Anyone at test today? Info, observation, opinion, lap time?
Anyone at test today? Info, observation, opinion, lap time?
Flat n the S's
I was there for the duration of the test. My 'hit' list:
- The Honda's have a HORRIBLE backfire under deceleration and power-down from low speed corners. Heard a lot of them (Dixon, Conway, and Wilson most notably) get into the wastegate coming off of 7.
- Oriol Servia has a COOL looking car. They have Salvador Dali's face on the sidepod, but changed the number font, so it's looking kind of different.
- On the topic of cool cars, JR Hildebrand's SF 49er's car was a big hit as well. Panther Graphics did a really nice job on it with attention to detail, if you look closely at it it actually has a pigskin texture where everyone thought it was red. Would have liked to see an SF Giants car being that it's baseball season but oh well.
- I know we were all hoping to see Dragon wheel out the Black and Silver McAfee hotrod, but both he and Katherine are in blue/white TRUEcar colors next weekend.
- SFHR has Newgarden in the same Angie's List colors Bryan Clauson ran at Indy. Also of note, Newgarden's usual black-and-blue car was stashed under a car cover in the secondary SFHR garage stall, very obviously bearing the Indianapolis/superspeedway aero config and wheelpods. I presume they're hitting up Auto Club in the next day or two.
- I couldn't get one clean lap from Hinchcliffe. Seriously, I spent a good 30 minutes trying to clock him, but every lap I got from him was 1:26 or worse. This led me to believe that he was working on specific sections of the track at a time.
- I DID get times from the Ganassi cars of Graham Rahal and Dario Franchitti. Franchitti ran several 1:20's consecutively, and Rahal burned off a 1:20.0 at the end of the day. I don't have any laps from earlier in the day.
- On the topic of Ganassi cars, for those of you who thought that there was no communication between TCGR and G2, I witnessed Franchitti debrief with Kimball (Kimball is back in the car FWIW) and for those who thought they hated each other, I witnessed Rahal debriefing with Dixon and sharing a pretty good laugh during the lunch break.
- Will Power's young megafan Brian McEnnerny came out for the test today, which makes all three of the Sonoma tests that I've seen him at now. He looks more and more official every time he comes out, this time he actually had a monogrammed, collared, Verizon Team Penske pit crew shirt. He'll end up being an official part of that team someday, I'm telling you. It was really cool to see him get treated to all sorts of behind-the-scenes stuff by Team Penske, and Roger's drivers love him.
- I managed to time a single lap by RHR at the end of the day and he was bordering 1:21 to 1:22. Much slower than Ganassi's drivers but I don't know what his testing program was as I have no standing relationships with any team members anymore.
- Most drivers still seem to struggle a bit with the repaved turn 9, I saw a lot of them cut through the dirt on multiple occasions, most notably Scott Dixon, who did it on his final lap of the day AND the cooldown lap after the checkered flag came out at 5pm.
- As a fan I don't like the new turn 11 from a spectator standpoint since there is NOTHING you can see down there from any point of the track, except maybe the turn 7 stands with really good binoculars. The braking zone has disappeared from view, but it was cool to see the effect that lengthening that corner had on the way the track drove.
- Other than this nothing crazy exciting to report. Sato stuffed it into the turn 9 tire barrier and ended his day early with a TRASHED front wing and suspension. No engine failures by my knowledge though, which is always a good thing.
77 Forever - Rest in Peace Dan.
- @KBrughelli11
- @AcrossTheBricks
"Life is too short to be consumed by the circumstances that make us sour." - Helio Castroneves
This is tipical of Honda engines.Originally Posted by fastmaster26
Thanks for your feed back
In Cassoulet we trust
Yep, thanks, always love those fresh reports from the track...
Taku's car getting towed, credits go to Marshall Pruett:
My reaction was to think ebay motors had been photoshopped in
From what I gather, the race is NEXT weekend? dammit
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat" -Teddy Roosevelt
No, the picture taker was just using the app.My reaction was to think ebay motors had been photoshopped in
Jeff Downer
Indianapolis, Indiana
[QUOTE=fastmaster26;3131335] On the topic of Ganassi cars, for those of you who thought that there was no communication between TCGR and G2, I witnessed Franchitti debrief with Kimball (Kimball is back in the car FWIW) and for those who thought they hated each other, I witnessed Rahal debriefing with Dixon and sharing a pretty good laugh during the lunch break. [QUOTE]
FWIW, I was in the drivers' motorhome lot after the Toronto race. TK was horsing around quite a bit with Rubens and (who I'm presuming were) RB's children. That was the obvious entertainment. The Dixons were also there, and Dario, and Graham. They weren't cutting up like the other two, but it didn't seem frosty at all.
Hinch showed up later on his scooter with you-know-who on the back.
Can you elaborate on this? Were they both on the track at the same time (meaning two cars, both in Truecar colors, as opposed to taking turns, perhaps because one car or one engine isn't ready)?
Did someone there in the know specifically say they will both be white next week?
If so, do you all suppose it's a little compensation for Truecar losing their driver in the driver's seat for several races? While the black JPS scheme is very pretty, I don't imagine Bourdais himself cares too much, since he doesn't bother with sponsors, anyway.
"It is marvelous to go very fast!" Lisa, portrayed by Françoise Hardy, in the film [B]Grand Prix
"A big, fat, piddling weasel, yes. But not truly evil." JB
Both the 6 and 7 were in white
My Auto Racing Photos
"If you're not part of the future then get out of the way"
John Mellencamp: Peaceful World
"Spa is like soccer, it's all about speed and balls" J.Herbert
On the topic of Kat, it seemed like every other lap she was blowing through the dirt in turn 9. Some serious struggles there and in general.
I'd imagine that since the black McAfee car was a replication of the famed Lotus John Player Special that we wont be seeing it any time soon
Blue and white or black and chrome--either way it's still the best looking car on the grid. IMO.
First time for her on a road course with the Chevy, so it's not too surprising. She got used to much less power and top speed in the Lotus for four races. My guess is she wants to go fast and push it to the limit, she's never going to putt around like Milka. This is her first chance to show what she can do on twisties with a competitive engine, and she wants to show her stuff.
I think she'll get used to it, but we'll see.
Thanks!
Yeah, that makes sense, but it's a shame. It's not like Lotus owns the design.
The old adage is probably true: to find the limit, occasionally you have to go over the limit.
I'm pulling for her but, then again, I tend to pull for the ones who get the most TF hate.
Well, maybe not Viso.
la difference etaient au niveau des retroviseurs et de la prise d'air superieur pour KateBoth the 6 and 7 were in white
the difference were at the level of mirrors and the taking of air superior to Kate
A+
My friend BING Translat
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