"merger" my bottom...
this is more a case of IRL taking over Champcar... ><

I always liked Champcar way more than IRL, but at the end of the day, the really rich guy is Tony George...

stuff 2008 America open wheel racing, they're going to be using those ugly Panoz and race on ovals 70% of the time... what I do hope is they get rid of some of the ovals, bring back the brilliant Champcar road courses, and use the Champcar chasis/engine/push-to-pass for road/street courses, as well as their standing start~!

and why Surfers Paradise has to be a non-championship event in 2008~? =.="

Quote from duke_toaster :

Wrong aero package, crash testing, specific brakes and so-on. Add to that engine mountings for the Honda unit, and that IIRC they are more expensive than the IRL Dallaras. Although I would be more than happy to see Panoz/G-Force/Elan go back to Championship Indy Car World Series League or whatever.

Minor things. The engine does not have to be offset for oval racing, although it's not difficult to do. Aero again doesn't have to be optimised for oval racing, if it's a level playing field it will make no difference at all and a lot of changes can be made by teams to accommodate for different tracks. My only guess about the brakes is oval cars may be able to get away with running smaller brakes with less cooling, they're not going to have cooling issues on high speed tracks without much braking compared to proper tracks where they've often got frequent hard brake usage at low speeds. As for safety what is it that makes the IRL car so much safer on an oval that couldn't be quickly moved to any racing car?

Your going to have to think a bit harder if you want to convince me

The DP01 hasn't had near enough oval track testing (or any for that matter) to be ready this soon.

They'd need to develop an oval track aero setup because the big barn-door road racing wings generate waaaaaaay too much downforce for an oval track.

Then the car would have to be stress tested with that package to find out any other weak points. Indy cars of the past have typically needed stronger suspension components for oval racing due to the sustained g-forces. (Having a wheel bearing or wishbone crap out on you at 230mph is a real pain in the ass) My guess is the current suspension setup for the DP01, while sufficient for road racing, would fail quickly on a high-banked, high g-force oval.

Can all those parts be produced, tested to a satisfactory level, and then distributed to ALL participants in time for the first Indy-car race in March? We're talking as many as 25 primary cars that need retro-fitting, plus backup cars and a healthy supply of spare parts. Add to that the fact that over half the combined field does not have a DP01 in their garage, let alone any experience with it.

Or, given such short notice, should they race cars that most of the field already have as well as all the necessary components to go oval racing?

How about time? The DP01 was designed with the distinct possibility that it could race on ovals, but as Champ Car no longer does it wasn't really the first priority to test it and develop it to the point where you could enter it in a race.

The IRL season is only a month away from its first race, so no way they can do it until then. Officials first need to get everything working for this season, so it is too early for discussing what will happen in the longer future.

The second issue at the moment is that there are more Dallara's around than Panoz.

But the main reason for going with the Dallara is that's the indycar and this isn't a merger. The Champ Car owners just gave up.

Quote :

and why Surfers Paradise has to be a non-championship event in 2008~?

The race in Chicagoland on 7 September has a contract that says its the final race in the championship. But they are probably negotiating to chance that. We'll hear more in the upcoming week.

This is wonderful. If CART never split then NASCAR would never be where it is now.

Indy is awesome

If anything could be decided in Australia or it be the second last round that would make it so exciting seeing as Surfers is a hard circuit to drive it would make alot of things more intresting.
But i see the effect seeing as its a American series so they want to celebrate their championship in their homeland rather then Aus but oh well.

I thought that Surfers Paradise would be a no-points race

the race at the streets of St. Petersburg was amazing last year they even had the Le Mans series race there as well

Last year I went to both Watkins Glen and St. Pete. I'm hoping and praying I can make it to one this year, and both again next year.

I'm very excited on what could be in the next few years.

this will pave the way for a really competitive series to the formula 1 in the american continent.

champcar champions were only midclass or even low class f1 drivers. indycar drivers never wanted to get into f1.

back in the 90ies CART was a challenge to f1, sadly they split up.

joining forces will make them stronger again, also because their two reigning champions went to nascar.

anyway i hope i will get some races to see via TV or livestream here in europe.

Quote from ajp71 :

Minor things. The engine does not have to be offset for oval racing, although it's not difficult to do. Aero again doesn't have to be optimised for oval racing, if it's a level playing field it will make no difference at all and a lot of changes can be made by teams to accommodate for different tracks. My only guess about the brakes is oval cars may be able to get away with running smaller brakes with less cooling, they're not going to have cooling issues on high speed tracks without much braking compared to proper tracks where they've often got frequent hard brake usage at low speeds. As for safety what is it that makes the IRL car so much safer on an oval that couldn't be quickly moved to any racing car?

Your going to have to think a bit harder if you want to convince me

I don't know much about IRL, but taking a quick at both car types, I can say instantly that IRL cars have much better side-impact protection that the CCWS cars. Furthermore, IRL cars are designed to fully retain its integrity during a crash, while CCWS (and most road-course single-seat race cars) are designed to break up at set points in very severe crashes. I'd also wager that the IRL cars have better tolerance for sustained G loading that the CCWS cars, which would factor into safety.

Single-seater racing cars have - for a long time - had low tolerances outside of their design specifications. So moving one high-level single-seater from one type of racing to another isn't simple as just moving cars or tacking on features from one car to another.

I'd have preferred the Panoz to be used, but if the Panoz doesn't cut it, then the Dallara will have to do. Personally, I think the fact that CWSS is being eaten by IRL and not the other way around, has some influence in the decision.