19 May 2011, 15:51

DanielPT wrote:
golic_2004 wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91496

Monteiro

So, Monteiro is going to try wining Las Vegas. Interesting development. Perhaps he can be a bit less rejectful this time and might just pull it off, if 3/4s of the field retire before the start that is!

If you thought he was bad in F1 you missed his Champ Car days...

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 19 May 2011, 15:58

Cynon wrote:
DanielPT wrote:
golic_2004 wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91496

Monteiro

So, Monteiro is going to try wining Las Vegas. Interesting development. Perhaps he can be a bit less rejectful this time and might just pull it off, if 3/4s of the field retire before the start that is!

If you thought he was bad in F1 you missed his Champ Car days...

I didn't. When I say that perhaps he could be less rejectful this time, the other time I was referring to was to his Champ car days.

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 19 May 2011, 19:14

http://www.indystar.com/article/2011051 ... t%7CSPORTS

Horrible crash for Simona. I'm glad she is okay. The girl's got plenty of guts, especially if she actually tries to qualify this weekend.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 19 May 2011, 19:20

golic_2004 wrote:http://www.indystar.com/article/20110519/SPORTS0107/110519006/Indy-500-practice-Simona-De-Silvestro-involved-in-hard-crash?odyssey=tab%7Cmostpopular%7Ctext%7CSPORTS

Horrible crash for Simona. I'm glad she is okay. The girl's got plenty of guts, especially if she actually tries to qualify this weekend.

And here's a direct link to the YouTube video of the crash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18pFE6cRHYw

jpm · Post by **jpm** » 19 May 2011, 20:15

Montiero wasn't that bad according to Jeremy Shaw in the 2003 Autocourse annual, and when considered that he was a rookie, for a rookie team Fittipaldi Dingman, he didn't do too badly. Then again, the only decent drivers around at that time apart from the Forsythe driverand the Newman Haas men were Hunter Reay, Haberfeld, Manning, Servia and a past it Jimmy Vasser...He won't stand a chance of winning the 5 mil, but that shouldn't stop him trying. Still, I'd prefer someone like the 2003 rally champ Petter Solberg, who has been rumoured to be interested.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89889

Just imagine Petter winning and then doing this like he did in 2003; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBsN__InFOU

He'd certainly give Helio a run for his money!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JAuErgi5Yo

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 19 May 2011, 22:04

golic_2004 wrote:http://www.indystar.com/article/20110519/SPORTS0107/110519006/Indy-500-practice-Simona-De-Silvestro-involved-in-hard-crash?odyssey=tab%7Cmostpopular%7Ctext%7CSPORTS

Horrible crash for Simona. I'm glad she is okay. The girl's got plenty of guts, especially if she actually tries to qualify this weekend.

Guts are something Simona has in great quantity -- even for an IndyCar driver. However, the speed of the HVM car has not been the greatest, so I wouldn't expect too much from Simona this year.