1099 replies to this topic

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Ali ipak kolko ja znam u Americi je Nascar gledaniji od Indycara.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Pa jeste gledaniji, jer ga prenosi jedna od 4 velikih TV mreza na otvorenom kanalu koji svako ko ima TV prijemnik moze besplatno da hvata.

Indikar vecinu sezone ide na NBCSports koji je placeni kablovski kanal, i jos se i ne nudi na svim trzistima. Indi 500 i jos par trka idu na ABC otvorenom kanalu i tu je gledanost uporediva sa Naskarom.

Uzivo zavisi od staze do staze, i jedni i drugi imaju prilicno prazne tribine zadnjih godina. Samo je Indi 500 uvek rasprodat.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Randy Bernard Breaks His Silence
Almost a week after his firing by the Hulman & Company board of directors, former IZOD IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard breaks his silence via social media.
Marshall Pruett | Posted November 03, 2012


Almost a week after his firing by the Hulman & Company board of directors, former IZOD IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard broke his silence via social media on Saturday, expressing his support for the series he led beginning in 2010.

"Let's not forget what this sport is really about: speed, world class drivers, and the best competition in all of racing," Bernard wrote on his Twitter feed.

Bernard's activity on Twitter on Saturday marked his first public statements using words of his own choosing. A pre-written statement, attributed to (but not authored by Bernard) was included in last Sunday's announcement regarding his dismissal.

INDYCAR Race Director Beaux Barfield, who was hired by Bernard to replace Brian Barnhart in that role for 2012, was among those to respond to his former boss, saying, "Taking the high road. Always a class act."

Bernard expressed his appreciation for the groundswell of support IndyCar fans have provided this week.

"I want to sincerely thank all the #indycar fans for all your messages and support, for me, and the series," he said.

Veteran Indy car driver Oriol Servia, who is expected to return for his second season with the Panther DRR team in 2013, shared the sentiment in a reply to Bernard.

"I want to thank you for your last years of tireless work. #commitment," wrote the Catalonian.

Bernard also confirmed to his 16,000 followers that he plans to keep the @RBIndyCar Twitter account he established while presiding over the sport.

"My twitter handle will not change because I am a fan of #INDYCAR and will continue to support this great sport," he said.

Bernard is expected to take some time away with his family before charting his next career move.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Indy 500-Winning Engineer Tim Wardrop Dies
Tim Wardrop, one of open-wheel racing's most respected engineers, died Oct. 27 after a lengthy illness. He was 62.
Media Release | Posted November 05, 2012


Tim Wardrop, one of open-wheel racing's most respected engineers, died Oct. 27 after a lengthy illness. He was 62.

The British-born Wardrop is probably best known in the United States for serving as the engineer for Arie Luyendyk when two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Luyendyk established the still-unbroken all-time Indianapolis Motor Speedway qualifying speed records. Qualifying on the second day of time trials in 1996 - the final year until 2012 for turbocharged engines - Luyendyk recorded four consecutive laps at an average speed of 236.986 mph and a single lap at 237.492 mph. A couple of days earlier, during practice, Luyendyk had turned an unofficial lap at an astonishing 239.260 mph.

A year later, Wardrop was engineer for the historic one-two finish by Treadway Racing with Luyendyk and Scott Goodyear.

Wardrop was an ex-Formula One mechanic with both Williams and McLaren, and in 1977 with the independent Walter Wolf team when Jody Scheckter finished second in the world championship. Wardrop was recently described by one former crew chief and official as being "beyond brilliant," while associates long ago nicknamed him "Doctor Who," after the genius superhero of a popular, long-running British science-fiction TV series.

Attempting to chronicle Wardrop's career is challenging because he helped with so many teams and companies over the years. For example, in 1992 he was the engineer on Goodyear's runner-up-finishing Lola for Derrick Walker's team while also having worked closely with Galmer designer Alan Mertens on the Rick Galles entry driven to victory by Al Unser Jr.

Wardrop was the engineer for Willy T. Ribbs when Ribbs made history by becoming the first African-American to qualify for the "500" in 1991. And when Ribbs made his second start in 1993, Wardrop also was in charge of that car's engineering.

An engineer for March Engineering for eight years, and later heavily involved with the "rebirth" of G-Force under Don Panoz, Wardrop indirectly could lay claim to a number of poles and wins, in addition to having worked at Indianapolis with teams like Newman/Haas, Team Menard, Fred Treadway, A.J. Foyt, Derrick Walker, PDM and others. He also worked with many leading drivers besides Luyendyk and Goodyear, including Michael Andretti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Tom Sneva, Teo Fabi, Bruno Junqueira, Robby Gordon and Scott Brayton, and most recently in May with Jean Alesi.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

It’s all in the number for Marco Andretti
11:18 AM, Nov. 07, 2012 | Written by Curt Cavin


Marco Andretti is trying to change his luck. It starts with changing his car number.

After years using No. 26 with Andretti Autosport, the third-generation driver is downsizing to No. 25. That number was used in 2012 by the team’s partnership with Conquest Racing, with Ana Beatriz driving the car.

Andretti announced the number change on Twitter, writing #NumberChange!!! The car will be sponsored by RC Cola.

Andretti has won two races in his seven IndyCar seasons, but he should have more than that. He nearly won the 2006 Indianapolis 500, and his car has been strong enough to win at several tracks, including Indianapolis. In his mind and in that of others, two wins isn’t enough for 114 starts.

Andretti, who will be 26 when the season starts, will again team with reigning series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe. He has never finished higher than seventh in the championship. He was 16th this year.

Maybe that number improves in 2013. Maybe it starts with his car number.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

An End To The Lotus Saga Is Finally In Sight
With Lotus looking for ways to leave quietly, ongoing financial disputes with the series have prolonged its stay as an official engine supplier.
Marshall Pruett | Posted November 08, 2012


Fresh off of its Formula One win last weekend in Abu Dhabi with Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus says it’s contemplating whether to continue supporting the other high-profile open-wheel program in its cadre of motorsports involvements.

“We have some discussion for the future in INDYCAR [with IndyCar's] management. At the moment [there isn’t] any clear decision from Lotus,” said Claudio Berro, director of motorsports for Lotus, in an e-mail exchange with SPEED.com.

Lotus could opt to maintain its presence in the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2013, yet based on how poorly its debut season went and how little interest teams have in using its engine, a rather obvious conclusion can be drawn as to which direction the British-based constructor is headed.

In one of the greatest contrasts of expenditures from a manufacturer involved with two top-tier racing series, Lotus has found renewed success in the expensive realm of F1, but with the paltry sums committed to its IndyCar program, its teams and chosen engine builder were destined to prop up the back of the grid in 2012.

And now, with Lotus looking for ways to leave quietly, ongoing financial disputes with the series have prolonged its stay as an official engine supplier. The marque, and the IndyCar Series, have both been in favor of what equates to an annulment of their relationship, but per their contract, Lotus would be required to pay out a significant early termination settlement.

As the relationship between the two has deteriorated, Lotus has done everything possible in recent months—including some deft political maneuvering—to keep from paying its way out of the contract. Although the marque, which played a minimal role in the 2012 championship, won’t factor into the 2013 season from an on-track perspective, it was smart to realize that it continues to wield an incredible amount of influence on IndyCar’s overall engine supply situation, and has used that to its benefit in negotiations.

Provided it keeps its contract in place with the series, the other two engine suppliers, Chevy (through Ilmor) and Honda (through HPD) are only obligated to supply a maximum of 40 percent of the grid with three engine manufacturers under contract with IndyCar.

With two manufacturers in place, Chevy and Honda would be required to take up to 60 percent of the grid, but with the series demanding a multi-million dollar settlement from Lotus, the marque took things in an unexpected direction.

Behind the scenes, Lotus used the one form of leverage it held over IndyCar, saying it would honor its contract and continue to pay the annual rights fees to IndyCar, thereby causing mayhem with the supply matrix, unless it was let out of the contract with no penalty.

To say that the series, Chevy and Honda were unimpressed with those strong-arm tactics is a massive understatement. It also placed an exceptional amount of stress and strain on the two stand-up manufacturers left in the series to take care of those seeking engines.

Efforts to release Lotus from its five-year contract and receive a healthy payout for early termination dragged on through summer, and also had a very damaging impact on one IndyCar team in particular, but no solutions were finalized.

SPEED.com has learned that after months of a stalemate, the series and Lotus could be close to parting ways after talks within the past week have broken the deadlock and led to the framework of an agreement that could come as early as December.

An update from Doug Boles, VP of communications for IMS, confirmed the Lotus saga is finally headed towards a conclusion.

“Conversations with Lotus are ongoing and we anticipate an announcement related to Lotus and IndyCar's 2013 relationship in the near future,” he said.

Provided an amicable conclusion is reached, the end to the Lotus IndyCar experiment would erase one of the less flattering leftovers from IndyCar’s previous administration.

Rewinding the tape for one final time to document some what took place with Lotus in 2012 will shed light on how the marque, which served as the apex of Indy car design and technology in the 1960s, found nothing like the success it once achieved in North America.

Through former CEO Dany Bahar, Lotus signed on in November of 2010 to produce engines for IndyCar’s new turbocharged formula that had been announced for 2012, but a myriad of self-induced shortcomings prevented the famed marque from reaching even the most modest levels of marketing and promotion returns.

After losing four of its five Lotus-powered cars through forceful exits prior to Round 5 at the Indy 500, and undergoing a messy split with Bahar just a few weeks later, the Lotus IndyCar program seemed destined to become a one-and-done adventure before the championship reached its halfway point.

Its 2012 season ended in disappointment at Fontana with another expired engine in the back of Simona de Silvestro’s HVM Racing entry, which bookended how her season started at St. Petersburg—with an engine failure.

It remained unpublished at the time, but the fact that Lotus made it to the season finale in September with a single engine still in play was a minor miracle due to the fact that the manufacturer had ceased funding the project more than a month earlier.

Behind the scenes, Lotus had been escalating its gamesmanship with the series and its lone team as it abandoned the financial support of its 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 powerplant, which was designed, built and administered by Engine Developments Limited in the UK.

With development having stopped at EDL during mid-summer--the precise time Lotus stopped sending checks to honor its commitments—the engine builder and HVM were thrust into an uncomfortable situation.

It’s known that HVM tried to gain an IndyCar-sanctioned release from its Lotus contract, just as the series granted Bryan Herta Autosport, Dragon Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (after a lot of heated discussions) between April and May, but a few different scenarios played out to keep HVM entangled with Lotus.

Bound to Lotus by IndyCar, and with the refusal by former series CEO Randy Bernard to let HVM sign with a different manufacturer, the team had no choice but to effectively bankroll the Lotus engine program and pay EDL directly to keep motors coming for the final rounds of the championship.

With HVM serving as the anchor team for Lotus—going as far to house the Lotus IndyCar staff in its Indianapolis shop, the business relationship between both parties ran deeper than the other teams that had signed lease agreements to use its engines.

The situation reached a low point at the Sonoma round in late August when, for reasons that are still unclear, no Lotus engine technicians were sent to the race to oversee the starting, running and care of HVM’s powerplant. De Silvestro, was noticeably late to take to the track for opening practice due to the lack of Lotus support personnel being on the ground to fire her engine—a duty held exclusively by each manufacturer.

A bit of scrambling ensued, and thanks to one team member having both the McLaren ECU software on his laptop and the knowledge of how to use it, de Silvestro’s engine was fired. The Swiss driver was then sent out to practice after missing the first 20 minutes of the session.

Months earlier, the future looked bright for Lotus and HVM, but like most things in this tale, good intentions weren’t followed by the decisions or dollars to carry them out.

After qualifying for a post-Indy performance boost from the series, Lotus announced its plans to spend more money on its IndyCar engine and had secured the external resources to accelerate its development.

It’s believed Lotus had contracted with Toyota Motorsports GmbH and its ex-F1 base in Cologne to bolster EDL’s efforts to reduce the horsepower and torque advantage held by Chevy and Honda, but with Bahar’s departure, and Lotus’ new management uninterested in spending more money on the program, the funding never materialized.

An initial bump in performance was seen by de Silvestro after EDL’s first few developments hit the track—items that had been approved before Lotus changed its mind about spending money—but the multi-stage unveiling of additional hikes in power and torque did not appear.

With Lotus having closed its wallet and a thoroughly un-workable situation having been created, rumblings of an early departure by Lotus—well before the season had been completed—began to circulate.

In hindsight, it would have been the best possible scenario for all parties, but the situation took an unfortunate turn with the series when Lotus refused to pay the exit fee.

IndyCar’s stance—insisting to get paid by Lotus—was perfectly understandable, but it came at the expense of what was in the best interest of one of its teams. With HVM as the only entity in the paddock tying Lotus to the series, IndyCar refused to grant the team a release to sign with Chevy or Honda.

If HVM had been released, just as the series had done with BHA, Dragon and DRR, it would have left Lotus without any teams and weakened the series’ bargaining chip to demand the severance payout.

As an unwilling member of the contract dispute between the series and Lotus, HVM became a pawn and paid the price, both literally and figuratively, as the team was soon forced to bankroll its manufacturer’s engine program to keep its driver and sponsors on track.

Being saddled with the least competitive engine in the series also eroded HVM’s standing with its sponsors who recently left, along with de Silvestro and much of the team’s crew, to join KV Racing for 2013, closing the chapter on an engine experiment that ultimately caused more harm than good for the series, Lotus, its engine builder and its teams.

In the wake of what transpired with Lotus, HVM is now looking to rebuild and has designs on fielding a sports car program in 2013.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, Quaker Chemical Expand Deal
Quaker Chemical Corporation has renewed its sponsorship for 2013 with SFHR in an expanded sponsorship and technical partner role.
Media Release | Posted November 08, 2012


Quaker Chemical Corporation has renewed its sponsorship for 2013 with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (SFHR) in an expanded sponsorship and technical partner role.

During the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season, Quaker Chemical spearheaded a research project designed to create proprietary greases and lubricants specifically engineered to combat the forces of friction, heat and wear for the unique demands of the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Team.

Joe Berquist, Quaker VP and Managing Director North America noted, "Our first year in IndyCar with SFHR was a great experience for Quaker. With the 2013 season, we are excited to continue leveraging our technical partnership with SFHR for ongoing product development, research and ideas. SFHR is a first-class organization and their family-centric approach to business is a great fit with Quaker’s culture. Josef Newgarden is a talented, charismatic, and motivated young driver. We are looking forward to a great 2013 season."

According to SFHR co-owner Sarah Fisher, the opportunity to partner with a top-notch sponsor like Quaker Chemical so soon after the conclusion of the 2012 race season bodes well for the team as it constructs its 2013 business plan.

"We are thrilled to continue such a great working relationship and sponsorship with Quaker Chemical,” Fisher said. “Quaker has been very involved from an engineering standpoint and I know the team enjoyed rolling up their sleeves during this partnership to assist from a technical perspective. To have a continuance of support from a quality sponsor who really benefits from our sport is a true indicator of the great things to come.”

The ongoing research and development technical alliance will allow Quaker to continually develop superior lubrication technology for use within its core industries and customers.

“I am excited and proud to be able to continue SFHR's partnership with Quaker,” SFHR co-owner Wink Hartman said. “Quaker’s product knowledge and support are vital to the team’s success.”

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

- Borde konacno potvrdjen u Dragonu

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Oce li voziti i ovale?

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Verovatno hoce, trebalo je i ove godine da vozi ali nisu imali dovoljno motora za dva vozaca pa su ih podelili tako da Ketrin Leg vozi ovale a Borde ostale staze.

Ne kazu nista ni da li ce opet da pauzira u vreme Le Mana da bi mogao tamo da vozi...

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

- kruze glasine da ce Rajan Brisko, kome je istekao ugovor sa Penskijem, verovatno kod Fojta umesto Konveja.

A evo nesto i o razvoju na planu motora:

2013 Engine Regulation Changes Confirmed
Marshall Pruett gets the inside scoop on the changes to IndyCar’s 2013 engine rules and major development items for Chevy and Honda.
Marshall Pruett | Posted November 09, 2012


Drawing from a successful season spent using a brand-new turbocharged engine formula, the IZOD IndyCar Series has made a few interesting changes to its 2013 engine regulations.

The series’ original set of engine regulations specified an itemized list of items that opened up for revisions and re-homologation after the first year of competition with the 2012 engines had been completed, with fuel systems as the biggest area of development to explore.

“As you know, direct injection (DI) was allowed this year and used by Honda and Chevrolet in addition to port injection,” said Trevor Knowles, director of engine development for the IndyCar Series.

“The rules allow the manufacturers to revise their fuel systems for 2013. I don’t know yet how much either of them intends to change, but Ilmor have said they want to re-homologate some parts for next year so I assume there will be some changes. Lotus ran only port injection and may make the switch for next year.”

(SPEED.com has confirmed that due to a lack of funding from Lotus in recent months, all engine development has ceased.)

With the rules allowing two fuel injectors per cylinder—one in the intake fuel port and one in the cylinder head for DI--Chevy and Honda made use of both out of necessity.

Due to the fixed location of each injector, and the need to flow a high volume of fuel through small-displacement engines turning 12,000 RPMs, relying 100 percent on the more efficient burn that the DI injectors offer wasn’t an option.

Proper feeding of each cylinder also meant the less efficient port injector had to be used, but with more than a year of data to draw from, IndyCar’s engine builders are now hard at work devising the best ways to improve consumption rates and make more power with new fuel systems.

“Because we are going to be allowed to run both DI and high-pressure port injection, we will have to test it,” said Wayne Bennett, who oversees the championship-winning Chevy IndyCar program for engine builder Ilmor Engineering. “In theory, with targeting of the fuel stream there could be a performance gain with the high-pressure port injection, however, if gains can’t be realized then [those revisions] would not be pressed into action.”

Although the engine rules only allow for the new fuel systems to be pressed into service once the 2012 season ended, Bennett says the Chevy Ilmor team has been working continuously to find gains whenever possible.

“Development is ongoing all year round and whether we have an off-season or not wouldn't affect the planned development,” he remarked. “I think we would all rather be at a track racing for a longer period of time—a longer season--but as like I mentioned, it doesn't affect development. As DI is a new technology to IndyCar racing, we have and will continue to try to exploit more gains from the system.”

Knowles detailed the next major item that will be altered in the engine rules for next season.

“Regarding other changes to the technical rules, we will set the boost for road and street courses at 150kPa (21.75 PSI) with 160kPa (23.2 PSI) available during push-to-pass events,” he said. “That’s how we ended up this year but we wanted to formalize it for next year. The push-to-pass software may be changed to a set number of pushes rather than allowing the driver to turn it off and save it. That’s still under discussion.”

Asked if staying in that higher boost range for every type of circuit the series visits would be feasible (INDYCAR limits as little as 18.8 PSI for the Indy 500, for example), Bennett says more boost at every round would drive up costs through increased engine wear.

“Any level of increased performance whether from boost, revs, etc., only serves to reduce the durability of the engine,” he explained. “One of the challenges we faced with E85 was that just increasing the boost past 150kPa didn't add a lot of performance. The engine becomes very knock limited and so the risk/reward [of] running above 160kPa was determined by the [IndyCar Engine Committee] group as not worth it.

"As development continues this could be improved, but we also have to consider the durability of the engine and the fact that the mileage limits are going to continue to increase.”

Bennett touched on the last change to the 2013 engine regulations, noting the slight increase in minimum mileage each engine must achieve before an approved change is made to install a fresh unit.

The original target number for 2012 was 2000 miles, but that threshold was relaxed slightly to 1850 miles when all of the engine builders struggled to reach 2000 miles without component failures.

As Chevy and Honda found increased reliability as the 15-round championship wore on, meeting the 1850-mile limit became more routine, which led the series to bump the minimum number back up to 2000 miles next year.

“It was the plan from the start to increment the mileage limit and the manufacturers are OK with it so we are going ahead,” Knowles confirmed.

Like his counterparts at Honda Performance Development, Bennett and the Chevy Ilmor team have every intention of reaching the rebuild threshold on a more consistent basis next year, but won't be surprised if a few curve balls are thrown their way.

“We continue to develop all the time and goal is more performance, fuel economy and durability,” he said. “Following the 2012 season we now have a certain amount of confidence in the durability engine.

“However as we increase performance and push the engine harder, we will undoubtedly uncover other durability concerns that will need addressing.”

Along with the limited number of items the engine manufacturers are allowed to change at will, new connecting rods and bushings are a open to a one-time redesign for 2013.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Verovatno hoce, trebalo je i ove godine da vozi ali nisu imali dovoljno motora za dva vozaca pa su ih podelili tako da Ketrin Leg vozi ovale a Borde ostale staze.

Ne kazu nista ni da li ce opet da pauzira u vreme Le Mana da bi mogao tamo da vozi...

Pitam zato sto je jednom prilikom on sam rekao da ne zeli voziti ovale jer su isuvise opasni.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Borde nema problema sa ovalima, vozio je Indi ove godine a dok je bio u CCWS takmicio se i na drugim ovalima. Bice da si ga pobrkao sa nekim.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Cekaj pa kolko znam jedne godine u IndyCaru se takmicio samo na redovnim stazama bez ovala. Nisam pomesao znam da je on.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Da, 2011. je vozio samo redovne staze.

Borde svake godine vozi na Lemanu, a to se sudara sa nekim trkama u Indikaru bas kada krenu na ovale. 2011. su ga doveli u DCR kao "specijalistu" za ne-ovalne staze dok je ovale vozio Aleks Lojd koji im je vozio komplet 2010. sezonu.

Borde je u CCWS vozio Lauzic 2003, Milvoki 2003-2006, Las Vegas 2004. i 2005, a takodje je vozio i Indi 2005. i prosle godine.