Off The Wall Racing News

There are two kinds of Indy car drivers: those who have hit the wall

and those who will hit the wall." -- Eddie Cheever.

Formula One

Controversy ought to be Formula One’s middle name. We’re one race into the 2011 season and already several contentious scenarios have unfolded…

_____________________________________________

Red Bull – Coming out of Red Bull’s strong showing in Melbourne Australia, with last season’s champion Sebastian Vettel coming in first and Australia’s own Mark Webber placing fifth in Red Bull’s 2011 edition cars, there are a lot of questions concerning a supposedly illegal front wing/nose cone assembly. Last season the same accusations were made and F1A responded by putting the front wing through extensive testing but nothing came of it. These more stringent tests haven’t put a damper on the suspicions. The flex works to create more downforce on the front tires at high speed. It’s claimed that this in turn allows the Red Bull cars to make quicker turns resulting in seconds being cut off each circuit around the track. Here’s video evidence of the flexing nose wing:

Pay close attention to the nose camera position at top speed and after braking for the first corner. I’m not sure about this and maybe our resident engineer can shed a little light on the subject, but I doubt F1’s stringent rules include the type of materials used to manufacture the various body parts on these cars. It makes me wonder if the composite materials used by Red Bull’s engineers have some hidden qualities the other teams’ haven’t figured out.

______________________________________________

Sauber – Both of Sauber’s cars were disqualified for technical infringements after the post Australian Grand Prix inspections. The cars were in breach of technical rules 3.10.1 and 3.10.2 that deal with the rear wing. The disqualification took away Sergio Perez’ and Kamui Kibayashi’s seventh and eighth place finishes. The infringements concern the measured distances across the wings and the placement of the wing.

James Key, Sauber’s technical director stated, “This is a very surprising and disappointing result. It appears that there is a question over the top surface of the uppermost rear wing element, this area is not the working surface of the component and therefore relatively unimportant to its function. "Certainly this has not led to any performance advantage. We are checking the design of the parts now to better understand the situation and we intend to appeal the decision made by the stewards." _______________________________________________

By the way, the Lotus naming rights controversy continues to boil between Team Lotus and Lotus Renault with a court hearing now scheduled for after the 2011 racing season.

___________________________________________

F1 Makes Several Rules Changes…

The KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) has once again been allowed in 2011. First allowed in 2009, the KERS system was discarded with the thought that it actually slowed the cars down. Red Bull will run their version in Malaysia this Sunday.

********************************************************

The 107% Rule (drivers must be within this much of the pole time to qualify) has also been resurrected in 2011 due to three different teams being deemed uncompetitive in 2010.

********************************************************

2011 will also see the approved use of moveable rear wings that the driver can use at any time during practice and qualifying but only under certain conditions during the actual racing. Then the wing can only be moved when a driver is one second behind another car. In another controversial move, the ban on team orders has been lifted.

********************************************************

F1A removed the ban on team driving saying the ban was near impossible to enforce as it stood. So 2011 will once again see team rather than individual racing… ____________________________________________________ 2011 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX

____________________________________________________

IndyCar

________________________________________

Guess who’s going to drive the pace car at the 100th anniversary of auto racing at Indianapolis… None other than “The Donald”… No not the duck, the Trump!

“It’s a great honor to be selected as the Pace Car driver for such an American institution as the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500,” Trump said. “The Indianapolis 500 has been the gold standard of motorsports for a century, and I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of the Camaro and bring the famous field of 33 drivers to the green flag.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome Donald Trump as the driver of the Pace Car for the 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500,” said Jeff Belskus, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation president and chief executive officer. “He is an iconic American success story, a business leader without peer who is a fitting choice to bring the field for ‘The Most Important Race in History’ to the green flag.”

_____________________________________________________

In a sidelight, Chevrolet wants everyone to know the new Camaro SS convertible pace car can handle the duty unmodified from the factory…

________________________________________________________

So we’ve got an American built muscle car that flies in the face of the liberal green crew and it will be driven by a leader of American business, institutions under extreme pressure from the left. In addition, Donald Trump has been reported just this week to be running for the Republican nomination for President and is leading the New Hampshire polls…

_____________________________________________________

St. Pete Revisited…

IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard has expressed elation at the television ratings the Honda Grand Prix received and the large crowd that attended the event. The fact that the event was shown on network television (ABC) meant a 100% increase in viewership over last season’s final race for the IndyCar title in Homestead Florida that was shown on cable TV (1.4 rating at St. Pete verses a .7 rating). "I'm very encouraged by the ratings for several reasons. First of all, it was a standalone. It wasn't in the late time slot, during which there typically is more household viewership. Second, it's our highest-rated non-Indianapolis show since 2007, but even that show [Mid-Ohio] had a great lead-in with the British Open...," shared Bernard.

_____________________________________________________

In organized racing for nearly 10 years now, Simona de Silvestro apparently is the real deal and IndyCar is more than happy to have her. All eyes will be on the young driver after her fourth place finish in St. Petersburg.

Will Gene’s proclamation that Ms. de Silvestro is the best woman driver in IndyCar continue to be backed up?

____________________________________________________

Driver News…

Bryan Herta Autosport, in a move announced just before the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, signed Dan Wheldon to drive the team’s 2011 Indianapolis 500 entry. Co-owners Bryan Herta and Steve Newey are thrilled to have a driver of Dan’s caliber behind the wheel of their car…

Canadian James Hinchcliffe will make his IndyCar debut Saturday in Alabama driving for Newman/Haas Racing in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama next weekend. Newman/Hass will expand to two entries to accommodate young Mr. Hinchcliffe.

A.J. Foyt Racing announced the signing of Brazilian Bruno Junqueira to drive in the Indy 500 this year.

________________________________________________

The 100th Year of racing at Indianapolis…

The celebration is ramping up for the May 29th Indianapolis 500. I was surprised to run across this…

Painted by Thomas Kincaid, known as “The Painter of Light”, I was surprised since I’ve never seen him paint a scene such as that before…

____________________________________________________

Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

____________________________________________________

Enjoy the racing this weekend!