Is Scott Dixon that good?!?!?

[Wilf]

We'll I was a full two miles per hour off on my guess of pole speed so I was looking at the actual attempts trying to figure out how I could be so far off. What I found didn't help my analysis, but it did open my eyes. When Scot Dixon made his first attempt and took the provisional pole of 225.178 his lap times over the four laps varied by only forty nine ten thousands of a second (.0049).

That is incredible; I can't imagine making two, two and one half mile passes in a straight line from a flying start and holding the elapsed time to .005 of each other. Add in four corners and what Scott did impossible, but then he did it.

By the way, he beat the previous record of.006 which was held held by Bobby Rahall, no slouch himself. And I thought that was unbeatable when he did it in 1992.

Now the real question is, will it be entered as a new record since the qualifying attempt was withdrawn so he could make his second and ultimately successful pole run?

[!!WALDO!!]

We'll I was a full two miles per hour off on my guess of pole speed so I was looking at the actual attempts trying to figure out how I could be so far off. What I found didn't help my analysis, but it did open my eyes. When Scot Dixon made his first attempt and took the provisional pole of 225.178 his lap times over the four laps varied by only forty nine ten thousands of a second (.0049).

That is incredible; I can't imagine making two, two and one half mile passes in a straight line from a flying start and holding the elapsed time to .005 of each other. Add in four corners and what Scott did impossible, but then he did it.

By the way, he beat the previous record of.006 which was held held by Bobby Rahall, no slouch himself. And I thought that was unbeatable when he did it in 1992.

Now the real question is, will it be entered as a new record since the qualifying attempt was withdrawn so he could make his second and ultimately successful pole run?

So Rahal was better that the 1st, 2nd and 4th laps exactly the same and the 3rd lap a 100th faster?
George Snider did that in 1971.

Car balance today is a science and when it was done in 1971 it was poke and stab so in my book, Scott will need to go a long ways to beat old Ziggy.

Remember if this will make you feel better, Scot did win in CART.

(NO REFERENCE, IMPLIED OR REAL TO ANY POSTER, LIVING, DEAD, or NOT YET BORN.)

[Wilf]

So Rahal was better that the 1st, 2nd and 4th laps exactly the same and the 3rd lap a 100th faster?
George Snider did that in 1971.

Car balance today is a science and when it was done in 1971 it was poke and stab so in my book, Scott will need to go a long ways to beat old Ziggy.

Remember if this will make you feel better, Scot did win in CART.

(NO REFERENCE, IMPLIED OR REAL TO ANY POSTER, LIVING, DEAD, or NOT YET BORN.)

I'm wondering what the timing precision was in 1971, two, three or four digits after the decimal point? To get exact times to the hundreth, I'm thinking they only went two digits. Depending on rounding Scott's time would be similar: 39.97, 39.97, 39.97, 39.96, or one hundreth of a second faster on his final lap. It looks like it wasn't until 1983 or 1984 when they went to three digit precision for timing.

Your comment regarding a poke and a stab in Ziggy's day versus the precision of today is interesting. I remember measuring stagger in inches and being able to grow stagger by over inflating a tire and then bringing it back to the proper inflation for the race. Today, they have a choice of two tire circumferences and they are within a few thousands of an inch of each other. So much for scraping the rubber buildup off with a putty knife, sticking the end of the measuring tape into the tire and then spinning the tire to make sure you were consistent to the 1/4 inch.

[!!WALDO!!]

I'm wondering what the timing precision was in 1971, two, three or four digits after the decimal point? To get exact times to the hundreth, I'm thinking they only went two digits. Depending on rounding Scott's time would be similar: 39.97, 39.97, 39.97, 39.96, or one hundreth of a second faster on his final lap. It looks like it wasn't until 1983 or 1984 when they went to three digit precision for timing.

Your comment regarding a poke and a stab in Ziggy's day versus the precision of today is interesting. I remember measuring stagger in inches and being able to grow stagger by over inflating a tire and then bringing it back to the proper inflation for the race. Today, they have a choice of two tire circumferences and they are within a few thousands of an inch of each other. So much for scraping the rubber buildup off with a putty knife, sticking the end of the measuring tape into the tire and then spinning the tire to make sure you were consistent to the 1/4 inch.

They actually went to 4 decimal places but would release 2 decimal places, So yes it was different but if floored old Tom as George did something that had never been done before, three laps at the same speed.
Poke and stab was as good as it could get as drivers came from practice, qualifying and racing schedules on the circuit so no time and no dough for massive amounts of practice.

(NO REFERENCE, IMPLIED OR REAL TO ANY POSTER, LIVING, DEAD, or NOT YET BORN.)

[Alfa Fan]

Waldo, I know its a challenge but could you occasionaly post a message in something that at least vaguely resembles English?

[Vegasguy]

Waldo, I know its a challenge but could you occasionaly post a message in something that at least vaguely resembles English?

Thank god it's not just me.......... ;-)

[!!WALDO!!]

Sorry I was talking to the Republican Senatorial Committee wanting money at the same time as posting this. I apologize for not doing a better job of multi tasking.
They actually went to 4 decimal places but would release 2 decimal places, so yes it was different but it floored old Tom as George did something that had never been done before, three laps at the same speed.
Poke and stab was as good as it could get as drivers came from practice, qualifying and racing schedules on the circuit so no time and no dough for massive amounts of practice.
So a capital “s” and a “f” instead of a “t” made it unreadable. Imagine what I must deal with?
The real issue is about running consistent times not what you think about English. I notice you use that all the time rather than contributing. I guess just your style and the fact that is all you know.

(NO REFERENCE, IMPLIED OR REAL TO ANY POSTER, LIVING, DEAD, or NOT YET BORN.)

[underpowered]

When Scot Dixon made his first attempt and took the provisional pole of 225.178 his lap times over the four laps varied by only forty nine ten thousands of a second (.0049).

That is incredible; I can't imagine making two, two and one half mile passes in a straight line from a flying start and holding the elapsed time to .005 of each other. Add in four corners and what Scott did impossible, but then he did it.

Yes he is that good!......but then I may be too much of a fan to rely on my opinion :-)

I am enjoying his form this year.

I also enjoyed watching Chip get worked up!

[F1boat]

I think that Dixon currently is in very, very good form. I am surprised that he is beating Wheldon regularly, honestly.

[bblocker68]

Yes, he's that good. I heard everyone talking about the tires going away after lap 2. So, to be consistant and match the last 2 laps with the first 2 takes adjusting to the car and track.

Dixon rocks!