Indycar

[yellowperil]

Anyone know why the mar 8-2015, Indycar race in Brazil was canceled?
Hard to get any info, will this series even survive. Not too long ago this was the best racing on the planet. IMO

[Neilk]

Here is an article about it. Looks like the promoter lost their funding by the gov't. Too bad they never recovered from the CART/Indy split. I used to really enjoy their racing.

[Aragorn]

Looks like funding dried up: IndyCar opener in Brazil has been canceled

Foreign (non USA) races for Champcar/CART/IndyCar have always been a hard sell. The series, while popular in the USA, is a harder sell overseas. Australia, Germany, England and Mexico have all been on the schedule before for the previous series but are not presently on the docket. Overseas races seem like they are hard on promoters because they always claim to make very little (if any) off of the races themselves. Just look to the F1 races being promoted in Europe. Seems like every promoter states the deal they struck is a losing proposition. Good for the local economy but no profit for the promoters.

Checking the schedule for 2015, Toronto is the only non USA race. Brazil would have been nice, but IndyCar needs to focus on what it does well (oval races) and build from there. Maybe in the future we will see more races on foreign shores, but for now, the USA (and Canada) will be the only places to watch the best racing (outside of MotoGP) in the world.

edit: looks like both Neilk and I posted the same article.

[javadog]

Not that it's relevent to the question about the Brazil race, but I just saw the photos of the Honda aero kit and I thought at first that they were an April fools joke. That front wing has to be the worst-looking design ever put on a single seater and the rest of the car isn't much better.

JR

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by javadog

Not that it's relevent to the question about the Brazil race, but I just saw the photos of the Honda aero kit and I thought at first that they were an April fools joke. That front wing has to be the worst-looking design ever put on a single seater and the rest of the car isn't much better.

JR

Dats alota Wings. Think they put some Red Bull in the tank...

I like the new side pod treatment but the rest is... well there are a lot of aero surfaces there. That is a lot of carbon fiber to clean up when someone tries to do a banzi run for the lead.

[gorthar]

Originally Posted by javadog

Not that it's relevent to the question about the Brazil race, but I just saw the photos of the Honda aero kit and I thought at first that they were an April fools joke. That front wing has to be the worst-looking design ever put on a single seater and the rest of the car isn't much better.

JR

I saw it too. Ugly as sin!

[javadog]

Not something Paul Tracy would have gotten a lot of mileage out of...

And I thought F1 wings were ridiculous. Silly me.

JR

[jamesnmlaw]

I like open-wheel American race series.

But today's Indy car is too different than where I'd like the cars to be. Too much leveling of the playing field - everyone has the same chassis, choice of two engines, the same Firestones. Allotted a buttoned-up factory production engine by lottery drawing. Don't use up your tires or you'll run out before the end of the season. Not even real open wheel anymore. No innovation. Nobody tries. Boring.

Bring back the builders and let the teams and the drivers choose the setup. Wanna run all-wheel drive? Offset driver position? Think you're better today with a turbo 4 than an normal 6?

As long as the horsepower is limited to the same top amount and the cars are more or less the same size who gives a *****? General parameters rather than strict guidelines are American racing. Hell, there's more wiggle room in Urapeon F1 stuff than Indy today (ask Mr. Vettel).

Take a look at the list of drivers. Only 22, not even enough to fill the 33 at Indy. I might show up at Indianapolis in May and see if they have a car in 2XLT that I can drive around. Used to be that there'd be 100 cars entered in May and bump-day really meant something. I'd like to see some of the dirt-sliders back in Indy. Or some of the F1 cheese-eaters like the kind that used to come over and drive. How 'bout some of the NASCAR profiteering poofters - I don't think Kurt Busch is banned from Indy cars.

Indy car needs a re-boot. This sucks. I'd rather watch Australian supercars.

[strupgolf]

God that car is ugly. Looks like a Lego car. Indycar has lost it's direction. It used to be up to the owners to bring something different to a race, as in who can build a better mousetrap. Why is it up to Chevrolet, or Honda, 2 engine builders, to bring a new areo kit to the race. Dallara, the car maker should at least bring the kits. God forbid some owner try to change the kit because they found a better way, it would be banned. Everybody tow the line, keep in place, don't make waves and we'll all just have another boring race. The Indy 500 will not have enough cars to make a 33 field, sad, very sad.

[kang]

Originally Posted by jamesnmlaw

I like open-wheel American race series.

But today's Indy car is too different than where I'd like the cars to be. Too much leveling of the playing field - everyone has the same chassis, choice of two engines, the same Firestones. Allotted a buttoned-up factory production engine by lottery drawing. Don't use up your tires or you'll run out before the end of the season. Not even real open wheel anymore. No innovation. Nobody tries. Boring.

Bring back the builders and let the teams and the drivers choose the setup. Wanna run all-wheel drive? Offset driver position? Think you're better today with a turbo 4 than an normal 6?

As long as the horsepower is limited to the same top amount and the cars are more or less the same size who gives a *****? General parameters rather than strict guidelines are American racing. Hell, there's more wiggle room in Urapeon F1 stuff than Indy today (ask Mr. Vettel).

Take a look at the list of drivers. Only 22, not even enough to fill the 33 at Indy. I might show up at Indianapolis in May and see if they have a car in 2XLT that I can drive around. Used to be that there'd be 100 cars entered in May and bump-day really meant something. I'd like to see some of the dirt-sliders back in Indy. Or some of the F1 cheese-eaters like the kind that used to come over and drive. How 'bout some of the NASCAR profiteering poofters - I don't think Kurt Busch is banned from Indy cars.

Indy car needs a re-boot. This sucks. I'd rather watch Australian supercars.

No builders want to come back because there's no money in it. There's no money because no one is watching. No one is watching because the builders are all gone.

[URY914]

[TheMentat]

Originally Posted by javadog

not something paul tracy would have gotten a lot of mileage out of...

lol! :d

[ckelly78z]

Probably cancelled from lack of interest, What's worse than stock cars going in a circle......unidentifiable Indy cars going in a circle.

[Aragorn]

****SPOILER ALERT****

St Pete was on yesterday afternoon. Nice to see the new cars get a workout. First few cautions looked like a Mr. Mister song (Broken Wings.) Little pieces of carbon fiber everywhere. One of the announcers stated each front wing cost around $18,000 and most teams only had one or two spares.

Think IndyCar may want to rethink the aero package on street courses. Too many cautions for too many bumps. Lots of drivers were complaining about the new aero package making it had to follow the cars in front. Adding to the mix, I think Jon Beekhius said there were a possible 1 million different combinations for the Honda Aero package.

Comparing the sound of the IndyCars to F1, Indy wins out... Great sound.

Montoya wins IndyCar opener in St. Petersburg

Will Power, debris dominate halfway through Grand Prix of St. Petersburg | MotorSportsTalk

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by Aragorn

Comparing the sound of the IndyCars to F1, Indy wins out... Great sound.

Yeah but in terms of racing, I wish they'd lay off the yellow flags - yawn.. I DVR'ed it and once I fast forwarded through the yellow flags, I think I accidentally missed the actual race ;-) Hopefully this is more about St Pete's nature than anything else, we shall see soon in NOLA. Those cascading wing elements seems to fall out like from a PEZ dispenser.

It's a good series, good drivers, and I really wish it would return to its early 90s glory...
More Power, less wings and less Yellow (mroe cranes?) please (same for F1 really) !

[yellowperil]

That front wing is atrocious, they should own up to their mistake and design something SMALLER and less ridiculous. (Atrocious and ridiculous)

[RonDent]

The new Aero package has a few issue. In the photo, the lady on the ground was hit by a piece of one of the winglette off of Chavez's Car. She was walking behind the grandstands at the time. The circle shows the piece that hit her.