Danica's secret advantage?

[Jim Wilke]

Much has been made of Danica's weight but how much, if any, of her speed at Indy came from her short stature? Look at this photo:



Wheldon is not a tall guy but look how much higher his head is in relation to the air intake and Sam would have even more of an issue. Is this a factor?

[Refutation]

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/DWFan26b/kbrack-cvr-05182005.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

Part of it could be her seat is set to low,if you look back at photos from Homestead she isent set down in the car quite that low.



She's still got her helmet sticking out in the wind like the rest of them,and none of them are blocking the air-intake.So I doubt she has an advantage

[nascarnation]

looks to me like the air box inlet has a cleaner "look" at incoming air with her in the car
FWIW I've found it curious that the Dallara inlet has its wide part at the top and the Panoz at the bottom - there seems to be no confluence of best design practice here.......

[CamKing]

Originally posted by nascarnation
looks to me like the air box inlet has a cleaner "look" at incoming air with her in the car

I've seen over an inch of pressure difference in the airbox due to where the drivers helmet is located. That's over 20hp difference.
This was a few years ago, so I don't know much difference there is with the new cars, but there has got to be some difference.

[indyrjc]

Maybe I'm crazy but I can't help but be a little suspicious of the electronics on the factory (Rahal-Letterman, AGR, Fernandez)Hondas. The rest of the Hondas just don't seem as fast. Maybe there's a way to just trick the rev limiter a little. There may be something mechanically different as well. All I know is that it sure seems like a "factory" Honda team car is faster than a regular leased engine Honda team car.

[CamKing]

Originally posted by indyrjc
Maybe there's a way to just trick the rev limiter a little.

"No one would ever try and cheat the rev-limiter."
Yours truly, AJ Foyt.

It's been done before, and I'm sure they are looking at doing it still.

[AlJRFAN]

Originally posted by indyrjc
Maybe I'm crazy but I can't help but be a little suspicious of the electronics on the factory (Rahal-Letterman, AGR, Fernandez)Hondas. The rest of the Hondas just don't seem as fast. Maybe there's a way to just trick the rev limiter a little. There may be something mechanically different as well. All I know is that it sure seems like a "factory" Honda team car is faster than a regular leased engine Honda team car.

So 10 of the 11 hondas are getting good treatment? Im sure they feel special I think the slowness of the only honda runner you didnt mention(D and R) has little to do with the engine.

One, they have a very conservitive driver. Two, they don't have the money and resources of the other Honda teams. They also have less expierence.