New car news!!

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Originally Posted by anthonyvop

Other people are reporting the same times.

IndyCar Series - Drivers, teams breathe sigh of relief after Sebring test - ESPN

:)



Nope.... The GP of Monaco is the biggest race that day....By a Huge margin.

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The sky is falling, the sky is falling, everybody run .... oh wait

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And the unanimous reaction from everyone present was of positive relief.

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"But now that I've had a chance to see and hear the car going around the track, I'm pumped," he added. "I'm excited to go racing with these things."

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oh and way to completely miss this little gem there Tony

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No official timing and scoring was in operation, but Scott Dixon's best lap of roughly 53.0 seconds in the Honda-powered Target Ganassi Racing car on the first day was already quicker than a good time around Sebring for the outgoing car

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And I love this quote from Rick Mears (someone who's opinion I respect immensely)

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"So it's not planted and completely stable," Mears said. "Haven't we been complaining that the outgoing car was too planted and stable? That my ex-wife's mother-in-law could jump in one and keep up with the pack?

"The new car really brings the teams back into the equation in a big way," Mears continued. "Some of these teams have never gone through the hard work of developing a new car. You can call it teething troubles or new car blues or whatever. We used to experience it all the time when we brought out a new car every year. The biggest teams aren't always going to be the ones that get it right and there could be some surprising results.

"It's going to shake things up and make IndyCar a lot more interesting."

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But you keep on with your sky is falling stuff. I prefer to live in the real world.

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Originally Posted by anthonyvop

The New Dallara has been seen more than a few laps at Sebring and the Course is well rubbered in. Sebring, like most major Florida Tracks, gets heavy use. Especially in the winter.

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Rubber isn't rubber. The fact that something has been running there doesn't mean squat. In fact it might hurt. Sometimes when there are two series at an event on different tires, one compound makes the track really slick for another.

But I'm not saying that the track being rubbered in or not had anything to do with this test. I would have to be there to know the actual condition of the track. I will not speculate one way or the other from here.

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Originally Posted by anthonyvop

A 53+ second lap on the short course is slow. a sub 50 is the target. I would have been happy with a 51.5. Heck a 52 would have been respectable.

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So the fact that the new car, right out of the box, with basically no tuning time, is already faster than the old car isn't good enough for you? What would make you happy? Braking the sound barrier?

It's TESTING on a brand new car. Your expectations are ridiculous.

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Originally Posted by chuck34

So the fact that the new car, right out of the box, with basically no tuning time, is already faster than the old car isn't good enough for you? What would make you happy? Braking the sound barrier?

It's TESTING on a brand new car. Your expectations are ridiculous.

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not ridiculous really...

The DP-01 was doing 52.7's right out of the box during the first session of the first multi-team test at Sebring. By the end of the three day test it was doing 50.7's....

Just saying.... ;-)

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Originally Posted by chuck34

The sky is falling, the sky is falling, everybody run .... oh wait




oh and way to completely miss this little gem there Tony


And I love this quote from Rick Mears (someone who's opinion I respect immensely)


But you keep on with your sky is falling stuff. I prefer to live in the real world.

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Can I get an amen brothers and sisters?

Not sure if this was brought up about the new car but I wasnt going to sift thru 30 pages....lol

This new car design will make it harder for the rear tire changers now during pitstops. They will have to come straight in with the tire instead of swinging it on like they normally do.

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Originally Posted by DanicaFan

Not sure if this was brought up about the new car but I wasnt going to sift thru 30 pages....lol

This new car design will make it harder for the rear tire changers now during pitstops. They will have to come straight in with the tire instead of swinging it on like they normally do.

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Just like a tire changer on every sports car team. It's not like Indycar pitstops are anywhere near F1 or even DTM pit stop speeds. I'm all for making things more of a challenge. I'm sure they will be practicing. It's the same for everyone. It's another change that is the same for everyone.

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Originally Posted by anthonyvop

The New Dallara has been seen more than a few laps at Sebring and the Course is well rubbered in. Sebring, like most major Florida Tracks, gets heavy use. Especially in the winter.

A 53+ second lap on the short course is slow. a sub 50 is the target. I would have been happy with a 51.5. Heck a 52 would have been respectable.

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So what's the alternative? Take a new car and quite possibly new drivers, team members, mechanics, crew chiefs and whatever else and just go out looking for a headline time? Other than keeping you happy, what would that actually achieve? It's a test, a data gathering exercise. Go out, turn laps, crunch the numbers, turn more laps, check systems are working as anticipated (on the car or otherwise), make adjustments to see how they impact things. It's about turning laps rather than setting times. If the thing is dog slow come the first race they you can come back and say "I told you so", but I don't see how you can read anything into a pre-season test where more or less everything is new to everyone?

Interesting how you pick out the time from that ESPN article, but ignore the driver comments regarding their objectives for the test.

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It's coming along, especially the engines," said 2008 IndyCar Series champion Dixon. "Almost everything I've done so far has been manufacturer testing, and I'm looking forward to getting out there in 'team' mode to see what effect putting our little touches on the car will have.

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Castroneves, who ran both days in the blue-and-white car Chevrolet used for manufacturer testing, was also eager to come to grips with the new machine -- even if it meant breaking some old habits.

"I'm learning the new systems," said the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner. "Now the clutch is on the steering wheel, so I'm using my left foot to brake after braking with my right foot for my entire career.

"It's interesting to adapt, but that's why we're testing. It's kind of fun, like a go-kart. Everything that is new always goes through a change. You have to work to find the best balance. That's what makes teams have a good connection -- the engineers, the drivers -- because you're developing something together."

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Another positive that came from the Sebring test was the debut of the Lotus engine. De Silvestro relentlessly pounded around Sebring, cranking out hundreds of consistent (if not particularly fast) laps as Lotus attempted to put 1,000 miles on an engine right off the bat.

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Nobody was out there to run blazing numbers, they were out there to turn laps, bed things in and get a baseline on the car.

Some quotes from Graham Rahal :-

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The car is fun as hell to drive,” Ganassi’s Graham Rahal told SPEED.com. “It’s pretty wicked—it clearly has a lot of potential on road courses and has plenty of grip. For sure, the car will be quicker at Sebring. It’s a tough, bumpy place. The car has a lot of room to improve, and the track conditions weren’t ideal. Everyone is in the first stages of figuring the car out, so it’s not like we all know the cars and what makes them tick. That’s gonna take some time

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We’re close to the quickest I’ve ever gone in the old car already, and we haven’t done much running, so that says a lot about how much is left to come, I think

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Doesn't exactly smack of the sky is falling doom and gloom some are trying to paint.

I know that speed will go up and with open competicion cars will look better but most of all I'm looking for is what team -driver combo will best develop the car. I think it will be interesting season.

Another.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6adMt7OQarQ