2016 Verizon IndyCar SeriesOpen Wheel 

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Running starts are more exciting in my opinion.
It's just awesome to see them start speeding up from a walking pace (if you can call it that) to a full sprint. It just feels more dramatic.

But whatever. It's no biggie. Just a different feel of drama now.
 
scarslasher
Running starts are more exciting in my opinion.
It's just awesome to see them start speeding up from a walking pace (if you can call it that) to a full sprint. It just feels more dramatic.

But whatever. It's no biggie. Just a different feel of drama now.
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Yea, that's how I feel about it too. Like the double file starts too.

I think it's fine for road courses. As long as they keep it on ovals.
 
The Indy 500 won't be a standing start. That being changed from it's traditional 3 wide start would be blasphemy. The other 3 ovals can all be single file starts for all I care.
 
Earth
#Ardius

Much of what you speak isn't avoidable, or preplanned like a standing start.

Standing starts add an extra set of skills into the equation, and are generally more exciting then a rolling start.

I strongly believe the pole sitter should make it to turn 1 with the lead, so Ill always prefer a standing start.
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Sure they are avoidable. Take away pit stops - no more pit stops ruining drivers' races. Take away tyre changes or make races shorter - no more terrible race strategies ruining drivers' races. Take away pace cars/safety cars - no more race leads being ruined. Force all teams to use one engine supplier - no more "X engine is more powerful than Y" ruining races.

My point is that we could pick apart races and divide them a thousand times into various things that ruined the race and we could remove these things. I think its better there are more 'random' (its not really random) chance events than less. It seems to me in most forms of racing that if there are less things that can go wrong, the less exciting it is.
I'm of the mind that the racing I've really enjoyed the most and the races I've always remembered and loved were ones where there were sometimes quite big differences in ability in driver and machinery or where a driver made a big mistake (such as screwing up his start) and said machine/driver overcame the odds to win or at least finish well.

However, I agree that rolling starts have some merits and I do also prefer sometimes that qualifying actually means something. But equally I enjoy standing starts.
I really don't mind which Indycar uses but for preferrence sakes I prefer standing starts. At the end of the day, qualifying is great but the real spectacle I tune in to watch is the race, and to me rolling starts put more importance on qualifying whereas standing starts put much more importance on (part of) the race.
 
Wasn't it the Honda engine that needed more upgrading to reach the required power, then it would be homologated to the regulations?
 
Presenting Tony Kanaan's wildly-irresponsible Geico/Itaipava livery:

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Guaranteed to blind you at a range of thirty paces.
 
I still find the bodies of the cars incredibly ugly, no matter the paint scheme

The sidepods are a disaster, the rear "bumper" and wheel cover is ugly, the nose is too fat and not shapely enough

Its really a shame Indycar and F1 will be racing monstrosities when only 5-10 years ago both series had some of the best looking racecars ever
 
I heard reports two weeks ago that Barrichello had already signed a contract to drive the #5 KV Racing Lotus. I never made a post because there was no substantial link to go with it. This was when they were reporting he was still looking for sponsors. It was from credible sources on twitter, but there's no way I'm posting any news without an actual article backing it up.
 
Barrichello starts new chapter in IndyCar
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Welcome to the fastest open wheel racing series in the world Rubens! No politics, no number 2 drivers, no team orders, just real racing!

Note: I've also updated the 1st page of this thread with race broadcasts times and networks, and new pictures of the Honda, Chevy and Lotus IndyCars!
 
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But now it's official since the official IndyCar website has posted the official KV Racing confirmation. :lol:
 
GTPorsche
I'd say he has a very good shot at the championship.
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Hmm, iffy. KV is a good team, but not the best and has lacked the resources and budget that Penske, Ganassi and Andretti have enjoyed. But its certainly a very distinct 4th best so its a good place to start.
Rivals wise, I consider the current Indycar field to be pretty weak. The top drivers are good enough sure, but it doesn't seem to be too difficult for a decent driver to break into the top 10 regularly even in the under-resourced teams. The midfield and backmarker drivers seem to be pretty average so I wouldn't expect Rubens to have much trouble beating them but its not guaranteed.
Beating drivers like Franchitti and Power isn't going to be a walk-over! Kanaan even is going to be one of Rubens' tougher teammates.
Also Rubens has never driven ovals - while this is by no means a barrier to a great debut (Mansell, Wheldon, etc style) it makes it difficult to predict if he can win overall.

I'd say it would have to be one hell of a season for Rubens to win and it wouldn't really flatter the quality of the Indycar field to have one ex-F1 driver to simply jump in and beat them all on debut. Though CART didn't seem to suffer from Mansell doing just that, perhaps many of us in Europe felt it confirmed those suspicions.

I reckon Rubens is going to have a solid year with some drama. He might sneak a lucky win but I don't expect him to win any races under normal conditions.
 
At this level, everyone is a world class driver, every driver has the technical ability to win world championships, it all comes down to the team. The funding, the technical abilities of the crew to respond to Rubens input and translate that into a winning setup, aero modifications, and of course a brilliant team of strategists. Ruben is a great driver and i'm sure the F1 background cant hurt his chances, but he cant win unless everyone around him steps up their game to match Penske's and Ganasi's level- for which you need a looooot of money... Thats where his F1 background comes into real value- by using him as a marketing tool to draw fans and raise advertising revenue - like the winning teams have: big money sponsors -Target/Verizon $$$$$$$
 
Ardius
... but it doesn't seem to be too difficult for a decent driver to break into the top 10 regularly even in the under-resourced teams.
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Could the reason for this be how similar the cars are? Of course the big teams will always have something of an advantage in development of the cars, but Indycar is still very close to being a spec series, so driver talent can still shine through, to an extent.

Ardius
Beating drivers like Franchitti and Power isn't going to be a walk-over! Kanaan even is going to be one of Rubens' tougher teammates.
Also Rubens has never driven ovals - while this is by no means a barrier to a great debut (Mansell, Wheldon, etc style) it makes it difficult to predict if he can win overall.
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Franchitti, Castroneves, Kanaan, etc are all well out of their prime, but so is Reubens. In fact, in terms of driver talent, I have never seen Indycar so weak since I began following it. Through the years there was always a new fast young guy appearing every couple of years, dominating and winning races and championships. Now its a series full of, this may be harsh, washed up has been drivers in their late 30s.

Indycar's decline has alot to do with this, as showcased by young talent like AJ Allmendinger choosing to leave Indycar after winning 5 Champ Car races in 2006 to seek out the much greener pastures of NASCAR.

As for the ovals, they shouldn't be too much of a learning curve with the cars they are driving. The only way to make them a challenge on the ovals is to add 250 horsepower and take away downforce, to make them something like how they were in the early 90s, but that wont be happening anytime soon.

Ardius
I'd say it would have to be one hell of a season for Rubens to win and it wouldn't really flatter the quality of the Indycar field to have one ex-F1 driver to simply jump in and beat them all on debut. Though CART didn't seem to suffer from Mansell doing just that, perhaps many of us in Europe felt it confirmed those suspicions.
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Well, Mansell did not jump into a midpack car like Barrichello will. Mansell inherited a car Michael Andretti developed and drove to 5 wins and 7 poles the year before. Nigel Mansell matched Andretti with 5 wins and 8 poles.

And you have to remember Mansell's disastrous 1994 Indycar season in which Al Unser Jr powered by the Penske PC-23 destroyed Nigel's Newman Haas team and the rest of the field. It goes to show how quickly the tables can be turned.

Also, didn't Indycar graduate Jacques Villeneuve nearly conquer Formula 1 upon his debut in 1996, then succeed in 1997? It has happened the other way around.

But I am a realist and do accept Formula 1 has always had a higher caliber of drivers. After all, they scout the entire world for talent, but Indycar has for the most part only had drivers from North and South America.

Ardius
I reckon Rubens is going to have a solid year with some drama. He might sneak a lucky win but I don't expect him to win any races under normal conditions.
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He may need some nutrition to win a race, but I agree, its very possible
 
Earth
Could the reason for this be how similar the cars are? Of course the big teams will always have something of an advantage in development of the cars, but Indycar is still very close to being a spec series, so driver talent can still shine through, to an extent.
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I disagree, the better funded teams will inevitably have the best engineers, mechanics, strategists and have all the spare parts to cover any trouble as well as be able to go testing when they like along with so many other things.

Not only this, but giving every driver the same car doesn't necessarily mean everyone has a fair chance - certain cars favour certain drivers so even this isn't necessarily an indication of talent.

Plus this year we have three different engines which will all have different strengths and weaknesses, with the Judd(Lotus) most likely to be the worst due to either lower budget or less development (or both).
And on top of that we have a brand new Dallara chassis - which the better funded teams will presumably be able to test more and be on top of quicker.

Fortunately for Rubens he's at a team with a decent budget and personnel, with a Ilmor(Chevrolet) engine and what appears to be a good amount of testing mileage. This instantly gives him an advantage over say someone like Sebastien Bourdais who is at the very unfancied Dragon team with the Lotus engines.

No, to me a spec series only gives someone like Rubens an even bigger advantage if they land a decent drive as they can not only drive better than perhaps some of the drivers at the "top" teams but also make the best use of better resources than perhaps better drivers in "bottom" teams.

A great example of an experienced driver taking advantage of the same situation (reasonable team with decent resources, top teams have poor drivers) is Romain Grosjean last year in GP2. Though as I said earlier, Indycar does at least feature some very good drivers in Franchitti and Power as well as some tough nuts such as Kanaan. But equally I fully expect Rubens to be well into a midfield position almost from the beginning.

You could argue that a non-spec series ironically gives the poorer teams a chance sometimes to catch the top teams un-awares though this has very rarely happened - it has happened (Leyton House in 1990 always springs to mind). But I'd certainly say that being able to develop a car allows a car to be tailored to a driver's style more effectively and so this is why some drivers suddenly shine in some series but look pretty ordinary in others.
 
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