2023 IndyCar News / Misc.

FLRacingFan said:
I think it’s really cool minus the super tight 4-8 complex on the back side of the bridge. If they can eliminate a section like that it would be great progress. The bridge aspect is incredible and the stadium/parking lot section isn’t bad.
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In all seriousness, if the cars had starters, many of the cautions they've had wouldn't be a concern. Actually would be the same if they let them do managed caution zones like the WEC.

I think some longtime racing fans just see it as a single groove with no passing, while this (and similar tight zones at the likes of Baku for F1 or, you know, ALL of Macau) are interesting especially to TV viewers. People can relate to driving between jersey barriers at close quarters in a construction zone. Now do it at 100mph...
 
FLRacingFan said:
The bridge aspect is incredible and the stadium/parking lot section isn’t bad.
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I'm not big on 'cool' and visuals. The bridge is just two straightaways with braking zones at each end and a bit of elevation change. It's nothing that couldn't be duplicated on any number of streets.
 
FLRacingFan said:
I would guess it is more likely than not they it won’t happen but a non-championship race would be at either Argentina (Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo) or somewhere in Australia. Milwaukee still has infrastructure improvements to make but is still a possibility. Nashville is making a new layout due to the Titans’ new stadium construction, but they sound optimistic they’ve created something very big with the new layout.

It doesn’t sound as though they want to say it right now but if anything gets added it would likely be at the expense of the second Indy RC race in August.

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Australia? A possible return to Surfer's Paradise, maybe?
 
FLRacingFan said:
I would guess it is more likely than not they it won’t happen but a non-championship race would be at either Argentina (Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo) or somewhere in Australia. Milwaukee still has infrastructure improvements to make but is still a possibility. Nashville is making a new layout due to the Titans’ new stadium construction, but they sound optimistic they’ve created something very big with the new layout.

It doesn’t sound as though they want to say it right now but if anything gets added it would likely be at the expense of the second Indy RC race in August.

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Eh. If they’re gonna do a race in Argentina, make it a points race. Probably only a 20 car field.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I'm not big on 'cool' and visuals. The bridge is just two straightaways with braking zones at each end and a bit of elevation change. It's nothing that couldn't be duplicated on any number of streets.
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Street courses need a sense of place and aesthetics. If you drew up the same course flat around Topeka, KS it wouldn’t be the same.

racingfan7 said:
Eh. If they’re gonna do a race in Argentina, make it a points race. Probably only a 20 car field.
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It’s probably a hedge against teams that wouldn’t opt in to it as well as any sort of cancellation. If they can go down there and run a good event maybe it turns into a points race eventually.

Probably also contractually difficult if it were to be added as a points race after the U.S. season since Laguna Seca has the rights to the championship week.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Street courses need a sense of place and aesthetics. If you drew up the same course flat around Topeka, KS it wouldn’t be the same.
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I don't 'get' street courses. To me, they put a temporary road course in a location where a permanent one isn't possible, with a layout that wouldn't even be considered for a 'from scratch' track. To me, the aesthetics don't matter as much as the layout itself. I admit there are very few circumstances when I would rather see buildings than trees, but I wouldn't like the Nashville layout any better if it was in Pocono.
 
racingfan7 said:
Des Moines did an OK job of a street course back in the day, but that was before Iowa Speedway.

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Bill Elliott as a promoter’s selection. Nice find.

Charlie Spencer said:
I don't 'get' street courses. To me, they put a temporary road course in a location where a permanent one isn't possible, with a layout that wouldn't even be considered for a 'from scratch' track. To me, the aesthetics don't matter as much as the layout itself. I admit there are very few circumstances when I would rather see buildings than trees, but I wouldn't like the Nashville layout any better if it was in Pocono.
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Gotta bring the racing to the people sometimes. These days it’s a struggle to get people to drive out to the boonies to go see an auto race. It’s also very cheap to setup and teardown each year than build and maintain a natural terrain road course.

If they were taking up the place of other tracks it would be a problem but the thing is these races fill out the schedule and draw some of the biggest crowds all season. Some of the road courses they’ve gone back to in the recent past like Watkins Glen and Sonoma didn’t pan out because they just couldn’t draw and are out of the way a bit.

I’m glad they’ve made Road America, Portland, and Laguna work because it wasn’t too long ago all of those tracks had fallen off of AOWR schedules. Now that was sacrilege.
 
Mispeedway15 said:
What about running the Charlotte roval? Would be some bad fast lap times and tons of passing zones for an IndyCar
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That would be sick and I agree, tons of passing areas. I would think the backstretch chicane would need to be modified for the cars to take it slower both for safety reasons and to make it a true passing area. I don't think Indycar would want the cars going 200mph in the oval 3/4 turns then headed onto the fronstretch chicane which puts the cars heading straight for pit road. Yes there is a wall but its length is more suitable for stock cars entering the chicane at a less severe angle and much slower.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I don't 'get' street courses. To me, they put a temporary road course in a location where a permanent one isn't possible, with a layout that wouldn't even be considered for a 'from scratch' track. To me, the aesthetics don't matter as much as the layout itself. I admit there are very few circumstances when I would rather see buildings than trees, but I wouldn't like the Nashville layout any better if it was in Pocono.
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Marketing & casuals are weird about racing.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I don't 'get' street courses. To me, they put a temporary road course in a location where a permanent one isn't possible, with a layout that wouldn't even be considered for a 'from scratch' track. To me, the aesthetics don't matter as much as the layout itself. I admit there are very few circumstances when I would rather see buildings than trees, but I wouldn't like the Nashville layout any better if it was in Pocono.
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Well, the genesis of all auto racing was essentially temporary circuit racing on public roads. It's easy for people to grasp "This is a road I do 35 mph on and race cars go 150." Heck, the only reason oval racing is normalized in the US is because we built dirt ovals for horse racing in the late 19th century due to American Horse Racing being a commercial enterprise here rather than a rich guy hobby and those sorts of facilities presented faster racing and were easier to secure and thus sell tickets to. You look at European horse racing tracks and you realize they're often much longer, feature left and right turns, are made of turf, and follow terrain.
 
It’s probably no surprise De Vries is regaining interest in the States, he impressed at a test with MSR a year or two ago.

FWIW, Andretti confirmed they’ll be able to put a fourth paid driver in the 29 next year. Could be a good landing spot.



 
Sounds like Andretti is cutting out the "middle man" as in Driver and wants to control 100% of the pie.
"hired and paid by the team while relying on funding from within the team’s cadre of sponsors to bankroll the initiative"
 
Tom Blomqvist will step into the 60 this weekend.

It’s been largely expected for a while that he’ll be moving from MSR’s IMSA program to one of the team’s IndyCar seats in 2024.

Simon says he feels okay but medical is being precautionary for the time being.

"I'm 'okay', but I'm not a doctor. When you look at the violence of the crash, I think that had a big influence on it all, and I'm not going to fight the doctors that are telling me I'm not 100%," Pagenaud told IndyStar hours before the Mid-Ohio race. "I feel fine, but I respect their opinion. You can't negotiate with the doctors.

"A few years back, I don't think the process would've been as detailed, and I think I would be racing, but would that be good for me? Probably not. I was excited to see the care. It was amazing right away, but then the protocols that went in, I was busy all-day (Saturday after the crash) with the medical staff. I feel they have our back 100% with our health, and that's great."
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West said:
Sounds like Andretti is cutting out the "middle man" as in Driver and wants to control 100% of the pie.
"hired and paid by the team while relying on funding from within the team’s cadre of sponsors to bankroll the initiative"
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They’ve picked up a lot of investment and sponsors the last year or two. Don’t need to rely on a funded driver like Devlin to bring their own money for the fourth car anymore.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I don't 'get' street courses. To me, they put a temporary road course in a location where a permanent one isn't possible, with a layout that wouldn't even be considered for a 'from scratch' track. To me, the aesthetics don't matter as much as the layout itself. I admit there are very few circumstances when I would rather see buildings than trees, but I wouldn't like the Nashville layout any better if it was in Pocono.
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I actually think they're cool. To race around legendary landmarks is an awesome thing. But just like any track, it needs to be done well. Baku in F1 is a good example, that track is perfectly laid out. I think St Pete & Long Beach are awesome as well, especially with the fountain in LB
 
virtualbalboa said:
Well, the genesis of all auto racing was essentially temporary circuit racing on public roads. It's easy for people to grasp "This is a road I do 35 mph on and race cars go 150." Heck, the only reason oval racing is normalized in the US is because we built dirt ovals for horse racing in the late 19th century due to American Horse Racing being a commercial enterprise here rather than a rich guy hobby and those sorts of facilities presented faster racing and were easier to secure and thus sell tickets to. You look at European horse racing tracks and you realize they're often much longer, feature left and right turns, are made of turf, and follow terrain.
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Most people don't understand pretty much everything car related came from how we traveled via horse. Hell the reason we drive on the right side is because that's how you kept your buggy out of a ditch
 
Mispeedway15 said:
Most people don't understand pretty much everything car related came from how we traveled via horse. Hell the reason we drive on the right side is because that's how you kept your buggy out of a ditch
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"When Henry Ford unveiled his Model T in 1908, the driver’s seat was on the left, meaning that cars would have to drive on the right-hand side of the road to allow front and back passengers to exit the car onto the curb. According to National Geographic, this influenced a change in many countries: Canada, Italy, and Spain changed to right-side driving in the 1920s and most of Eastern Europe followed suit in the 1930s"
 
West said:
"When Henry Ford unveiled his Model T in 1908, the driver’s seat was on the left, meaning that cars would have to drive on the right-hand side of the road to allow front and back passengers to exit the car onto the curb. According to National Geographic, this influenced a change in many countries: Canada, Italy, and Spain changed to right-side driving in the 1920s and most of Eastern Europe followed suit in the 1930s"
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Honestly I always thought the main reason Americans drive on the right is that the English drive on the left and Americans simply wanted to do the opposite.
 
donthaveanickname said:
Honestly I always thought the main reason Americans drive on the right is that the English drive on the left and Americans simply wanted to do the opposite.
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It gets even better - Ford of course quickly expanded globally in ways other manufacturers didn't and had international production facilities in Canada and England to escape the issue of tariffs on imported cars. Naturally, the demands of the British Commonwealth markets was that they didn't want to make the shift everyone else had, and there was an economy of scale when you consider how big of a group that was in the early 20th century. Sun never sets and all that. So Ford made them right hand drive cars. Japan too because of how Japan modernized with the help of British.
 
donthaveanickname said:
Honestly I always thought the main reason Americans drive on the right is that the English drive on the left and Americans simply wanted to do the opposite.
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It's a debate the US is on the majority side of for once.
Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg.png
 
Pratt and Miller looking to jump into IndyCar?
racer.com

Pratt Miller sizing up potential IndyCar entry

One of the greatest teams in modern North American racing wants to add its name to the list of NTT IndyCar Series entrants in the coming years. Michigan-based Pratt Miller Engineering, whose team h…
racer.com racer.com
This would be seismic for IndyCar if this becomes a reality. PM was involved with the old DW aerobics, but an organization even being involved with a team would be a great addition to the field.
 
This was confirmed a month ago but somehow I didn't see it.
Great news for Sato, and Armstrong will still win ROTY
racer.com

Ganassi confirms Sato for remaining IndyCar oval races

Amid speculation as to which driver will pilot the No. 11 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda at the three remaining oval races, Chip Ganassi Racing has confirmed Takuma Sato will contest the doubleheader at…
racer.com racer.com
 
I was looking to see what channel has the Toronto race and it isn't available on my cable channels.
 
Jorge De Guzman said:
Schedule shake up
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Without knowing the final track layout, I think I like the idea. Laguna Seca is a classic circuit, and a great place for the teams to do some hospitality with the wineries and Pebble Beach nearby. It’s a bit sleepy as a championship weekend though, and pretty out of the way for most regular fans. Downtown Nashville would make an even bigger party out of its event all week and give a true championship feel.
 
As I’ve noted elsewhere, layouts matter more to me than locations. Just one idjit’s opinion.
 
The updated rear-wheel bearing retaining nut is being distributed to all entries in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and will be mandated for use beginning at this weekend’s Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend doubleheader at Iowa Speedway. The strength of the rear-wheel bearing retaining nut has increased by 60 percent over the previous design.

Revisions to the existing component came after a meticulous review of the incident at the 2023 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge involving the No. 27 car of Andretti Autosport and the No. 6 car of Arrow McLaren, which resulted in the loss of the left rear wheel assembly on the No. 27.
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