1097 replies to this topic

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Simon Pazeno potvrdjen za Sem Smit Motorsport...

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

- rekapitulacija novosti u vezi predstojece sezone:

Kalendar (potvrdjene trke, ocekuju se promene / dodavanje jos nekih trka):

25. mart, St. Pitersburg (SAD) - ulicna
1. april, Barber (SAD) - autodrom
15. april, Long Bic (SAD) - ulicna
29. april, Sao Paolo (Brazil) - ulicna
27. maj, Indi 500 (SAD) - oval
3. jun, Detroit (SAD) - ulicna/park
9. jun, Teksas (SAD) - oval
23. jun, Ajova (SAD) - oval
8. jul, Toronto (Kanada) - ulicna
22. jul, Edmonton (Kanada) - ulicna/aerodrom
19. avgust, Cingdao (Kina) - ulicna
26. avgust, Sonoma (SAD) - autodrom
2. septembar, Baltimor (SAD) - ulicna
15. septembar, Fontana (SAD) - oval

Potvrdjeni timovi i vozaci:

Fojt (Honda) - 1 bolid, vozac nepotvrdjen
Andreti (Sevrolet) - 4 bolida, potvrdjeni Marko Andreti i Rajan Hanter-Rej
Herta (Lotus) - 1 bolid, vozac nepotvrdjen
Ganasi (Honda) - 4 bolida, Skot Dikson, Dario Frankiti, Grem Rehol, Carli Kimbal
Konkvest - 1 bolid, nista potvrdjeno
Dejl Kojn - 2 bolida, nista potvrdjeno
D&R (Lotus) - 3 bolida, bez potvrdjenih vozaca
Ed Karpenter - 1 bolid, Ed Karpenter, motor nepotvrdjen
KV (Sevrolet) - 3 bolida, potvrdjen Toni Kanan
Lotus-HVM (Lotus) - 1 bolid, Simona de Silvestro
MSR (Lotus) - 1 bolid, vozac nepotvrdjen
Panter (Sevroled) - 1 bolid, DzejAr Hildebrand
Rehol/Leterman/Lanigan (Honda) - 2 bolida, vozaci nepotvrdjeni
Sem Smit (Honda) - 2 bolida, potvrdjen Simon Pazeno
Sara Fiser - 1 bolid, Dzozef Njugarden, motor nepotvrdjen
Penski (Sevrolet) - 3 bolida, Elio Kastroneves, Rajan Brisko, Vil Pauer

(naglaseni su timovi koji imaju sve ugovore kompletirane za anerdnu sezonu)

- od atraktivnijih vozaca na trzistu su trenutno jos uvek Sebastijan Borde, Dzastin Vilson, Takuma Sato, Oriol Servija, Aleks Taljani, Tomas Sekter, Majk Konvej, Dzejms Hincklif i "veciti" Pol Trejsi, za ocekivati je da vecina njih nadje mesto u nekom od preostalih bolida...

Edited by Rad-oh-yeah?, 09 December 2011 - 01:35.

[Louis Chiron]

Simon Pazeno potvrdjen za Sem Smit Motorsport...

Velika steta ako napusti Sporcke automobile.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Dikson i Hildebrand testiraju DW12 u Majamiju:



...a TK se zaXebava u Dalarinom simulatoru:

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Finalna trka sezone u Las Vegasu izbacena sa Indi kalendara za 2012:

IndyCar will not race at Las Vegas in 2012 after Dan Wheldon's fatal crash
Friday, December 9th 2011, 00:23 GMT


The IndyCar Series will not race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2012 in the wake of Dan Wheldon's fatal accident in the track's 2011 event.

The venue had been set to host the season finale again prior to the 15-car crash early in October's race, which featured several cars flying through the air and Wheldon suffer unsurvivable injuries when his Sam Schmidt Motorsports Dallara flipped into the safety fence. Will Power, Pippa Mann and JR Hildebrand required hospital treatment for injuries following the accident.

The crash led to calls for major changes to the way IndyCar races at superspeedways, where side by side, flat-out, 'pack racing' has been commonplace for many years.

Today series chief Randy Bernard announced that IndyCar had agreed with the Vegas track not to hold a race there in 2012 and instead to test at the speedway to try and find solutions for the longer-term future. Vegas returned to the calendar this year having not been used for major open-wheel racing since Champ Car last raced there in 2005.

"We feel we need to give our technical team ample time to conduct thorough testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, once we complete our ongoing investigation into the 15-car accident during the October 16 race at the track," said Bernard.

The IndyCar Series has yet to announce its full 2012 schedule amid the uncertainty over superspeedway racing following the Las Vegas tragedy.

Navodno su vozaci zapretili strajkom tj. da ce odbiti da zapocnu sezonu sve dok se ova staza nalazi na kalendaru...

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Uzurbano se radi na ispravljanju falinki DW12 sasije:

INDYCAR: 2012 Dallara Improving On Ovals
Plenty of work remains to turn the Dallara DW12 into a solid performer on ovals, but as this week’s test at Homestead-Miami confirmed, progress is being made.
Marshall Pruett | Posted December 09, 2011


Plenty of work remains to turn the Dallara DW12 into a solid performer on ovals, but as the parties involved with this week’s test at Homestead-Miami confirmed to SPEED.com, progress is being made.

With KV Racing’s Tony Kanaan and Panther Racing’s JR Hildebrand sharing the Chevrolet testing duties, and Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon handling the driving chores for Honda, both manufacturers spent Wednesday and Thursday working through a number of items at the 1.5-mile oval on behalf of INDYCAR.

“Various tests were carried out to determine the optimum weight distribution as well as follow up various aero configurations from Fontana,” said Will Phillips, INDYCAR’s VP of Technology.

The DW12, as teams encountered during testing at Indianapolis in early November and again later in the month at Fontana’s Auto Club Speedway, carried a serious excess of aero drag and rear weight bias, which limited its cornering capabilities most heavily at the Brickyard, and held top speeds down significantly.

Working with Dallara and the two engine manufacturers, INDYCAR took the first positive steps at Homestead-Miami towards addressing the areas that are limiting the DW12’s performance and speed.

The Dallara IR07, which the DW12 replaces, raced with a Speedway weight distribution of roughly 45 percent front and 55 percent rear, while the 2012 Dallara hit the track closer to 41/59, giving its drivers fits with big oversteer turning in and bigger understeer on corner exit.

With help from Xtrac, the DW12’s gearbox manufacturer, some lightweight parts were developed to try at Homestead-Miami in an effort to shift some of the weight bias towards the front. Limited time between test dates meant all of the desired lightweight parts would not be tested in unison, which led the series to simulate its effects by adding ballast to the front of the car.

Forward weight bias additions ranging from two to three percent were tried, which many felt went at least halfway to solving the overall problem. Decisions now need to be made by the series and Dallara as to whether the permanent solution will be implemented through the inexpensive route--adding weight to the nose of the car, or the more costly option of mass producing those lighter gearbox internals, a magnesium gearbox case and a few other items that have been discussed.

INDYCAR’s first test of the DW12 on a 1.5-mile oval also included its first attempt to gather data on how a pair of Dallaras worked while running side-by-side, in a tow and with the cars passing each other to evaluate downforce changes for the trailing car.

Drivers reported minimal buffeting and, on another positive note, the DW12, at least in 1.5-mile trim, generates a bigger wake, making it easier for the trailing car to draft and pass. Further tests will be done on other ovals, but at least from what was learned at Homestead-Miami, the DW12 appears to be pointed down the right path to reduce the “pack racing” phenomenon.

Dallara also had a few aerodynamic bolt-on pieces for teams to try, which accounted for small reductions in drag. Just as they did at Fontana, teams were able to try high and low downforce options, but the car’s excessive drag continues to serve as a limiting factor for achieving higher speeds.

Cars saw top lap speeds in the 205 mph range (for the sake of comparison, pole for the 2010 IndyCar race at Homestead-Miami was 213 mph), and with more improvements—specifically in chassis balance, drag reduction and tire life—higher average speeds are possible.

Although it’s not yet known how much each area contributed to the problem, the combination of a forward shift in weight distribution and a chassis setup that might not have been optimized to suit that weight shift is believed to be the reason new Firestone tires were losing a lot of grip in a short amount of time.

The tires were not physically worn out, but provided minimal adhesion after as little as 30 laps of running, and also delivered a significant drop in lap speeds.

It’s likely that with more testing and tuning time, the DW12’s 1.5-mile setup would be more forgiving on its tires—especially the right front.

Moving Ahead

Heated competition between Chevrolet, Honda and Lotus will be the centerpiece of the 2012 IndyCar season, but the two manufacturers active in the testing process so far have put their competitive natures aside and rallied around the need to improve the DW12 on ovals. Both camps expressed their commitment to work together in a collaborative environment with INDYCAR and Dallara to address the car’s issues as a team.

There will come a time where the bi-partisan collaboration will end, but for now, it’s good to see the manufacturers working towards a mutually beneficial goal.

From a scheduling standpoint, with four road and street courses set to open the 2012 season, INDYCAR will have time to address the DW12’s oval shortcomings before serious testing begins for the fifth race on the schedule, the Indy 500.

Concerns over the car’s capability to race on an oval would be heightened if the series held its first oval race earlier in the year, but with the benefit of extra time, INDYCAR should be able to finalize the fixes needed before teams start to commence major oval testing programs of their own.

There’s no denying that the DW12 has made progress on ovals in the last month, and although it’s not perfect, every test driver and team principal this writer has spoken to about the DW12 has said it is more than capable of racing on road and street courses immediately.

Which Direction?

With the road/street side of the equation mostly solved, the greater questions that remain involve the direction INDYCAR should take with the DW12 on ovals. Should the series continue to work with Dallara and its vendors to make incremental improvements on the existing package, or should the series take a more drastic approach and consider a major overhaul of its oval formula?

Coming in far heavier than expected, and with drag figures that are also much higher than expected, the most direct solution to getting the car up to speed on ovals could be achieved through turning up the power and asking Dallara to produce an all-new oval-specific aero kit.

Options

If the series feels it has the time and ability to meet its performance goals by inching forward on weight and drag reduction, it would benefit the engine manufacturers who quoted a fixed price based on lower power levels and longer rebuild intervals.

The engine manufacturers can turn up the wick, but that will add more zeros to their bottom line.

Dallara can continue to ask its driveline manufacturers for more weight savings, but admittedly, that well is almost dry.

If the series asks Dallara to produce an all-new underwing and sidepods to make the car faster and more efficient on ovals, it would cost Dallara time and money, and would also force teams to limit testing to road courses until the new oval aero kit was manufactured, tested and verified.

It’s by no means an inexpensive request, but looking at the limited window of time INDYCAR has to bring the DW12 up to 2011-level oval speeds, elevating the horsepower figures to match the elevated weight and drag figures is the most sensible fix.

Simply put, will the DW12 find the 8 mph it needs to match the 2010 pole speed at Homestead-Miami on weight distribution, drag and setup fixes alone, or will bridging that gap also require sending more power to the pavement?

Fighting to bring the weight and drag down to the power level they were supposed to work with isn’t something that should be abandoned, but it is just that—a slow and drawn out fight with many rounds left to go and a questionable outcome.

Now that the weight distribution problem is beginning to improve, INDYCAR needs to choose between what it expected from the DW12 on paper and what was actually delivered.

With the general consensus being that hitting the original targets on paper will never be fully achieved, letting go of the theoretical DW12 and making the most out of the existing platform and could be the smartest move of all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJEQl9dugxY

- u ostalim vestima, aktuelni sampion USAC Sprint serije (850 KS, kratki ovali od 400 m duzine sa podlogom od sljake) Brajan Klauson ce dobiti finansijsku stipendiju od Indikar serije za ucestvovanje na ovogodisnjem Indi 500. Nekad su sprint i midzet serije bile "skola" gde se pekao zanat za Indikar ali je napretkom tehnologije priroda takmicenja u ovim serijama postajala sve veca i ovi vozaci danas uglavnom zavrsavaju u Naskaru. Jedan od povoda za rascep CART/IRL koji je umalo unistio Indikar trkanje je bio i to sto je USAC vozacima postalo prakticno nemoguce da dodju na Indi zbog sve veceg broja stranaca iz Evrope i Juzne Amerike koji su stizali iz evropskih serija poput F1, F3000, F3...

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

- Keti Leg koja je nekad vozila u CCWS sampionatu a u zadnje vreme se takmici u DTM pregovara o povratku u Indikar.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Indi proizvodjaci motora Honda i Sevrolet ovih dana testiraju na Sebringu:

Chevrolet and Honda are conducting their final on-track testing of 2011 at Sebring International Raceway this week, but it’s not the final development sessions for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series engine manufacturers.

“They’ll go right through the first race event of next year,” INDYCAR vice president of technology Will Phillips said. “Obviously, Lotus (the third engine supplier, which might be on track before year's end, to IZOD IndyCar Series teams) has a lot of work to do to catch up with the two other manufacturers.”

Following completion of the Dallara chassis validation program in late September at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, engine manufacturers moved from the dynamometer to the racetrack in Phase II of the next-generation car project.

That’s where the “real work” is accomplished, according Honda Performance Development technical director Roger Griffiths. With an early January delivery date to teams for their own testing programs, going back to the drawing board isn’t an option. All three will supply 2.2-liter, turbocharged V-6 engines fueled by E85 gasoline as manufacturer competition returns to the series after a six-year absence.

“It focuses your attention,” Griffiths said. “We have a mind-set of the production element of this engine because we can’t wait until the week prior to the first race and say, ‘OK, now we have our spec, let’s go make stuff.’

“The engines that the teams will be getting in January will be late-stage development engines, but they still won’t be the final spec. We have to homologate the engine 30 days before the first race so we’ll need to meet that time frame, and that’s when we’re committing to our Race 1 spec.

“During the course of the season there are a number of open development items on the engine that will allow us to continually evolve the engine through the course of the season.”

In recent sessions at Auto Club Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway, the manufacturers incorporated aerodynamic development and a Firestone tire test into their programs.

“They’ve been very helpful in allowing us to test specific things with Dallara,” Phillips said. “At Sebring, we have no test plan for them. However, the normal ongoing introduction of some of the spec parts such as the ECU will happen at Sebring.”

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Dalara pocinje da isporucuje DW12 sasije timovima:

Dallara rolls out next generation of Indy cars
1st shipment from new facility in Speedway highlights town's redevelopment plans


The first of the new generation of Indy race cars will ship out today from the Dallara motorsports facility in Speedway, marking a milestone for both the automaker and the town's redevelopment of Main Street.

Italian automaker Dallara and its U.S. distributor, Indy Racing Experience, have partnered in a $7 million plant to design and assemble the next generation of chassis for the IndyCar series in time for the 2012 race season.

Indy racing teams are scheduled to begin picking up crates containing the first 15 of the new cars, designated DW12 in honor of driver Dan Wheldon. Before he was killed in October in a crash during the Las Vegas Indy 300, Wheldon had logged 2,000 miles testing the new Indy car design.

The price tag for the hot new racers is $385,000, not counting wheels, the custom-fitted driver's seat or an engine, either a Honda or Chevrolet. IndyCar teams based in Indiana get a $150,000 discount as an economic development incentive from the state.

About one-third of the new 100,000-square-foot Dallara building, a five-minute walk from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, also will house a unique educational fan experience for IndyCar lovers. Displays will teach the art of building a 200-mph machine, then fans may design their own virtual car and give it a test drive on a computer screen.

Scott Jasek of Indy Racing Experience estimated that 200,000 people a year will visit the museum-quality portion of the facility to learn about building racers. The attraction is due to open before the next Indianapolis 500-Mile Race in May.

Fans looking for a taste of the real race experience may find it in two-seater, stretched versions of real Indy cars that have been modified to be legal on Speedway's streets.

Indy Racing Experience, which operates the two-seaters, has a permit from the town to offer rides from the Dallara plant, along Main and to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Speedway town officials have been planning for years to redevelop the aging industrial and retail corridor of Main Street between 10th and 16th streets.

Fresh streetscapes have been completed with new sidewalks, street lighting and other features to dress up the 100-year-old corridor.

Dallara is the first of the major redevelopment projects to be completed. Planners expect more restaurants, retailing, offices and motorsports business to drive the revitalization of the industrial and business core of town.

An announcement is expected today that Indy driver and team owner Sarah Fisher and co-owner Willis "Wink" Hartman will build a new headquarters for their Fisher Hartman Racing team next door to Dallara.

"I would hope that we can have two or three new buildings under construction along Main in the coming year," said town Redevelopment Director Scott Harris.

The town also has cleared about 18 acres at 10th and Main to prepare for new companies to be lured to build next to Dallara, Harris said.

That area, where a steel foundry once stood, is now "as shovel-ready as it can be," Harris said.

But before new race team facilities are built or the virtual design center opens, the motor racing industry is tuned to Dallara and the delivery of the new DW12 machines they will all drive. The DW12 replaces IndyCar models dating to 2003 and 2007.

Though the Speedway Dallara facility is built, the car assembly equipment and a life-size simulator for drivers to take test runs is not yet installed. The first 15 crated cars to ship today from Main Street were assembled in Dallara's factory in Italy because the Speedway plant isn't ready.

IndyCar insiders have worried there won't be enough of the new cars delivered and ready for next season.

Stefano de Ponti, chief executive and general manager for Dallara in the U.S., said Wednesday that "we planned to have 60 cars, and we are almost there."

The schedule is to deliver 15 more cars each month until all needs are fulfilled.

Fotke iz Dalarinih novih postrojenja u Spidveju, Indijana:

http://www.indystar....mg|IndyStar.com

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Zvanicni rezultati istrage povodom smrti Dena Veldona:

Report: Blow from fence post killed Wheldon in Las Vegas race


IndyCar officials confirmed today that Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed Oct. 16 when his open-cockpit car struck a fence support post in the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Wheldon's crash was part of a 15-car incident on the 11th lap of the season-ending race.

Findings of a two-month investigation included the reason that IndyCar will not return to the Las Vegas oval is that it is too easy to drive.

The combination of too many lanes, too much grip, too much banking. All of it.

"Not just the banking alone," said Brian Barnhart, IndyCar's president of operations who led the investigation. "It was nearly unlimited movement on the track surface without restraint to racing lines.

"There's always been a limit (at tracks). You couldn't use the entire track. (In this case), the entire racetrack was useable and the lanes were limitless."

Barnhart said that "was a variable that has not been seen" elsewhere.

Barnhart said Wheldon's car was going 165 mph when it struck other cars blocking his path and flew 325 feet before hitting the fence.

Barnhart said the positioning of the post on the inside of the fence did not play a role.
.

This story will be updated.

MILLER: It’s Still Open Wheel And It’s Still Dangerous


I’m not really sure why it took two months to complete the investigation into Dan Wheldon’s fatal accident and not really sure it was necessary, other than for peace of mind and public relations.

Nothing from Thursday’s press conference revealed anything we didn’t suspect: The two-time Indy 500 winner died from blunt force trauma when his head hit a post in Turn 2 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

And the 15-car accident was precipitated by the fact a big pack of Indy cars were able to run three and four abreast, easily, at full throttle on a high-banked track.

According to the telemetry, Wheldon had slowed from 224 mph to 165 mph when his car rode up and over Charlie Kimball’s before pirouetting into the fence.

The G load registered on Wheldon’s head at impact with the post was 250Gs.

But the numbers that really jumped out to me were these:

• Wheldon was airborne for 325 feet (further than from home plate to the right-field wall in old Yankee Stadium, which was 314 feet).
• Will Power was airborne for 315 feet.
• Pippa Mann was airborne for 240 feet (mostly upside down).
• J.R. Hildebrand was airborne for 125 feet.

Now, four flying Indy cars and one fatality in a 15-car crash is actually an amazing number because it could have been so much worse than Power’s compression fracture in his back and Mann’s burned little finger.

It doesn’t lessen the blow of losing Wheldon, naturally, but it does point out that Dallara builds a safe car and INDYCAR probably caught a break on Oct. 16, considering the speeds and carnage.

Still, the pressing question going forward with the new cars named in Wheldon’s memory is how can INDYCAR try and prevent cars from taking flight?

“We have to stop the cars from flying and taking off and the new car has several features to try and stop that,” replied Will Phillips, the vice president of technology whose acumen with aerodynamics, engineering and race cars has been a welcome and long overdue addition to the IZOD IndyCar Series.

“The pods behind the rear wheels are there to prevent contact between front and rear wheels. The effort is to try and stop a car from flying forwards or sideways.’’

The consequences are often rather ugly when one open-wheel car runs over another’s wheels, be it midgets, sprints or Indy cars, but it seems like the last version of the Dallara and the GForce before it had a propensity for aerobatics.

Dario Franchitti got big air in his spectacular flip at Kentucky, Buddy Rice got instant liftoff when he got turned at Chicago, Sam Hornish flew down the backstretch at Indy and Tony Renna reportedly sailed from the grass to the fence in his fatal accident at IMS in 2003.

But the most spectacular flight was when Mario Andretti ran over a little piece of the safer barrier and did a wild somersault exiting Turn 1 at Indianapolis during a test in 2003.

Through the years Indy cars have climbed wheels or spun sideways and produced spectacular crashes (Tom Sneva’s Turn 2 barrel roll in the 1975 Indy 500, Danny Ongais’ snap roll at MIS in 1985, Pancho Cater’s inverted flip at Indy in 1987 during practice and Jim Crawford’s helicopter act in 1990 when he tripped on his suspension) but it’s hard to recall older-style Indy cars remaining airborne for a couple hundred feet.

“I don’t know that it’s any different now than it was because once you lose contact with the ground, the bigger the object is when it’s tumbling in the air the harder it is to predict where it’s going,” continued Phillips, who said the new Dallara DW12’s yaw stability has significantly improved, making it less likely for a spinning car to take flight.

“You can predict the flight of a ball, but a car at any given angle is quite a challenge to predict. A car going 220 mph doesn’t take long to go 300 feet and, once it leaves the ground, it’s no longer a car.

“It’s a serious challenge to try and make it a car and an airplane, but you just can’t do it.”

The bottom line is that INDYCAR and Dallara have tried to take steps to reduce the kind of aerial assault we witnessed at Vegas. Indy car racing is the safest it’s ever been and drivers usually walk away from ferocious impacts.

Sadly, Wheldon didn’t but we don’t need an investigation to understand why.

It’s still open-wheel racing and it’s still dangerous.

Robin Miller brings 40 years of experience to his role as SPEED.com's senior open-wheel reporter, and serves as a frequent contributor to SPEED Center and Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain.

Brojevi prevedeni u razumljive jedinice - Veldon je do momenta sudara sa Kimbalovim bolidom koji ga je odbacio u vazduh i na ogradu usporio sa 360,5 km/h na 265,5 km/h. Leteo je 99 m i udario je u ogradu silom od 250 G.

Pauer je leteo 96 m, Pipa Man 73 m a Hildebrand 38 m.

Edited by Rad-oh-yeah?, 17 December 2011 - 00:08.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

INDYCAR: New McLaren ECU, Sato, Pagenaud Log Testing Miles At Sebring
Two months of engine testing concluded after teams tried the new McLaren ECU, and Honda gave Takuma Sato and Simon Pagenaud runs in its DW12.
Marshall Pruett | Posted December 17, 2011


After three days of heavy activity last week on the Sebring short course, IZOD IndyCar Series engine manufacturers wound down two-months of intensive testing by pressing the new McLaren ECU and its associated electronics into service.

“We now have the McLaren (TAG-400i) ECU up and running on the cars,” said Will Phillips, INDYCAR’s VP of technology. “We appreciate the patience the manufacturers have shown in getting it into the development stream, and they’ve been incredibly helpful.”

Of the two engine manufacturers present, Honda Performance Development led the most ambitious plan, cycling Sam Schmidt Motorsports’ Simon Pagenaud, Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, and Takuma Sato--who was participating through an evaluation requested by Rahal Letterman Lanigan--through HPD’s Dallara DW12.

Chevrolet, which did not comment on its test, was present with Tony Kanaan and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Using Pagenaud on Day 1, HPD technical director Roger Griffiths told SPEED.com that the new engine controller delivered no surprises.

“Things actually went pretty well,” he said. “Given how little we knew about the McLaren system in general, and for the short amount of time we had our hands on it, we had a remarkably successful test. We took our time getting going on the first day with Simon. We had to figure out not only how it worked in a live environment, but how to calibrate everything with a new engine. Once we wrapped out heads around how McLaren does things, it all went well.”

Although Pagenaud had a few laps in HPD’s DW12 on a wet day at Barber Motorsports Park, Sebring represented the Frenchman’s first proper day in the car, but ECU testing was his focus.

“Simon was a bit of a test driver in that sense,” Griffiths explained. “He got the first go at it, which was very much in the early stage of development. But we didn’t have any problems; it didn’t stop on track or anything like that. We progressed from there and made as many advancements as we could in three days. All of the functionalities exists that will [be there] when we go racing. When Scott got in the car on the second day, he continued that development and by the third day, when Takuma drove, we were reasonably happy with how the engine and ECU were performing together. The third day was when we were able to do a lot of running.”

Despite being tasked with the more mundane testing duties at Sebring, Pagenaud said he enjoyed the experience.

“I always enjoy myself when I’m in an Indy car,” he said. “It was a lot of system checks and mapping work. It’s very important stuff to do. I feel honored to be asked by Honda to help with this kind of work because it’s a proof that they really believe in my abilities.

“It sets up quite a bit expectation!” he said with a laugh.

Outright speed wasn’t the goal for Pagenaud’s day in the car, but the former Champ Car ace says he took away some positive and familiar impressions of the DW12 in road course trim.

“It’s agile, as an open-wheel car would be. We didn’t get to do much setup work on my time in the car, so we had a bit of understeer. The braking is strong with the carbon brakes. The engine, even though it’s a turbo, everyone is asking me about the lag, but there’s not much lag going on. That’s a good sign as well. At this moment, the engine is a lot of fun, but the entire car is an ongoing process. It’s still early; you don’t get perfect handling or whatever when you are early in the testing.

“For what I did feel, in the high-speed stuff, I can feel that it has more downforce, which is nice. It feels more like the [Panoz DP01] did in the high-speed corners. In the low-speed stuff, it still needs work, but we have plenty of time.”

As the closest thing they have for factory test driver, Pagenaud and the staff at HPD got down to business immediately, while Sato, according to Griffiths, arrived as a bit of an unknown quantity.

“The first thing that’s really easy with Simon is that we all know each other,” he said. “It’s all very familiar. It was an interesting thing with Takuma coming in. Other than knowing him through KV Racing, we don’t know Takuma Sato. Everybody thinks that because he’s a former Honda Formula One driver that we at HPD know him, but my first real in-depth conversation with him took place the night before his test on Thursday.

“We’ve never had that intimate relationship with him. He doesn’t know me; he didn’t know us or the Rahal people… I was really, really impressed with his feedback. I think he’s gotten a bit of a bad rap. His technical feedback and detail orientation was first class.”

Sato told SPEED.com he was happy to get back to business after being out of the cockpit since Las Vegas.

“It was a great day and a great opportunity to drive the new car,” he said. “For me, the Sebring track is so memorable because it’s the first track where I drove and Indy car two years ago with KV. Although that was only 20 minutes of driving, I really liked the track. Going back there now, it’s nice to have my first outing with the new car and to help with the development of the Honda engine.”

Like Pagenaud, Sato found the DW12 to be a refreshing change from its predecessor, the IR07, but also noted the need for its development to continue.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done in testing, but my initial thoughts were pretty positive,” he said. “There are some areas we need to improve a lot, but generally, I was impressed. We worked on setup and the car reacted with the outcome we expected. I was pleased with that. The engine is very different--being turbocharged--from what we had last year.”

Receiving feedback from Pagenaud and Sato—drivers with very different backgrounds in motor racing—was quite revealing, as Griffiths explains.

“Simon is great in that capacity because he knows what he wants, has so much experience driving so many different cars, and he knows the Sebring track inside and out,” he said. “He was very comfortable with the car and the track, has a lot of experience driving turbo cars—especially diesel-fueled ones, and he was very particular about what he wants the engine to do and how he wanted it to respond. He had all kinds of ideas—let’s try this, let’s try that, and so on—which is great for us to help push the program forward.

“Compared to Takuma, who had never driven a turbocharged racing car, it was interesting to get the two different types of engine feedback from the two of them. It gave us a very good reference point.”

From his days in F3 to F1, and even in the IndyCar Series, Sato’s point of reference on racing engines and their characteristics had come from naturally-aspirated powerplants, which meant using Honda’s 2.2-liter turbocharged V6 would be a rather educational experience.

“It’s a small capacity engine and it’s turbocharged, and it was the first time I drove a racing engine like this in my life,” he said. “It was interesting to see how all the controls work, all the programming works, the boost, the gauges and everything else.”

Once he’d come to grips with the new chassis and powerplant, Sato was able to enjoy himself a bit.

“This was such an important test for Honda, but having said that, I had the opportunity to feel the car and I was driving very cautiously to begin with, but once I got more confidence, I started to drive at racing pace and push it hard,” he said. “We had the opportunity to try different setups to get the taste of how the car reacts. That’s the only way to show the performance of the car. Sometimes, OK, you got a little bit of wheelspin, but it was fun to drive. It was a productive day.”

The lack of torque found with the new turbo engines has been a steady source of complaints, but Griffiths said it wasn’t an issue in his camp at Sebring.

“I was looking at the throttle traces from Takuma driving and there was plenty of wheelspin,” he said. “The car was moving around a bit. That’s what we want.”

The topic of adding more power, as Griffiths reveals, has died down rather heavily within the series and the IndyCar Engine Committee, which should help to cement the boost and RPM levels teams will use once they begin testing next month.

“There hasn’t been any more talk of needing more power,” he said. “I had quite a long chat with one of my counterparts at GM, and we kind of concluded that to us, if we’re racing at Indy at 215 mph rather than 225, it really doesn’t matter as long as the racing is good. If the racing is poor, and we’re slow, then that’s obviously a problem. But if it takes us three years to get back up to 225, so what? At the end of the day, it’s a number.

“If the car is difficult to drive, that’s good. That means the good drivers will do well and the drivers that aren’t as good won’t do as well. If [the DW12] is right at its performance limit to start, what are we going to do with it for the next five years? We’d be starting off right where we just ended up with the previous car.”

Griffiths also sees the opportunity for savvy teams to take the fight to Ganassi and Penske if they can solve the DW12’s rather complex performance puzzle.

“The complaints about the last car—it was too easy to drive, you could do anything you wanted with it, there was nothing left to try on the car, that the engineers were left to just change springs and dampers—are gone now. There’s a lot of development to get the most out of the car now. If it was a benign car that everybody could easily understand, the top two or three teams would jump out to another big lead.

“I think that a small team with a sharp group of engineers and a good driver can genuinely surprise next year. It has some quirks to it, it isn’t simple to understand, it’s temperamental, and it will bite you if you don’t respect it… It will be fast on the road courses, and we’ll see where we start off at on the ovals, but it’s not a car that’s easily solved.”

In the meantime, the Chevrolet and Honda test teams will download what they learned from Sebring and what they’d like to see improved on the McLaren ECU.

“McLaren have a web portal where they request the manufacturers post all feedback and they look at it daily,” said Phillips. “Any updates required are returned as soon as possible. We’ll slowly bring on-line any alternate shifting strategies that are needed. And the anti-stall features will be brought on step-by-step.”

Staring at a month of downtime, HPD will continue working hard on developing its engine with the new ECU, and improving the DW12 chassis using virtual tools at its southern California base before heading back to Sebring.

“We’re done for the remainder of the year as of the 15th,” said Griffiths. “The testing blackout is lifted on the 12th of January. The next test for us and GM will be the 16th and 17th of January back at Sebring along with a number of teams with their cars.”

Although HPD’s staff knows exactly what it will be doing in the coming weeks, the same can’t be said for Sato. His evaluation left everyone at Honda and its partners at Rahal feeling encouraged, but the Japanese driver says he’s not ready to relax until he has a signed contract with RLL or another IndyCar team for 2012.

“To be honest, in this world, until everything is sorted, it’s difficult to say where I’ll be,” he said. “I’m honored to be called for the manufacturer test and it was a worthwhile trip. Making the trip from Japan to India [to Sebring] in one-and-a-half days was a big journey, but it was worth it. It was hectic, but everything we’re doing is to prepare for next year. Things are looking very positive and [I’m] very optimistic that I could have a big smile on my face very soon.”
Pagenaud has the luxury of knowing where he’ll be driving next year, but after two workman-like tests with HPD, he can’t wait to be unleashed on a track with SSM’s DW12-Honda.

“I can’t wait to get [SSM’s] car on the track and to start digging into the setup, to make it my own, really, and to start working on a better balance. I want to be able to do full attack. The Sebring test was mostly about engine testing and electronics, not attacking, so I will wait a little bit for that present to arrive!”

[Louis Chiron]

Brojevi prevedeni u razumljive jedinice - Veldon je do momenta sudara sa Kimbalovim bolidom koji ga je odbacio u vazduh i na ogradu usporio sa 360,5 km/h na 265,5 km/h. Leteo je 99 m i udario je u ogradu silom od 250 G.

Pauer je leteo 96 m, Pipa Man 73 m a Hildebrand 38 m.

Rado,kolika je bila G sila prilikom udesa onog Svedjanina koji je vozio Indycar-Cart(Bio je sampion negde 1998-1999)kada je polomio prsljenove,jedva ostao covek ziv.Kubica je imao mislim 75G,a Svedjani cak je misli i rekorder.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Keni Brak je preziveo 214 G u udesu na TMS 2003. godine.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

- Lotus ce testirati svoj Indikar motor po prvi put 13-14. januara u Palm Bicu sa svojim fabrickim HVM timom i Simonom de Silvestro. Dva dana kasnije, dakle 16. januara, oni ce se prikljuciti zvanicnim Indikar testovima sa Hondom i Sevroletom na Sebringu.

[alpiner]

Proton, vlasnik Lotusa, je produžio ugovor sa Dany Baharom, a razlog je dobra prodaja. Na nekim novim tržištima - Kina indija... su na nivou Porschea.

Izlaskom Esprita prodaja bi trebalo znatno da se popravi. Od 2014. plan je da se izbaci još četiri modela. Ovaj ulazak u sport na američko tržište ima poprilično logike. Mada sve je to pod velikim znakom pitanja zato što je Dobrica Ćosić još onomad rekao da će Zapad da ode u pičku materinu pa se baš plašim kakva će ekonomska klima biti u narednih nekoliko godina.

Edited by alpiner, 20 December 2011 - 19:25.