Lady In Black vs Lady in Green.
Lady In Black wins!
I don't think anyone would disagree with the "Indy needs bumping" line.
Now let's face it: 2012 is a very special year. New cars, new engines. That incertitude does not really favour additional entries. For example, Ed Carpenter Racing was ready to line-up a 2nd car, but decided to focus on a primary entry in last minute.
And then there's that damn engine shortage - which was even enhanced by the recent Lotus debacle. Conquest and Shank were basically told to go home from day 1. A team like DRR had no other option than going from 4 cars to 1 in a year. And who knows, there might have been a few more potential entries we don't know of, that would've materialised if there were more engines.
Also, perhaps people took as granted last year's 40 cars, while this number was boosted artificially thanks to the 100th anniversary hype, plus the fact that this was the last year with the IR03.
We're basically in a very odd situation where full time entries have rarely been as high as now, and, only due to special circumstances, one-off Indy entries never been so low. The worrying fact about that is, mainstream media will look at this and say "no bumping at Indy, IndyCar must be dying", while the things are very different if you analyse and look long time picture. I'm pretty sure things will be very different in 2013.
That negativity is sad especially considering that the race has not been as open and uncertain for a long while, with the new cars, engines, a lot of very strong entries, and a partially new set of drivers. You have something like 20+ legitimate contenders right now, the race should be mighty good among the top half.
I respect Alex Lloyd a lot as a great driver who shouldn't be standing on the sidelines right now, and as someone who is not affraid to speak his mind. That said, there is definitely an agenda behind this article. Had managed to get the budget for the 2012 race, I don't think he would be so much negative about the current situation.
One thing that really shocked me is the fact that the budgets required are, according to him, much higher than before. But on a second thought, it isn't so much surprising, as the lack of second hand chassis make the costs higher.
(BTW, looks like the original link doesn't work anymore, the article can be found here: http://www.indystar.com/apps/p ... article?AID=2012205100335)
Hate that "3/4 days attendance" thing. Just a way to boost numbers by counting some people several times. Makes in unfair to ovals in particular, which usually are 1 day shows.
Last edited by GreyBull [CHA], .
Pretty good article on drivers' retirement: http://espn.go.com/racing/nasc ... -smith-athletes-die-twice
Alex Lloyd's opinion on current car counts: http://www.indystar.com/articl ... swell|text|IndyStar.com|s
I wouldn't be surprised if Lotus is done after Indy. Dragon's accusations are pretty bad. Their reputation is ruined right now, how can they attract any team for 2013? Conquest and Shank prefer not to run at all rather than running with Lotus power, says it all isn't it?
Miller made me chuckle as usual. Highlights of the article:
We raced together yesterday on [AA]. Welcome. You're doing pretty good for a new guy.
About S2, except more of the same, in better. Having to learn new tracks and new type of cars could be frustrating at first, but you seem to have a good adaptation time.
Team Name: Tiger Express Motorsports
Number of Cars Entered (between 1 and 4, inclusive): 4
Car Numbers Requested (lowest to highest, separate by comma): 9, 78, 79, 80
Team Manager Real Name, LFSWorld UserName (Required): Yann Laprevotte, GreyBull [CHA]
Team Vice Manager 1 Real Name, LFSWorld UserName (Optional): Lims Chebbi, CARRERA GT
Team Vice Manager 2 Real Name, LFSWorld UserName (Optional): David Jundt, Swiss-Spirit
Drivers (one line per driver, unlimited amount of drivers):
Lims Chebbi, CARRERA GT, France
Yann Laprevotte, GreyBull [CHA], France
David Jundt, Swiss-Spirit, Switzerland
Alexis Georg, Kova., FranceTrue. Pagenaud has been excellent so far. I think too he will will win a race this year.
I'm not worrying too much about his lack of oval experience. There are only 5 ovals out of 16 races this season, and their future in general is slightly uncertain, since they don't drow crowd anymore. Also, 2 of the ovals are either flat(Milwaukee) or have little banking(Indy) so they tend to magnifiy road racing skills. But anyway, most of the Indycar rookies of the last few years had very little or no oval experience, and did OK.
Having a very experienced team-mate at Indy, in the person of Townsend Bell, will be a nice help for Pagenaud too.
Indeed. You can add Wilson in that category too. Maybe even Tagliani.
Last edited by GreyBull [CHA], .
Good news for your man Bourdais, Mustafur... Dragon is ditching Lotus for Chevy.
With DRR and BHA having already switched to Chevy and Honda respectively, poor HVM are the only full-timers left with Lotus.
Also:
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com ... lotus-signing-with-chevy/
Could this mean a Penske ride for 2013 if SeaBass does well? Replacing Briscoe, perhaps?
With DRR and BHA having already switched to Chevy and Honda respectively, poor HVM are the only full-timers left with Lotus.
Also:
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com ... lotus-signing-with-chevy/
Could this mean a Penske ride for 2013 if SeaBass does well? Replacing Briscoe, perhaps?
Oh, I had forgotten about that one already. I see.
He was the (one of the) victim(s) in the T1 incident of race 1 yesterday. Got pushed by one of the Chevy(I belive it was Huff), race over. No one to blame though, just 3 wide action going a bit wrong.
Hornish himself admitted that he had a flat tyre. But oh well. Both apologised to each other after the race and life goes on. Many people want that incident to be bigger than it actually is, because of the identity of the drivers' involved.
Win
Way to go Norbi. Does anyone know what sim he was on before having a go at the real deal?
That was a bit unnecessary TBH, considering that Tarquini was (one of the) victims on that one.
Funny you say that, for touring car standards, WTCC is clean racing club.
But yea, you're right, those starts were a bit ugly. Menu wasn't the only one to mess up BTW, there were maybe 5 or 6 drivers really outbraking themselves and making contacts over the two starts.
Meh. T1 is such a bitch anyway. Inviting place for divebombs, which often end in tears.
That was a bit unnecessary TBH, considering that Tarquini was (one of the) victims on that one.
Funny you say that, for touring car standards, WTCC is clean racing club.
But yea, you're right, those starts were a bit ugly. Menu wasn't the only one to mess up BTW, there were maybe 5 or 6 drivers really outbraking themselves and making contacts over the two starts.
Meh. T1 is such a bitch anyway. Inviting place for divebombs, which often end in tears.
It's not that simple. The full speed replay is very misleading. Have a look at this analysis of the incident - very interresting stuff.
But anwyay, thoughts go to McClure at this moment. Nasty hit. Good thing they put SAFER barriers on the inside these days, this might have saved him.
So, this is their first outing, the car breaks down after 3 laps, and they still end up 16th? This shows fairly promising pace IMO. Go Thommo!
Indeed. And Bourdais is still set to miss Milwaukee, as he got a ride in some LMP team for Le Mans.
At the end of the day an Andretti entry remains pretty much competitive if put in the right hands. It doesn't make much sence to ruin all championship hopes with driver swaps. Bourdais would have done great, for sure, but I think Hinch won't disappoint. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up around the top 5 overall at the end of the year. He'll probably scrap with Pagenaud for the best of the non-Penske/Ganassi honours.
And also, would you really see Bourdais in a Go Daddy commercial?
Not really the kind of personality they are looking for, don't you think so?Michael's driver picks are a bit strange sometimes. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but when you go from Dario/TK/Dan/Herta, to Marco/Danica/Mutoh, you can't expect to stay on top, surely?
I'm slightly more pessimistic... He's not going to impress many sponsors with 22nd places.
The problem with Bourdais is that he clearly made it clear that he's not going to seek for sponsors by himself... He's around because he's been hired, and he won't move his ass to get money if he needs money to stay around, but who can blame him? He's a 4 time champion after all.
Nice
2 stops in a 1 hour race is a bit silly. But oh well. The reduced pitwindow remains an improvement.
Wow, they managed to get 17+ entries eventually? Nice
Speaking of wrecks, are you considering to do Macau? Just curious.
Do they still have to pit twice in the 25-75% window, or can they make the race on 1 stop?
Just playing the devil's advocate here, but are we sure that Bourdais would have been on the grid if it wasn't for Lotus?
Here's my point: Lotus has been very supportive to their customer teams, by paying them chassis, and other expenses. Dragon has come a long way during the winter, basically going from a 1 car part-time operation, to a 2 cars full-time team. Without Lotus' help, would have they been able to have 2 cars this year? Let's not forget, unlike Katy Legge, Bourdais is bringing no cheque - even if his presence probably helped Jay Penske to get the 2nd TEAM money program.
But yea, wherever you look at it, this whole Lotus saga is very painful to watch. What a shame to have such talented, likeable teams and drivers wasting their time and their money, due to an outside factor they can't control. Definitely a big black mark on what has otherwise been an excellent season start.
Missed most of the race, did the new rules make the racing any better?
Oh, and I was quite surprised to see no pitstop infos on the graphics, did they change the pitstop rules for 2012?
Oh, and I was quite surprised to see no pitstop infos on the graphics, did they change the pitstop rules for 2012?
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