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5th September 2008, 01:17 #1
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Fred Nation lays egg at Motor Industry Association conference
I came across this link and couldn't believe it when I read it.
http://www.rfmsports.com/IMSA/ALMS/S...ence.2008.html
This is what the conference was about:
The official banner of the conference was: “Fuel economy and energy efficiency: How racing can deliver innovative solutions…fast!” The unofficial tag was “Relevancy” and that theme was raised throughout the daylong conference held on Belle Isle at the Detroit Yacht Club.
In contrast, Fred Nation, Executive V.P. of the IRL and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, offered only that all their cars operate on 100% ethanol. The remainder of his presentation focused on changes (or the lack thereof) to the IRL format following the “reunification” with CWS. For example, no one should expect to see less than 50% of their races held on ovals; the relevancy of which was lost on most conference participants. When asked if IRL was willing to become more radical, even in terms of chassis development, Nation remarked that there was “too much inertia in favor of the current evolution of Indy cars” to become really radical.
Too bad the didn't have Rahal as the official IRL spokesman as he sounded great. Unfortunately he seemed to be there more for BMW and the ALMS.
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5th September 2008, 02:45 #2
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Originally Posted by DBell
“Spec racing discourages innovation,” (Rahal) observed. Rahal pointed to the groundbreaking Granatelli Turbine car that very nearly won the 1967 Indy 500 only to be banned from future races by USAC. “Sanctioning bodies don’t see the big picture”, he said, the implication being that innovation must come from a “non-spec” racing series."For 80 years this place has run on tradition. From today forward it will run as a business." - Tony George (Failed businessman)
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5th September 2008, 04:34 #3
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Those with agenda's also fail to see the big picture.
Originally Posted by Rex Monaco
The ugly chassis has reduced to near acceptable levels the annual carnage which used to occur in the annual great experiment.
The Safer Barrier is now a staple of every major auto racing venue in the United States.
The variable ratio rack and pinion system was developed and currently resides in the flop stage.
I found the report by Neil Chapel terribly flawed; he chose to knock the presentation of the only organization that had done something innovative to providing solutions to declining natural resources, and a lack of renewable energy simply because he apparently doesn't like the results of the reunification. Did he even mention any statistics about the breakthough improvements IMSA has generated through their Green Racing Challenge?
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5th September 2008, 15:10 #4
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Originally Posted by Rex Monaco
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5th September 2008, 15:22 #5
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Originally Posted by Wilf
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5th September 2008, 15:28 #6
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Originally Posted by Wilf
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5th September 2008, 15:43 #7
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The thread starter provided a large leap in the story from its beginning to taking a shot at Nation. Coming from the IMSA/ALMS board, it's pretty obvious that Nation's comment about 50 percent ovals is featured to tell the road racers of the IRL to come to the ALMS instead.
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5th September 2008, 17:08 #8
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is there something missing from this thread? it does not really make sense?
Seems like Fred Nation was supposed to talk about energy efficiency in racing and didn't...
Sounds like Rahal did.
It does sound like Nation's comment about the "current trajectory of Indycar development" is a little out of touch with reality - I though we were talking about a new formula soon and we can all see that the "evolutionary" DP-01, while far from a flop as a car, was not what the doctor ordered in terms of revitalizing interest in Champcar.....
Anything else to the story??
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5th September 2008, 17:34 #9
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Agreed, Chris. The story itself seems to be a left-handed ootch to competitors to play with ALMS rather than the IRL...if that was, it's even off-topic, so how far off topic can we tell that ANYONE went.
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5th September 2008, 19:36 #10
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Originally Posted by Chris R
There is very little evidence that I've seen that suggest the IRL has a big picture plan on how they will make the series attractive to auto manufacturers. Going by current TV ratings and a downgraded TV package for the future, marketing value doesn't seem to be that attractive of an option at the moment. So it has to be something else to get a company like BMW, for example, motivated to make the financial commitment to join. Relevancy is becoming a large looming question mark for all of auto racing as the world changes. Some series like ALMS,LMS and F1 are addressing this issue. The IRL needs to at least show it's thinking about it. To me, the IRL going to a conference like this and putting out the information it did says they have no long term direction. For a the IRL, a series that desperately needs a couple of manufacturers to join in 2 years, this was a needlessly wasted opportunity. They can't afford this. They have to be on the ball at every opportunity to convince companies that this series is worth investing in.
Yesterday Chris Ingram posted he was doing a 'shakedown' of the Polo R5 so it seems he's continuing in that car for the Jim Clark. I don't know if its because the 2nd Yaris hasn't arrived yet at...
British & Irish Championships...