Last week at Homestead-Miami Speedway
source:
irl.racing-live.com
IndyCar Series officials claim to be ecstatic at how
well the cars performed in their first ever road course open test this week at
Homestead-Miami Speedway.
After nine years of only running on oval courses, the IndyCar Series is
preparing for two races in 2005 on road courses and one race on a temporary
street course.
"We basically have taken an oval track car, a car that was designed to run ovals,
and converted it into a road course car," Kevin Blanch, IRL technical manager
said. "To make a call and try to figure out what brakes and how big scoops need
to be and did we get the right amount of downforce on the front of the car, we
made really good guesses. And that's what they were, just educated guesses from
doing other forms of racing."
Blanch said there were still some minor changes in the cars before the April 3
street course race at St. Petersburg, Fla. Blanch said the goal is to make the
cars as reliable on the road courses as they have become on the ovals.
Andretti Green Racing driver Dario Franchitti said he was amazed at how close
the field was in the two day test.
"I think some guys were rusty from not driving road courses for
a number of years. There are a couple of guys just getting used to it for the
first time. We are going to see just incredibly close fields on the road courses
as on the ovals," Franchitti said.
Franchitti turned the fastest lap in the two day test but said he believes he
left some speed on the table as he was getting used to driving within the limits
of the car. "Not a massive amount, it was a pretty good lap. But there's more
(speed) to be had, for sure, with the car," Franchitti said.
One of the issues raised during the test was the brakes the IndyCar Series
decided on, which was different than Franchitti used when he originally tested
the package last September.
"We tested the carbon brakes here. Quite frankly they weren't working for us.
They weren't giving me the feel I needed. The steel brakes give us a much better
feel. There are a couple of small issues that are very easy to address and we
are doing that," Franchitti said.
Blanch pointed out that there were no gear box failures in the two day test to
show the reliability of the cars.
"You have a lot of guys doing qualifying-type runs. You're pounding the car a
lot harder when you're doing that than you are when you're racing. Once you
start to race you can't drive it in as hard as you can in a five-lap run. We had
several cars up over 200 miles which is close, if not more, than what we will
run in a race. I think we probably beat these cars up harder than we will in a
three- day weekend. To come out with no problems is promising," Blanch said.
The IndyCar Series will now test the Homestead oval track on Saturday to prepare
for the March 6 season opening race at Homestead.