2021 NTT Indy Car SeriesOpen Wheel 

  • Thread starter Dotini
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Watching the Portland race and I'm having a few wonderings.

Portland and Monza have very similar first chicanes. F1 more often than not get cleanly through the first corners at Monza, whilst we've seen multi-car incidents on the first lap at Portland every year since Indycar returned IIRC. I don't believe the Indycar drivers are generally inferior to the F1 drivers, so why the trouble in turn 1 each year?

A yellow has to be thrown every time a car stalls, but as it's a spec series, could a starter motor and bigger battery be designed into the next Indycar?

Been an interesting race so far, I was hoping for a McLaren win today but it's highly unlikely now.
 
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Roo
Watching the Portland race and I'm having a few wonderings.

Portland and Monza have very similar first chicanes. F1 more often than not get cleanly through the first corners at Monza, whilst we've seen multi-car incidents on the first lap at Portland every year since Indycar returned IIRC. I don't believe the Indycar drivers are generally inferior to the F1 drivers, so why the trouble in turn 1 each year?

A yellow has to be thrown every time a car stalls, but as it's a spec series, could a starter motor and bigger battery be designed into the next Indycar?

Been an interesting race so far, I was hoping for a McLaren win today but it's highly unlikely now.
(As posted on Racer by myself)
You know, if they'd re-configure that chicane to look more like the Chase at Bathurst or the bus stop at Watkins, we'd probably see less mayhem and better racing. And I know the chicane is there to reduce speeds into the first right hander and I know there's not a ton of runoff there, but, given that the speed difference between braking at the chicane or braking for the real T1, I would have to think letting the field run out a bit and spreading out more down the front straight and arriving at a relatively gentle braking zone vs all charging into a heavy braking zone all in a pack, might be the better and safer way to go, all things considered.

Expounding on this a bit, they have plenty of hard surface to work with at that chicane, can't imagine it would be horrifically difficult or expensive to re-work that damned chicane. And if they added some tire wall and a bit of gravel to the REAL T1, having the cars arrive maybe 15 mph faster but all spread out would probably lead to a real reduction in car to car incidents.

And I hope the next iteration of the car has a starter thrown in as well, would save a lot of hassle.
 
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There's nothing wrong with T1 at Portland, it's the width of the run off that actually makes it easier to take avoiding action. The best thing to avoid it is having more car-destroying kerbs like Monza has to reduce the attractiveness of missing the corner.
 
Roo
A yellow has to be thrown every time a car stalls, but as it's a spec series, could a starter motor and bigger battery be designed into the next Indycar?

And I hope the next iteration of the car has a starter thrown in as well, would save a lot of hassle.
The new engine's that will be introduced for the 2023 season will have on board starters.
 
IndyCar has released their first, and hopefully only, 2022 schedule. Really the only surprises are the fact we only have 1 race in Detroit and Texas as well as the amount of races that will be on network TV (every race will also be live on Peacock, which is great news).

Screenshot_2021-09-19-Mail-Andrew-Crask-Outlook.png


I look forward to going to multiple IC races again. :cheers:

Edit: Arrow has also re-upped with McLaren through the 2028 season.

 
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I'd rather see Mid-Ohio or Road America twice rather than the Indy Road Course. And that awful Nashville street circuit is back.

Otherwise, good looking schedule.
 
That was hare-y! Herta ran over a rabbit.
Didn't seem to bother him much though. He drives Laguna like he's getting revenge for his Dad. Just a cold-blooded assassin. Pretty good run for Grosjean at the end on the reds, everyone else on blacks and sort of on mileage runs, though.
 
Romain has really lit up Indycar! Third podium in his rookie year and a storming drive in the last ~18 laps was crazy!
 
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He was just amazing, pulling off moves no one else dared - around the outside of turn 3 on O'Ward was brilliant!
 
I really hope Andretti can give Romain consistently good equipment so he can really show his talent.

Long Beach should be interesting, O'Ward pretty much needs to win to even have a shot plus it will (potentially) be the final race for quite a few drivers in their current rides.

Side note, it feels weird going into the last race without a Penske car or Dixon having a realistic shot at the championship.
 
I really hope Andretti can give Romain consistently good equipment so he can really show his talent.

Long Beach should be interesting, O'Ward pretty much needs to win to even have a shot plus it will (potentially) be the final race for quite a few drivers in their current rides.

Side note, it feels weird going into the last race without a Penske car or Dixon having a realistic shot at the championship.
Grosjean is an interesting specimen. Gobs of talent, but a bit mercurial. How to explain his total lack of pace at Portland?

This is the year that the floodgates open for new, young talent to dominate. I don't see the oldsters taking any more titles.
 
How to explain his total lack of pace at Portland?
It's always hard to tell with Coyne, they're the sort of team where they could threaten for a win one week and be anonymous the next. Granted Andretti is much the same way lately but at least they have the resources to pull out of their slump.
 
It's always hard to tell with Coyne, they're the sort of team where they could threaten for a win one week and be anonymous the next. Granted Andretti is much the same way lately but at least they have the resources to pull out of their slump.
I gathered from the reporting that Grosjean somehow did not like the Portland course.
 
Grosjean getting multiple podiums with Coyne equipment, just imagine how good he'll be with (presumably Andretti) tier cars to drive.
 

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