[VRR][B-SPEC] 2016 Straight Talk IndyCar Series Season

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"Running around a place like this in an Indycar feels like trying to fly a fighter jet inside of a highschool gymnasium. Not gonna lie, it's been a real strain on my body and I'm not quite there yet compared to Angie or the rest of my teammates, but the whole C-CBRR team is trying real hard to find the speed we need to get up to the front of the pack."
 
Ecurie Ecosse team principal Steven McTavish has confirmed the team is looking for a second driver to partner Gary Slater for the 2017 season.

McTavish said "With VRR granting our team a second car, we have officially begun seeking a driver to partner Gary's #10 car. We hope to gain someone with experience in the 2016 season or fresh young blood as our team looks to expand and set higher goals on the future.We will bring further info if negotiations with interested parties are successful."
 
Jahgee
@DurWinning @Michelin @Niku Driver HC Which one of you would like to take a team owner role and definitely be on TCU as team leader?
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Michelin
*raises hand*

ME! ME! Choose ME! ME!
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Well that was quick, Mich isn't messing around when it comes to leadership. You can tell he is more than eager to steer this wacky boat away from the icebergs... or would that be into the icebergs? Ah, what the heck, what matters is that TCU is now an official thing, and Michelin the Brazilian wonder is its leader. Good luck for that venture, bud. 👍

In the meantime, if TCU is looking for drivers, I can apply to that role. Feel free to call me, I won't ignore a helping hand...
 
Niku Driver HC
Well that was quick, Mich isn't messing around when it comes to leadership. You can tell he is more than eager to steer this wacky boat away from the icebergs... or would that be into the icebergs? Ah, what the heck, what matters is that TCU is now an official thing, and Michelin the Brazilian wonder is its leader. Good luck for that venture, bud. 👍

In the meantime, if TCU is looking for drivers, I can apply to that role. Feel free to call me, I won't ignore a helping hand...
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I'm leaving it up to @Michelin who he wants as a teammate between you and @DurWinning, I'd be more than happy with either of you.
 
Niku Driver HC
Well that was quick, Mich isn't messing around when it comes to leadership. You can tell he is more than eager to steer this wacky boat away from the icebergs... or would that be into the icebergs? Ah, what the heck, what matters is that TCU is now an official thing, and Michelin the Brazilian wonder is its leader. Good luck for that venture, bud. 👍
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I think TCU would be the look-out and "oh 🤬" boat compared to the bat-ship TKU. Still, as of late it's all been rather tame.

Also @Jahgee is this gonna be more 'Hendrick-SHR' or 'Red Bull-TorroRosso'?
 
BKGlover
I think TCU would be the look-out and "oh 🤬" boat compared to the bat-ship TKU. Still, as of late it's all been rather tame.

Also @Jahgee is this gonna be more 'Hendrick-SHR' or 'Red Bull-TorroRosso'?
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I have no idea :lol:, we'll all find out when it happens I guess
 
Michelin
@Jahgee I was thinking of going for team chemistry. Since @DurWinning knows how your crazy mind works, he would be best suited for you as a teammate. Meanwhile, in your series, @Niku Driver HC is under my wing if I'm not mistaken, so I would like to take him to TCU to build on that team chemistry. :D
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Alright @DurWinning looks like you're stuck get the pleasure of working with me
 
2015 Monster Shootout Qualifying 1.JPG
2015 Monster Shootout Qualifying 2.JPG
"Still no where where we wanted to be. It honestly feels like a step backwards from yesterday. Good to see Seb up near the front, but the rest of us need serious help. Can't even really take solace in knowing this isn't for driver points. It's definitely for the engine cup and the nation cup, and we've failed to capitalize on qualifying. We have our work cut out for us."
 
So weird to think this has been in motion since June. Here we are. It's great to be in business. Great job Angel!
"We've had a genuine roll here. The coliseum has been absolutely great to us. Great to see all three of us in the top 12. Hopefully we get the ability to gain those couple extra positions tomorrow night. Audi has been strong all weekend so far. Really thinking we have the best shot to steal the $1,000,000."
 
Yeah, it's great to be the top Honda. I just wish we could have been further up the grid but overall, a good quali session
 
I see I've taken on the role of Tony Stewart for TKU, owner-driver dragging the team down
 
Well, after practice we disnt exoect much better than that. It's not where we want to be, but we'll have to take the pain on the ovals this year.

So, do the engines all have different performance, or is Honda's struggle down to driver ratings?
 
aarror
Well, after practice we disnt exoect much better than that. It's not where we want to be, but we'll have to take the pain on the ovals this year.

So, do the engines all have different performance, or is Honda's struggle down to driver ratings?
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The engines do have different ratings. But driver ratings bear a brunt of the load. All that the engine ratings do is make the DNFs more sporadic and random. Last three tests saw all three engines land on podium each time. Engine differences weren't a thing until the November 1st Fontana test if that gives a timeline.
 
I'm encouraged by the shuffling from practice. It would have been better had White placed higher, but while I have the track position, he'll be on the racing line from go and should make that up.

If I'm honest, starting on the outside scares the hell out of me simply because you are at the mercy of anyone inside. At the same time I'm excited and ready to go so there's that.
 
We are screwed for the Millon but maybe a miracle can happen and we can find some magic for pace. Look like us and 7 team are attached at the hip...Top 10 is possible because its Bristol and Wrecks are going to happen.
 
I'm just going backwards. It's going to be tough to make any sort of progress from way down in 19th.

Also breaking news:

The 2017 lineup at Ecurie Ecosse is officially complete after team principal Steven McTavish confirmed that Aaron van der Linden will join Gary Slater in the team for the 2017 season after earlier negotiations with Mexican superstar Ivan Acosta fell through.

McTavish said "After early negotiations with Acosta went nowhere, we saw that Mugen Motorsports didn't have a 2017 entry which left van der Linden out of a seat. We were able to offer him a seat at Ecurie Ecosse and we firmly believe he will be a great asset alongside Gary and build our team stronger."

Gary Slater remarked "It's great that Aaron will be filling the second seat. With somebody to share setup knowledge with in the 2017 season, it should help us move up the grid further and start nibbling at the heels of the factory teams."
 
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BKGlover
I think TCU would be the look-out and "oh 🤬" boat compared to the bat-ship TKU. Still, as of late it's all been rather tame.

Also @Jahgee is this gonna be more 'Hendrick-SHR' or 'Red Bull-TorroRosso'?
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So TCU is less of an out-of-control cruise ship and more of a dinghy at the current juncture, wouldn't you say, BK? Or if you prefer, we are a Manor to TKU's Mercedes, because we haven't quite gotten there in terms of perfomance but we can both bother the Alonsos of these series (whoever they may be)... :p :lol:

Michelin
@Jahgee I was thinking of going for team chemistry. Since @DurWinning knows how your crazy mind works, he would be best suited for you as a teammate. Meanwhile, in your series, @Niku Driver HC is under my wing if I'm not mistaken, so I would like to take him to TCU to build on that team chemistry. :D
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It's settled then, looking forward to working with you, Mich. After all, as the man who painted my GTPFS 2015 entry car, it's only fair for me to be teaming up with you, it's a bit of fair karma if that makes any sense. Let's both work together to make TCU the slightly less crazy sister of Team Kate Upton and slightly inconvinience those who dare race against us. :D And who knows, maybe we can even race for a victory one day if luck is kind enough...

In the meantime;

A recent announcement brought forth another new entry for the 2017 VRR Indycar season; after confirming their own 2-car entry, infamous racing establishment Team Kate Upton has announced the creation of a new satellite team, which will be known as Team Christie Upton. After much consideration from team founder Jesus Cristobal, this new team will consist of rookie driver Nico-Costa Monteiro and Brazil's Matheus Michelin, based on the grounds of experience compared to the team's other two drivers, Jesus himself and Hugo Del Prete. No other details regarding sponsorship or engines have been confirmed, but rumors state the the Chevrolet engine deal will remain with the team for future seasons. We will try to get more information about this newfound "spin-off" as we can, but for now one thing can be said; TKU now has a more educated sister to back her madness up...

In the meantime, the current version of TKU has impressed in the Monster Shootout qualifying session at Bristol Motor Speedway; by clocking a speed of 142.155 mph, Hugo Del Prete managed to take the #20 all the way to 1st place, beating out Cherokee Motorsports' Jett Raven and Black Rose's Sebastian Devereux who lodged themselves in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Another TKU driver who impressed was Costa-Monteiro; after several lackluster sessions, the Portuguese driver clocked a 140.233 mph speed and took seventh place, giving TKU the honor of having two cars in the top 10 portion of the grid. In an interview with the On The Back Straight magazine, Del Prete spoke of "the perfect way to start the Shootout", but also claimed that "while we do have a strong starting position, the short distance of Bristol in one lap means that I'll always have someone to look out for, whether that person is challenging my position or not". For Costa-Monteiro, it was a "solid setup" that led to his 7th place starting position, but for now the Portuguese driver prefers to maintain a degree of concern regarding the crowded field at the race's start, claming that in Bristol, "one mistake can mean a 10 position loss or even a huge crash if someone else decides to wreck their car". TKU's other drivers, Matheus Michelin and Jesus Cristobal, set their cars in 13th and 29th place respectively.
 
Brazilian driver Matheus Michelin was all smiles today at Bristol. After getting upgraded from Indy 500 only to full time driver by Jesus Christobal, he was also picked as team owner for the new attempt of Team Christie Upton and he was still able to get a top 15 spot on qualifying.
"Well, of course the Monster Shootout for me is more of a chance to get the hang of the car, of my teammates and my competitors on track en route to the 500 later this season. That 13th spot for me shows the team is strong all around, and that we will be fighting for spots up top with the other teams, which is great! And of course getting that "upgrade" of some sorts from 500 driver to full time owner-driver of the satellite team of TKU is pretty darn awesome! Hopefully my experiences with my own team in the other series will help me build this team forward. We got a whole year of getting the equipment sorted, chassis, the Chevrolet engines and everything else ready, so I guess I could count that as a head-start."
 
With two drivers just inside the top 10 and 1 barely outside of the top 20 Seth Smith is very optimistic in saying

"I feel we have a good chance at winning the shoot out due to the fact that we've been towards the top of the board during the entire off season testing."

With that said good luck to everyone and see you in a few days at the race.
 
*reporters walk up with cameras asking something inaudible to mic* My response? Well it was quite a **** performance by me. We need to throw everything at the car, we'll be trying a completely different setup, however I'm just disappointed at myself, the crew did everything they could and I just couldn't get to grips with it. I just have to do better. Guess it's bad luck stemming from Monza in the Aston where things just didn't go right for us that day.

After rumors of a 2 car team, the smoke has cleared. Perl-Speed GP made a decision earlier in the week to stay a 1 car effort and has done so apparently with the blessing of Aston Martin Lagonda. While Scarlett Hartman had been rumored for a full-time entry alongside Perlstein, apparently things changed for the moment. However even with this decision the team is determined to run 2, maybe even 3 cars at Indianapolis. When asked about the jump to 3 he said: "They (Aston Martin) want to throw everything including kitchen sink at Indy, and our and their funding will allow it". Essentially that was the apparent issue in Hartman's entry. Perl-Speed apparently did not have the funding nor sponsors available for a second full-time entry. However, with Aston Martin supporting the team's 3 car assault on Indy in 2017, it'll be a full out Anglo-American alliance with a single goal, to win Indianapolis. Meanwhile Perl-Speed GP's loan 55 during the rest of the season will be aiming for 2 goals, Indianapolis, and the championship. A formal announcement is supposedly to take place at the Catalunya test in December.
 
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"The engineers at Coca-Cola Blackrose Racing threw everything except the kitchen sink at my car to try and go faster, but nothing felt right on my run and it shows. For the race, I'm just looking to get some more miles under my belt and survive 'till the end."
 
"We ran fairly well, and managed to stay within the top half of the field, and even cracked into the top 10 with a time that was good enough... For 10th. The car felt good, but I couldn't get it to roll through the corners better. Just a few more tweaks, and we should have a great car.

"Well, we made those few adjustments, and the car felt better. But, we didn't gain any time or speed at all, while everyone else improved with faster speeds. That dropped us into 16th, so we're right in the middle of the field. Hopefully we can avoid the carnage during the race and pull through to a good finish.
 
KuniKino****a
I can relinquish my third seat to keep your team.
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Thank you very much for the offer, however I have found a seat elsewhere :)
AudiMan2011
Also breaking news:

The 2017 lineup at Ecurie Ecosse is officially complete after team principal Steven McTavish confirmed that Aaron van der Linden will join Gary Slater in the team for the 2017 season after earlier negotiations with Mexican superstar Ivan Acosta fell through.

McTavish said "After early negotiations with Acosta went nowhere, we saw that Mugen Motorsports didn't have a 2017 entry which left van der Linden out of a seat. We were able to offer him a seat at Ecurie Ecosse and we firmly believe he will be a great asset alongside Gary and build our team stronger."

Gary Slater remarked "It's great that Aaron will be filling the second seat. With somebody to share setup knowledge with in the 2017 season, it should help us move up the grid further and start nibbling at the heels of the factory teams."
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Aaron Van der Linden: "I'm thrilled to be joining Ecurie Ecosse for the 2017 season, after a tough start to 2016 it was becoming clear Mugen Motorsports would struggle to field a car in 2017. I feel that Ecurie Ecosse is a team on the rise, and I am very much looking forward to helping them fight at the front of the grid."
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