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The Staff of SOH
Indy
- Thread starter PRB
- Start date
Panther_99FS
Retired SOH Administrator
Totally understand Carpenter's frustration but yes, Hinchcliffe & Castroneves both provided good interviews!
Good win by Ryan!
Too bad Pippa Mann was woefully slow as she was driving for a noble sponsor...
Good win by Ryan!
Too bad Pippa Mann was woefully slow as she was driving for a noble sponsor...
Hey All,
Nice win by Ryan! I would like to have seen Helio get number 4 he is that good - maybe next year.
If Kurt is good enough for 6th Jimmie is probably good enough to win - ya think?
F1 without even looking I bet Mercedes is 1 2 again - who cares which driver is first - team orders you know - boring.
-Ed-
Nice win by Ryan! I would like to have seen Helio get number 4 he is that good - maybe next year.
If Kurt is good enough for 6th Jimmie is probably good enough to win - ya think?
F1 without even looking I bet Mercedes is 1 2 again - who cares which driver is first - team orders you know - boring.
-Ed-
Panther_99FS
Retired SOH Administrator
I'm going to be a bit patriotic and say that it was nice to see an apple pie kid win it...
Me too, in general. Although I was watching the race when Dan Wheldon was killed. I was in a hotel room, in the middle of one of my too frequent cross country moves. That was a sad and tragic day. I was also watching the 500 when Hildebrand smacked the wall coming out of turn 4 of the final lap, while leading the race. That was a heart breaker. I didn't make it to the end of the 600. I guess Kurt didn't make it all the way either, but don't know why.
Panther_99FS
Retired SOH Administrator
Rgr, TY. Dang those engines anyway. Why so many important bits that go round and round really fast?
Yep, a couple of Hendrick built engines came apart. Sometimes you just get a bad part or a shipment of parts and all of them have a defect. Another factor is the number of miles being put on these engines. It is no longer a case of running a couple of practice sessions, then two laps of qualifying, then race. Now it is practice, then qualifying by running what are basically short elimination races, then run the race. And, in the case of the Coca-Cola 600, it is a race that is 100 miles longer than any other NASCAR race. It really tests driver and machine.
wombat666
Administrator
Turn left, accelerate, brake, turn left, accelerate, brake, turn left, accelerate, brake ................................................. now that is 'BORING'.
And yes Ed, 'Mercedes' first and second without any team orders, and surprisingly for Monte Carlo, not boring.
Daveroo
Members +
sure is odd when the full fendered roundie rounders go open wheel theyre good right out of the box..yet when the crossover is the otherway...not so much...
i mean look at montoya,hornish,and many others i cant remember the names of have failed miserably....and how about Marcus Ambrose..wasnt he some super champion in Australia? the super cars?...yet he struggles to stay in that middle of the pack group,,,and yes he has shown potential several times..but he always drops back after a great showing..
i mean look at montoya,hornish,and many others i cant remember the names of have failed miserably....and how about Marcus Ambrose..wasnt he some super champion in Australia? the super cars?...yet he struggles to stay in that middle of the pack group,,,and yes he has shown potential several times..but he always drops back after a great showing..
Panther_99FS
Retired SOH Administrator
Okay NASCAR DRIVERS ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD!!!!!
(Now can I enjoy my other forms of motorsports in peace?)
(Now can I enjoy my other forms of motorsports in peace?)
Daveroo
Members +
NO you may not,you MUST watch only NASCAR ,if you dont the black flag will fly high......and i wasnt saying theyre the best...i was just pointing out whats happened...i believe schumacher would have been good in a nascar cup car,or a bomber stock..or a sprint car...so pffffffffft.
wombat666
Administrator
Maybe the current model indycar is just too 'slow' and easy to drive, if a Nascar driver can hop in and easily make it into the top ten at Indy.....
Once I was an avid 'Indycar' fan, or maybe that should read 'CART' fan, and way back, Champ car.
Even managed to get to a couple of Indy 500 rounds, back in the day when the cars ran plenty of grunt and not that much downforce.
The pace laps with a field full of turbo Fords and Offenhausers (or were they Meyer-Drakes by then?) made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, comparable only with the first lap at the Bathurst 500/1000 pre 'V8 Supercars'.
Today I only watch the odd 500 because of the Antipodes connection, but I have a satisfactory system to beat the monotony.
Bear in mind that having downloaded the show onto my hard drive, the first 20 laps and the last 20 laps are enough for me, if there has been any drama I can skip back but generally the 20/20 version works fine for me.
IIRC, Robbie Gordon and Tony Stewart were pretty mediocre in open wheelers, but seem comfortable in MASSCAR.
And of course, if Marcus Ambrose ("..wasn't he some super champion in Australia? the super cars?...") was in a top level team, which will never happen as he's a 'Foreigner', he just might shake some of the 'Establishment' up.
I have a fond memory of John Rutherford attempting to take on the Bathurst 500 many years ago in a level one team at that, and despite having Janet Guthrie as a partner (she was outstanding FWIW) good old 'Lone Star JR' destroyed their car in a big way, coming across the top of 'The Mountain' he lost it and hit the left side of the cutting, bounced across into the right side and continued along into the left side before coming to rest embedded in the right hand side of the hill ................... of course we all cheered!!!!!
If memory serves me, I recall Junior Johnson attempting Indy back in the last days of the 'Roadsters' and backing out part way through practice.
The great 'American' drivers who tackled NASCAR and Indy could and did drive almost anything and win, AJ Foyt, Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti spring to mind.
Sadly, that was then and today the sport is lacking their remarkable skills.
Just FTR, if there is a 'Classic' dirt car event on I'm at it like a Seagull on a piece of hot fat, I hate the 'Winged Sprinters' but the old Midgets and Sprinters are favourites of mine.
Another genuinely fond memory of mine was watching AJ Foyt hustle a Sprinter around one of the longer dirt ovals (Milwaukee?) in an epic drive.
'Epic' because that beam axle tube frame car was powered by a quad cam 'Indy' Ford V8, running on Methanol and probably revving above the 'advised' limit.
Out - Bloody - Standing!
Ferry_vO
Retired SOH Administrator
You might remember this mod: http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=1995 CART Season
These cars made me hold my breath and clench the wheel for every corner, even though I was sitting safe behind my desk...
As for this years race: The first 150 laps nothing happened, the next fourty laps were spend mostly behind the safety cars because apparently suddenly a lot of drivers forgot how to drive; only the last ten laps were worth watching.
Ok, so, let me get this straight. Marcos Ambrose isn't in a good ride because NASCAR team owners, not one single one of them, "don't take too kindly to none of them there ferners out there..." Is that what I'm supposed to take away from that comment? Way to go, being all tolerant of cultural diversity and all... Sometimes "The Internet" just makes me want to toss my computer out the window and move to Alaska.
Panther_99FS
Retired SOH Administrator
Maybe the current model indycar is just too 'slow' and easy to drive, if a Nascar driver can hop in and easily make it into the top ten at Indy.....
There are only a handful of Indy drivers left who drove the old 900hp machines. Off the top of my head, they are:
- Dixon
- Montoya
- Castroneves
- Bourdais
- Kanaan
That being said, back in the day, the fast Indianapolis (track) drivers came from the massive power sprint cars so in that light, it's not too surprising to see a Cup driver finish well.
Panther_99FS
Retired SOH Administrator
Well....Gordon was above average on road courses (quite a few podium finishes & one win).
Stewart could probably give Hornish Jr a good run on the ovals & Stewart was an IRL champion....
wombat666
Administrator
Don't throw your box out the window and/or move to Alaska.
Aside from the cold you'd miss out on the 'Cultural Diversity'.
Let me tell you a short story ......... a true one at that.
In late 1998 early 1999 (IIRC) a very good friend departed the factory GM team with the 'promise' of a job in NASCAR, given that he was 'The Engine Man' at HSV it was thought that he could bring some new expertise to the GM powered cars.
However, and there's always a 'however', there was no room at the Inn, no GM team wanted him. Not one. And they had more 'excuses' than a Pox Doctors case book.
Dean did say (some time later when he returned to Oz) he thought there was something of a 'Fear Factor' from the shop floor about an 'Australian Hot Shot' encroaching on territory that was exclusive to the Good Old Boys, but that was the vibe he felt.
Fortunately, CART had been infiltrated by several of the ANZAC gang, and Barry Green attempted to find him a slot, Dean could have joined several teams but only on a part time basis.
Barry suggested he speak to Dick Barbour, who was putting together a GT2 Porsche team and having raced at Bathurst had great respect for Aussies, respect he earned the hard way.
So my mate ended up crewing on a Porsche team, which was way better than NASCAR, as they did the World Endurance Championship, Sebring (I think) Silverstone, Nurburgring, Le Mans, the Petit Le Mans rounds finishing up in Adelaide for the Millennium 'Special'.
By the time 2000 dawned he had more offers of employment than he could handle and stayed on with Dick.
After a second year with the flat six crew he returned home to join John Faulkner's privateer team, which did very well considering their tight budget on a single car effort.
GMH approached him with a job offer that was too good to pass up, working as a Development Engineer at their testing facility.
Five day week, 'Office Hours' and a regular income, as well as playing with cars around the GM test facility.
From that point on Dean has worked for a couple of GT operations on the domestic front, fettling Ferraris, Maserati's, Mustangs and even Corvettes, while building some very serious GMH based 'Road Cars' as a hobby/sideline.
NASCAR did him a good turn but denied themselves a talent, so you might understand why our view is rather skewed.
And yes, sit Marcus Ambrose in a top five team car and watch him shake up the establishment, even better, ship the top ten NASCAR drivers down under and enter them in the Bathurst 1000............we would enjoy a good laugh.
PS: One of my favourite mods Ferry, still drive it.
FWIW, rFactor 2 is 'driving' me up the wall, even after loading all the updates and extras!!!!