you should probably put the race lengths in there

This is already shaping up to be a very good season

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

This is already shaping up to be a very good season

Yea....two races in Detroit, woohoo!!:tombstone

Quote from Yuri Laszlo :

Yea....two races in Detroit, woohoo!!:tombstone

on a different layout though... old Belle Isle layout

ill see if I can get any pics at Pocono, think i have a pitpass

Plenty of story lines this year...

Power looking to break the malediction, hoping that the 4th time will be the good. Penske unbelievably going for their first open wheel title in 7 years, after somehow losing in the final race 5 times in a row. Dixon gunning for a long overdue 3rd title, after finishing 2nd or 3rd four straight seasons. Dario and Helio both looking to reach the top one final time. The reigning champion RHR looking to assert his authority, proving that 2012 was no fluke. Pagenaud and Hinch both gunning for that elusive first win. Briscoe looking for redemption after being shown the door by the Captain. JR hoping to exit midfield's obscurity in his 3rd full season. Marco desperately trying to re-establish himself as a contender, after a very tough 2012. Coyne looking to re-live that Wilson magic, for a potential 3rd upset win. Servia staying in the same team for the first time in god knows how many years, having raced for almost 20 different banners during his 13 years AOWR career. Kimball hoping to get rid of the "pay driver" tag. Josef looking to get the mistakes out of the way, and have a truly impressive sophomore season. And at last but not least, Bourdais finally getting his first full season in the unified series, hoping to keep his top 3 form of late-2012 running.

Some pretty intriguing new team/driver combinations too. Graham finally racing for the family run team. Simona in a shock KV move, getting a team-mate for the first time since 2008 Atlantics. Sato at Foyt, in one of the most ridiculously comic combination of recent years. And we still have to see where Briscoe, Viso, Jakes, Legge, or the mightily impressive Tristan Vautier - among others - end up. Silly season is still alive and well.

At Indy, we have Dario and Helio head-to-head for the 4th Mini-Borg. Dixon going for only his 2nd somehow. TK still looking for his first ever... Alongside some pretty solid contenders like Marco, JR, Tag, Sato or Ed, all looking to taste the milk for the first time, after facing some pretty tough setbacks over the years.

The field should be more competitive overall, with 5 known full-time entries getting a full-time season on a proper engine this time. Servia, Bourdais, Tagliani, Simona, Legge. 3 of them gunning for wins, the 4th one at least for podiums/top 5s, and the 5th one for top 10s, maybe more if she can repeat her Fontana form. Not to mention it's the second season in a row on this chassis/engine combinations.

Some pretty good intrigue too, with Pocono making its long-awaited return, after a 2+ decade absence. The standing starts at Toronto and Houston will be a big talking point too. Also, the 3 double-headers events - like them or not - bring a new element to the game, and it will be interesting to see how drivers and teams alike cope with them.


Yep! 2013 should be good

Quote from Mustangman759 :

ill see if I can get any pics at Pocono, think i have a pitpass

You lucky bastard... Enjoy

Vautier lands Sam Schmidt drive
http://www.crash.net/indycar/n ... eat_with_sam_schmidt.html

Finally starting to see more talented people land seats rather then Duno esque pay drivers.

Quote from PMD9409 :

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20669270,00.html

This just became the most popular page on the internet according to Alexa actually the moment you posted it .

What can I say, people follow what I post.

Quote from Mustafur :

Vautier lands Sam Schmidt drive
http://www.crash.net/indycar/n ... eat_with_sam_schmidt.html

The kid's gonna do great. With SSM's arsenal, I already see an outright top 10 finish in points, plus one or two podiums.

Quote from PMD9409 :

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20669270,00.html

Good for him, she's a crazy person.

kinda disappointed that there's no Circuit of the Americas race.

same. indy car needs to do a race on it!

I should probably try to get back to watching Indy. Now that the races seem to be on channels that I get (hoping they actually show the races in Canada on those american channels).

Quote from Mustangman759 :

same. indy car needs to do a race on it!

I doubt that will happen, but I may be wrong.

They seem to try to avoid F1 Tracks.

Quote from Bmxtwins :

kinda disappointed that there's no Circuit of the Americas race.

Quote from Cornys :

I doubt that will happen, but I may be wrong.

They seem to try to avoid F1 Tracks.

Well... I guess they fear that they cannot advertise those races properly. They could be compared to Formula 1. Or it is simply the fact they have two races in Texas with the race in Fort Worth and the two races in Houston. Still I hope they return to Montreal. Austin could be a good addition, indeed.

Quote from Knight_Atack :

I should probably try to get back to watching Indy. Now that the races seem to be on channels that I get (hoping they actually show the races in Canada on those american channels).

TSN and TSN 2 showed the races last year from what I can remember.

Quote from TFalke55 :

Well... I guess they fear that they cannot advertise those races properly. They could be compared to Formula 1. Or it is simply the fact they have two races in Texas with the race in Fort Worth and the two races in Houston.

This. Plus, rightly or wrongly, IndyCar keep asking for enormous sanctionning fees. They can do that with big cities, who are mostly looking for a big marketing coup. Those cities don't really mind if they don't break even in the end, as they're mostly doing that for marketing, and for the benefits on the local economy.

However, this business model doesn't really work with permanent facilities. Understandably, they are there for turning a profit(or at least just trying not to lose money), and have to rely on spectators' money for it. And since they cannot exactly ask for F1-type price tickets, due to IndyCar's very small popularity in the US, it doesn't work in the end. Hence why we are looking at a 50+% street circuit schedule right now.

With that in mind, I don't think there's any way COTA can make money with IndyCar. IndyCar isn't very interested in COTA either, for the reasons Thilo listed(plus the fact that no matter the crowd, the huge grandstands would likely look very empty on race day, and IndyCar isn't very keen on that). Hence why there's no deal.


But at least, it's nice to see that Pro Mazda(formerly Star Mazda) will kick off their 2013 campaign on COTA in almost 4 weeks, as part of Grand-AM's support bill

Surprised no one posted about Karthikeyan:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105286

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

However, this business model doesn't really work with permanent facilities. Understandably, they are there for turning a profit(or at least just trying not to lose money), and have to rely on spectators' money for it. And since they cannot exactly ask for F1-type price tickets, due to IndyCar's very small popularity in the US, it doesn't work in the end. Hence why we are looking at a 50+% street circuit schedule right now.

With that in mind, I don't think there's any way COTA can make money with IndyCar. IndyCar isn't very interested in COTA either, for the reasons Thilo listed(plus the fact that no matter the crowd, the huge grandstands would likely look very empty on race day, and IndyCar isn't very keen on that). Hence why there's no deal.


But at least, it's nice to see that Pro Mazda(formerly Star Mazda) will kick off their 2013 campaign on COTA in almost 4 weeks, as part of Grand-AM's support bill

I'm actually totally ok with IndyCar avoiding F1 tracks. I like IndyCar at Montreal or Interlagos but most Tilke tracks I can live without. Part of what makes IndyCar interesting is the weird tracks they race on

Quote from lizardfolk :

I'm actually totally ok with IndyCar avoiding F1 tracks. I like IndyCar at Montreal or Interlagos but most Tilke tracks I can live without. Part of what makes IndyCar interesting is the weird tracks they race on

That I can totally agree on! "Tilkedromes" are probably one, if not THE thing I hate the most with 21st century motor-racing. Even though COTA isn't so bad to be honest, it's probably about the best one can come up with while still respecting the FIA's absurd requirements for newly built F1 tracks.

However, I am slightly frustrated at the fact that IndyCar cannot race on more permanent facilities. After all, North America is the home of so many of the world's best historic road racing tracks. VIR, Road America, Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca, Mosport, Watkins Glen, Sebring, Portland, etc...

It's still nice that Barber, Mid-Ohio and Sonoma managed to secure a long-term presence on the calendar anyway. Three truly fantastic tracks. Even though Sonoma gets a lot of bashing for its supposed lack of passing opportunities, unfortunately.

Only problem with austin is that its a pretty wide track with long straights and the indy cars seem to be more apt for the tight and twisty tracks. But still, its kinda like westhill in lfs.

Barber is an awesome track, mid ohio is quite interesting and enjoyable in sports cars. And should be intense in the indy cars. The 3 you stated are epic tracks in open wheels.

Andretti's going to put Viso in the 4th car... never actually expected Viso to land a top team ride so 2013 will be interesting

Marco, Hunter-Reay, Hinchcliffe, and Viso all on one team...

http://blogs.indystar.com/raci ... xpected-to-join-andretti/

Dragon's #6 AND TrueCar decided to drop Katharine Legge... not sure if TrueCar will still continue to sponsor Legge but she's definitely replaced.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/ ... -katherine-legge/1914503/

With Sebastien Saavedra =D