ALL Chevrolet engines are to be replaced before the weekend starts, meaning that all Chevy drivers will be automatically penalized 10 spots on the grid. Seems a Chevy blew up in the last test, and Chevy has decided to play it safe for the race weekend.
Going to be an interesting first few laps with all the slower guys starting up front!
What I haven't heard, though, is how this will affect the Fast 6 qualifying.
but I'll tell ya THIS:
If I ever win the ride along in the back of the 2 seater Indcar, I'm bringing my own helmet!
Evidently they only have a XXXL for passenger use.
I've not seen a helmet that loose since what's his name scared the bejeezus out of his old lady at Daytona in the DP car...
So.....Marco crashes yet again !! He's got a hell of a long way to go to live up to the Andretti name!!
I saw a T-shirt once that said, "All of your failed relationships have one thing in common... YOU."
It's funny how every crash he has is ALWAYS someone else's fault and never him making bad or stupid decisions. With Danica Craptastic now gone from the IndyCar series, I can more easily point my distaste and ire at silver spoon Marco. He's a Lucky Sperm Club Member and a complete hack. I love to watch him crash himself out of races on a weekly basis.
I saw a T-shirt once that said, "All of your failed relationships have one thing in common... YOU."
It's funny how every crash he has is ALWAYS someone else's fault and never him making bad or stupid decisions. With Danica Craptastic now gone from the IndyCar series, I can more easily point my distaste and ire at silver spoon Marco. He's a Lucky Sperm Club Member and a complete hack. I love to watch him crash himself out of races on a weekly basis.
Ah, c'mon Doug...stop beating around the bush and tell us how you REALLY feel...
Comment 1: I find it interesting that so many British drivers find a way to fund an IndyCar season, either full or partial.
Comment 2: I've seen enough of the current IndyCar product after three races to sustain me for the remainder of the season. I just don't enjoy the show that is IndyCar and the cars are hideous to my eyes.
You are all just so unlucky !! I JUST SKIPPED THE INDYCAR RACE AND WENT TO MY LOCAL SMALL TOWN AIRPORT TO SEE ABOUT 20- B25s , 1 -P40 , 1-P51, 1-CORSAIR and a JAP -ZERO ALL FLYING AROUND FOR THE NEXT WEEK. IT is the Dolittle Raid Reunion in Urbana,Ohio(Grimes Field)with a day or 2 at Wright Pat in Dayton,Ohio!! Just unreal the sites & sounds of them flying around the field in formation!!!!!!! Lee
I don't know which race you guys were watching, but as soon as it happened I rewound the DVR because I was sure Rahal moved over on him and that's what I saw. I think you blamed the wrong "lucky sperm" Doug and so does IndyCar. http://news.yahoo.com/rahal-gets-6-r...6429--spt.html
I thought the same as you then i watched it again a couple times slower the front wing of Marco turns Rahal you can see Rahals wheels they stay straight while the back of the car steps over from the wing getting under the wheel.
When Marco gets up in the air you can see how far that ginormous front wing sticks out in front of the car and how close he was to the back of Rahal.
and not to mention there was no way he was going to make the corner anyway.
6 race suspension for what is at worst the result of 2 cars trying to be in the same place at the same time.
Did the official types say Rahal was blocking, cause if that is what they thought they need to define blocking. Rahal might have moved a foot or two and he was trying to stay inside of the guy on his left.
Marco was going entierly too fast to even contemplate making the corner.
Graham didn't block - he just changed the direction of his line, which is perfectly legal. However, he should have known that Marco is a bit prone to not use his noggin very well.
Rahal stayed to the middle of the track after exiting the previous corner. He knew Andretti was going to pass him and did whatever he could to prevent that, including moving further to the right. He blocked and he chopped. He's always been a hack.
It was Grahams fault. You get one move, but not when the car you're moving to block is already up to your rear wheel. That's not defensive, that's wreckless. I'm the first person to call Marco a bonehead, but Rahal has made himself look foolish in his actions, interviews, and his comments afterwards. I felt Marco had a fairly good interview after the incident considering he was just almost on his lid then piled it into the wall.
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Graham admitted to turning into Marco, because he was trying to get under the car in front of him, but he was also on his brakes at the time, so there was no way he was going to pass the car in front of him, however it is the way to make an open wheel car take flight coming up on you.
On a side note, great to see how well that horrendously hideous rear bumper worked at 80 mph, let alone 220...
If you look at the accident in slow motion, Marco missed the rear bumper and just caught the rear tire. Only way it could have been prevented was Shelby CanAm style - I think we have to draw the line somewhere.
Yeah, it does look like he climbed the side wall and Marco's rear tire tore the bumper/wing off Rahal's car. Good find.
Still, there isn't anything you can do to keep an open wheel car from getting in the air during a wreck like this. The new floor of the DW12 is so big as soon as some air gets under it, the thing turns into an airplane. Imagine this accident at 220 at Indy or Fontana...
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Cole Morgan Racing
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e:colemorganracing@yahoo.com
Please let's not bring up the Shelby Can Am car. It helped a nice kid from KY get to Indy but what else? Harrington I think? He and his pops ran a big. SR shop. Nice guy.
All that surface they will be like kites trying to get off the ground.
That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the new car that and how UGLY it is.
Graham didn't block - he just changed the direction of his line, which is perfectly legal.
The IRL rules states: " a Driver must not alter his/her racing line based on the actions of pursuing Drivers or use an abnormal racing line to inhibit or prevent passing."
a bit subjective (intentionally, I'm sure) but one would be pretty hard pressed to call his move "perfectly legal"
In any case, a bit optimisitic on Marco's part, and a bit of an asshat on Graham's is how I see it.
Please let's not bring up the Shelby Can Am car. It helped a nice kid from KY get to Indy but what else? Harrington I think? He and his pops ran a big. SR shop. Nice guy.
Richie Hearn also did a short stint in one. The way I remember it; he came back from winning Elf-Winfield and had zero funding. Wrenched for a team out in Phoenix that was prepping for Craig T. Nelson. Richie got a couple of races in exchange for his wrenching services. Ended up lapping the field out in Phoenix, met Della Penna, went Atlantic, won the Atlantic Championship, finished on the podium at the Indy 500 in 1996. I think all those years in karts helped more than anything else, but it was the Elf Winfield and Shelby Can-Am performance that opened a door or two.
The IRL rules states: " a Driver must not alter his/her racing line based on the actions of pursuing Drivers or use an abnormal racing line to inhibit or prevent passing."
What year's rule book is that? I haven't seen the rule but from the interwebs it appears the 2012 rule is that one move is now allowed (like almost all other series). Not sure in 2012 why they'd go to that when the no moves rule was designed to promote passing, and IndyCar needs all the help it can get what with Danica gone.
"IndyCar President of Competition and Race Director Beaux Barfield decided against re-wording the blocking rule for the 2012 season. This was a hot topic today, just days before next week’s State of IndyCar address. While he acknowledges that the blocking is open for interpretation, he said that he will make sure the drivers and teams understand the rules going into each race.
The rule states that; a Driver must not alter his/her racing line based on the actions of pursuing Drivers or use an abnormal racing line to inhibit or prevent passing. Barfield said that he didn’t feel a wording change was necessary, but added that he was going to make sure everyone understands the rules before the drivers meeting is over at each event. It had been proposed by some to have lines painted around the track to help drivers better understand what constitutes blocking.
On Tuesday, teams were given the new rulebook for the 2012 season. The new book had been formatted for easier understanding, yet didn’t feature any major changes for the upcoming season....."
Unfortunately we don't have a good view of the inciident. The angle we have is a long look from the corner.
Watching Rahal, he does not take the "normal" racing line of the like the othe cars, nor even one car width over, but rather drove down the middle of the track. If it was not for that little movement just before the collision, I might have called it for Rahal. But it does look like he was driving with his mirrors in order to keep Marco behind him.
That said, I think Marco had committed to that move the lap before and was going to do the equivalent of a road racing "slide job" on Graham. Very optimistic and worth a talking to but no penalty-it was a high risk, high reward move that didn't work - shades of Lewis Hamiltona?
there isn't anything you can do to keep an open wheel car from getting in the air during a wreck like this.
Sure there is:
1. Big tunnel exits and a short-chord front wing with an airfoil that stalls at a small nose-up angle will produce a net restoring moment up to the top speed of the car. Those were deliberate design features of Swift's proposed Indycar, validated by CFD.
2. The wing mounts and the pushrods on the Formula Atlantic cars are mechanical fuses. They are strong enough for normal operation, but tire-to-tire contact will fold up a corner. That's vastly preferable to flipping the car over. The only contact case I couldn't protect against was tire-to-tire with both the front and rear tires at the same time. Here is what that looks like. Again, Swift's proposed car had features that prevented that case.
3. One way to reduce the penalty for bumping tires is to locate a small roller behind each tire. That would turn the race into a bumper-car show, which might not be the best idea ever.
Unfortunately we don't have a good view of the inciident. The angle we have is a long look from the corner.
Watching Rahal, he does not take the "normal" racing line of the like the othe cars, nor even one car width over, but rather drove down the middle of the track.
Yep, so we don't need a better view. Rahal was in violation of the no blocking rule, obvious even from the angle we have.
Apparently my corner of the interweb is wrong and it seems clear from Daryl that the rule about maintaining the racing line is still in play for 2012.
Apparently my corner of the interweb is wrong and it seems clear from Daryl that the rule about maintaining the racing line is still in play for 2012.
The caveat being that the quote I found was from February. Barfield is also quoted as saying that all drivers will understand the blocking rules at each event before the end of the drivers' meeting (paraphrasing). I infer that the interpretation may change from track to track as the season progresses---so who knows what was in place for LBGP other than Barfiled and those at the drivers' meeting? In any event it would seem 6mo probation suggests they think Rahal should have known better.
Long Beach
Why would you give your competition 10 spots back by replacing something that doesn't need replacing?
